this film is, while stunning, a piece of animation

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2006)

this, an animation, is as fully as any other work, a film... and it is among the greatest. it is both and at the same time a social critique and a visual and entertaining prediction and suspension of reality.
this film follows the oppressed life and times of one Tetsuo, the antihero of the film, and his friends, the foremost of whom is his best friend Kaneda (the leader of his bike gang - one directly opposed to the Clown gang). when Tetsuo is injured and as a result taken aboard the cause of a scientific research team interested in the fast-track evolution of humanity he finds himself in control of the power of a god.
and the power of god in the hands of a PEE~EED OFF teen is a bad, bad thing indeed. this film explores the possible futures of humanity: not the evolution, but the DEvolution of our society through the ages. Kaneda finds love through the initial impulses of teen hormones, Tetsuo finds peace through his pain, and a multitude of peripheral characters find peace through very energetic, very bloody death.
all in all, i rate akira as one of the greats. a film worth watching at any time of life, i see it now at the age of 21, the first person i heard of it from was 18, the next was 30. akira carries now the same impact as it did when it was first released, and i hope the shock and entertainment of it never fades.