An anime classic

Rating: 9/10 (9 September 2015)

In the year 1988 the city of Tokyo was destroyed in the Third World War; now, thirty one years later the city of Neo-Tokyo has been built. Here a gang of teenage bikers led by Kaneda cause mayhem fighting with other such gangs. One day as they are fighting a rival gang Kaneda's friend Tetsuo runs into a strange child and is taken into military custody. He soon starts having strange nightmares then develops telekinetic powers. Meanwhile Kaneda is arrested but soon freed from custody along with Kei, a girl who had been involved in an anti-government protest. Kaneda is determined to help his friend but as Tetsuo's powers increase he doesn't want help and becomes drawn to somebody called Akira who apparently has powers that are even greater than his.
This is one of those films that all anime fans should watch at least once; away from the works of Studio Ghibli this is probably the classic anime movie it is also probably one of the main reasons some people think of anime as 'weird Japanese cartoons' it starts normally enough for a post-apocalyptic story as we are introduced to Kaneda and his gang and see them fighting their rivals but once Tetsuo starts to be affected by his encounter with strange child things get weird fast; he has nightmares featuring giant, creepy stuffed animal toys and gets more and more bizarre as things progress. That doesn't mean it is too hard to follow though. As well as the aforementioned weirdness there are plenty of great action scenes as the rival gangs fight and as Kaneda and Kei attempt to enter the facility where Tetsuo is located. The animation and background designs look great as do the designs of the various futuristic machines. Overall this is a must see for anime fans which I suspect will be improved by repeat viewings.
These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.