Akira

Rating:
Summary: AKIRA
Review: Before i saw this movie i really didnt think much of Japanimation. I rented it because nothing else was at the video store. It has turned out to be one of the best movies i have ever seen. I had to watch it twice to fully grasp it but it truly is an incredible movie. It is considered the greatest anime ever and is also considered one of the best movies of all time because of its rich storyline and amazing animation(for its time). It is a powerful and emotional movie with interesting ideas and characters. WATCH THIS MOVIE. You will be suprised.

Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Landmark
Review: Wow. Finally we are presented with the DVD version of this fantastic movie. I was beginning to lose faith in the system... But it's not all good since even after all this time the people who are putting out this epic on DVD have failed by making the 5.1 version in English and the Stereo in Japanese which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me! The first thing that comes to mind is: ARE THEY MENTAL? Of course I'll still buy it. I've been waiting for this for an excrutiatingly long time and a minor mistake (yeah right, who am I kidding) like this isn't going to detter me. Still I am very disappointed. Obviously the movie itself is of such enormous awesomeness I can't even describe it (esp. any better than the previous reviewers who did an excellent job). All I can say is please buy this movie if you buy one movie in your entire existance and watch it many many times. You will not regret it. Definetely a tremendous landmark in the history of all animation and still the single best animation movie of all time (yes i do enjoy some of the older Disney movies but there is just no comparison). If you have this movie and need a good anime fix, please also acquire Ghost in the Shell, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies, and Ninja Scroll (these are in order from best to not so best since all are amazing and of course this is only my opinion but I'm sure you'll agree after watching each one).

Rating:
Summary: Word to the Wise for Akira" fans. . .
Review: First of all, if you haven't seen "Akira" before, STOP READING and BUY the disc already. It really is the pinnacle of Japanimation, as far as I'm concerned. The cels are dazzling, and nothing has even approached the minute detail of this film, and it was made in the late Eighties! If you HAVE seen the initial English dub released around 1990, then you are in for an interesting ride because this is a completely different film. The dialogue is not only done by new actors, but nearly every line is changed from the previous dub. One obvious change is pronuciations of the character's names: "Akira" isn't "uh-KEE-ruh," as in the first English dub. Now, it's pronounced, "AH-kee-dah," with the DAH spoken as a hard "R." Kaneda isn't "kah-NAY-dah," but "KAH-nah-dah." It takes a bit of getting used to if you've seen the original English dub as many times as I have, but it's still a classic piece of animation that can still blow your mind every bit as much as it did in 1990. I recommend this version, although since I am still very much fond of the previous version, I would have liked it if they included the first English dub in a separate audio track. But alas, I am just grateful to see "Akira" back on the market so that anime fans, new and old, can continue to appreciate this master work.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best anime ever
Review: You MUST HAVE this one. It has everything. Great voice acting, state of the art animation, great charictors, excelent plot, good ideas, and some really cool bikes. If you're into action packed gang war sci-fi action this is perfect for you!! You will watch it over and over and over. Anyone else will agree with me that this is one of the greatest anime works ever made! It's simply increadibal. Do whatever you have to to get your hands on this movie!

Rating:
Summary: One of the finest animated films ever made
Review: It's difficult to overstate the impact that "Akira" had on animation in general, not just Japanese animation, as well as the landscape of science fiction and popular culture. To this day, it is THE work of Japanese animation (alongside "Princess Mononoke") -- the one that most people wind up seeing at some point or another, the way most people wind up seeing "Citizen Kane" or "Casablanca." It's a staple, a touchstone film.

Opening with a silent apocalypse, the film leaps into a future where Tokyo has been destroyed (by what?) and rebuilt. If anything, it looks even gaudier than before, with neon and chrome and endless ribbons of highway stretching into the distance. Brutal gangs of kids on motorcycles tear up the wired electric maze of the city. Incredibly, one of the kids -- Kaneda -- is one of our protagonists. He's as disaffected and disenfranchised as you can get, but still human in many ways.

