4/4  Controversial Anime classic.
This ambitious, multi-million dollar animated adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's best-selling graphic novel series is spectacular, both on a technical and visceral level. A lot of effort was obviously put into making the animation as fluid an... (read full)

3/4  A strong B+ movie overall
In July, 1988, the city of Tokyo, Japan, was destroyed by a nuclear explosion. The blast leads to World War III a few hours after.

31 years later, gangs are terrorizing Neo-Tokyo, a city on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay near the ol... (read full)

4/4  Must See for Any Anime Fans
This movie helped to break mainstream Japanese anime to the western world. It’s a classic, and an amazing piece of film in its own right. Be warned, however, the plot is confusing and difficult to follow - especially for someone watching... (read full)

3.5/4  Akira Quick Review
In my opinion the definitive anime classic. Better than Spirited Away I think.

3/4  Akira Quick Review
a classic in science fiction. a classic in animation. a classic in anime. a classic in japanese culture.

3.5/4  Akira Quick Review
Among the best movies ever made animated or otherwise.

3/4  Akira Quick Review
This is the only anime movie I've ever seen, and I don't want to see another one, this is the best.

4/4  Akira Quick Review
This is one of the best anime movie of all time. Great plot and action. Animated violence with some nudity thrown in, you can't beat that!

4/4  Akira Quick Review
This is the seminal anime classic - the one that proved that cartoons aren't just for kids with a very adult story and some truly amazing visual effects. The story is not the easiest to follow, but that's OK, you'll want to watch it again.

4/5 Outstanding animation, disjointed story
  by H. Jin (Melbourne, Australia)
It's easy to see why 'Akira' became one of the first anime to be really successful in the West. The dark, apocalyptic storyline was very different from the usual Japanese magical girls and fighting robots, and there was plenty of flashy eye-candy in the form of outstanding animation (for its time). However, while the style is great, the substance is lacking.

The fundamental problem with 'Akira' is that it is a 2 hour movie cobbled together from a very long manga, meaning the story is compressed and rushed almost to the point of incomprehensibility. There are so many important plot points that are skimmed over or left out altogether, and the pacing of the movie is poor. Most of the important plot points (involving Tetsuo) are dispensed with reasonably early in the film, and the entire second half is given over to Tetsuo's rampage and destruction. They should have cut this down and spent more time fleshing out the story.

Another problem is the characterisation. Since the main characters are mostly biker punks or ruthless military/medical men, there isn't exactly much room for depth and sensitivity. In fact, it's pretty two-dimensional to be honest. Kaneda is a sort of anti-hero, and he does at least show some development and growing maturity over the course of the film. Kei is probably the closest thing to a true heroine, while The Colonel has some humanity to him despite being the main antagonist.

Sure, given the flashy and action-packed nature of this anime, you can just switch off your brain and enjoy the eye-candy. On a very basic "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!" level, the film is easy enough to follow. But to truly understand 'Akira' requires the utmost concentration, and almost certainly multiple viewings. This is the issue with the film: blood and guts action fans will probably not want to make such an in-depth investment, but the more intellectual fans might be put off by the pointless violence and brutality.

From the viewpoint of 2009, 'Akira' is arguably more important for its influence than for what it actually is. However, its historical importance is enormous, and despite its major flaws remains essential for every anime fan.

1/5 I guess I'm in the minority...
  by Ana Mardoll (United States)
Kaneda / 013023153899

It's always strange to come away from a movie disliking it and then see a plethora of reviews hailing it as the best thing ever. Inevitably doubt sets in, and I find myself wondering what it is that all those other people saw in this movie that I did not, but I just didn't like "Akira" at all.

Where do I start? I guess my biggest problem with this film is the overwhelming sense that important details (such as character motivation) have been blithely omitted on the grounds that "deep" or "meaningful" movies don't need such petty concerns. Tetsuo in particular seems driven by no motivation other than malevolent evil and madness and feels like a terrible rendition of a DBZ villain - he only seems interested in fighting for the fight itself, in order to be the most powerful one left standing. That kind of motivation is fine enough in a Bond shoot-em-up, but I expect more from a movie that's supposed to make me think. Kaneda, too, seems motivated not from character development or environment constraints, but merely because the movie *requires* him to behave in certain ways. It seems unreasonable that Kaneda would practically throw away his life trying to kill Tetsuo - or rather, it seems not at all unreasonable for a *movie character* to do such a thing, but a "realistic" character would seemingly take the first chance to make himself scarce... or at least consider it. Kaneda seems not even to acknowledge the possibility.

