Akira

[J-Alfred]

So, I was going through the DVD library at my college library, and I came across a movie that I've been told I "totally have to see". And so, having nothing else to do, I rented, took home, and watched Akira, the 1987 anime classic. My plan was to write a review of the movie in the User Reviews Forum, but...

what the hell was Akira about?

this is a serious question. I have no idea what happened in Akira. Oh, sure, I know the actions that took place, what with some psychic psenior pcitizens and a big-headed teenager who's got psuper psychic pskills, and his motorcycle-riding friend tries to... do something or other, aided by some chick with virtually no personality at all, but really, what was resolved in that movie? what was the lesson? what was the point? what am I supposed to take home from all this?

If you've watched Akira and have the SLIGHTEST clue as to the meaning of this film, please chime in and tell me.

 

[Lukeje]

Google is your friend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(film)

 

[NaumWolf]

absolute power corrupts absolutely. thats basicaly what its about when you cut through all the story

 

[AboveUp]

Read the manga, it has all the story you missed out on with the movie.
I'm not even kidding here, the character Akira actually appears, half of Japan gets drugged and turned into a new country, the American army comes to fight Tetsuo...
It's a completely different experience with an amazing story.

The movie is just nice because it's well animated, but it missed out all the bits of the story that actually made sense.

 

[Xvito]

I thought it was a pretty good movie. Although, admittedly, it was pretty weird.

Sometimes a movie is just good because it's... Good.

 

[Sampler]

I found I didn't really understand it until I'd watched it about four times - now I wouldn't say I'm slow (then who would ) but it really is that kinda subtle, picking up on different things on each viewing - I'm not one to rewatch something either and can be word perfect on re-runs of family guy episodes I'd seen once six months ago but this really demanded that level of concentration to get.

And I'm glad I did - it really is a fantastic flick, though not as good as Ghost in the Shell.

 

[cobra_ky]

this is what it's all about:

 

[are.you.the.god.its.me.vader]

I watched this movie when i was like 6, it was fucking AWESOME but then again...no clue what it was about, at all!

 

[Grimheart]

I will bow to you solely because of your avatar!

OT: Akira was pretty much a depiction about how power currupts. You can pretty much see this when Tetsuo realizes what he can do.

And yes, it was very mindfucking.

 

[Aedes]

I have saw the movie and red the manga.
So, from what remember, the movie simply flyes by the whole story. Yes, it's cool, well animated and all but they had to place a deep story into compact 2 hours.

Read the manga, it has all the story you missed out on with the movie.
I'm not even kidding here, the character Akira actually appears, half of Japan gets drugged and turned into a new country, the American army comes to fight Tetsuo...
It's a completely different experience with an amazing story.

The movie is just nice because it's well animated, but it missed out all the bits of the story that actually made sense.

Damn straight.

Spoiler: If you're curious, just what happends next when Tetsuo actually finds Akira...

The story starts to get really intersting when Tokyo get destroyed and a new empire of rebels worshipping Akira takes over to rule!
Tetsuo even opens a giant crateer on the F$%#@ Moon! And , omg, SOL attacking them from above is just epic.

So just watching the movie won't give you much of a clue of what was the whole story about. Hell! Even I can't recall exactly what happened, only that it was cool.

Wiki might give you an ideia though but seriously, the movie lose a bit of it's glory without the "second part" of the story.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

the dvd release of it was a bit better than the vhs one, they retranslated the movie to make a bit more sense

it was a good movie and a bit hard to understand, i think they had to cut too much out of the movie

 

[thelaughingman]

Any news on the live action remake?

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Read the manga, it has all the story you missed out on with the movie.
I'm not even kidding here, the character Akira actually appears, half of Japan gets drugged and turned into a new country, the American army comes to fight Tetsuo...
It's a completely different experience with an amazing story.

The movie is just nice because it's well animated, but it missed out all the bits of the story that actually made sense.

Bingo. You can't abridge a series of gigantic mangas into a single movie.

I mean, it was tricky enough with Watchmen, and that was just one book.

 

[Dogeman5]

Tetsuooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!


My thoughts on the dialogue o.o

 

[AboveUp]

Bingo. You can't abridge a series of gigantic mangas into a single movie.

I mean, it was tricky enough with Watchmen, and that was just one book.

Exactly. I still think that given the amount of manga they had to cram within a single movie, they did an amazing job at it. Even if it didn't make too much sense, it's very far from being a bad movie.

 

[Code Monkey]

From what I heard, It sounds like Elfin Lied. With less Hot Naked Evil Demon Chicks.(HNDC's)

 

[Kpt._Rob]

People keep saying that you can't abbridge the whole Akira story from the manga (it's a six volume series, and each volume was about as big as a text book, I have them all) and they're right. Katsuhiro Otomo spent TEN FUCKING YEARS creating the manga.

That said, Otomo was also the man who wrote and directed the movie, and if you give it a chance you'll find out that it's really damn good. Yes, it does take a couple of watchthroughs to get, but there's a lot there, and it'd really be a shame to miss it. That said, tha manga is even better, so if you get the chance, give it a read.

 

[JaredXE]

Akira is an over-hyped example of anime that non-japanese anime nerds throw in people's faces about how awesome and "deep" the genre is.

Yes, it can be. But Akira is not it.

the MANGA Akira is based on, the multi-volume work that lays out a hell of a lot of information, is awesome and deep. The movie is just a chunk of it, and not very well done. It's seems cool and hypable because of the ultra-violence and it's animated, something Americans weren't used to before the massive localization of anime became a norm.



And I LOVE anime, I just don't worship at the altar of Miyazaki or Ozawa.


Because Pixar IS better than Studio Ghibli.