The Legend that Started it All: Akira

Greetings, people of Earth!  Today begins Hanime on Anime’s first ever Flashback February!  And I’ll kick Flashback February with a review on one of the most legendary anime films of all time.  Released in 1988, this film has been recognized as a landmark in Japanese animation and a huge turning point in anime.  It can certainly be said that anime would not hold the subculture that it has today if it were not for this film.  So let’s cut to the chase here and get to reviewing the first anime on the Flashback February lineup, the great anime classic, Akira!

Based off of the manga of the same name by Katsuhiro Otomo-who also directed and co-wrote the film-, Akira opens in a dystopian Neo-Tokyo.  In 1988, a huge explosion caused the destruction of Tokyo, and later caused the start of World War III.  Thirty-one years later- in 2019- Neo-Tokyo is now a cold, dark, and corrupt city.  One night, a biker gang led by the protagonist Kaneda, goes off on a turf battle with a rival gang.  However, chaos ensues and one of the gang members and Kaneda’s best friend Tetsuo gets separated.  He later crashes his motorcycle after nearly hitting a mysterious child.  Tetsuo survives the crash and is later found by the rest of Kaneda’s gang.  Suddenly, the army arrives and takes Tetsuo and the child away from the scene.  Kaneda and his gang taken in by the army and are later released, taking a member of an anti-government group named Kei.  Later on, Tetsuo escapes from the hospital he’s been kept in and reunites with his girlfriend Kaori.  The two then plan to run away together and take Kaneda’s motorcycle.  However, their plans are cut short when the rival gang from before attacks them.  Kaneda and company save the two, which angers Tetsuo who claims that he won’t always need Kaneda’s protection.  It is here that Tetsuo awakens psychic powers within him and is taken by the army once again.  From there he is taken to a secret government organization that does research on individuals with psychic powers.  One night after going through a terrifying hallucination caused by three other psychics in the facility, Tetsuo goes on a rampage to find them.  He later finds the trio, a group of aged children named Takashi, Kiyoko, and Masaru (Takashi was the child that caused Tetsuo’s accident at the beginning of the film).  In the midst of the attack, the Colonel in charge of the facility and his men, and later Kaneda and Kei-who after a failed attempt to break into the facility with the anti-government group-stop Tetsuo.  It is here that Tetsuo learns about Akira- a former test subject who was responsible for creating the explosion thirty- one years earlier- and decides to find him.  Tetsuo learns that Akira is being held in a cryogenic tank underneath the Olympic stadium outside the old Tokyo and is able to escape.

After the attack, Kaneda and Kei are taken into custody and the Colonel goes off to find Tetsuo.    Tetsuo, in the mean time, goes on a rampage through Neo-Tokyo until he reaches the underground facility at the Olympic Stadium.  Before he can release Akira, he is stopped by Kei-possessed by the trio of Espers-, who warns him that the abuse of his powers will eventually be his undoing.  The two fight, which cause’s Akira’s immense cryogenic chamber to be unearthed and fall apart.  Tetsuo then learns that following the destruction of Tokyo, Akira went through every test known to science at the time and that the cryogenic chamber held only his remains.  Later, Kaneda, now bent on stopping Tetsuo, appears and the two fight.  However, during the fight, the Colonel uses a laser satellite weapon called Sol on Tetsuo.  Tetsuo loses his arm in the blast from the weapon.  He then flies into space and destroys Sol.  Afterwards, most of the characters stand by and plan their next move, and Tetsuo regrows a mechanical arm and relocates inside the Olympic Stadium.  Later on, Kaori stumbles into Olympic Stadium after seeing Tetsuo on the news to find him in excruciating pain.  The Colonel also appears after learning that Tetsuo’s powers have become unstable.  Tetsuo asks the Colonel for the medication that limits his powers, but the Colonel instead insists that he returns to the facility for treatment.  Tetsuo attacks the Colonel and nearly kills him, but is stopped by Kaneda.  The two then fight.  However, unable to control his powers anymore, Tetsuo mutates during the fight.  During this transformation, Tetsuo absorbs Kaori and Kaneda.  Kaori is killed under the weight of Tetsuo’s changing body, but Kaneda is able to escape.  While Tetsuo’s mutation continues to escalate, Akira is reawakened- thanks to the Espers who appeared earlier.  Akira then creates another explosion very similar to the one from earlier.  The blast takes in both Tetsuo and Kaneda.  Takashi tries to save Kaneda, knowing his involvement in the entire scheme was unintentional, and Kiyoko and Masaru follow shortly believing that all three of them can save Kaneda.  Kaneda, meanwhile, is trapped in an alternate dimension where he sees Tetsuo’s memories as well as those of the Espers.  He later learns from the three that Akira is taking Tetsuo away and that their powers have become far too great for them to control.  Neo-Tokyo is then destroyed by the blast caused by Akira.  Afterwards, Kaneda is discovered by Kei saying his last goodbye to Tetsuo.  After this, Kaneda, Kei, and Kai-the only known surviving gang member- ride off into the remains of Neo-Tokyo.  The film ends with the creation of a new universe with a voice over in the background saying, “I am Tetsuo.”


