Akira (1988).

Review #1246: Akira.

Cast: 
Mitsuo Iwata (Shōtarō Kaneda), Nozomu Sasaki (Tetsuo Shima), Mami Koyama (Kei), Tarō Ishida (Colonel Shikishima), Mizuho Suzuki (Doctor Ōnishi), Tetsusho Genda (Ryūsaku), Fukue Itō (Kiyoko - No. 25), Tatsuhiko Nakamura (Takashi - No. 26), Kazuhiro Kamifuji (Masaru - No. 27), Yuriko Fuchizaki (Kaori), Masaaki Ōkura (Yamagata), Takeshi Kusao (Kaisuke), and Hiroshi Ōtake (Nezu) Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo.

Review: 
What better time to do this review than now - yes it is the 31st anniversary of the release of the film, but it also happens to be the month and day the film is set upon (albeit in Neo-Tokyo), which coincidentally also is awaiting the start of the 2020 Olympic Games. This one has been on the back-burner for quite a while, so I hope you enjoy.

Akira began as a manga series in 1982, illustrated and written by Katsuhiro Otomo initially as a serial in Young Magazine. In the span of eight years, six volumes of work were created that equated to over 2,000 pages. He was inspired by works ranging from Star Wars (1977) to the manga Tetsujin 28-go, and it soon became known as a key piece in the cyberpunk genre. While working on the manga, he was approached to making an anime adaptation, for which he would have creative control, serving as director and co-writer (alongside Izo Hashimoto). Helping in its creation was the Akira Committee, a partnership of several Japanese companies ranging from the Laserdisc Corporation to Toho to help bring production have the massive budget (1.1 billion yen, translating to $9 million) to fruition, with animation done by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Of note is the pre-scored dialogue (recorded before animation began, although animatics were used as an aid), which was generally done more in American animation than in Japan at the time. The music is done by Shōji Yamashiro, inspired from traditional Indonesian and Japanese music such as gamelan and noh, performed by the collective Japansese group Geinoh Yamashirogumi (re-creators of folk music from all over the world).

With such craftsmanship, one would not expect to be surprised at how magnificent the film ultimately proves to be. It proves itself very early on with dazzling energy and imagination that makes the viewer curious to where it ultimately will end up, having such vivid shots that prove their standing power three decades later. The actors each do their parts fairly well; Iwata and Sasaki each generate plenty of interest for each side of the coin of conflict, with Ishida also proving a key highlight, providing reason in a weird world like this. To say nothing of the three psychics and their alluring draw that lingers with you just as the others do. Koyama and the others do just fine, filling the screen in whatever way necessary to make an epic seem completely well-versed in features. It shines among the genres of cyberpunk and animation with ease, having little difficulty in making a captivating story like this come alive, succeeding as an epic without collapsing under its own weight in terms of look or on a philosophical level. It is a fairly violent movie, but it never seems to lose complete focus and ambition on telling an adventure spectacle. For me especially, this proves to be quite a fun time to sit through, and its pace remains steady through a 124 minute run-time while gradually getting its story to click into full gear and not let up. The film seals its fate among other films of its type with an astonishing climax that surely will leave its viewer with appreciation and curiosity over what they just viewed, like any memorable film should do. If it at least makes you wonder how the source material compares with what is on screen, that is a pretty good compliment to be had. One could only help but wonder why attempts to remake the film (or at least make a new adaptation of the manga) have persisted for nearly two decades, but I suppose it really does come to the idea that you could do something better than what was done before, no matter how foolish that idea has proved for several studios in recent years (particularly with animated films). It proved no surprise that the film eventually spread beyond Japan, finding distribution throughout America and other countries over the next few years (with respective English dubs done for release in 1989 and in 2001, respectively); the movie has a rightful place among great science fiction films along being a standout for adult animation and anime film along with its lasting inspirations that it has left to certain productions from animes (like Ghost in the Shell) to films (like The Matrix) that surely makes this one to view when the time ultimately feels right for a viewer to experience something as entertaining as this film proves to be.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.