Rating: 
Summary: UGH!
Review: Touted as the greatest anime ever produced my friend and I who are huge anime fans rented this POC (piece of crap)....... Mediocre animation, lousy story.... the best part was close to the beginning when the fat kid gets punched in the mouth and pukes up a bunch of blood..... THAT'S it! Worst Anime I've ever seen!
Rating: 
Summary: Close, but no cigar
Review: Whatever anyone says about Akira, Otomo's movie is an undeniable landmark in the history of Japanese Animation.The movie version of Otomo's epic comic book series serves as an abridged version and ends the story a little prematurely. But the beautifully rendered world presented in this movie is so complex and fully realized that you know you're watching the work of a master of several art forms. The special features on Pioneer's two-disk special edition inspire further appreciation of Otomo's creation. Documentaries on the musicians, actors and animators show a high level of dedication to bringing Otomo's vision to the screen. Most impressive is the interview with Otomo himself. But why, why, WHY bother to collect all of this information and then disregard the original movie score? The english dubbed version is digitally enhanced and sounds great if you don't mind listening to American actors alter the material so they can read it to you in English. Listening to the Japanese spoken-word version, is an option on the special edition, but the sound quality was left untouched, in mono. This is the closest I've been able to get to the original Akira experience with my average DVD player. WARNING!!
There is a DTS version of Akira that Pioneer put out recently, offering a digitally remastered version of the original Japanese sountrack. It doesn't work on regular DVD players. I didn't know that when I bought it. I hope and pray that Pioneer will soon re-release their special edition with the original Japanese soundtrack remastered in surround sound (that doen't require a fancy speaker system). Then I can buy this movie a third time.
Rating:
Summary: Legendary anime, crappy new dub.
Review: I saw Akira about two years ago and haven't regreted it since. Fortuatelly, the first two times I saw it were on the Streamline Pictures VHS. When I bought the Pioneer DVD I was extremely mad. To be honest, I can't remember most of the lines from the Streamline tape but I thought the acting and script was alot better than the garbage Pioneer made. I hate Ronska, SharpX13, Matt Peterson, war of the 4, samjohnson123, and Evan Miller for saying the new dub is better than the original. Especially SharpX13 for saying that peter from Trigun did a better job and sounds better than that cool dude from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I have to say otherwise. Pioneer did this because they are a bunch of greedy fat chodes that want to destroy art for the sake of profit. I wish I could find the guy responsible for this and strangle him with my bare hands!! Yes, the Star Wars Trilogy was revised to look and sound better and included extra footage, but its essence wasn't lost in return. They kept the toy X-Wings and Snowspeeders and they didn't change the script. Yes, the Streamline dub was full of life and sounded realistic, the Pioneer one sounds lifeless and played through. The yuppies in favor of the new dub think its better because its more faithful to the original Japanese script and makes it easier to understand. Thats exactly why its terrible!! Great movies are supposed to make you think!! Since this was spelled out for the audience, its makes it no better than Disney crap like Lilo and Stich and Treasure Planet!! Now anyone can enjoy Akira, its not supposed to work that way, only intellectual people should enjoy this!! Down with Pioneer!! Boycott all the Akira DVDs from Pioneer and buy the Streamline Pictures VHS from this site or buy the Akira "Ultimate Collection" DVD from sendit.com. Just make sure your DVD player can play Region 2 DVDs. Heed my advice, you'll thank me some day!!
Rating: 
Summary: A Great DVD That Begs to Be Seen on a Big Screen
Review: I first saw Akira in the early 1990s at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle. (At the time an "art house" with a wonderfully eclectric playbill, it's since become a first-run movie house, though still one of the most beautiful movie theaters inside you could ever want to see.) Imagine that, all you Akira fans, seeing this film for the very first time on the big screen. When I left the theatre I was literally shaking, and thinking to myself, "You don't just watch that movie. You inject it into your veins." The good news is that this DVD does all the things we want a DVD to do - the picture quality is great, likewise the sound. Unfortunately - for most of us - Akira is a movie that's considerably lessened on the small screen versus seeing it in a theatre. Otomo's obsessive attention to detail, the sheer complexity of the drawings, the larger-than-life horror of much of the imagery, fairly begs for a large canvas to present it at its best. If you have a friend with a true big screen TV with a surround sound system, beg, borrow or steal the opportunity to plug your Akira DVD into it. You'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: An Oldie, but Not A Goodie
Review: I understand that this anime is revolutionary and i respect it for being the first anime movie in America. This, however, does not make up for the fact that it is long and boring. The plot is terrible and the characters are almost unhuman in their weakly drawn emmotions and phyci. I have never read the manga behind this movie so I can't judge that (in fact I have not heard anything but good reviews about it).
