Akira is the best animation film ever.

Rating: 9/10 (26 August 2005)

Akira is one of the best animation films of all time. Wait, scratch that. Akira is one of the best FILMS of all time. This movie is the very definition of 'ahead of it's time'. Thought-provoking and at times even moving, Akira isn't one of those movies that you pop on with your girlfriend, or when the guys come over on movie night. It's visceral, it's unapologetic, and it's heavy man. Real heavy.
Many people find Akira hard to keep up with, and have to go back a second and third time to pick up all the finer plot details. My recommendation - read the graphic novels. The ending will make a lot more sense. Trying to compress Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal graphic novel into one film was an astounding feat, but I think the results are just this side of absolutely incredible. From the intricacies of Tetsuo and Kaneda's relationship, to the fast-paced action of the street-bike sequence, to the astounding, disturbing finale in which the film lives up to it's tag-line, this movie never loses your attention. There are no 'boring parts'.
A lot of my friends dismiss anime as 'just a cartoon'. I show them this movie.
They usually never say that again.