Akira (1988)

[Plain Old Tele]

Discuss.

[luna]

grandiose, escalating mindfuckery at its best. loved it.

 

A-

[Lordmandeep]

They played this film on the kids network unedited late at night and I watched it and was like woh pretty crazy anime film.

 

watched it again and its a great storyline ending gets a bit to much.

 

B+

[A Marvel Fanboy]

The animation in this is great. Though I disliked the characters.

 

Still solid A.

 

Easily one of the best animated films in history.

[IndustriousAngel]

They had to reduce the storyline quite a bit but what remains is still interesting; plus it's one of the most impressive pieces of animation ever done. It's so sad handdrawn animation has disappeared from the big screen

[Crusader]

Hmm this is the only animated movie that transported me to its setting with the atmosphere and everything ... even Mononoke which I loved more couldn't do it on the same level as this 

 

add a mindfuckish story and its 

 

9/10 

[lolifofo]

Why is it that "mindfuck" movies get high ratings from you guys and other audiences? I didn't enjoy this movie at all, and my sister and I couldn't wait till it was over when we were watching it, which took forever. I admit that it creative though, so this raises my rating a lot. Too bad it lacks the element of fun. And I'm not talking about silly jokes for kids; that's not my definition of fun. *sigh* people like anything "different" nowadays. Oh well.

 

C-

[cannastop]

Watch the trailer closely:

 

 

 

Not only is the art direction amazing, the character animation is superb. A lot of the animators on this movie also worked on studio Ghibli's films, but they never did something like this.

 

Otomo recorded the voices before the animation, which is rare for Japanese productions.

 

Look at the part that starts at 1:37

 

 

I'm not an expert, but I can tell that there is an extra level of craft here. This is Disney-quality character animation.

 

Additionally, it's some of the best voice acting I've ever heard.

Edited September 8, 2016 by cannastop

[IronJimbo]

10/10 atmospheric as hell!

 

and stylish

Edited August 30, 2016 by IronJimbo

[Plain Old Tele]

I hadn't seen this in over 20 years, and honestly I didn't remember much, other than it was violent and trippy and wild. But I just rewatched it, and it really is a tremendous movie. It, BLADE RUNNER, and William Gibson's "Neuromancer" really set the tone for cyberpunk and futuristic sci-fi up into this millennium. Otomo really utilizes the medium to its best -- there's lot of tremendously vibrant and exciting shots here that would be impossible in live-action. Truly sensational.

[BadAtGender]

2 hours ago, NuTella Lover of Sky Beams said:

I hadn't seen this in over 20 years, and honestly I didn't remember much, other than it was violent and trippy and wild. But I just rewatched it, and it really is a tremendous movie. It, BLADE RUNNER, and William Gibson's "Neuromancer" really set the tone for cyberpunk and futuristic sci-fi up into this millennium. Otomo really utilizes the medium to its best -- there's lot of tremendously vibrant and exciting shots here that would be impossible in live-action. Truly sensational.

 

My friends and I watched it a year or two ago, and what we realized was the newer translation and dub done by Pioneer/Geneon is a vast improvement over the original Harmony Gold release. So many things that were incomprehensible were cleared up. I think originally we were just engaged by the very pretty visuals, but it's pretty cool how well the story works if you can understand it.

[cannastop]

5 hours ago, NuTella Lover of Sky Beams said:

I hadn't seen this in over 20 years, and honestly I didn't remember much, other than it was violent and trippy and wild. But I just rewatched it, and it really is a tremendous movie. It, BLADE RUNNER, and William Gibson's "Neuromancer" really set the tone for cyberpunk and futuristic sci-fi up into this millennium. Otomo really utilizes the medium to its best -- there's lot of tremendously vibrant and exciting shots here that would be impossible in live-action. Truly sensational.

Wasn't Akira in your top 100?

 

And you voted for it, even if you hadn't watched it in 20 years? I guess that gives me some perspective.

[Plain Old Tele]

3 hours ago, cannastop said:

Wasn't Akira in your top 100?

 

And you voted for it, even if you hadn't watched it in 20 years? I guess that gives me some perspective.

 

Yeah, I think I had it near the bottom. I was going off memories of it. It's always nice when a re-watch validates your original thoughts. Although, tbh, I'd probably put it higher now. And @DamienRoc, that's a good point. I found it more comprehensible this time around... and I don't think I've gotten smarter over the years.  

[cannastop]

1 hour ago, NuTella Lover of Sky Beams said:

 

Yeah, I think I had it near the bottom. I was going off memories of it. It's always nice when a re-watch validates your original thoughts. Although, tbh, I'd probably put it higher now. And @DamienRoc, that's a good point. I found it more comprehensible this time around... and I don't think I've gotten smarter over the years.  

I think the first version I saw of Akira was one of the newer translations released in 2001. The story isn't nonsense or something like that. It's actually kind of simple.

Edited September 1, 2016 by cannastop

[Plain Old Tele]

57 minutes ago, cannastop said:

I think the first version I saw of Akira was one of the newer translations released in 2002. The story isn't nonsense or something like that. It's actually kind of simple.

 

I remember the older version being more confusing. But I don't have anything specific to go on other than my memory. It would've been some version in the early 90s -- I think I watched it on laser, but I don't think it was Criterion. 

[BadAtGender]

4 hours ago, cannastop said:

I think the first version I saw of Akira was one of the newer translations released in 2001. The story isn't nonsense or something like that. It's actually kind of simple.

 

That's the Pioneer/Geneon translation. The Streamline/Harmony Gold version was released in '89.

 

In the original, Kaneda was voiced by Cam Clarke (Leonardo in 80s TMNT), in the newer one by Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash the Stampede in Trigun). 

[cannastop]

1 minute ago, DamienRoc said:

 

That's the Pioneer/Geneon translation. The Streamline/Harmony Gold version was released in '89.

 

In the original, Kaneda was voiced by Cam Clarke (Leonardo in 80s TMNT), in the newer one by Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash the Stampede in Trigun). 

The Japanese voice acting is too good for me to bother with the dubs. I think some of the Ghibli dubs are OK, but I wouldn't bother with Akira.

[BadAtGender]

1 minute ago, cannastop said:

The Japanese voice acting is too good for me to bother with the dubs. I think some of the Ghibli dubs are OK, but I wouldn't bother with Akira.

 

The subtitle translation was new, too. (Although, I can't actually remember if Streamline/Harmony Gold released a subbed version. Probably not.)

[Plain Old Tele]

27 minutes ago, cannastop said:

The Japanese voice acting is too good for me to bother with the dubs. I think some of the Ghibli dubs are OK, but I wouldn't bother with Akira.

 

25 minutes ago, DamienRoc said:

 

The subtitle translation was new, too. (Although, I can't actually remember if Streamline/Harmony Gold released a subbed version. Probably not.)

 

Is there a way to watch the subtitled version other than owning the DVD/Bluray? I watched the dubbed version -- though not by choice. And I admit that for certain movies dubbed isn't the worst -- you're free to focus on the visual elements. All things considered, though, I'd prefer subtitles.

[cannastop]

4 minutes ago, NuTella Lover of Sky Beams said:

 

 

Is there a way to watch the subtitled version other than owning the DVD/Bluray? I watched the dubbed version -- though not by choice. And I admit that for certain movies dubbed isn't the worst -- you're free to focus on the visual elements. All things considered, though, I'd prefer subtitles.

I really don't know. My advice is to go back in time to the final years of Blockbuster, which is when I watched the movie.