Whats Your Opinion Of Akira ?

[Dreddz]

I fished out my old tape of this anime a few days ago. I have probably watched it every day since then. I forgot how awesome this anime was, the story is what shines out. The bike chase in Neo-Tokyo at the start is probably the greatest anime opening ever. What cant all anime be this good :(

[Reine]

My mate brought it over and we watched it on my 18th borthday. I didnt really get most of it, but the zombie kids cracked me up

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The story is a <a href="http://www.toastyfrog.com/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailAkira01">confused</a> <a href="http://www.toastyfrog.com/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailAkira02">mess</a> of unfulfilled sub-plots and the absence of a real ending. It's all too obvious that the movie was made well before the manga had concluded. I think it still has merit as a straight action affair, though, and it remains one of the foremost examples of how beautiful cel animation can be.

[~SapphireStar~]

The bike chase in Neo-Tokyo at the start is probably the greatest anime opening ever.
It totally is and was one of the first anime movies I watched. I still adore it and it was sometime ago and I still have the same VHS tape I first watched it on.

I loved the part when Tetsuo goes into space to blast the satellite and you heard nothing. It was perfect. And for its time was an great piece of animation. There were something like 80 shades of grey used for the nighttime scenes I think. The documentary mentions something like that. I still need to read the manga though.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

And for its time was an great piece of animation.It still is.

Oh, and the soundtrack is really enjoyable. All manner of heated chanting and xylophones and so forth. Definitely one of my favorite soundtracks to a film.

[Loki Fenris]

I got it on DVD so everything was was down over, but I like it. The opening was a little out there though.

[Dreddz]

The music accompanying the Bike Chase is definately my favourite music piece throughout the film.

[*ETERNAL FANTASY*]

its a classic. simple.

[kikimm]

I think all the hype ruined it for me, because I was really disappointed, and not impressed. Although the music from what I remember was good, I couldn't stand the animation. I was also pretty annoyed at the ending; it made the whole thing feel like a waste of time.

But it wasn't terrible.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I couldn't stand the animation.What exactly did you find wrong with it?

[bipper]

over-hyped; but beutiful. Over hyped in the way some assume heven to be. IT is beutiful, simple, and full of bliss; but we still expect more. All in all, it was a great flick.

[~SapphireStar~]

I watched it when I was only young, so I knew no-one else who had seen it and I felt very, very important. But I'll admit, as Ive gotten older and mentioned it at a party or to a group of friends they go crazy over it. I didnt realise it was that overhyped and watched untill I started college 5 years ago.

[Millia Billia]

It done better than alot of animation today is. Considering the movie is from 1987, I find it amazing.

I think it's an excellent movie, and fail to see how it didn't have a real ending. I don't think it could of ended better.

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

never made sense to me, never will

[Rostum]

I enjoyed watching it. =)

[Captain Maxx Power]

One of my favourite Animes. Not my favourite favourite (Ghost in the Shell pwns all), but it is a classic.

[farplaner]

One of my favourite Animes. Not my favourite favourite (Ghost in the Shell pwns all), but it is a classic.

Tru dat.

I'm not into a lot of manga, but Akira is one that I will always remember. In fact, I might have to dust off the VCR, just to watch my VHS copy after all this talk.

I am a little lacking in the analytical department, so all flaws associated with that area are non-existent in my mind. The "gifted, progeria" kids are a disturbing example of governmental manipulation, and the film adresses use of power that exceeds our comprehension...and such.

Even now, I hear the bike chase music in my mind, and I am energized!

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I'm not into a lot of manga, but Akira is one that I will always remember. In fact, I might have to dust off the VCR, just to watch my VHS copy after all this talk.Manga is print. Video is anime.

[edczxcvbnm]

The movie is crap. Nice animation does not a classic equal. The story(as Kawaii pointed out) is a complete and total mess. They had no clue how to end it and like a lot of animated movies they didn't make it nearly long enough to flesh out their mess. There are plenty of other movies that look just as good thanks to computers(GitS2...also a train wreck).

Saying the story is a mess is kind of a complement because it is far worse than that. It is like a train wreck where a plane then lands into it and all of the war heads on the plane then go off creating a massive explosion of death that any CSI agent would quit their job over.

[Dreddz]

The original dubbed version made the story hard to understand, other than that, I dont see how the story is confusing. It has a few plot holes, but the main story I got fully ( even If I had to watch it 3 times to understand everything )

I was also satisfied with its ending, why the hate ?

[~SapphireStar~]

The original dubbed version made the story hard to understand, other than that, I dont see how the story is confusing. It has a few plot holes, but the main story I got fully ( even If I had to watch it 3 times to understand everything )
Yeah same here. Had to do that with Spirits Within also before I understood eevrything.

[edczxcvbnm]

I didn't say it was complicated. I said it was a train wreck followed by a massive explosion caused by a plane crash and war heads. You saying you had to watch the story 3 times to understand it as well proves that is was a mess...even more so when you admitted plot holes. You made my case!

[Dreddz]

Its a complex story, not a mess.
And im not saying the story is perfect, Im just saying that I enjoyed it a whole lot.

[edczxcvbnm]

Its a complex story, not a mess.
And im not saying the story is perfect, Im just saying that I enjoyed it a whole lot.

No...it was a mess beyond what a mess should be classified as. It single handedly re-defined what a mess is.

[Dreddz]

Akira can be improved upon, but for what was there, its pretty damn good. The dubbed version is as close as Akira gets to being a mess, but the subtitled version is alot better.

