CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Well, since I watched this a while ago, I can't do one of my normal large-scale reviews with all the nitty gritty. But, here is my attempt nonetheless.

Akira is an older animes (made in the early 80s I believe - someone call me on that if I'm way off). There was no cg used, but it has some of the best action/explosion stuff you'll ever see in an animated form. Akira became one of the biggest anime classics out there - and it also became the bar for animation standards.
I can't remember the details of the story line (my mouth was hanging open at the art for most of the movie). I believe it had something to do with chemical/bioengineering and government cover-ups and conspiracies. It's set in Tokyo (or was it New Tokyo?) in the future after a large nuclear war devastated Japan. Only gangs and worse dare roam the streets.
For good points: have I mentioned the animation yet? Also, there is a strong theme of friendship and loyalty.
Bad points: Akira is absolutely for older viewers, no and, ifs, or buts about that. There is drug use, swearing (I can't remember the amount). A girl gets her shirt ripped off when someone tries to rape her. It's very quick and not meant to be pornographic, but it's still there. And the big thing about Akira - the blood, gore, and violence. This is one of the most graphically violent animes I have ever seen. Blood geysers, guts spilling out, and the like.
My suggested rating - M for mature. If I had to put an age to it - I'd say anyone over 16, maybe even 17. This is considered the number one anime classic, and I'd recommend this to any older, mature anime fan. I'd also suggest that if you've seen very little anime, you watch some other, lighter stuff first. This isn't for someone who watched one episode of Pokemon and thought it was cool. This is for people who really love anime and want to see anime at it's best. Also, the character style is more realistic and proportional than most anime, so it's not typical looking.
Now, anyone who can fill in any of the gaping holes that the wind is whistling through - please feel free. Since I watched this a while ago, I might have missed something important - or just add your own thoughts to it.

You know, I really did watch this movie....but I can't remember a blasted thing about it. I remember violence, and I think I remember the shirt ripping thing. Other than that...I draw a blank. So... ._. Maybe I'll watch it again someday...

Been a long time since I've seen this film. It was really what got me watching anime in the first place. The basic idea is that certain indivduals have somehow acquired some kind of psychic/telekinetic powers (its probably explained better in the manga, but I've never read it). These powers are potentially catastrophic if uncontrolled, and naturally the government wants them firmly under control (there's a strong hint that the government had once tried to use these powers for its own ends but failed, resulting in great devastation). One of the main characters (Tetsuo Shima), develops these powers. He seems even stronger than the others and is far less controlled. Anyways, like Gypsy said, this is a brilliant film, albiet not for younger viewers.

Also, it has an awesome soundtrack. I've got some of it on a mix tape along with some Frontline and Sisters of Mercy.

Ah yes. Now we delve into the classics. It's already been said, but the artwork is good. At the time, it was revolutionary for being (like Gypsy said) relatively proportional and realistic. I'm not a big fan of emotion explosions and other unrealistically drawn things. Also, Akira influenced many of the later artists we know well. Dragonball Z and Naruto (hardly minor animes) both are much closer to the style. I'm also pretty sure both creators mentioned this as one of their main inspirations, art wise.

Has anyone seen or heard of anything else by Otomo? I've only seen "Memories" (I think that's what it was called), which is a set of short films (all well done, and the last one's pure art), and was wondering if there was anyhting else of his kicking around.

(Sigh!) Akira...the good old days. Akira was the first anime (movie) that I ever saw, and I think I was 7 years old; that would be 11 years ago. It was on some public access TV show at the time. And I had no idea what was going on.

Since then, I've had to have seen Akira at least 20-30 times. It's an anime movie that I can watch over and over. Of course, I can't condone the evolution themes it expresses, but I do like it a lot for it's aesthetic appeal and it's innovations that pushed the anime world foward. As for the year it was release, I'm sure it was 1988. It would be a great anime to have on DVD, which I have (Pioneer Special Edition). All the resoration and extra stuff make it all the more interesting. Even to this day, I think Akira is up there in the best animated category. As for CG effects, they were only used to show the holographic energy display when collecting data on Tetsuo.

