Akira Review (1988)

I have a confession to make. I've never watched Akira until recently for this blog. It's always been one of those films that is called a classic by pretty much everyone I've spoken to who has the slightest interest in film and after finally getting round to watching Akira I have to agree.

Set in Neo-Tokyo in 2019 in a city that looks very similar to that of Blade Runner, a group of bikers are out causing havoc when one the of them crashes into what at first looks like a child but happens to be a strange creature who has these amazing powers and somehow transfers them over to the biker. That biker is called Tetuso. Tetsuo was always the uptight one of the group who resented his best friend Kanada because he always came to his rescue and treated him like a kid. Once Tetsuo realises he has these powers he starts to use them on the city and his friends using his hatred of Kanada to push him on.I've always had the opinion that Manga films were just full of crazy story lines and Chinese schoolgirls. Akira has changed my opinion as it's a story of friendship and how it can change people and push the friendship to the absolute limit. Of course it wouldn't be a manga film without obscene characters and violence you wouldn't expect to see in a 18 cert live action horror film. But at it's heart is a story we can all relate to in many ways.

Akira was made 25 years old and still looks phenomenal. I was amazed to find out that director Katsuhiro Otomo didn't used one piece of computer technology to design some of the shots in Akira. The film was all hand drawn and looks absolutely amazing.

Akira is simply one of the best animation films ever made. As another film review has stated 'No Akira, No Matrix' and I couldn't agree more. I feel that Akira is the reason we have more and more Manga film releases in this country. Rumours are still floating around claiming a possible live action version. In my opinion I think the visuals used to represent Neo-Tokyo would be too costly for a live action film. But if someone does decide to make it, I'll be first in the Que to pick up a ticket.