Akira: Review By MovieWiz001

Warning: This review may contain spoilers to whoever has not seen the film.

I remember how interested I was in this film. Many said it's the best anime movie they've ever seen, to them. I given this film a shot a year ago and I thought it was graphically entertaining. I love anime films, they just have the most up-to-date looking animation for it's year, especially this. This is a 1988 film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo (Steamboy) who is also the creator of the manga, 'Akira' which came first. I never really knew what the story was about, so I watched the trailer which was showing mysteries and apocalypse and I said 'I gotta watch this movie!'. So I finally had the chance to watch the film, and my I'm like 'Wow, this was way beyond my expectations on how the film was gonna go. It was a pretty awesome anime, but it doesn't top 1997's Princess Mononoke which I think is the best anime film I've ever seen. 'Akira' is a film of apocalypse, it's not really that good of a story when it comes to the main characters, but it really does well in the whole apocalyptic Akira thing and psychic children. I'm mean really, Kaori... poor girl, all you were throughout the film was a peace of crap to everybody and you end up pancaked. :( But, seriously that doesn't count off the points in the story: it was just a few things added in and how it ended is all. Other than that 'Akira' is a masterfully animated film that just makes every single scene visually epic.

Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo's supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira's secrets were buried 30 years ago.

The funny thing is that when I first watched it, I forgot this was rated R, which is very disturbing and bloody when it comes to anime. I mean blood can be freakish at rated PG-13 and it goes nuts at R. I thought things were getting a bit too disturbing when Tetsuo turned into the ugliest looking creature in my entire life. Arnie, you have seen nothing yet. When it comes to Tetsuo's problem, that's one way to make to make a creature out of it... I honestly cannot look at that thing anymore, that is the mother of all horrors. Anyway, I'll go to the best scene out of this whole film is the bike chase near the beginning, I mean it's awesome, it's planned out so well, and it was spectacular. I loved it. That's pretty much what I loved the most in this film: the animation. It was perfect in it's genre and style. This animation style's blood and gore is really more disturbing than live-action. It's a total blood-bath when you shoot one arm off or your whole belly just pops open which did happen on here. This film is pretty freaky, so watch out.

All of the voice acting in this film was actually great in my opinion. At some points they overdo their tone of voice, but they all did pretty well. As a reminder, I watched the English dub. They were all perfect choices to match the voice for the character which just made me think of the designs of the movie which are spectacular. I like the concepts of Neo Tokyo and the main red motorcycle as you can see on the poster, that is one serious awesome bike, even better than Tron. It's making me say like, 'I gotta get me one of those.'. Why is everything better in the movie world at any type. I could be riding the back of a dragon right now. I give a big applause for Otomo's animation and directing in this epic film, a job very well done. The plan of a live-action version sound cool to me, it would be a challenge to them, I'm sure, but I just really want to see how will they pull this off. And of course please add more Japanese celebrities since this is taking place in Tokyo. Many people were wanting this to happen who are also fans of the movie, So I say go for it. Warner Bros. is currently looking for a new director for this project since Albert Hughes left the project due to creative differences. If you ask me, I'd choose either Ridley Scott or J.J. Abrams. I'm just hoping that creature near the end won't be as disgusting as the anime.

Overall, 'Akira' is an amazing sci-fi epic. It's a bit too disturbing for me to watch over and over again, so I've only watched it once. If you're a big fan of anime and haven't seen this film, then I totally recommend it to ya. You would love it to death, I'm pretty sure. Speaking to the big critics on here... you've all seen it and you have your opinion. I'm the MovieWiz, thanks for reading.