Akira

Rating:
Summary: Still the king...
Review: I saw Akira as a child on an old VHS tape belonging to my brother-in-law, and from that point forth, I loved Akira. I would go to see it in college when the local anime club showed it on the big screen, I bought a couple of the mangas it is based off, and am constantly scouting out Akira products (tshirts, etc). As soon as I heard they were finally releasing it on DVD in English, I pre-ordered the special collector's edition.

The movie is still as vicious and beautiful as I remember, and I'm so glad to have it anamorphic on DVD. I do miss the old dialogue though. Memorized from repeated viewings, the movie seems incomplete without lines like, "What are you waiting for???" "Then I won't tell him what's it in, huh?" and so on. I even miss the voices I remember from the old dubbing. I wish they would have added an audio track that went with the old version... if they had done that, then this DVD would be everything an Akira fan could hope for. As it is now, it's still the same awe-inspiring movie, and truly a classic that any Anime collector should own... just missing one piece.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Use of the DVD Format
Review: Plenty of reviews have discussed the merits of the movie below, so I won't belabor the point with further chatter on the topic.

The transfer and remastering of the film and soundtrack are incredible. My only complaint would be that the color correction used in the remastering process didn't quite work at times (for example, Kaneda's motorcycle, which is supposed to be fire-engine red, often comes across as pink). Also, you can watch the movie in English or Japanese (w/English subtitles) -- a huge plus for purists. All in all, the first disc (or the single disc if you buy the regular edition) is a great DVD.

However, it is the second disc of the Special Edition that really sets this DVD apart (thus the 5 star rating). If you can get a copy of the special edition of this movie, spend the extra money on it -- it's well worth it.

Anyway, the second disc is full of production stills, a documentary on the remastering process, and a stunning documentary on the creation of the music for Akira. The music documentary is made up of video footage with Japanese text on screen. Fortunately, for those of us who can't read Japanese, there is an English voiceover.

A word of warning regarding this DVD: if you buy it in a b+m store, shake it a little. The set has a small booklet (really single page folded over), a warranty/registration/advertising card, and a card advertising the Akira action figures available from McFarlane Toys -- these will rattle around somewhat. However, if you hear something a little more substantial rattling around, it is probably one of the discs which has come loose. This is pretty common with a lot of DVDs. Given the amount of open space in the tin packaging and the plastice used on the inside of this edition, the disc that is loose may be scratched. Mine was -- a pretty significant scratch at that (though it on the second disc, all of which I have not yet viewed, so I have yet to see if the scratch has affected playback. When I bought mine at the store (not Amazon), the salesman indicated that a lot of them were rattling like that. So be forwarned.

Otherwise, enjoy the set...

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: First of all, I'm not impressed with the restoration of this film. On the bonus disc, they show how they went through the movie and took "dirt" spots off the film. After I watched the movie I saw these dirt spots EVERYWHERE! I saw no improvement from the VHS. The colors were bright and pretty as they should be. The sound is perfect. The voices are so so. They rerecorded the voices to better match the original script. But I liked the first voices better even though most people didn't. I don't know...I guess I have watch the first version of Akira so many times the voices grew on me. They even pronounced the names differently from the first version. Kaneda's name sounds more like "Canada" in this version. But I guess that's how it was pronounced in the Japanese version. I'm sure these new voices will have grown on me after the 500th time I've watched this DVD. That's about how many times I've watch the VHS. Which is why I needed the DVD. I watched the VHS so many times it's no good anymore. That's how good this movie is. Not only is it my favorite anime but my favorite movie period. Movies don't get any better than this.

Rating:
Summary: THE NEW AUDIO IS TERRIBLE
Review: Ok, the quality of the audio is nice, but they re-recorded the entire audio track. I might be an old biased grump but the old audio and voices was 100 times more enjoyable than this. Even with the original japanese audio, which is good, the subtitles have changed to reflect the new translation which manages to ruin even that. I'd wait until a version is released with the old audio.

Rating:
Summary: Best DVD By Far
Review: I've always loved Japanese animation, and Akira is the best movie to ever come along. When I first saw it, it was on tape, and previosly viewed. The quality seemed OK, and I still like the original dub, too. A few years ago, I set out a search for the movie on video to buy, but I couldn't find it anywhere (except ebay, but I don't like it much). Then, I found out it was being re-released on DVD and tape, and I was astonished! I reserved it as fast as I could, and waited. I just got it, and after work, I watched it. There was a sparkle in my eye, as the picture of the film was greatly increased, the sounds were completly re-done, and the music is, for lack of a better word, "perfect". I haven't been so amazed by a movie in my life, and I really can't think of enough words to sum it all up. If you have never seen this before, at least rent it, but I have a good feeling that once you've seen it at it's best,you'll probably want to buy it, and it will appear in your DVD player time and time again.

