Life-changing.

Rating: 10/10 (21 October 2005)

Like the introductory nuke that sets up the back story, Akira exploded upon the western hemisphere with the power of 10'000 pounds of pure TNT. Wasn't animation supposed to be cute? Wasn't there supposed to be song and dance routines, fluffy animal sidekicks and good old fashioned morals interspersed between moments of slapstick comedy and saucer-eyed shenanigans? Thankfully, in Japan they do things differently; in Japan, animation is cool.
Akira blew my mind when I saw it at the impressionable age of 15. I wasn't a complete noob, but still I had no idea what I was in for when I popped that crispy VHS tape into my noisy VCR. This movie had everything my teenage fantasies craved; ultra stylized and ultra violent sci-fi action more than a decade before the Matrix with production values that (now) nearly 20 years old still rock. There are scenes in this film drawn with more precision than a computer rendering, that look more alive because of that added human touch.
And there's a story to go with it. My animation instructor claimed Akira had nothing more than people yelling at each other in it (he was a little biased tho, having been influenced by only the western animation greats like ... well, none of their names come to mind because I was only influenced by Japanese ones! No wait, Tex Avery, got one! hah!...) Needless to say, I pity him and never did forgive him for his stupidity.
This is a masterpiece, something that must be seen. The original Streamline dub is better than the new Panasonic one, even though it is probably less accurate it left more to the imagination. But don't let that or the steep asking price deter you from the new DVD. There's tons of special features, from the Akira production report (30 mins) to 100s of character designs and background paintings to frame through. And the digital mastering brings out the picture and color in a way that makes my VHS tape weep tears of joy.
If you haven't seen it, I can't give AKIRA a higher recommendation.