Back to Sugaminny's Profile Sugaminny's Profile

I went into Akira with these expectations:
First of all, the obvious: this anime is celebrated, highly rated and critically appraised - so it should be pretty good, at least not bad right?
Second, i also heard from reviews, that Akira includes some themes indicative of the time it stems from - which is what got me interested in watching it in the first place.


Story:
My favorite genres being comedy and slice of life anime, i knew that i wouldn't enjoy this movie if it includes action and violence for the sake of including action and violence. Action and violence can be enjoyable ... and meaningful in fiction, but Akira doesn't show that. Violence and action or fights as in Akira can be understood as a dialogue, which means that you as the viewer have to understand WHY they fight and what motivations they stand for - otherwise it's meaningless. And to me the violence apart from a few times where i understood the motivation of either party, the violence/fights and action scenes in Akira, which is most of the movie, were meaningless to me.
You can also make a point as a filmmaker or storyteller to convey a story of meaningless violence, which i don't think this story was going for. But for that it would suffice to show a couple of scenes of meaningless violence as an introduction and then focus on other more important parts of the story. The introduction and first minutes into the movie are in my opinion wuite well done and show the meaningless violence, the fights between the biker-gangs, with the police and also violence occuring in the city seperate from our protagonists.

The story of the movie feels like watching only random selected episodes of a longrunning TV-series. While you understand some things and can kind of follow the most important plotline, some things are confusing and it feels like you skipped some parts. If you want to cram a really long story into a two hour movie, you have to be really careful and deliberate about what you include in the final version and what you exclude - what is necessary and what isn't. Cutting a lot of unnecessary violence would result in more time for the story and circumstances (as well as the characters) that could be more fleshed out.

alas, i don't really get the point - 4/10


Art:
I really enjoyed the extremely detailed artwork. In comparison to many current anime, Akira includes a lot of introcate details, that i just know must have taken a lot of time and effort - which i admire. Especially the backgrounds where incredible.
The animation was really fluid and the colors are overall really pretty and unique.

On the other hand i did not enjoy the character designs. First, they are just not drawn in a style i enjoy. I also had some troubles differentiating the characters between each other, because - as much as we make fun of the "protagonist hair" as a troupe - it makes the characters at least distinguishable from each other.
And i still don't understand the point and creative decision behind making the children characters so hideous looking.

the art, design and animation are surprisingly what i enjoyed the most - 6/10


Sound:
The sound seems to be generally getting a relatively high score. I have to disagree.
I personally don't really notice sound design in movies that often, mostly only if it's really good or really bad. In Akira i thought for the most part that the sound was alright. I also appreciate the movie for trying some more alternative modes or ways of doing and creating the soundtrack.
But some parts of the story i was abruptly ripped out by what seemed like a guy moaning as soundtrack in the background (and this not as a sfx for a guy moaning but motorbike sounds, machinery, fighting, sirens or soundtrack and the like).

which is why i give this a - 4/10


Characters:
The characters in this were dissapointing. It would help if they would get some actual character development.
Kaneda and his friends/gang seemed like one-dimensional characters to me, simply summarized with "student protester/rebel". I don't understand his motivations whatsoever.
Tetsuo makes some more decisions on screen, but his character and his motivation after watching are not entirely clear to me. I think Tetsuo in Tetsuo: The Iron Man had more characterization than any character in this movie.
Those two characters are of particular interest as the movie makes it seem like we should care about these characters as our protagonists - but the thing is i don't care about them. Both of the were barely introduced and far from fleshed out. They are introduced as friends, so i feel like the movie wants viewers to care that they then turn on each other and fight against each other. But the thing with show don't tell is, that while the film TELLS the viewers a lot that these two are good friends and have known each other since they were little, it SHOWS them being at odds with each other from the beginning.

Kei seems like a obligatory female character/potential love interest that can also give some necessary exposition to the viewers aka plot device.
Besides them and the children, because they stand out visually, i couldn't really distinguish and remember the characters which made it incresingly difficult to follow the story.
all in all disapointing and it didn't make me care for any of the characters - 3/10


Enjoyment:
All in all, while i appreciated some of the detailed art and especially the scenery, i didn't really get into the story. In my opinion and experience if you watch more than 20% of a show or film and don't like it, you'll probably not come to like it later either. For me this was the case with Akira as well. While the first couple of minutes were entertaining, it went downhill fast.
With some background knowledge of the historical, societal and political context of the Japan at the time of the production/influences on the story, i really appreciated and enjoyed the themes of the movie indicative of it's time. Aspects include the atomic bomb, symbols surrounding the olympics, student protests, violence and clashes with the police. Especially watching the movie now in 2021 in wake of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
- 5/10


Overall:
Tbh i prefered Tetsuo: The Iron Man to this - 4/10