WHAT IS AKIRA 1988
Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic cyberpunk film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, produced by Ryōhei Suzuki and Shunzō Katō, and written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, based on Otomo's 1982 manga of the same name.
Set in a dystopian 2019, Akira tells the story of Shōtarō Kaneda, a leader of a biker gang whose childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima, acquires incredible telekinetic abilities after a motorcycle accident, eventually threatening an entire military complex amidst chaos and rebellion in the sprawling futuristic metropolis of Neo-Tokyo.
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| Shōtarō Kaneda |
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| Tetsuo Shima |
Shotaro Kaneda is the leader of the Bōsōzoku gang referred to as The Capsules and the main protagonist of AKIRA. He is the childhood friend of Tetsuo Shima.
Shima Tetsuo is both the deuteragonist and main antagonist of AKIRA. He serves as a representation of the corruption of power.
MY REVIEW ON AKIRA 1988
Akira is definitely a unique Anime film and a one of a kind movie, one that certainly doesn't need a live action adaptation to reach a larger audience. The story is where things get a little bumpy. The film is legendary not flawless, and it's very easy just to gush over Akira for nostalgia's sake. All in all, the plot was fine on it's own, but when you combine it with the music score, action, and suspense, the plot gets supercharged.
What this movie has achieved with hand drawn animation is in my opinion far ahead of it's time. The amazing synth heavy score by is one of the highlights of this movie and along with the beautiful animation, it does a brilliant job in highlighting the barbaric nature of the biker gangs and the cruel irony of the conflict and instability of Neo-Tokyo.
The movie has brilliant action and scenes of destruction and unlike Hollywood movies of the same type has a cynical approach. The movie has a very effective use of Dark and tragic humor which goes very well with the overall dystopian theme of the movie. The movie does not hold back in terms of portraying graphic scenes of gruesome bloody violence which is what I love about the movie and in my opinion this along with many other things makes this movie brilliant and far ahead of it time.
And yes, when people say it changed the game, it did. It's one of the pillars of anime that has been the talk for a while and will only get talked about more with the 2020 Olympics happening in Japan only a year after the movie was set in. When it comes to anime movies outside of Studio Ghibli(one of the best anime movies studio), Akira is undoubtedly one of the first that people will mention. So yeah, if you haven't seen it yet, don't worry; it's not going anywhere.
Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated post-apocalyptic cyberpunk film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, produced by Ryōhei Suzuki and Shunzō Katō, and written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, based on Otomo's 1982 manga of the same name.
