Rating of
4/4
Akira review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 03/11/13
Think The Matrix, Blade Runner settings with Chronicle concepts but with more violence, swearing and slight nudity. Not any ordinary anime flick, this has numerous points to ponder after its initial viewing. It starts with a gang leader named Shotaro Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata), who is friends with Tetsuo Shima (Nozomu Sasaki) and Takashi (Tatsuhiko Nakamura). Kaneda meets Kei (Mami Koyama), who helps her escape from prison. Colonel Shikishima (Taro Ishida) and Doctor Onishi (Mizuho Suzuki) discover that Tetsuo has similar powers of Akira. Things go wrong after Tetsuo utilizes his special gift.
Screenplay was impressive for its genre with lines: "School kids these days huh?" Col. - "It's to act or not to act." "It's utterly pointless to fight each other." and "The future is not a straight line. It is filled with many crossroads. There must be a future that we can choose for ourselves." Kiyoko. Pace of the story telling was fast while the violence relentless with scenes such as killing a rabid dog point blank, a guy's arm being dislocated by a bike after falling off his and a massacre by the police. Voice artists were convincing and the soundtrack futuristic. The animation was spectacular and the plot just original. Akira is highly influential to various directors, it's visuals and themes of apocalypse, choices, attitudes of the youth, friendship, wars, corrupt officials and the future were well portrayed by the writer/director. A timeless classic which is definitely way better than most futuristic live action films.
