Akira

Rating:
Summary: not that great
Review: I don't know what all the fuss is about when it comes to this movie. It is so overrated, long and at some points very boring. And yes I am an anime fan but this just didn't work for me. When Tutsuo's body got huge and was ready to blow up that was when I thought the movie steered to far away from what the movie was supposed to be about. Very strange movie indeed. I recommend Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Cowboy Bebop The Movie and Ghost in the Shell over this movie.

Rating:
Summary: If it's not broken, don't fix it. You crazy Americans.
Review: What can I say?
I've loved this movie since I was seven and it saddens me to see it so changed.
The new voice actors are weak and, of course, the script was edited not only for clarity but for censorship.
But please, all the Akira diehards know that three peanuts equal a handful of red bennies.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest movie, lame new voices
Review: I love this movie, I have loved it for years. When I bought a new DVD of it I was totally turned off to it. If anyone has seen the original movie with the original American voices then you will not like this new version. The new voices are horrible compaired to the original ones. While I do love this movie and always will I guess I will just have to watch it on VHS until sombody gets it right and puts the old voices onto the DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, bad price.
Review: I find it interesting that Geneon/Pioneer is trying to pass this off as a special value. This regular edition Akira DVD had a normal list price of the same amount when it was first released in 2001. For shame. If Geneon wants to offer us a value price for this DVD, perhaps they should try a list price of $14.98 instead. That might have made amazon.com's discount price more like $12.98 instead of $16.98.

Anyway, Akira is one of the greatest anime films of all time and a science fiction masterpiece. Despite Geneon/Pioneer's price deception, don't miss out on this fantastic film if you haven't yet seen it.

Note: I would have given this DVD 5 stars if not for Geneon/Pioneer's price deception.

Rating:
Summary: Weird but good.
Review: 'Akira' is a really weird movie but a good one nonetheless. It entertaining and a joy to watch as long as one doesn't try to make too much sense out of it.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(and it's a cartoon)
Review: This movie rocked!!!!It takes place in Neo-Tokyo(Tokyo was destroyed in world war three) were two motocycle gangs fight each other wile one of the member is wouned and taken to the hospital. This movie goes every were and is really the best movie ever made. Perfect story and perfect animation this movie became real popular real soon, which is a good thing becouse the movie is so perfect. Good for anyone who likes Japanese movie and has a surprise ending!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: The best Anime movie ever.. or is it.....JK
Review: If you do not see this movie u should die!This is the best anime movie ever if your into sciencefiction or not,this is a must see movie!It is a action packed movie full of suspenseful characters and a good thing is,it is packed with the view of many characters not just one, so their is no one main character.You have to rent it!If you dont you will go to Damnation!Oh yeah if your parents are strict in what is suitable for you too watch you might not want to watch it(atleastinfrontofthem)it has one short frontal top nudity scene and language is very strong and their is quite some gore.Any ways if u want to rent the movie dont go to Blockbuste..they wont have it!Go to hollywood videos they should have it.

Rating:
Summary: Cyberjunk
Review: Like certain operas, Akira has a great overture and grand finale but much in between is just wasted energy. It's like watching kids play with bombs. It's impressive but forget about having a purpose or hitting suitable targets.
The message seems to be human technology always runs ahead of human wisdom, that whatever knowledge culled from science too often and quickly ends up in the hands of powerhungry loons. Well, the movie demonstrates much the same thing. Those who make movies are't necessarily ones who should be making movies.

