Akira (16 July 1988)
directed by Katsuhiro Otomo
starring Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda, Hiroshi Otake, Yuriko Fuchizaki, Masaaky Okura, Takeshi Kusao, Kazuhiro Kamifuji, Tatsuhiko Nakamura, Fukue Itô, Tarô Ishida
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MPAA rating: Studio: Akira Committee Company, Dragon Production, Nakamura Production, Telecom Animation Film Company, Tokyo Movie Shinsha Script: Izô Hashimoto, Katsuhiro Otomo Based on the book by: Katsuhiro Otomo Music: Shoji Yamashiro Running time: 124 minutes Tags: Action; Adventure; Animation; Anime; comic-book adaptation; drugs; evolution; Foreign Film; gangs; guns; Japan; motorcycles; Science Fiction; Tokyo Tactical strength: [7/10]
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for graphic violence and brief nudity
Based on Katsuhiro Ôtomo's six-volume graphic novel of the same name, Akira presents the story of human beings on the verge of evolution. In 1998, a massive explosion destroyed Tokyo. Since the rest of the world assumed a nuclear weapon caused the explosion, World War III followed. Thirty years later, Japan has rebuilt Tokyo, now Neo-Tokyo, except for ground zero of the explosion. Deep underneath ground zero lies a secret military base that houses a mysterious project named Akira. Neo-Tokyo has numerous problems including motorcycle gangs and numerous civillian protests.
Kaneda (voice by Mitsuo Iwata) leads a motorcycle gang of reform school students. One night while battling the Clown gang, Kaneda's friend Tetsuo (voice by Nozomu Sasaki) has his motorcycle explode just before he runs into a kid in the middle of the road. The kid disappears, but almost as suddenly, the army arrives, packs up Tetsuo, and disappears. We quickly learn that the army has a secret project trying to develop psychic abilities in humans, and the kid Tetsuo almost hit belongs to the project. While treating Tetsuo, the army discovers that he has latent psychic abilities, and they start him on a drug regimen to bring those abilities to the surface. Tetsuo develops abilities faster than any previous subject, and he escapes from the army hospital using his new abilities to destroy anything and anyone that stands in his way.
As Tetsuo's powers develop, he kills Yamagata, a member of Kaneda's gang, and Kaneda decides to kill Tetsuo in revenge. At one point Kaneda gets mad when he learns that others want to kill Tetsuo, and Kaneda says, "We're his friends. If anyone should kill Tetsuo, it should be us." Tetsuo keeps having psychic impressions of Akira, a young boy from the army project. Tetsuo follows his feelings toward Akira, which lead him to the secret base under ground zero. The army and Kaneda follow Tetsuo, and a final battle takes place between all the parties.
Since the movie condenses over 2,000 pages of a graphic novel down to two hours, clearly Ôtomo had to make some decisions about what to cut or minimize. For example, the graphic novel has another group lead by a psychic Miyako, and she also participates in the final battle with Tetsuo. In the movie, Ôtomo gives Miyako a cameo appearance, but she really only appears as background material to support the dissent in Neo-Tokyo. Ôtomo also doesn't have a period of total anarchy in Tokyo before the final battle between the factions.
I watched the Japanese language version, and I have to say that these characters scream each other's names more than in any other movie that I can remember. The characters scream each other's names in the graphic novel a lot too, but you don't seem to notice the practice as much in print. Characters in other anime shows do yell each others' names a lot, but in a half-hour serial, you don't notice this as much as in a two-hour feature.
Akira makes an excellent introduction to anime since it deals with mostly science fiction elements and deals with them in a realistic manner. Most viewers who like science fiction should find Akira an accessible story, but I highly recommend reading the six volume graphic novel for a richer, more detailed version of the story.
The special edition DVD offers a second disk with several documentaries on the production of Akira and over 1,500 still photographs from both the production and the crew.
Related Reviews
Akira: Book 1 written by Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira: Book 2 written by Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira: Book 3 written by Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira: Book 4 written by Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira: Book 5 written by Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira: Book 6 written by Katsuhiro Otomo
