Akira (1988), Cyber Punk mayhem.

Directed by: Katsuhiro Otomo | Written by: Katsuhiro Otomo, Izo Hashimoto
Produced by: TMS entertainment Ltd.

Awards

• Silver Scream Award; 3rd Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival

"What makes it work is the astounding animation, 160,000 cells worth. The detail is exceptionally realistic, fluid and multidimensional, suggesting both a futuristic world and ancient quests. Otomoto's neon-lit Neo-Tokyo is a marvel of post-apocalyptic tension and desires. "Akira" is equally astounding for its color design, whether in the brightness of Neo-Tokyo, the damp darkness of its underground or the steely edge of its scientific outposts and military hardware. It's a complete world sprung from Otomoto's pen and imagination, and realized in 327 colors." - Richard Harrington, Washington Post

During the successful manga that met its end in 1990 after 6 successful volumes, an anime adaptation was made directed and written in 1988. Now I know what you're thinking: An Anime adaptation Directed and written by the same artist? What could go wrong? Well nothing, until you realize that he crammed almost 2 volumes worth of story into two hours with additional plot structure worth two more volumes... The franchise that heavily influenced modern science fiction and had the media impact of an atomic bomb in it's time ladies and gentlemen. A great manga. But is it a great movie?

The story of Akira is a well known one which tells the story of a post apocalyptic neo-tokyo set near the ruin's of the original Tokyo which was destroyed in an explosion 32 years ago during world war III. You live the moments of Kaneda the leader of the biker gang "capsule" and his frustrated best friend Tetsuo before an unfortunate bike accident caused by a supernatural events which is the first of mysteries to cause a raft between kaneda and Tetsuo who grows insane with his awakened powers after the accident due to a military proof which could potentially revive Akira, the man hinted to be behind World War III. As good and overwhelming as that story was in the manga. Yes, It is still the very same movie that shook the anime fandom in the 90's and inspired many more like minded artist and I do acknowledge this movie and it's director as brilliant, but the filtering between the manga and anime was rather thin maybe due to a short coming of material leaving only the feel to entertain its viewers into a state of constant interest due to this animated wonder and the cyber-punk gore that has been shown to it's fullest which was quite nice. Yet not for me.
The visuals are stunning for it's time and well made, exactly like the manga if I may add with the exception of shading. Neo-tokyo was captured beautifully enhancing the negative feel and desolated mood. I was constantly amazed by the futuristic view this work possessed, especially in the beginning of the movie during the gang battles that seemed familiar somehow. Despite the few changes to the story it turned out to be a good time and a well made adaptation.Until the complications kicked in....


 The main issue of this movie is that Katsuhiro Otomo was fully aware that he had to bring his unfinished work into the picture to all it's glory even if it meant bringing some elements that would only work with the continuation of the next volumes which he altered in the process,but in vain.
The battles felt rushed and half the times I was thrown off by all the explosions that formed the final battles which needed to be stretched to at least an hour. I seriously wondered what happened after major building exploded and antagonists faces were taken over with surprise and fear, every time I had to pick of after the said events, it also felt like the story had to do the same . I sincerely tried to enjoy this movie and I did when the story kicked in but I was annoyed by the constant attempts of the military units to stop Tetsuo to the point that the city had to suffer under it. Wouldn't it have been better if the movie was split into two individual parts to give it some breading space? The subtle but brutal violence is an Akira trademark that -if done well- expresses the sense of realism and dystopian taste that can worsen anytime to a full scale war, which was ruined...


The other thing that suffered because of  aforementioned aspects was character development which wasn't gradually delivered as the word "development" suggest but placed out of convenience. The movie didn't have a lot of time to meddle inside the soft spots to create a lasting sense of understanding and compassion nor did the two volumes this was based on. The repercussions of this are huge. Not only is there low to none credibility of their friendship (unless if you read the manga) but their is also no urge to understand the struggle that goes through this movie.
If only the characters where as nice as the way they were intended too.You only saw the brave Kaneda leader of the capsule gang, a true failure of a womanizer against the frustrated Tetsuo which inferiority towards his best friend fueled his insanity. Great personalities that could have been greater, to bad.

Click to enlarge

Rating
7,0 -  Post-Apocalyptic nutshell

Yes a 7, I may get a lot of hate for this but I got my reasons!Despite the innovative and the -in its time- groundbreaking story it did not succeed to bring it's full potential to the big screen.Given the fact that the manga adaptation was directed and written by no other than it's creator . You are left  wondering if this movie stood a chance as the animated equal of a well-drawn cyber punk epic. My guess is that he should've waited after the 5th volume to make this animation. What do you think? Did you like the movie? Please leave your impressions below.

• This animated film is not suited for children due to excessive violence, please remember that.

M.

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