So ugly it's impossible to like, no matter how hard one tries.

Rating: 1/10 (10 April 2001)

I'm all for supposedly intelligent films and series, that contain hidden meanings you have to search for. And it's only on the Japanese market that one can find some good examples of these. I've greatly enjoyed pondering over Evangelion, Jin-Roh, and many others. So why can't I be bothered to do the same for Akira? Simple; Akira is just so... ugly.
The big mistake Akira makes is that, if a movie wants to make people think about it's "hidden meaning", for people to try hard to understand it's point, the film should at least offer something to draw the viewer in. Likeable characters, interesting concepts, or at least -something- just plain nice to look at. Some positive elements that can make one grow to like a movie.
Akira does none of this and is, from start to finish, deeply detestable. It may be just a matter of personal taste, but the character designs struck me as especially repulsive. The film is populated by doughy-faced goblins with bad dressing habits. Ugh. How can one possibly be interested by such a cast of characters who look like radiation-deformed Hiroshima toddlers, let alone remotely like them?
Even worse is the way the film hurls a constant slew of sickening and really needlessly gory images at the viewer's face. Sure, violent gore-fests can be fun in a mindless way if you like that sort of thing, but they seem badly out of place here. If it's supposed to be a deep and intelligent film, how come it feels as if you're watching something from Troma studios? These two sides of the film co-exist in a very uncomfortable way. As if Fellini was trying to direct Attack of the Brain-Eating Zombies. Bottom line; the exaggerated bloodlust of a random violent horror film doesn't go hand-in-hand with anything remotely refined.
Still, deep beneath all the tasteless violence there's the kernel of some kind of -point- to all this carnage. Trouble is, it's terribly patchy and impossible to make sense of. Every now and then, there's a small flash of lucidity and a few brittles of a deeper meaning are thrown around, but it seems so random and rushed that it ends up just adding to the confusion and the unpleasant overall feel of this film.
The overall impression one gets from watching Akira is about as pleasant as staring at a badly-treated, crusty fleshwound dripping with pus. And very few people will want to stare at something like -that- several times in order to be able to make sense out of it (all for a deeper meaning which doesn't even look all that interesting from what I can make out). Sorry, but no way am I going to willingly watch such a repulsive film again, I've been put off for good. Akira is not "gritty", "haunting", "menacing", or any other cool word the marketing bods might want to slap onto it, it's just ugly.
And for some reason, there are still people out there who claim that this is the be-all and end-all of the Japanese animation industry. Let's just be grateful that it's -not-. If every Japanese production was this dreadful, we'd have been denied the joys of the most graceful and aesthetic animation in the world. The way Manga video marketed Akira gave a bad, and lasting first impression of Japanese series in general to occidental audiences, which qualifies as a valid enough reason to hold a grudge against this movie in my view. You're better off watching Macross Plus, Honneamise, Gall Force, Jin-Roh, or even Saint Seiya instead of this sick and messy effort. Simply because those, and many other films are thought-provoking as well as plain enjoyable.
(fans of mindless and truly disgusting gore will love Akira, though).