Rating of
3/4
"Akira" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 04/11/12
After the reconstruction of Tokyo after nuclear decimation, a young biker punk is kidnapped by a shadowy government experiment to engineer a "doomsday weapon" in the form of children with the power of telekenesis. Akira was the Japanese Anime that broke the genre into the global mainstream and is still hugely influential. It's essentially Godzilla for the cyber-punk generation as an insecure young boy is suddenly gifted the power of a god with the inevitable consequence of absolute power corrupting absolutely. The artwork is amazing in its detail, especially since it pre-dates CGI and is therefore hand drawn in its entirety. Some of the imagery is stunning, the finale owing a debt to 2001: A Space Odyssey and its hard to imagine The Matrix ever coming to existence without it. The plot is a little existential and "out there" which may baffle those looking for light entertainment, but all can revel in its visual invention. Although it may have lost some of its impact over time now Manga and Anime are so ubiquitous but it's still a cornerstone of the genre and an important stepping stone in the evolution of modern sci-fi.