The contrast, of course, will be provided by his "weakling" partner Tetsuo (irony there, since "Tetsu" means "steel"), who through a series of plot complications that are too difficult to relate here directly gets experimented on in ways that make him more than human. In fact, Theodore Sturgeon's own novel named "More Than Human" may have been a source of inspiration, since several of the other characters live in the same sort of psychic "gestalt" that Sturgeon had in his book.

The film piles one gargantuan revelation on top of another, leading to a climactic battle in an unfinished Olympic stadium. With great power comes great responsibility, and Tetsuo has one but not the other, of course. He turns against his friends, against humanity, against even God one might say, but finds that there is no real power in rebelling for rebellion's sake. Or is there?

A synopsis of the plot hardly does the film justice, and in fact it may need to be seen more than once to get everything straight. I myself have seen the film four times in toto, and as with "Blade Runner" I found myself so overwhelmed the first time that I needed subsequent viewings just to put the film's look-and-feel behind me and concentrate on the story. Perhaps this is an artistic defect -- but when was the last time a film blew you away that completely?

Rating:
Summary: Animation as an art form
Review: In America, we tend to think of animated films as cartoons. The Disney imprint comes to mind first, and for some that is the extent of it. For more serious devotees, the infamous Warner Brothers works, the Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson comedic less-than-one reelers are held in equal esteem with Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd.

Several films require a different way of thinking about animation as an art form: Rock and Rule (long out of print), Fantastic Planet, Light Years, the brilliant failure of the first Heavy Metal, and yes, both versions of Fantasia.

Akira is in a class by itself.

This film is the reason I wanted a DVD player. More than The Cell, The Matrix or Dark City. More than Welles's films, or Hitch's, or even Kurosawa's.

This film is proof that cgi's are not the be-all and end-all of the animated film.

One complaint: The manga series covers much more ground than the film. Where is the sequel?

Rating:
Summary: Cartoon by any other name
Review: Although the only people who click through to this will be fans, so I'll be derided for all time, I have to say that there was a point in this film when I woke up and still wasn't interested.

Remember Astro Boy? I do!

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Animated Film Ever Made...
Review: The shimmering, neon skyline, the banshee scream of tires against the pavement, the lingering headlight stream from KanedaÕs gang, riding the asphalt streets of Neo-Tokyo like wildfire phantoms, and probably the most interesting and intense perspective of a motorcycle accident ever filmed. These are the visceral images that bombard the minds of those who watch only the first few minutes of Akira. And thought it may be presumptuous for me to say so, I believe it is quite possibly the greatest beginning minutes of film in the history of cinema.

Akira is a film that takes the conventional rationale of animation and slams it head first into the pavement at 90 miles per hour. It succeeds in so many degrees and manifestations that to commend them all would be impossible. An engrossing, complex, and almost mystifying plot envelopes genuine and unconventionally three-dimensional characters into conflicts and conditions that defy the bounds of the word Òepic.Ó

There is no film, in the history of all realms of the cinema, that would suitably be coined a ÒroninÓ film more deservedly than Akira. ThatÕs not to say that Akira hasnÕt gained great popularity or even notoriety, for it has. However, itÕs my opinion that it has not yet achieved a pinnacle of universal and genuine acceptance that a film of such obscured majesty rightfully deserves.

To many, including myself, this was the first true experience of the world of Japanese anime, an all-inclusive and texture genre that is unfortunately stereotyped by outlandishly stylized animation, trifle and confusing science fiction melodramas, and scantly clad heroines. However, as those who have continued to explore the genre have come to understand, this very medium contains no less profound or glorious works than any other forms or classification of film, and those justly deserving of equal and unbiased recognition. Akira is one of these very films. However, to my constant and perpetual disgust, it is seldom held in such lofty reverence as the great, but no more deserving, works of Hayao Miyazaki, Mamoru Oshii, and numerous others....

