after the apocalypse, anime dystopia, strange children, and the Godzilla effect

Rating: 7/10 (29 January 2006)

Dystopian, post-apocalyptic anime film, set in Neo-Tokyo, afflicted by an exceedingly corrupt government and exceedingly violent revolutionaries, and the main characters are members of a teen motorcycle gangs, who cross the paths of the terrorists and the secret project attempting to monitor and control the development of children who, in the next stage of evolution, have started developing super-powers, like the legendary Akira, a child whose powers, some claim, led to WW III. One of the young bikers, Tetsuo, turns out to have the powers himself, to an extreme degree, and it gets out of control, changing his personality entirely, and he becomes a flame-haired monster, but is saved from himself by his best friend Kaneda, who has fallen in love with the revolutionary Kei, by the three strange children, and Akira, who returns. The militaristic colonel turns out to be a hero, despite his fascist leanings. The story is disjointed혰it comes from an extensive series of anime books혰and in close-ups of people the animation appears a little cheap, though the city scenes are very impressive. The wanton destruction of bridges, buildings, and hordes of otherwise harmless people is disturbing to me, especially when it only serves to demonstrate the vastness of the characters' superpowers, disregarding the humanity of the general populace (could be called the Godzilla effect)혰and the destruction has no effect on the story혰the cruel monster Tetsuo is still considered sympathetically, a victim of the suddenness of the onset of his powers.