Stunning visuals and a cool story make for quite a unique experience

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2015)

Anime has never been something I felt drawn to, yet there are many titles to which aficionados of the genre/style will always point you and which have achieved a sort of name recognition among those who wouldn't necessarily consider themselves fans. AKIRA is one of those films, and it happens to be the first anime film I've ever seen. The setting is 2019 in Neo-Tokyo, so named because of an apocalyptic event which took place 31 years earlier. The rebuilt city isn't too different from what you might find in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian sci-fi story. What stood out most to me, and the most recognizable elements of this type of story, was the portrayal of a fascist police state where government and those in authority abuse their power and the citizens fight against them. Not only do they show this violence, but there is also a lot of graffiti which provides subtext and context to the overall situation. Some of it went over my head because it's probably specific to Japanese society when this film (and the source graphic novel) were made, but the broad strokes of oppressive regimes, the military-industrial complex and populist uprisings should resonate with most viewers. All of this, and I haven't even gotten to what makes this story unique. At the center of this story is a biker gang, and one of the members, Tetsuo, is captured by a secret military group that studies people with psychic abilities. There is also another group of people who prophecy about the return of some mystical Akira, who will either bring balance or destruction. To be honest, I don't completely understand all of the plot intricacies, but most of the time I was being blown away by the stunning hand-drawn animation. I've never completely warmed up to computer animation, but animated films such as this one have an artistry to them that is second to none (when done right). One minor complaint I have is that the English dub (and I don't really like dubs) was a bit iffy in places. What I mean by that is some of the voice acting was a bit over-the-top. Still, it wasn't too distracting like it might be in a live-action film. My other minor complaint has to do with the length of the film. The third act was perhaps a little bit too protracted and it messed with the overall pacing. Still, I ended up liking this film a lot and look forward to delving into more anime in the future.