One of the best films of all time

Rating: 10/10 (22 September 2003)

This isn't just the best anime of all time. I feel that it trancends its boundaries as an "anime" film and can rank amongst the all-time greats. What many don't understand in their haste to compare this to films like Princess Mononoke or Ghost in the Shell is that it came out about 12 and 7 years before those films, respectively. Akira was so far ahead of its time, that it's actually aged very well.
The story, centering around two members of a biker gang, actually goes so far in depth about the nature of their friendship that you actually forget about the theme of "man vs. nature" in the story. The SE DVD was done really well and it plays really well on a good home theatre system.
You can't possibly think of a film this layered as just another Japanese cartoon. It set a high water mark for anime and along with films like Macross and Vampire Hunter D; was very instrumental in anime crossing the pacific to enjoy widespread popularity in the U.S.
The only complaint I could think of at the moment is that much of the plot was toned down from the even more adult themes of the comic book anime that this was based on. Although many people think that the original dubbed voices were poorly done, I think that they gave the movie some extra character and charm.