As inspired and bizarre an anime sci-fi film you're likely to see, not perfect, but still a post-apocalyptic wonder

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2005)

Science fiction films, even when they might be a incoherent in spots (and maybe the story and action in Akira is not completely incoherent but as an American some of the Japanese styling is, well, f***ed up), are supposed to raise questions about human behavior and thought, and be intelligent enough to let the audience try to fill in the blanks instead of force-feeding the answers. The film Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo (from the comic by him) does just that, and at the same time is a visual extravaganza. It has been quite a number of months, truth be told, since I've seen the film, but many of the images, particularly the more grotesque ones but also the "simpler" ones, have stuck with me for so long. It's a post-apocalyptic take on manipulation of a person to serve what could be considered the "greater good", but in the end, what does it feed but more destruction?
That there are some interesting action and character elements in the story helps, and after an explanation of what happened to the natural world (by way of a large, atomic-like explosion), we're introduced to a group of bikers. One of them is Kaneda and the other is Tetsuo. Tetsuo, while on the run from some other bikers, gets caught up in a Government program that is all too elusive for his own good. After some crazy scenes involving his body changing around, it's clear that things have gone awry, on both his end and the government's. So it's up to Kaneda, with a little help from some friends to stop the forces that be from causing destruction. It is through the various confrontations that happen with Kaneda and the 'powers that be', and Tetsuo's reactions, that make up Otomo's outrageous, seemingly unlimited visual prowess.
Aside from a climax that might feel a little 'long', however hypnotic, and how gruesome some of those transformations and the violence can get, it actually isn't necessarily as disturbing an animated film like the masterpiece Fist of the North Star or Ninja Scroll. It could even serve, as strange and 'heavy' the film gets, as a good starting point for those interested in watching anime and have never been much exposed before. Some sequences, to be sure, are not for the squeamish. But there is also a certain innocence that goes along with the story as well, with the theme of experimentation on small children. When coming from a Manga comic book, it's also fascinating to see how the film also works as a kind of transition into what anime would completely blossom into in the 1990's (for better or worse). And that the plot, once understood up to a point, is 'gotten' it becomes very worthwhile, because it deals with questions that are always abound in science-fiction stories, and told with an energy not captured in American films.