Other questions abound. Why do the strange children look so old and green, and why do they attack Tetsuo, and why do they attack him with teddy bears bleeding milk from their eye sockets? Why are all the biker kids almost completely interchangeable, dialogue and all? Why is the government willing to pour money into a super-secret super-kid project, and then only hire a handful of guards and one scientist to guard these expensively godly goblins? Why, for the love of all that is sane, are all heroines required by law to fall for the hero who is rude, largely foolish and ineffectual, and has a bad tendency to flash the words "author insert character" above his head in green neon letters?

As for the touted depth and complexity behind this movie, I was blown away with the "explanation" (courtesy of the heroine) that ants are born with less power than humans, but what if an ant was accidentally born with the power of a human? What a huge mix-up that would be! Only, I wasn't aware that it was "power" that made us humans so special - I thought it was things like arms and legs and opposable thumbs and a brain that is somewhat larger and more complicated than that of an ant. I'm told the whole thing is supposed to be a Buddhist analogy for something, but as a method to drive the story and explain the character motivation, it doesn't do the job, in my personal opinion.

I can't help but also note that for a "deep" and "meaningful" movie, this film seems to enjoy itself far too much with the rapant gore and female frontal nudity. One female character - a sweet biker groupie whose boyfriend treats her with complete contempt - seems to exist *solely* for the purpose of sexual violence being played out upon her (twice), while the heroes helplessly watch - there's a tangible feeling of voyeurism and sadism overlaying her character that made me uncomfortable, to say the least.

After reading some of the reviews, I suspect that "Akira" might be one of those movies that you have to be part of the 'in-group' in order to properly understand and appreciate it. And that's fine - it's not my place to start demanding explanations, character motivation, development, or basic plot elements over special effects and in-group backstory. But if you're not already a part of the Akira fan base, and are an outsider like me, then be aware that you may end up as frustrated and irritated by this movie as I was. Then again, Roger Ebert apparently liked this film well enough, so it's entirely possible that I'm just in the minority.

5/5 the best sound in a blu ray
  by peace in stillness (cincinnati)
i was hoping for less dust specs and such on the blu ray but the sound more than makes up for this. akira in blu ray looks great but i remembered how much better the step up to dvd from vhs was and thought the bd would do the same. everything you have heard about the japanese audio is true, it fills up my room in ways that have me looking up and down not just side to side.

this was my first dvd purchase years ago and am happy to own this on blu ray

5/5 Akira Blasts into Blu-ray
  by Ahmed A. Bader
I am an anime freak, own 100s of series - I LOVE this movie, was highly anticipating the blu-ray, but just let me say - Bandai, you suck. I was on preorder for this to get the exclusive first press with the booklet and sleeve. So what do I get 10 weeks LATE? The average-joe version. Definitely NOT worth the $40 I paid.

Movie looks and sounds the best it ever has but the total lack of extras - no 20th+ anniversary special extras or anything seems a waste of the blu-ray's capacity and a cheap ca$h grab on Bandai's part.

So I am both glad to have it and ticked-off with it at the same time.

I would say if you totally love this movie then it is just barely worth it, otherwise just rent it.

5/5 The Best Anime Movie Ever Made!
  by Rockstar Romeraux (Baker,Louisiana)
For years,(ever seince I was born), i've heard alot of talk about a movie named Akira, and how it was one of the greatest movies ever created. However because of it's R rating, I never could watch it. Now old enough, I bought the Blu Ray version, and was blown away! The movie's animation is amazing!, featuring ground breaking high definition for an animated film. The plot itself is pretty good as well, with many likable characters. The action (even though very violent) was pretty good, and the movie keeps you at the edge of your seat until the very end. Again this film is R rated,because of Nudity, Strong Violence, Strong Language, and some gory scenes, so if you have kids, make sure they are nowhere near the television when this film is on, for it has images, and sequences that they might have heavy nightmares about....for a while. Even I was a little creeped out from some of those scenes. Overall, I gave this film a 5/5. If your looking for an epic,suspenceful,action packed movie,Then Akira is sure to please you. Just tuck the kids in before you watch it.