Tentacle-Free Anime #100: "Akira" (1988) Review100 TENTACLE-FREE ANIME REVIEWS!!
This is it guys, we've finally reached triple digits and I couldn't be more excited! Looking back, I asked myself: What popular anime had I not yet reviewed over the years? There are definitely plenty but the one that struck the biggest cord with me was Akira, the most famous anime film in the west and regarded by many as one of the greatest – if not the greatest – anime of all time. But what about this film makes people think that way? Well, for the big 1-0-0 I figured it was finally time to figure that out. 
It was 1988 and the year 2019 felt like the distant future. Now, as of this writing, we are only 3 years away and there are certain events discussed in this film that are actually coming true. We may not have ever experienced World War III but the Olympics will indeed be held in Tokyo, Japan in 2020 and that alone is enough to get us otaku all excited.
But to completely compare today's world to the one shown in Akira is a bit unfair. No place on Earth truly resembles Neo-Tokyo as Otomo puts on full display his imagination and creative genius when building the infrastructure, the culture, the people, and the aesthetic that is this grungy, Neo-80s city. There's so much going on in just this one city that it's easy to assume that this is the last place on Earth and nowhere else matters. 
Living it up in Neo-Tokyo.
Getting away from the social commentary for now, let's talk about the story and the characters. Akira use Neo-Tokyo and its social upheaval to tell a story about friends growing up and moving apart from one another, psychics, government hubris and the power of God. Tetsuo and Kaneda are two young boys living the tough life in a biker gang, while also still going to school. They've been friends since their days at an orphanage when they were little, but Tetsuo has always lived in Kaneda's shadow. Though Kaneda gives him tough love, Tetsuo has grown jealous of his friend. This is what drives the main conflict between these two as Tetsuo attempts to break out of that shadow after being taken in by the government when it’s discovered that he has latent psychic abilities. We are also introduced to several other children – who are physically and somewhat mentally kids, but are physically old – all 3 of which have psychic abilities of their own. Tetsuo however has far more potential to be much stronger than any of them and that becomes more apparent as he escapes the government facility and attempts to destroy Neo-Tokyo when his powers quickly grow out of control. While Tetsuo is dealing with his new found powers Kaneda spins most of the film attempting to find his friend while teaming up with a band of rebels hell bent on taking down the Japanese Government using their secret psychics. This subplot with the resistance – while taking up a good portion of the film – is given a lot more to do in the manga than it is in the film. While they mostly act as conduits in the film to get Kaneda from point A to point B in the story as well as give us yet another look into how this society currently functions, in the manga their resistance is given a lot more credence and growth. 
Tetsuo brings his A-Game.
In fact, there's a lot of differences between the movie and the manga in that most of what you see in the movie is spelled out more within the manga. Mostly because Otomo wasn't finished with the manga when he agreed to make this movie. There's a character in the movie called Lady Miyako (who is voiced by a guy in both the Japanese and English languages of this film) who is only in the film for a couple of short cameos while in the manga she plays a huge, huge role. Because Otomo is shoving a story told in over a thousand pages into just over 2 hours of footage it's really a credit to his ability to edit everything down into something that resembles a cohesive narrative with a breathing world and intriguing characters. The ending, even with how confusing it can be, makes a bit more sense on repeat viewings, so there's still something new for you every time you watch it. Getting back to Tetsuo and Kaneda's story, once Kaneda finally reaches his friend he's massively underpowered but thankfully has help from the children who attempt to help fight off Tetsuo who's unleashes the legendary Akira and has stolen some of his power. Bringing a laser rifle to a psychic fight Kaneda takes his best friend on in the most ballsy of ways. It's a rivalry to match Vegeta and Goku, Ryuho and Kazuma, Peanut Butter and Jelly. The two work great by themselves but put them together and sparks – or buildings – fly. The story itself is pretty great, but there are still two very important accompanying elements that makes Akira a true feast for the eyes, ears, and the mind. Visually this movie is stunning. Nearly 31 years later and it looks like a movie that could come out even today and look beautiful. Which isn't wholly unsurprising as at the time Akira was the highest-budgeted animated film of the time. Not sure if that's worldwide but it certainly was in Japan. 
Bringing a laser rifle to a psychic fight.
The other element is the genius tribal soundtrack that accompanies this film. They really don't make'em like this anymore folks. Where the order of the day is high octane orchestral ballads for most any movie now, in 1988 Akira's genre-defining soundtrack is in a masterclass of its own. There's an entire track built around breathing for its backbeat and throughout the entire film everything sounds like a grungy tribal album that fits in perfectly with the cut-off-from-mainland island aesthetic the entire movie gives off. So, why is Akira so famous and highly regarded amongst critics and fans around the world? After everything I just stated, do you really need for me to spell it out? While it's firmly established the late 80s/early 90s had some ground-breaking animation coming out worldwide. Many of which shaped my own childhood and the childhoods of two generations, Akira – like Ghost in the Shell would do again in the late 90s – came out of nowhere in a time when anime still wasn't very well known outside of Japan. Through illegal importing and expensive VHS tapes, people discovered Akira and it changed the game for what animation was capable of. This gorgeous, adult, indie-looking art piece challenged viewers viewpoints and showed them ideas that they hadn't even imagined before. The anime boom wasn't a thing yet, it was all still very underground and Akira was king. To some people it still is today. While it's not one of my personal favorite anime of all time and there's certainly been plenty more genre-changing, thought-provoking creatively-driven movies and series to come out since, I've never felt compelled to argue with those people. Akira is what it is for a reason and it's been that way for almost 31 years. All hail the king. Final Score: 5 Fantastic Children out of 5 100 Tentacle-Free Animes! That's a lot! And you can read them all right here. 
|
|
|
Social Trash Mutant |
|
Friendly & associated sites
|
© 2012-2020 TRASH MUTANT. All rights reserved. Some materials used are © their respective copyright owners.