I at first purchased this anime because it had such a good review. I like to read and follow reviews. Now I know better. If your like me, you won't buy this anime. It's a waste of money and alot of time. If you are a newbie to anime stay away. The only reason I would buy this is if I were an avid fan and wanted to see where it all began. This one should be left in the vault.
Rating:
Summary: ALEXS CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
Review: Highlights: Astounding animation with a few unforgettable trippy sequences; uncompromising dynamism; characteristically complicated-but-involving anime plot.
Lowpoints: The dubbed version contains laughably bad translation; infinite running time; repetitive at times. Conclusion: True anime fans will savor every minute of "Akira", directed by the legendary Katsuhiro Otomo, relinquishing themselves to the emblematic anime plot. Those, who are familiar with several anime features, but aren't genre geeks, will marvel at the futuristic animation and get mildly caught up in the convoluted narrative, as well as squirm at the explicit carnage. Others should be aware that this one is NOT for the kids, OR fans of solely Walt Disney productions, who will most probably get irritated at the atypical structure of the plot and horrified by the extreme gratuitous gore. An alternative classic amongst genre aficionados.
Rating:
Summary: The Grand Exalted Poobah of anime deserves it's praise
Review: "Akira" is one of those exceptional moments when an art form transcends itself and becomes something greater. It is one of the few anime's to be viewed by the "mainstream." It defines animation in the way that "Watchmen" defines comic books, "The Empire Strikes Back" defines science fiction, or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" defines wuxia, as something to strive for and not quite achieve. It is a watermark. That's some pretty flowery praise, but "Akira" deserves it. Inside this movie is some of the best, most crisp and exiting animation ever captured on film. There are so many stunning moments (the battle with the clowns, the sewer race, Tetsuo's battle with the army, Kaneda's race to save his friend, the background of Neo-Tokyo) backed up with an exceptional soundtrack that blends techno music with traditional Japanese styles. The story line is traditional anime, with an explosive mixture of youth and technology juxtaposed with the traditional need to impose order on chaos. The characters are both righteous and stupid, heroic and annoying, competent and naive. Ah heck, just watch it! Seeing "Akira" get this collector's edition DVD treatment is like seeing the Mona Lisa get her own room at the Louvre. All you can say is "it's about time."
Rating: 
Summary: Huh? Like the way it started of but hated the ending
Review: I just saw the movie for the first time last night and was seeing the movie in my sleep. Not something you should watch at 1:49 in the morning for the first time. Anyway the version I watch wasn't the Special Edition version but the orginal DVD version that was dubbed onto DVD. I loved the way it started off as far as the plot is concerned but there was no time for character devleopment. However the fight scenes where great as well as the main characters attitude Kenda. He kept the movie going. I could tell that he is a pretty boy in school for the fact that he wears a pink shirt and no one talks about him. The best scene in the movie in my opinion was the fight between Kenda and Takosi (sp? on both) at the military base. The ending left me saying WTF, just because of the simple fact was that was the point that I got lost on. Where he turned into a huge monster and Kenda getting sucked in with him is what made the movie loose a few points in my book. Its not as good as everyone says it is in my opinion but it is a good Anime none the less. I recommend seeing it once but you have to pay attention or you will bound to get lost. This movie is more for the SC-Fi fans of Anime
Rating:
Summary: Princess Monoke
Review: The day I saw this movie I was in shock and filled with excitment. Before, I never saw an anime or knew what it was, I thought it was no more than japanese Disney. In the the end of the 80's is when I saw Akira and I loved anime ever since. This movie makes you not want to get up out of your seat and possibly lead you to soil your pants. The only thing I don't like about the special edition is the remastering of the original english dubbing. The old dubbing had more character and brass which helped me love it so much, with that extra umph I marvelled this movie for a very long time. Get it!
Rating:
Summary: Two hours are not enough!
Review: Two hours are not enough to fill in the incredible detail of this highly sophisticated sci-fi thriller. The special edition DVD comes with an extra DVD with interviews and behind the scenes featurettes. In one interview, the author of the manga series explains that his greatest challenge was to condense the entire series into two hours - and it shows. Since the series was not finished when he began work on the film, he had to create the ending first and then work backwards. The result is a very fast exciting picture that lacks character development. We never really get to know the hero of the story, Kaneda. Readers of the manga series confirm this and highly recommend reading the books(more than 2,000 pages). The author also explains how he was highly influenced by the movie Easy Rider as a kid and this shows in Akira. You might almost think the motorcycle is the main character. Overall, this is a good movie to watch, but I think it would have worked better as a TV series.
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