Akira (Review)

(Review originally posted here)

Every popular movie genre has a beginning and anime is no exception. Before the seminal 'Akira', Japan was mainly recognised for its Samurai cinema and Akira certainly expanded Japan's output in the genre (along with Grave of the Fireflies and My Neighbor Totoro).

Tokyo is destroyed in 1988 and rebuilt as neo-Tokyo, then in 2019 some biker gang members get involved in a secret military project by a chance encounter. One of the members who has kidnapped by the military is then experimented on and runs the risk of destroying the city. A group of three children psychics along with some other bike gang members are the only ones who can stop him.

There are a lot of moving parts to the plot. To many to summarise in a synopsis which may be why at points it can get confusing. Maybe I was just asking to many questions as I was waiting for things to be clarified. But now as I write I am confusing myself even more...

If one thing in this film is clear it is its visuals. Every frame in this film has had plenty thought put into it and that's just the beginning. The colour, the lighting and "camera" movements are extremely well done for a hand drawn movie. 327 colours were used to help bring Tokyo nights to life. As someone who has been to Tokyo I felt that the city felt familiar even though this Neo-Tokyo is just futuristic impression.

The camera movements used in the film help bring depth to the 2D cells the animators are drawing on. The world never felt like a space with a rotating background that you might have seen in animation of the time or in Bugs Bunny cartoons. I could add something about the lighting in the film or I could share a link to this video.

If the studios behind Blade Runner had decided to do an animated spin-off/sequel in the 1980s it would most certainly look like Akira's night landscapes.

Visuals are really boring without sound and the sound design department and composer bring their A-games to match the A-game visuals. If Akira does one thing well it is building scope and size for its story universe. The sound compliments this by looking at where the story is. It has moments of quiet contrasted with the action that make it really punch. Isolated sounds are occasionally used to an almost horror effect as well.

The electronic sounds of the score really add to space of the world in the way Alexandra Desplat does in The Grand Budapest Hotel. However in the score there is Le motif for one character that comes off as a bit cliched in its used for when it is used.

While all this technical flair is a spectacle it behold the audience is never given a reason to really care for the characters we follow. While some people will certainly be engaged by the journey and the mission of the film it fails to offer enough backstory or depth to its main characters.

One of 'B' story lines that impacts the main narrative is about the politicians who run the city and how they react to the developments of what goes on. However I didn't think it fit the tone of the film as the rest of the film is grounded in science, street gangs and the military.

This anime techno science fiction has plenty of merits in its technical departments but unfortunately it's held back by its smaller parts. Characters while they do develop could be explored more as they feel interchangeable. and a more engaging B story could've helped benefited the film greatly.

Overall Score: 7/10

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Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Writer: Katsuhiro Ôtomo and Izô Hashimoto

Starring (Japanese voices): Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Tesshô Genda

Cinematography: Katsuji Misawa

Editing: Takeshi Seyama

Score: Shôji Yamashiro