Rating: 
Summary: My all time favorite movie
Review: When I heard that Akira was coming out on DVD I jumped for joy! I've watched my VHS tape of Akira so many times it's no good anymore. Now to hear that it's coming out on DVD AND remastered is too good to be true. In my opinion, no anime has come close to matching the brilliance of this movie. I would even say this movie tops anything out of Hollywood. It is just amazing. I'll be first in line to buy this DVD on the 24th.
Rating: 
Summary: Greatest Anime of the 20th century
Review: This is a great movie. Definitely revolutionary for itz time. Those who compare it to anime of today may see it as "just average", but it is by far the greatest breakthrough in anime. While the manga is so much better, this movie does an above average job of converting manga to animation. To those who rate this movie low because of the bad dubbing I say,"Why would you watch the dubbed version when you have the original japanese track?" Anyone who knows anything about anime knows that if you have the option to watch the subbed version you must. I own a very extensive DVD anime collection and I have never watched one movie, OVA, or series in the english version. If you are unable to read I would recommend dubs, but obviously you can if you are reading this right now. Oh well, Akira is great.Why?Great Animation, Converted Well, Revolutionary, Human Characters(character that have flaws), Psychic Powers(always a great feature), Nice mixture of drama and action.
Rating:
Summary: High Quality Excellent Entertainment
Review: Let me just start by saying that I wish they treated all of the important Anime films this way (Princess Mononoke, Wings of Homenaise...). The package for this thing is amazing (limited tin edition that is). When I received this in the mail it blew me away! I don't think anyone has ever shipped a more complete package for an Anime film before this. You get the 2 hour+ movie and another 1.5 hrs worth of extras on a seperate disc, not including the more than 4500 sketches and artwork you can scroll through. You can really tell how much better the remastered version is over the original when you watch the extras where they show the non-remastered film. There is much missing from the backgrounds, simply because the film quality is poor (extras disc). The other thing I found amazing is that on the movie itself there is absolutely no pixelation or rainbows present, which any animation fan can tell you is a problem with a lot of Animation DVDs. Pionneer went all the way and re-translated the subtitling and re-dubbed the film, making the English version about 50 times better than the previous dub. The names of the characters now sound more like their Japanese names. They also went back and remastered the original Japanese track, although they did NOT put that in 5.1; a small complaint as everything thing else in this package is of the absolute highest quality. Buy this.
Rating:
Summary: The 'Star Wars' of anime
Review: Why is this movie so good...... because it's Akira. Sure it's a poor substitute for the extremely long comic book (I think there are 50+ comics condensced into a film) but who cares. This was the first *BIG* Japanimation film. It gained such recognition for good reason.... because it's entertaining and looks damn good. Despite being over a decade old I'd say this is still one of the top movies of the genre (although 'Ghost in the Shell' is pretty sweet).
Rating:
Summary: Brilliance -- the mold-breaking epic '"anime"
Review: Amazing -- as stated before, the key turning point for anime in the states. As an ex-anime fan (I quit watching once I moved to Japan oddly enough) I can still pop this in and enjoy this mesmorizing, subliminal cult classic - even enough to warrant buying a Hong Kong hack version DVD, with AWFUL subtitles. One should hesitate to call this an anime, for more than a few reasons. At a time I could have easily qualified as otaku, I welcomed obvious elements of this film that you would not find in other movies. Among them are: -The *BEST* soundtrack in any animated feature, by Geinoh Yamashirogumi (who I'm seeing in Tokyo next month!!). Phenominal, percussion-heavy organic tracks, befitting each scene. A true masterpiece. Cheers to Otomo for not hiring some ..., Japanese pop band like EVERY other anime-producer does. If you like the music, hunt down their other stuff- Ecophony: Gaia is incredible. -A story open for imagination and interpretation -No cheese Things you will NOT find in this feature that are in most animes -... tunes that are basically regurgitated 80's music with todays technology -scantilly clad babes with guns bigger than a tank -Cheese With the added "Akira Sound Clip" which shoes the making of the music, this DVD makes my DVD recommendation of the quarter, and at an incredible price!
Rating:
Summary: Anime classic
Review: As a kid I was brought up on Disney and WB fare, but a Japanese friend took me to see Akira at a cinema in Scotland in 1989. Compared with Western products, the incredible depth and quality of Akira's animation left me open-mouthed. Naturally Western animation has moved on since then, using computer generated characters and scenes, and has closed the "agog" factor somewhat. That's the reason for 4 stars and not 5. Fortunately I understand this DVD has the Japanese soundtrack. I've seen both the dubbed version and the original (I have the VHS version). The original is far, far superior. This is supposed to be a Japanese movie, with Japanese characters, and Japanese culture, set in Tokyo. Watch it in Japanese and use the English subtitles. Even if you don't understand what they're saying, the tones and pitch of the voices, and the speed of speech, are all channels of communication from the director. I agree with one of the previous reviewers that on your first viewing you will probably come away rather confused. I admit my recommendation to watch it in Japanese with English subtitles will not aid comprehension. But so what if you need 2 viewings. Surely that's the whole point of buying a DVD: you can watch it again for free. In conclusion, if you only ever watch one Japanese anime, watch this one. And you're better off buying than renting as you'll need, and want, more than one viewing.
Rating: 
Summary: Why Akira is so-so as a movie
Review: As one of the first anime movies I saw, I can say I was at first in awe, then dumbfounded by Akira. It's really one of those movies that teeters between brilliance and failure. Many who get confused will probably give them the benefit of the doubt and say it's brilliant. Or maybe I'm a little more cynical than most. Anyhow, this movie is like 20 lbs of manga (comic books) condensed into two hours of film. Do you really think they will pull off a coherent story? To their credit, I don't think you could distill 20 lbs of manga into a better movie. Unless, of course, you broke it up and fleshed it out a bit like they should have done. If you decide to delve into this movie, I highly recommend you pick up the manga (available here on amazon) and learn to love that first, then the movie second. It's all that's good about this movie, only made so you can understand it.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Anime Movie, EVER!
Review: If you are an anime fan, but have not seen this movie, then you are not an anime fan. This is the most famous anime movie ever, and the best. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes to see a good movie. It is rated R, but dosn't have a lot of greatly objectionable material. The end is kind of gross, but this is a science-fiction movie. Parents may want to watch it with the youngsters, but should not have to monitor too closely. You don't have to be an anime fan to enjoy Akira. I want you to buy this, watch it, and love it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Anime there is...
Review: Do yourself a favor and buy this movie. Do yourself another favor and watch it in Japanese. The first 15 or so times I watched this film it was in Japanese. I don't know Japanese, but the origonal translation was so bad it took away from the overall experience. This is a must have DVD.
Rating:
Summary: a pretty good movie...
Review: i have been reading the reviews for this movie, and almost every single one of them has said this was a great movie. So I went to my video store and saw it in the japanimation aisle and I rented it. The version I rented was the japanese version with english subtitles and was presented in the weirdest looking widescreen I've seen since "the insider". I thought the film was pretty good. Not the best piece of anime, i've seen, but when the limited edition dvd comed out, i'm going to go out and buy it. up until this movie the pokemon movies were my favorite pieces of anime. i hope the dvd looks better than the crummy old 1989 video edition i saw.
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