Highly intellectual cartoon

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2002)

Pros: Animation, score, directing.
Cons: Storyling gets very confusing at times, need to have an understanding of japanese culture to get this.
The film Akira centers around a motocycle gang and the Government. The setting is Neo-Tokyo which is an urban hellhole where rival biker gangs race the streets seeking and causing destructions. Our hero Kaneda, who is also the leader of the bike gang, is out with his buddies where he meets up with a rival gang called the clowns and they have a little gang war. While this is happening, there is a strange man and equally strange kid walking around a student riot. The story is confusing to tell because there is a lot of subplots going on. Akira, as the title is called is apparantly a boy who has this energy capable of explaining the universe. The film boasts better animation than Disney has even till today and is sometimes shockingly but refreshingly violet. My quibble with this film is that the last 30 minutes are about as wierd as anything out there. I am no expert at mangas but how come everyone i watch always has to have some giant blob reeking havoc (Mononoke, Metropolis, e.t.c). This film has been called a classic by many and watching the animation u can see why, but the story is one big overbundled mess that tries to get philosophical. Not better than The Fist Of The North Star or any of the Dragon ball series in my opinion but quite good
Premise: A Biker gang leader and his girlfriend tries to stop a manical super-human with the help of three superhumans.
Akira won a Screen Scream Award at the Amsterdam Film festival
Grade: 7.2/10 (Good but not my cup of tea).