However, even those who appreciate animation as a genuine form of art, have not entirely gained a fitting perspective. Akira is not an overly-violent or intense film (especially when weighed against the almost grotesquely violent norm of most anime), but it can be construed so by many an unsuspecting viewers. Consequently, itÕs all too easy for someone with ÒculturedÓ tastes to presuppose a view of disfavor based purely on the filmÕs frank and stylized depiction of violence. On the other side of the coin, hard-core anime gore fanatics (and there are a lot of them) donÕt get the over-the-top violence theyÕve come to expect and are therefore disappointed. Additionally, many otaku (or obsessed anime and manga fans) who revel in dwelling within this obscure and almost-forbidden genre smirk at AkiraÕs widespread and uncharacteristic main-stream success.

And, if all these factors werenÕt enough to exclude all who watch Akira from realizing itÕs true cinematic accomplishment, so few, especially those not affiliated with the animation community, can fully recognize and appreciate the technical milestone in animation that Akira represents. Otomo, oddly enough inspired by the great works of Disney animation, attempted to revolutionize the ÒconventionalÓ form of animation in Japan by adopting the Western philosophy of aesthetic through motion.

Never since Max FleischerÕs invention of the rotoscope had a profound technical innovation culminated into a work of such supreme accomplishment in the field of animation. Every frame of Akira has a dimension of life and character not found in any anime of its time (and still few today). Virtually every individual, no matter how insignificant in either importance or stature, displays a subtle spark of originality. Even supplementary and background artwork contains a dimension of painstaking detail that almost defies imagination when considering the length and diversity of the film. Towering, mile-high skyscrapers, in addition to being accurately and geometrically rendered, contain countless individual windows, which in turn, contain within themselves countless more silhouettes of persons and office equipment. These backgrounds that could have taken weeks, perhaps months to complete appear on film, on average, no more that a second.

But behind the superficial beauty of Akira, is a plot construct of ingenious complexity and epic grandeur that makes for a complete and solidified cinematic accomplishment. A plot that to many, and indeed myself, appeared at first overly-complex and confusing has, after numerous viewings, been recognized by myself as unexpectedly balanced and well-coordinated, displaying OtomoÕs understanding of literary and thematic principals. Working with a story that took him close to five years to develop and design in the form of manga (or Japanese comics), he was able to water down and simplify the plot in a way that is masterfully conceived and flawlessly executed.

So, is Akira the greatest animated film ever made? In my opinion, yes. Does that mean you will like it? No. But I do suggest that you attempt to understand and recognize this film as an accomplishment in the diverse and complex world of animation. To what degree you find its greatness is entirely up to you.

Rating:
Summary: A classic... a must own, but only because its a classic
Review: Akira is one of those films that people love "just because." Yes, the animation is fantastic. Yes, it was one of the first films to make Japanese anime mainstream in the US. Yes, no other animated film has had the impact that Akira has had around the globe. So what? Like most feature length anime movies based on a long manga series, the plot is too condensed, simplified, and confusing all at the same time. Anyone who has seen it will understand how this makes sense. Hardcore otaku (anime fanatics) will love seeing the film on the big screen and remastered on DVD, but those viewing it for the first time or those unfamiliar with anime will most likely stare at the credits in disbelief and say to themselves... "what the [heck] was that???" This is a film that is not meant to be viewed casually, but is meant to be analyzed intensely, and everyone will have their own views on what the story as a whole means. I personally do not obsess over Akira... I don't praise it, but I acknowlegde its importance in the world of anime. Whether you'll like it or not, it is something everyone must see at least once, since it is an permanent piece of worldwide animation history. Finding the original VHS copy is nearly impossible nowadays, so there is no reason to not buy this DVD. Be warned though - your feelings toward Akira will be extremes: you'll either love it or hate it...

Rating:
Summary: Long Awaited and Well Deserved
Review: Finally, scrap your Canadian DVD release of Akira now that the new Special Edition is coming. This DVD is packed with features that only owners of the Criterion Laserdisc were privy to and then some. For one, the new dub features the original/international script found on the subtitled version which is much easier to understand. The most exciting aspect of this new DVD double set is the restoration by THX and the newly remastered soundtrack. At long last, this cherished Anime classic gets the complete treatment it deserved for nearly a decade.