Akira

Toho Company | Release Date: December 25, 1989

8.6	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 142 Ratings

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DawdlingPoetNov 27, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is an animated action sci-fi film. It may be an animated film but its definitely not for younger viewers, due to the violence and strong language present. I liked the sudden flashbacks which took me by surprise and the way they were animated made it quite engrossing for me. There are a variety of characters, mostly rebellious adolescents and I think it'd be fairly difficult to not feel the confusion and anger they feel. Themes present include youth gangs, greed, nuclear science, political corruption and supernatural abilities.

The animation is 2D and fairly basic in style, although during some of the more bloody scenes you may be glad of this. It is an example of manga animation, given that its tone is somewhat dark and it is, more obviously, a Japanese animated film.

I thought it isn't, to me anyway, as visually pleasing to watch as some other styles of animation - I suppose it looked perhaps a little bland but then again this is very much a gritty film and not a Disney type family watch. I thought it seemed quite gritty and urban, unsurprisingly given the plot. To me it seemed pretty realistic, in terms of the depiction of a slightly run down city, with disaffected youth among it. Plot pace wise, at first I thought it was really quite fast paced but the main storyline did take a while to come to fruition, it could be said. I didn't think it was either overly bland or boring at any particular time though, so it could definitely be worse. There's something spooky and unsettling about the way certain plot developments are shown visually, via the more bland, dated animation style present. Perhaps rather than using the term bland to describe the animation style visually, but instead perhaps bare would be more appropriate. Its no especially bad thing overall I think.

The music present is quite spooky in tone and adds to the general feeling of mystery and alienation which is present. There isn't really any obvious chart based music (not with vocals anyway) played during the film, just the ocassional piece of eastern sounding instrumentals and the like.

Some aspects of the plot I felt were a bit too far fetched and I struggled to entirely follow all the intricacies, although I mostly enjoyed watching it regardless. Its a relatively easy watch overall.

Cast wise, of course its all voice performances, with it being an animated film. Voices are provied by Mitsuo Iwata as Kaneda, Nozomu Sasaki as Tetsuo and Mami Koyama as Kei, plus Takeshi Kusao as Kai. I did like that the voices sounded particularly honest and realistic to me.

Content wise, as mentioned earlier the film contains some strong language and violence, including relatively bloody violence (although it is an animated film, it does show various facial and other body injuries in some amount of detail and may seem gory and upsetting/frightening to younger viewers). The film also contains some mild sex references and very brief partial nudity, plus the flashback scenes could also be frightening to younger viewers, that and certainly the climax to the finale of the film, which contains some gross out visuals (think large masses of skin spouting out here, there and everywhere). The film is rated 15 due to this content.

I felt this film did relatively well at creating a spooky, gritty and mysterious feel for the most part and it features some good characterisations. It won't appeal to all and it isn't the best ever example of animation I suppose but for what it is, I felt it was a relatively decent film, although it isn't one that I can imagine myself wanting to watch again. I also felt that, at the end, there had been unanswered questions, which frustrated me a bit.

To summarise, for me, it was ok - good in some respects, ok in others and not so good in a few but thats about it. I suppose I probably would recommend it, if you were looking for a good, gritty animated film for teenagers. It features relatively decent characterisation, an interesting, if not a bit far fetched and partially (in my humble opinion) barmy plot and a decent use of music/sound. However, it didn't seem to be a particularly memorable film, its a bit dark and depressing and some of the plot aspects seemed a bit far fetched, so for me I'd say its pretty middle of the road, although others may enjoy it more. If this really appeals to you, then its probably worth seeing but if your not sure then it may be better to look elsewhere.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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BulgarianCriticMar 6, 2022

I enjoyed the fact that the movie started really violent and never slowed down, it actually increased the violence every chance it had which is something pretty unique as a story telling tool since there are barely any moments of calm justI enjoyed the fact that the movie started really violent and never slowed down, it actually increased the violence every chance it had which is something pretty unique as a story telling tool since there are barely any moments of calm just increasing violence. The animation is superb even by today's standards and some of the action is pretty great but for me personally the story is the weakest thing about this movie and the way it was presented was very broken and not that well connected. It is fine if you just wanna unwind and watch some animated violence but if you are looking for something deeper and more interesting I would suggest checking somewhere else.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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