The three (and a half) defining moments of my anime experience

Rating: 10/10 (21 February 2002)

Anime is one of the most misunderstood genres of animation and film in general, at least in the Western world. Anime movies (apart from the awful Pokemon franchise) are almost never shown theatrically on the big screen, as some of them are intended. And that is a real pity, but three weeks ago I was in for a massive treat.
I'd first gotten into anime when I was about eight. And, of course, that exposure was due to the massively popular Dragon Ball Z television series. While a very odd show to sit through now, the Japanese superhero saga was amazing to my younger self, despite the lack of (albeit impressive and unique) fluid animation.
As I'd gotten older, and my younger brother was turned on to the Pokemon craze (I'd barely avoided it, with only a brief flirtation with the original video games), I ended up with a bad opinion of Japanimation: the dub jobs were often bad (and the dialogue was cheesy for a Western watcher anyway), the animation often awful, and the less said about the huge eyes the better.
That was a philistine's belief, however. Yet while I wasn't too keen on the genre, I'd heard good things about one movie in particular: "Ghost in the Shell". So when it came on the Sci-Fi channel last summer for a midnight screening, I decided to watch it (what the hell, right?)
Hoo boy. "Ghost in the Shell" was not Dragon Ball Z. Hell, it wasn't anything I'd expected it to be, and it was even better than many live-action flicks of the same yarn. FAR better than almost ANY Western animated film (to date, my slim liking of animated films from the States include The Lion King, Shrek, and pretty much any of Pixar's work.) I thought, damn, this was one of the best movies ever, certainly animated.
Well, thankfully I was wrong. During my last visit to the States, in my massive DVD shopping sprees I saw the Special Edition Akira DVD, and read the cover. It seemed interesting, but I chose not to buy it. Instead, when I got back to England, I downloaded a copy. I figured the animation wasn't perfect anyway, so why not get a grainy, online version?
Well, I watched it, and was pretty impressed. It was cool, but I didn't think it was as cool as "Ghost in the Shell". But after hearing a lot of hype about it, I felt sort of disappointed.
So THANK YOU SCI-FI CHANNEL for hosting Sci-Fi London! A three day festival centered around the date 02-02-02 (get it? ...no, I suppose not), it heralded the theatrical release of several gerat sci-fi movies, including the Aliens series, The Thing, and many top-notch Japanese movies. Including Akira.
Well, all I can say is BOOYAH! The film was ASTOUNDING on the big screen, especially since it was the THX remastered version. The haunting music was far more impacting, the visual detail was the best I've ever seen in Japanimation (though some scenes of "Blood: The Last Vampire" were a bit better animated) and the new dub was far superior to the old one (why does no one like it?)
Well, needless to say I'm aching to head back to the States for Spring Break and pick up the Special Edition DVD. A truly outstanding movie, but one which, unfortunately, has spoiled me for (almost) every other anime out there.
SCORE: As a film: 9/10 As animation: 11/10