Akira (1988)

[OzScaper]

As I've been doing the films section fro the new database, I've come across very mixed reviews for this film, I was wondering if anyone had seen it and what they, personally, thought of it??

anyone?

 

[OzScaper]

URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0094625

Plot Outline: A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.

Stars: All Japanese people

 

[Prowler-Pilot]

I have

I actually loved this movie...it was the first anime movie that I watched...it may be a little strange but the animation is pretty stunning, or at least I liked it. :coolyello For an anime fan it's a must see...I don't actually know an anime fan who hasn't seen this film.

TaTa

 

[OzScaper]

cool

I'm not really an anime fan so I guess that explains why I haven't seen, it

and anime fan would give it a good review while anti anime people would diss it. Makes sense now

 

[Prowler-Pilot]

The animation in this is amazing, especially the opening scenes and the ending!

TaTa

 

[Trunks]

yeah and it was the best anime film ive seen yet!! the only real way to understand it is by watching loads of other anime films before!! but i give it two thumbs up!!!

 

[Trunks]

Akira

who's sin the best movie eva! AKIRA the animation iz greaty for 1987/9 and its got a kewl story line! vote for ur thoughts!!

 

[rde]

I wouldn't say that Akira is the best anime that I've seen, but it's certainly among the best. I really liked the movie the first few times I saw it, but when I bought the DVD box I was stunned by the detail that went into its production.

There's a lot to be said for 'extra feature' disks such as this; they really give you a new perspective on the film. They can't do much to make you enjoy a film you previously didn't like, but they certainly add to appreciation for films you already like.

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

i wanna see it! :dead:

 

[Tabitha]

I have watched this movie four or five times, and I have to admit it makes no sense whatsoever!!!!!

Mind you it still keeps me spellbound every time

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

now ur making me want to see it even more!I might get it fer my b-day though...

 

[rde]

Currently, you can get a two-disk set; a DVD of the movie, and a plethora of extras. If you've seen the movie before, a great thing to do is to watch the extras first; when you see what's gone into it, you'll appreciate it all the more.[br][br]And what about it doesn't make sense?

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

i wish i had a dvd player...

 

[Bones]

very cool! definetly very slick!!

Animation wise: The bike, the cities... *drools*

I love the hospital bit, y'know with the teedy, the car and the bunny... I used to think in my younger days how surreal that whole scene was.... Makes sense now but still one of my favourite bits

 

[Dragon Goddess]

Originally posted by OzScaper

cool

I'm not really an anime fan so I guess that explains why I haven't seen, it

and anime fan would give it a good review while anti anime people would diss it. Makes sense now

I like to think of myself as an anime fan, but I don't think it's the best ever. My brother adores it but there are various other movies I like better. *Shrugs.*

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

DAH!I have FINALLY! gotten to see this movie(about 26 times since I last posted here) AND I (obviously) love it!!!!!And it seems Im the only anime person I know thats seen it.(im talking as in where I live not ascifi).

 

[Trunks]

well damn well show the others#! it rules completly!! no arguing!!

 

[Dave]

Live Akira Developing

SCIFI WIRE -- Warner Brothers will produce a live-action, English-language remake of Japan's anime classic Akira, Variety reported. Blade director Stephen Norrington, who has just wrapped The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, has reteamed with League screenwriter James Robinson to develop the project. Jon Peters will produce, the trade paper reported.

Released in 1988, Akira was directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, who also wrote the comic from which it stemmed. The remake will tell the story of a bike-gang leader who must rescue his younger brother from his involvement in Akira, a secret government project. In the process, the biker must battle anti-government activists, greedy politicians and irresponsible scientists, the trade paper reported.

I've read all your posts here and no one actually says what makes it so good. The storyline, the animation -- but why?

I'm sure this live-action version will be a hit anyway.

The report doesn't say if it will still be set in Japan.

 

[Tabitha]

Original review from www.play.com - refers to new DVD edition
The Masterpiece Returns!
In 1988, the landmark Anime film Akira, by director Katsuhiro Otomo, defined the cutting edge of Anime around the world. By today's standards, Akira remains a landmark achievement in cel animation and retains the explosive impact of its highly detailed animation and its intensely violent saga of power and corruption. Pioneer Entertainment proudly presents this classic film, completely restored and digitally re-mastered.
Childhood friends Tetsuo and Kaneda's motorcycle gang encounters a military operation to retrieve an escaped experimental subject. The military captures Tetsuo and conducts experiments on him that unleash his latent psychic ability, but when these new powers rage out of control, Tetsuo lashes out at the world that has oppressed him!

Original review from www.amazon.co.uk
Artist-writer Katsuhiro Omoto began telling the story of Akira as a comic book series in 1982 but took a break from 1986 to 1988 to write, direct, supervise and design this animated film version. Set in 2019, the film richly imagines the new metropolis of Neo-Tokyo, which is designed from huge buildings down to the smallest details of passing vehicles or police uniforms. Two disaffected orphan teenagers--slight, resentful Tetsuo and confident, breezy Kanada--run with a biker gang, but trouble grows when Tetsuo start to resent the way Kanada always has to rescue him. Meanwhile, a group of scientists, military men and politicians wonder what to do with a collection of withered children who possess enormous psychic powers, especially the mysterious, rarely seen Akira, whose awakening might well have caused the end of the old world. Tetsuo is visited by the children, who trigger the growth of psychic and physical powers that might make him a superman or a super-monster.

As befits a distillation of 1,318 pages of the story so far, Akira is overstuffed with character, incident and detail. However, it piles up astonishing set pieces: the chases and shoot-outs (amazingly kinetic, amazingly bloody) benefit from minute cartoon detail that extends to the surprised or shocked faces of the tiniest extra; the Tetsuo monster alternately looks like a billion-gallon scrotal sac or a Tex Avery mutation of the monster from The Quatermass Experiment; and the finale--which combines flashbacks to more innocent days with a destruction of Neo City and the creation of a new universe--is one of the most mind bending in all sci-fi cinema. --Kim Newman

Why do I like it so much? Erm, I am not sure, there is just something about it that will keep me watching. Perhaps it is because I find it hard to follow the story (Who is Akira, and what relationship exactly does he have with Tetsuo or Kaneda?). This confusions seems to be quite widespread, among my friends, anyway. Apparently there were large volumes of source material (the original printed anime comics) that were quite haphazardly condensed into this film version.
I think another thing that drew me to it, is that it is (for me) the archetypal Anime movie. It has everything, sex, big guns, big explosions, big vehicles, post apocalyptic Tokyo, the classic (anti-?) hero and his chirpy sidekick.
I have not watched a lot of anime, but this one will quickly get you acquainted with the genre. Give it a go.

 

[meaghan_maxwell]

man!I lovers this ANIME WAYYYYYYY too much!!!!!^.^ but it really is great(im up to 40 times having watched it already)