As for new Otomo projects, he hasn't done much on his own, but he's done collaborations with other directors and animators on other films such as Metropolis and Spriggan. If you are going to buy Akira, beware of the Pioneer English dub. It has, in my opinion, some goofing renditions of the kids. However, Kaneda’s voice is played by the same guy who played Vash, and Tetsuo’s voice is young Knives’s. In the first dub, the Streamline dub, Kaneda’s voice was played by the guy who played Leonardo on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Personally, I like the Streamline dub better, but I don’t think you would be able to find it on DVD. Anyway, enough of my useless knowledge of Akira. But if anyone knows where to find the Streamline dub on DVD, please tell me.

Quick side trip, I heard someone mention Vash/Knives from Trigun (and my ears pricked up!) Johnny Yong Bosch (yes, also known as the green power ranger) is the voice of Vash, and I can't seem to find anyone in the great wide web that knows who play Knives. Oh well, thought that might help.

Hey! Don't change the subject ...

Ahhh! I'm still trying to understand Akira!! It confuseded me so much! I loved it but once the end came around...I'm like...."ummm, yea, and?"

Yes, it's definately an awesome anime to watch, but like you said, only for hard core anime fans, that have watched anime of a few years now.

It's definately worth the watch. Oh and it has an "R" rating so it does tell you alot. Kanada is funny. ^^

I saw Akira once, but I've probably forgotten some of it. Yeah I agree with Lightbringer, the growing fat stuff and the little kids really freaked me out. I do remember that the animation was really good and I liked the motorcycles.^^ It wasn't really one of my favorite animes, but I thought it was ok.
-BlueElf

Akira is a very good clasicc movie excepte for a couple of the really bloody sceens but besides that its is very well done with some awsome animation oh and if you have Encore Action channel Akira will be on at 12:00AM Sat

I just saw Akira like two months ago. I'm still pretty new to anime. I just haven't seen much anime because the lack of places to buy it. Plus I don't have a dvd player witch makes it harder now to buy anime. But not straying off the subject I've heard of Akira for a long time but I had been shyed away by the R rating after seen EOE(End Of Evangelion) I wanted to stay away from any anime with an R rating. But I finally got my self to rent it and I was impressed! For being made back in the 1980's the animation was clear and just detailed. There was just that grahpic violence and when that girl gets her shirt ripped off that were the really bad things in the whole movie. But yea i do recommend Akira to people who have been into anime for awhile and know how far and bad anime can go and get.

It's funny...about a year ago a friend let me borrow "Akira" because I'd heard so much about it. I watched it twice and still didn't get it. (-.-) Maybe I should watch it again. I never quite figured out the storyline.

I read somewhere once that they specifically created 300+ colors just for Akira. The original version also featured the voice of Cam Clark as the main character, the man who did the voice of Leonardo on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Cam Clark ... I think he did Ryudo's voice in Grandia II ....

Gypsy wrote:I'd also suggest that if you've seen very little anime, you watch some other, lighter stuff first.

I have to agree with you there... Oldphilosopher made the mistake of showing me Akira as my very first experience of anime... and nearly cured me of ever wanting to see any more. I did not like Akira. Too much gore for me, and I was completely lost the whole time regarding the plot. I might understand a little more now that I've seen more anime, but I really have no desire to see Akira again.

Well, let's see. Akria was the first anime I went out and rented. I'd seen a little stuff on SciFi/CTN (robot carnival/VHD) but nothing really prepaird me for Akira. The real irony here is that I was so facinated with a culture that could come up with something that was so obviously NOT intended for Amer audiences, that I got hooked on anime from that point on. To each his own, I guess...

did my posts get deleted? I thought I posted twice in here... Maybe they did, but I hoped that it wasn't for what I think... Of course, I've seen more controversial things on here that didn't get deleted (even if the person was banned) so maybe my post just didnt' get posted at all...

That's odd ... I don't see where any posts where deleted ...

It's a popular anime movie and all but...
it sounds a little too gory for my tastes.

Akira is numbingly gory... I mean, I'd bring up "Saving Private Ryan" but since they were animated and not humans, they could get closer and more detailed... And, Akira is perhaps the most physically accurate sci-fi anime ever made. No sound in space and true proberties of mass and gravity come to mind ([spoiler="not much of a spoiler"]reffering to tetsuos metamorphosis[/spoiler])

Hmm, well, from this old-schooler's perspective, I have a couple of things to state about Akira:

1) It was very likely the one anime title that awakened the US entertainment market to considering the viability of having anime in the 'States.

2) It is so very technically and artistically well-done, that it is considered an animated classic by many movie critics and hard-core otaku who's seen several hundred titles with which to compare (like myself).

