Akira [Region 2]

Akira [Region 2]
by Katsuhiro ?tomo

Category: DVD
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Hiroshi ?take, Mami Koyama, Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Tessh? Genda
Director: Katsuhiro ?tomo
DVD: Region Code 2
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Italian (Original Language); Japanese (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: PAL
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)

Movie Reviews of Akira [Region 2]

Movie Review: Outstanding animation, disjointed story
Summary: 4 Stars

It's easy to see why 'Akira' became one of the first anime to be really successful in the West. The dark, apocalyptic storyline was very different from the usual Japanese magical girls and fighting robots, and there was plenty of flashy eye-candy in the form of outstanding animation (for its time). However, while the style is great, the substance is lacking.

The fundamental problem with 'Akira' is that it is a 2 hour movie cobbled together from a very long manga, meaning the story is compressed and rushed almost to the point of incomprehensibility. There are so many important plot points that are skimmed over or left out altogether, and the pacing of the movie is poor. Most of the important plot points (involving Tetsuo) are dispensed with reasonably early in the film, and the entire second half is given over to Tetsuo's rampage and destruction. They should have cut this down and spent more time fleshing out the story.

Another problem is the characterisation. Since the main characters are mostly biker punks or ruthless military/medical men, there isn't exactly much room for depth and sensitivity. In fact, it's pretty two-dimensional to be honest. Kaneda is a sort of anti-hero, and he does at least show some development and growing maturity over the course of the film. Kei is probably the closest thing to a true heroine, while The Colonel has some humanity to him despite being the main antagonist.

Sure, given the flashy and action-packed nature of this anime, you can just switch off your brain and enjoy the eye-candy. On a very basic "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!" level, the film is easy enough to follow. But to truly understand 'Akira' requires the utmost concentration, and almost certainly multiple viewings. This is the issue with the film: blood and guts action fans will probably not want to make such an in-depth investment, but the more intellectual fans might be put off by the pointless violence and brutality.

From the viewpoint of 2009, 'Akira' is arguably more important for its influence than for what it actually is. However, its historical importance is enormous, and despite its major flaws remains essential for every anime fan.

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Summary of Akira [Region 2]

Artist-writer Katsuhiro ?tomo 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 Kaneda--run with a biker gang, but trouble grows when Tetsuo start to resent the way Kaneda 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 supermonster. 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 shootouts (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

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