Decent, okay; just highly overrated.

Rating: 6/10 (28 August 2012)

After hearing many reviews on AKIRA being such a highly praised, groundbreaking anime film and cult classic among anime lovers, I decided to finally watch it to see what the hype was all about. Suffice to say, I was left pretty disappointed. I'll start with the mechanics of the film. I must say that the animation is very well done for the time the film was created. Of course, modern animation (whether two or three dimensional) is much more dynamic by today's standards, but context is everything. Visually, it was pretty impressive, especially the action scenes, and the detailings of the setting. It fully captures the essence of dark, grim, and futuristic, dystopian Tokyo on the verge of an apocalypse. So, on to what I didn't like about the film. I felt as if most of the characters very one-dimensional and dull, even the main characters Tetsuo and Kaneda. Tetsuo and Kaneda's relationship could've been a lot more developed, but they failed to do so. Immediately, we are thrust into a major plot point where Tetsuo gets injured. There was no time for the development of their relationship, which only could've taken a few scenes to animate. Instead, I felt as if there were a lot of unnecessary scenes with irrelevant dialogue throughout the film, dragging the film out longer than it should. Later on in the film, we find out that Tetsuo is struggling with his identity and role in his friendship with Kaneda. There is obviously a difference in status and lack of balance in power within their relationship. Again, these concepts are implied and underdeveloped. I felt that Kaneda's bike gang didn't have much development as well. Rather than a close-knit and loyal gang, it felt more like just an ordinary gang that was just "there" to fill in spots for characters. Also, the plot of the story was not difficult to catch on, but it took awhile to fully grasp the big picture, since the film is dragged out longer than it should. It got confusing at times and even convoluted, leaving the audience with many unanswered questions. Overall, AKIRA was not that bad. It was sort of decent, just highly overrated. I do understand why AKIRA may have been hailed as a "classic," as the animation, plot line, and overall themes of the film were pretty original and groundbreaking material for anime during that time, as well as the fact that it was introduced to the Western audience when anime was not very common and popular. A lot of people may have nostalgic attachments to this film, but from a more unbiased point of view, I didn't think it was that great and there are a lot more anime films that are much better.