Since this synopsis took longer than expected, I’ll be brief in my introduction to my rating.  Before I saw this film, I never understood the hype that this film has received in the nearly thirty years since its release.  But after seeing it over the Christmas holidays, I can understand it now.  And that’s why I give Akira a perfect five out of five-star rating.  What can I say about this film?  It’s phenomenal!  Animation and story are the biggest triumphs in anime if not in animation.  Though Akira is in every sense of the word an eighties anime,-after all, it was released in 1988- this movie was a completely different animal.  The animation, for instance, was so detailed compared to other shows released at that time.  This film is also known for focusing on the movement of character’s faces rather than just their mouth, which was something a bit unheard of for anime at the time.  Also another major highlight for the movie is, of course, the story.  Otomo’s manga was beautifully crafted into an in-depth story that definitely leaves folks talking.  After all, the film was based off of his own manga, which was equally successful.  The music is also very good to and worth listening to as well.

Now granted, I’ve said a lot of great things about this film that make it seem like I have nothing bad to say, but like always say, “no anime is perfect.”  The few things that I did notice were some inconsistencies with the character design at times.  However, I will argue that this is something that most anime shows today have.  But for a movie, especially for a movie that boasts on animation, it’s a bit of a no-no.  And even though the soundtrack was good, it was a bit repetitive throughout the film.  Again, for a show, it’s a common occurrence, but a no-no for a film.  Still, these are little things, and I feel that these are out-weighed by the positive things.  Not many people would notice these issues anyway.  Besides, this is a fantastic movie!

Now normally, when I end my posts, I talk about where you can watch the anime that I talk about.  Instead, I’m going to end this post a little differently.  Yes, Akira is available for purchase wherever anime is sold and is to watch available online- you can watch it on funimation.com with a full subscription, which is the only catch, and I also found it on YouTube.  But this movie is kind of special, so I want to end this post on a different note. 

In one of the videos that I have posted below, a critic makes the claim, “No Akira, no Matrix.”  I would dare to argue and say, “No Akira, no anime.”  Why say this?  Because of the popularity that the filmed gained after it’s English dub release, anime become a thing in the states shortly after.  And based on what I have heard about Akira and what I actually saw in the film, I’ve come to the conclusion that Akira came at a time when animation in general was an art form that was more for kids and not well renowned.  It came in and took animation by the horns and said, “Alright people, let me show you what this could be!”  From there, it took the world by storm.  Speaking of which, one of my favorite stories about Akira came from a book I read called Anime: from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle, and was written be a renowned expert on Japanese pop culture named Susan J. Napier.  The story goes like this:

“…In 1993 the Japanese critic Ueno Toshiya made a visit to the city of Sarajevo in war-torn Serbia.  Wandering through the bombed-out city, he encountered an unexpected sight.  In the middle of the old city was a crumbling wall with three panels.  On the first was drawn a picture of Mao Zedong with Mickey Mouse ears; the second had a slogan for the Chippas liberation group, the Zapatistas, emblazoned on it.  But when he came to the third he was ‘at a loss for words.  Incredibly, it was a large panel of a scene from Otomo Katsuhiro’s Akira.  Against the crumbling walls of the collapsing group of buildings that ‘mighty juvenile deliquent’ Kaneda was saying, ‘So it’s begun!’…Unquestionably a masterpiece of technical animation, Akira is also a complex and challenging work of art that provoked, bewildered, and occasionally inspired Western audiences when it first appeared outside Japan in 1990.  However, it is not a work whose image might have been expected to appear on a wall in Sarajevo three years later as an icon of political resistance…The notion that a sophisticated Japanese animated film could cross international borders to become a political statement in a war-wracked European country would have been deemed bizarre at best and most likely absurd.”

Now I brought this story up to show what a legend Akira has become and how it has become so ingrained in our world today.  Again, if this film had not happened, modern anime would not exist in the U.S., or even the world.  In the nearly thirty years that this film has been talked about and praised, and after watching it myself, I can say without a doubt that it deserves every bit of that praise!  And I’m also proud to say that it is now one of my personal favorites!  So with that much said, I end this extremely long post-sorry!  Be sure and stay tuned for more because Flashback February continues next week!



-Hanime on Anime

P.S.:  And one more thing, “KANEDAAAAAA!”  (I couldn’t resist! ;) )

Here's some videos that give a glimpse into the movie:


Here's an APA citation for the book I quoted from as well:
 Napier, Susan J. (2005) Anime: from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle

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