CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

.....I was strongly dissapointed.

I mean, if you see the movie without watching the manga, I could assume it's a solid movie, but to me, compared to the graphic novel series that it was based on, it was utter crap.

I wish the story of Akira was spanned across two movies, because they left no time for anything to develope and they cut out VERY important characters.

[SPOILER] Akira isn't even in the movie?! The series is freakin named after the kid and they make some lame story about his organs being forzen in capsules. It's incredibly weak. In the manga, Tetsuo releases him from his frozen prison and they team up. [/SPOILER]

They cut out Chiyoko, which was a valuable character.

Do you remember that random old lady with the black afro in the movie? Well, in the manga she had a gigant role.

[SPOILER] She was one of the test tube children, and helped Kaneda and Kei in their mission. [/SPOILER]

Also, due to the incredibly short legnth of the movie, the relationship between Kei and Kaneda was weak and had no time to develople. However, in the manga, there is plenty of time.

Remember the girl named Kairo that got beat up by the Clowns? She was the right hand assistant of Tetsuo in the movie and

[SPOILER] It was clearly evident from the manga, they were deeply in love, and there was a dramatic scene in which she gets shot by soilders to death, which is why Tetsuo REALLY went beserk. [/SPOILER]

Also, they left out the part where Tetsuo joined the clowns just to get his hands on the many drugs they had.

There are so many things I left out, but all in all, if you loved the movie, READ THE MANGA!!!

(However, the manga is far more innappropriate, so beware).

The manga was awsome. I'd own it in two seconds... just gotta keep the black colored pencil handy...

Tom several things you mentioned were in the movie. Like

Remember the girl named Kairo that got beat up by the Clowns? She was the right hand assistant of Tetsuo in the movie and

Thats in the movie also [Spoiler=Akira] They are in love in the movie also[/Spoiler]

True, the movie is just a mish-mash of the manga, but it's still a ground-breaking, die-hard, cult classic film. you prolly should've watched it first to make u more interested in the manga. O well...

Ichigo_89 wrote:True, the movie is just a mish-mash of the manga, but it's still a ground-breaking, die-hard, cult classic film. you prolly should've watched it first to make u more interested in the manga. O well...

Yea if you look into Manga/anime history you'll find out most Mangas are actually better than the anime counterparts. Most mangas are worse than there counterparts also. I always watch the anime first then read the manga. (except with Bleach)

Since the manga usually comes out first, I usually read the manga.

Grub, about what you said:
[SPOILER] She certainly was not his right hand assistant in the movie. She feared what he had become and was just killed by him before she could run away.

Notice I said "deeply in love." In the movie, you can tell she likes him, and he has no feelings until the end AFTER she dies. [/SPOILER]

Yes Tom you are right. I get what you meant. but
[Spoiler=Akira] Tetsuo did have some feeling before he killed her not "deeply in love" by anymeans [/Spoiler] But yea i defently see what you are getting at. And I agree 100%. Yea mangas do come out first but i am just not a big manga reader but oh well i'll have to take a look at the Akira manga.

I just sumitted a review for it (EDIT: The Manga). It's my first review, and it's poorly written, but if it's accepted you know where to find it.

I haven't read the manga, but I can say I didn't like the movie much.

The story was decent, but it just failed to wow me like it apparently did most everyone else.

But, I am interested in the manga and plan on checking it out in the future.

Azier the Swordsman wrote:The story was decent, but it just failed to wow me like it apparently did most everyone else.

Because you didn't see in back when it first came out. It was pretty groundbreaking for the time. That's like saying Astroboy's animation sucks. Sure it does compared to now, but not when it came out. It was top of the line.

Akira almost made me not want to watch anything else that Otomo made. Then I saw Metropolis. Now I have more respect for him.

Akira was too dark, twisted and confusing for my liking and I usually have no problem with that stuff. I also didn't appreciate the high level of violence or character designs. I've heard the manga is much better though (sort of like Nausicaa manga is much better than the movie). I prefer Metropolis to Akira. Sure Akira was a milestone but I didn't enjoy it.

The Nausicaa movie was far better handled than the Akira movie was besides the animation.

I recommend the manga to the most of you, and let me add, I understood the story perfectly, and most of the time I sit and wonder what the heck is going on in Ghost in the Shell.

Granted Nausicaa had a much lower budget and came out much earlier, but yes I enjoy the Nausicaa movie a lot still. I guess I found the Akira movie lacking in any 'heart'. I didn't symphathise with any characters and it seemed like a big budget, more intelligent version of DBZ and then some...

Warrior 4 Jesus wrote:Granted Nausicaa had a much lower budget and came out much earlier, but yes I enjoy the Nausicaa movie a lot still. I guess I found the Akira movie lacking in any 'heart'. I didn't symphathise with any characters and it seemed like a big budget, more intelligent version of DBZ and then some...

Akira doesn't have any heroes though. You can't sympathize for a character because you weren't supposed to. Everyone is more-or-less an anti-hero. It isn't a feel good movie like some other ones are.

Tom Dincht wrote:I recommend the manga to the most of you, and let me add, I understood the story perfectly, and most of the time I sit and wonder what the heck is going on in Ghost in the Shell.

i might consider reading the manga. i can put up with violence as long as it isn't too extreme or graphic. the nudity and sexual content i don't know about so that's mainly why i'm holding back from reading the manga. it looks interesting though...

The sexual content isn't that bad and I'd say there are 7 panels of nudity out of 2000 pages.

[quote="Joshua Christopher"]Because you didn't see in back when it first came out. It was pretty groundbreaking for the time. That's like saying Astroboy's animation sucks. Sure it does compared to now, but not when it came out. It was top of the line. ]
I still havn't seen any anime out there that has as much minute detail as Akira.(Except possibly Ghost In The Shell 2, but still not quite...) And so many super-fluid scenes and insanely great explosions. It's stunning if you're an animation fan Not to mention that almost other-worldly soundscore... (ok, I'll stop geeking out)

Tom Dincht wrote:The sexual content isn't that bad and I'd say there are 7 panels of nudity out of 2000 pages.

i'll wait for your review to be released before checking into the manga.

I liked Akira so Im interested in the manga to see different sides of the story. I just figured it was the same thing just in a book format. Guess I was wrong. How many volumes are there?

Wise Dragon wrote:I liked Akira so Im interested in the manga to see different sides of the story. I just figured it was the same thing just in a book format. Guess I was wrong. How many volumes are there?

the akira graphic novels are bigger in size (length and width-wise) than your average graphic novel and are probably more expensive. i BELIEVE there are 6 volumes but i could be mistaken.

jon_jinn wrote:the akira graphic novels are bigger in size (length and width-wise) than your average graphic novel and are probably more expensive. i BELIEVE there are 6 volumes but i could be mistaken.

You're correct. They range from $25-$30 depending on the volume. The last one (being $30) is 450+ pages!!! And they're magazine size, not the standard consumer paper-back stuff. That wouldn't do it justice at all...

Ichigo_89 wrote:You're correct. They range from $25-$30 depending on the volume. The last one (being $30) is 450+ pages!!! And they're magazine size, not the standard consumer paper-back stuff. That wouldn't do it justice at all...

yeash! those are some really big books. if they were regular graphic novel sized, the series would probably be 11-12 volumes. really expensive stuff.