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular DVD release of a controversial Anime classic.
Review: Katsuhiro Otomo's ¥1.1 billion animated adaptation of his 2,000+ page graphic novel, AKIRA, is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Japanese animation, but I'm going to take an unpopular stand and say that I can't bring myself to consider it one of my favorite movies. The animation is spectacular, yes, and the music by the Geinoh Yamashiro Gumi is a fitting compliment to this post-apocalyptic tale about juvenile delinquents, corrupt politicians, and supernatural powers going wrong. Where it falters, however, is in the story department. In trying to squeeze the number of pages Otomo wrote into a two-hour movie, the plot is rather convoluted and almost difficult to follow. It's also not for the squeamish of viewers much less young children; there is an extreme amount of graphic violence and bloodletting, and there are some truly gruesome sequences toward the end. (And by gruesome, I mean, one character -- our anti-hero, Tetsuo -- has his arm amputated by a space satellite, and we see the bloody results of it; later he gets an artificial arm, which goes out of control, and he transforms into a gross, indistinguishable mass of flesh and gore.) I don't hate this movie by any means; as mentioned, the animation and music are both things to marvel at, but there are far better Anime movies around which at least don't overdo the graphic violence, and have a more coherent plot to follow. Need I mention, too, that I was only thirteen(!) at the time I first saw the movie.

Five years later, when I saw it again, it wasn't the bloodletting or labyrinthine story that offended me. What did it was the English dub released by Streamline Pictures more than ten years ago. I understand this dub has its fans, but I can never bring myself to listen to it. Ever. It's arguably the absolute worst English language production I've ever heard; the voice acting was terrible and offensive, and the script was poorly written, and for its biggest shortcoming, ABSOLUTELY INCOMPREHENSIBLE. This only made watching the movie even more difficult, especially its rather daring (and equally confusing) conclusion.

However, I do have to give Pioneer Entertainment credit for putting a lot into remastering this movie for a better audience as well as this Special Edition DVD. The video quality is amazing, but not quite perfect; there are still some specks I could spot on the print, but these are very insignificant considering how gorgeous the print looks. The biggest improvement, however, has to be the English re-dub. Made by AniMaze, Inc., with direction by Kevin Seymour, it is superior to the Streamline dub in every way. The voice acting is extremely good; I found myself liking some of the characters I initially didn't care for as a result of the old dub. More importantly, the script is MUCH, MUCH BETTER. Its lines are not laughable, and IT MAKES SENSE, TOO (well, except for the ending, but then again, I guess there isn't much one can do to improve it). I also noticed that it's close in spirit and meaning to the subtitled script. Sometimes using a direct word-for-word literal translation in an English dub can result disastrously, but thankfully, the new translation is well written and equally comprehensible. Strangely, some disgruntled purists say that the OLD DUB is better than the new dub! I find this totally ridiculous, especially when the first dub was so unlistenable, but then again I've heard similar complaints about other Streamline-released productions being redubbed, such as THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO, and CASTLE IN THE SKY, both of which had excellent redubs. And this is from someone who didn't even see the FIRST English dubs of these two titles. Plus, you sub fans should at least be happy that the Japanese language track is on here, too. It may only be 2.0 and not 5.1, but at least it's there for you to listen to. (Note: A recent Pioneer release has the Japanese track remastered to DTS 5.1.)

Its the special features, however, that make this edition of AKIRA deserve its subtitle. There's absolutely everything you'd want to know about this film, including a 45-minute "making-of" documentary, a 20-minute featurette on the creation of the music, an interview with Otomo, three excellent featurettes about the remastering process (and where three talented actors from the English dub -- Johnny Yong Bosch as Kaneda, Joshua Seth as Tetsuo, and Wendee Lee as Kei -- get to speak their thoughts, too; an exciting feature considering that I'm into dubs), and a glossary. The latter feature helps make the movie more comprehensible, as it explains some of the terms found in the film -- not to mention the cryptic ending. There's also a "capsule feature", where a capsule appears once in a while on the screen, and you can highlight it to learn even more interesting facts on the film.

AKIRA may be a movie that I have problems recommending as a good introduction for Anime (Miyazaki's movies come to mind for me), but this DVD release is so well done that it comes across as an essential. Even for a non-fan!

Rating:
Summary: Why Pioneer why??????????
Review: Ok the DVD is great wipes the floor with the VHS version but some of the diolouge changed and the voice overs are different but in a way it wasn't needed all they had to do was transfer the old VHS movie to the DVD without re-releasing to movie in theaters in 2001, so I liked the old VHS version better but this is a good start for anybody just begining to enter into the world of Japanese Animation enjoy.