3) That the storyline exposes so much of the violent, vulgar, and deranged nature of the human condition on this sinful world, it makes it hard for one to see beyond the gore, filth, voilence, and mental savagery and see that the writer was truly intending the story to be much like a greek tragedy in nature - to cause us to see the truth, and perhaps find a way to help make things better for ourselves by aspiring to a higher nature - a higher calling in our lives, or our spirits.

Few stories expressed to me that last element as much as Akira. Yes, it's seemingly buried amidst that violent, vulgar, coarse, and deranged storyline, but I'll say I saw it in there... like a jewel that takes a skilled miner to dig it out and see it as it really is in all its beauty.

No it wasn't written by a christian, but even so there are themes in all cultures that bear witness to the same god-given truth that is in all of us, and Akira is one of the few titles that I personally hold dear to my heart as such an experiment - to delve into one's own self and find out just who you really are...

"Bokua.... bokua.... bokua Tetsuo...."

I just wish I didn't pass up the chance to get the "Tin can" collector's edition a few years back for a mere $49.99! Lord, forgive me! ;2)

Is the Tin Can the Pioneer Dub or the Orion Dub? Or is it just subtitled?

I haven't seen it subbed yet, but the Pioneer Dub is much higher quality than the Orion one, despite some fudging with words more taboo than orion's choice... The pioneer dub just made more sense.

And, I'm assuming that quote is "Boku wa" and not "bokua" since I don't think "bokua" is a word... Coule be wrong, though, but "Boku wa Tetsuo" would mean "I am Tetsuo"

Oh! You're right, Bobtheduck!

It is 'Boku wa', not 'bokua'...

It was around 2am in the morning when I wrote that, so please forgive the blatant romaji slip. ;2)

Thanks!

EireWolf wrote:I have to agree with you there... Oldphilosopher made the mistake of showing me Akira as my very first experience of anime... and nearly cured me of ever wanting to see any more. I did not like Akira. Too much gore for me, and I was completely lost the whole time regarding the plot. I might understand a little more now that I've seen more anime, but I really have no desire to see Akira again.

I cant get enough of it!! I love the killing blood gore revenge story and EVVERYTHING!! I even started the AKIRA cult made AMVs of it and wallpapers and music and cosplayed it! Its the best!! Killing is fun! THE BEST ANIME MOVIE EVER CREATED!! (refuring to the new re-enchaned one)

Kenchii wrote::wow!:

I cant get enough of it!! I love the killing blood gore revenge story and EVVERYTHING!! I even started the AKIRA cult made AMVs of it and wallpapers and music and cosplayed it! Its the best!! Killing is fun! THE BEST ANIME MOVIE EVER CREATED!! (refuring to the new re-enchaned one)

Hmm... Watching it just for the gore... That's a little... Well, you know there is an actual PLOT to the thing, even if it's incredibly obscured. And, well, revenge isn't the most original motivation, and definately not the best device for a Christian... [spoiler="What I saw"]I didnt see revenge at the end of Akira, Kaneda was protective the whole time, though he had a short temper and was a little violent... Tetsuo was vengefull, but even he changed his feelings at the very end...[/spoiler]

Kenchii, since you said the "new re-enchaned one" I'm assuming you're being sarcastic. Because the Pioneer one had many more taboo words in it than Orion's dub did (the "f" word was used like 7 or 8 times), and I know how you feel about that... I honestly can't figure out how to interpret what you say half the time...

I watched it when I was 8 years old... I was pretty impressed... it´s a really great movie, with a very good story, and after the movie they lunched the manga, over 1000 pages of the same story! really good too, and very rare! For sure I shoud not have watched it at that age... if you want to review you can download ti at [link removed], if you have the emule, of course!

Edit by mod: I'm sorry, but we don't allow links to sharing sites.

Macross wrote:I watched it when I was 8 years old... I was pretty impressed... it´s a really great movie, with a very good story, and after the movie they lunched the manga, over 1000 pages of the same story! really good too, and very rare! For sure I shoud not have watched it at that age... if you want to review you can download ti at [link removed], if you have the emule, of course!

Edit by mod: I'm sorry, but we don't allow links to sharing sites.

I wonder how many parents sent their kids to Akira because it was a "cartoon" even though it was rated r... Of course, I dont' think it got broad distrobution, but I'm sure that kids would get very confused seeing Leonardo shoot his friend's arm off... among other disturbing things... If I had seen that as a kid, I would have had nightmares for years.