A little over-rated but not to be overlooked

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2008)

'Akira' can be said to have helped in making anime (kind of) popular in the United States a long time ago in nineteen-eighty-eight; I keep a copy of the movie inside of my personal library because of how it's a sort of landmark. I suppose 'Akira' really WAS an enormous contribution in making anime a little more mainstream here, and it always will have a special place inside of me because of that, though I have to disagree in that it's not 'THE GREATEST ANIME MOVIE EVER'. Being an self- proclaimed Otaku (and because I call myself as such for truthful reasons) I can say that I've seen better through my experiences with the medium, though that's not to say that I dislike Akira either; only, I think it's over-rated (my personal favorites are 'Ghost in the Shell' and 'End of Evangellion', but I'll talk about those two later). I'm going to keep this review brief by leaving the story vague; of the story are elements of science fiction and surrealism which feel to me as leaving the audience in a state of being helpless. The characters show a contrast with future anime heroes and heroines; that they have a grittiness to them and appear void of melancholy (they're like a homage to American comic-book characters even). The story too feels like a homage to American actions comics; super-human-powers fill the story with conflict.
This film is 'fun' and it gets for it's audience to think too, but again, there are better anime films existing, and I can say that 'Akira' has little of some important things like character development; I feel like the director didn't care too much for that stuff anyhow, and focused his attention on violent scenes so to interest the action fans (and I'm sort of fine with that).
7/10