[edczxcvbnm]

It is now painfully clear that you are in denial. I suggest you seek some help to come to terms with this. It isn't very healthy to go on like this.

[Dreddz]

Then why do most people have the same view as me. Akira is known as a good movie in general, not a bad one. Your view is either not important, or no one cares about it.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Actually, Akira is reviled by at least as many as the people who praise it.

[Shoeberto]

I've probably watched the movie twenty or so times since I bought it years ago and it still makes no sense to me. It's pretty to watch, but I got a lot more out of reading the manga, though I couldn't track down volume 3 in the library.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The only really noteworthy thing that happens in Volume 3 is near the end, where Mr. Nezu tries to shoot Akira from the shadows but inadvertently kills Takeshi instead. Akira then naturally responds by totally losing his cool and violently rending Neo-Tokyo to a pile of rubble in a Biblical catastrophe that unfolds over the course of about 35 pages.

The volume concludes after the carnage with a peaceful scene. Akira is sitting all by himself on an island that used to be part of a city road, idly occupying himself by levitating some rocks when Tetsuo, who has been MIA for prettymuch the entire volume, shows up out of nowhere. The two of them exchange a look, and they silently float up into the air together. They're part of a two-member levitation club!

Then, of course, Volume 4 opens with the survivors of the cataclysm bowing down to the psychic empire of Akira with Tetsuo as his top lieutenant and it's totally awesome.

[XxSephirothxX]

The anime is an absolute classic, and quite enjoyable to watch, despite how convoluted the plot is. I have yet to read the manga, but I really want to, considering how much more there is to it. I should probably go download that after work. :p

My reaction to the film grew more positive after seeing it several times. Originally, the bizarre ending just left me with a "wtf" attitude, and I saw it late at night, so I had considerable trouble following the mess of a storyline. But after seeing it again, it became much easier to focus on how badass it was; the awesome animation, gritty cyberpunk setting (perfectly accompanied by a great score) and the random scenes of hallucinations are all executed extremely well. The scene where Tetsuo briefly imagines a giant pile of organs slipping out of his stomach and frantically tries to scoop them back in is one of the most memorable things I've seen in a movie, and, for some odd reason, one of my favorites.

[Dreddz]

Actually, Akira is reviled by at least as many as the people who praise it.
Yeah, but the people who bash Akira are nobodys. The people praising Akira are usually the people who know what there talking about.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Dreddz, don't talk like that. Don't call people nobodies. Not if you want to stick around.

[Dreddz]

Dreddz, don't talk like that. Don't call people nobodies. Not if you want to stick around.
When I say nobodies I dont mean it in an attacking sort of way. Our comments dont mean much compared to other anime critics, our comments dont get shouted out to everyone, while others do. That is what I meant by calling people nobodies. I wont use it in the future if it makes you happy.

[edczxcvbnm]

Dreddz, don't talk like that. Don't call people nobodies. Not if you want to stick around.
When I say nobodies I dont mean it in an attacking sort of way. Our comments dont mean much compared to other anime critics, our comments dont get shouted out to everyone, while others do. That is what I meant by calling people nobodies. I wont use it in the future if it makes you happy.

Then I still win and you lose!

My search revealed this bit of shocking news!

http://www.animeacademy.com/finalrevdisplay.php?id=16

[Dreddz]

70% dosent equal a mess. I can pull out hundreds of positive reviews of the film....if I wanted to.

[edczxcvbnm]

The average is 6*%. I don't know about you but a D isn't a very good grade. I am sure those reviews you could pull out are also from nobody just like mine.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Try reading the reviews instead of just looking at the scores.


My problem is that while the manga does an excellent job of fleshing out the story, the anime does not. Yes, I am very well aware of the implications of trying to stuff hundreds of pages into a movie format, but the slicing and dicing was done to such an extreme that the story borders on incoherency. The manga would have been better suited for television or an OVA format. There is just not enough time allotted to make it work.
While the ending is not quite a train wreck disaster, it is close. All of the proper connections are made to bind everything together at the very end, but this is done using whatever is available, which really is not very much or just is not that good; some things are summed up too quickly while others simply are not summed up at all.
If Akira was recommended to you for its three-dimensional characters and engaging storyline, the person making the recommendation was probably talking about the manga.

[edczxcvbnm]

I read the reviews and agreed with them for the most part. I would just be a bit harsher than they were. One thought it was close to a train wreck while I think it is the train wreck.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I read the reviewsOf course <i>you</i> did.

[edczxcvbnm]

Thanks for agreeing with me. Nevermind the italics indicating sarcasm :D For the sake of things lets just use Kawaii's post again about how just and many people praise and hate it. It goes for reviewers also. The split difference in people's opinions in general make it somewhere in the middle by laws of averages.

[Dreddz]

I dont have time to read all the reviews, I just glanced at the scores and summary ( why do all of them hate the music?). And thoses are just 3 peoples view point. Heres Other (http://www.metacritic.com/movie/usercomments.jsp?id_string=1575:Wks99vb5RmYIWLn-EQOQBg**) peoples views. Shows that not all nobodies hate the film. The film is loved by most.

[eestlinc]

I dont have time to read all the reviews, I just glanced at the scores and summary

Try reading the reviews instead of just looking at the scores.
lol numbers are pretty meaningless anyway, in terms of movie reviews. sometimes people give good numbers and then proceed to write not very complimentary reviews becauser they realize as they write about it and are forced to analyze their positions that they had a much higher impression of the movie before they stopped to think about it.