Rating:
Summary: The whole reason America knows about Anime
Review: This is one of the best anime I've seen in a while. The animation is incredible, made even moreso when you consider that this was done in the 80's using nothing but traditional cell animation. Even at that, it is still good even by today's standards.

Art: The painstaking detail they put in it is nothing short of incredible. Akira's cell animation gives many of todays CGI a run for it's money

Music: Fitting and really get's the blood pumping at action scenes

It also a bit tamer than most other anime out there...which could be bad or good depending on how you look at it.

Nudity/sex: Virtually non-existant. Only one VERY brief scene showing a womans chest area compared to the continuous and rather uneccessary nudity of...let's say...Ghost in the Shell.

Violence/Gore: It definately has it's share, but it's kept as realistic as possible. It's not the 100's of gallons of blood under extreme high pressure just waiting to rain down and turn everything red like...let's say...Ninja Scroll.

It takes a healthy attention span, but it's not too hard to follow...at least as far as anime goes. Over all, it's a very solid animation.

Rating:
Summary: voices?!?! !$%!@#%&)!#@%
Review: I have to say, I'm a huge fan of Akira, have been for a while. I was geeked to hear about the restoration effort Pioneer was putting into this DVD. Just got mine today, and only watched about half an hour, just to see. I have to say, my first impression... the voices are all wrong. Not all of them, and some of the lines are better, I'd admit, but there's something missing in this new dub. Examples: where the 1st test subject we see screams and the glass explodes? the new dub is missing some of the extra echo scream in that scene and boy, does it make a difference. Also, the voice for the 2nd test subject, the one in the wheel chair, sounds too much like Ralph Wiggum from the Simpsons. I really wish they'd included the original dub on here, even if it meant dumping the Japanese language track. That's probably sacrilegious to some, but I'd rather see this wonderful film the way I remember... and really, with all the potential of DVD, why not have them all, for all tastes? This release suffers from the new dub, I have to say. Looks great, but missing the great original voices... too bad.

Rating:
Summary: akira, amazing
Review: this was the best anime i have ever seen. i wont give away the ending cuz thats the best part, letting the ending happen and just be like "whoa"

if your a fan of anime, buy this dvd, espiecally the limited edition, which i have (order it used, its worth it)

Rating:
Summary: How can you NOT like this?
Review: I saw Akira when I was in 6th grade and while a bit confusing, it blew me away with the quality and caliber of the animation. "You mean cartoons AREN'T always for children?"

I've seen a couple comments saying Akira is overrated. I'm an Anime fan myself and have to heartily disagree. You don't say, "Casablanca was good for it's time". Or, "Seven Samurai was ok, but there are much better films out there". You give the film the respect it deserves. It was groundbreaking and continues in a lot of ways to be the standard bearer of Japanese Animation. It is a classic. It is untouchable. Simply nothing more, nothing less.

Rating:
Summary: Akira - Close.... but not the greatest
Review: Pioneer brings us (finally), an amazing transfer of this legend... However... what lacks is the presentation of sound. If this was to be such a hell-bent collector's edition, the JAPANESE version should be in 5.1, and there should have been TWO versions in english (new and ORIGINAL dub), which could have just been in mono for all we care. Hell, some movies have 3 language selections... they could have even made the disks 2 sided. I'm sorry, the new dub .... The actors (and translated lines) are VERY trite and unemotional (like your typical BAD anime), and I personally LOVE the lines added in the original English dub (ie first scene: "Red bennies... three of 'em..", "You got a bad attitude pops! Lighten up before your arteries harden!"). This was probably done to match the subtitles, which is stupid, since two sets of subtitles could have been made; or three for that matter, like one in Japanese. Then there's the extras disk. You know, I LOVE it when I can't get a display on the remaining/total time on the extra features... and this is a rapidly spreading disease on many new DVDs. It infects half the extras disk. Also, weren't there American trailers of any sort? I SWEAR I've seen an English trailer before. Probably because it was the original dub. The other complaint on the extras disk is that it has a ridiculously large amount of pictures from the comics (which are all THE EXACTLY SAME LOOKING), and almost no pix of other collectibles (my t-shirt and soundtrack are NOT listed). Otherwise, pretty good job.