Thread: So I just finished watching AKIRA...

Yeah one of my favourite all time movies!

I love the whole mind-over-matter thing and manifesting your thoughts - even the ones you fear. I also love the fact they dubbed it in English

If you haven't watched this movie yet I highly recommend it!

Now go watch Chronicle and try to tell me that the people who made it didn't rip off Akira.

Originally Posted by AURON

Now go watch Chronicle and try to tell me that the people who made it didn't rip off Akira.

I disagree, saying that is like saying all superpower movies are a rip-off of Akira. It's anime for one thing and the story is quite different in comparison, the only similarity is someone going power crazy with psychokinesis. I would actually compare it more to District 9 or Cloverfield for the documentary style aspect to it. Besides, superpowers are so awesome the more 'rip-offs' the better! they should remake the movie using CGI and real people and do a spin-off TV series

I didn't like it... the narrative was too incoherent. Perhaps it's a cultural thing, but I find this to be a very common problem with the small amount of anime I've watched and I tend to put it down to artistic laziness. No focus or structure; no real story or character arcs. Compare to what we consider good examples of Western animation (or just Western films or stories in general), like the Lion King or Monsters Inc. Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are a couple of examples of anime which I did enjoy, but even then, that was only because the films were primarily intended as a visual work, and the story took a back seat. Other Miyazaki films like Howl's Moving Castle I also didn't enjoy, because the narrative was in the foreground of the visual elements, and it didn't really make any sense.

I think you may just not be into anime much, Xei. And that's cool.


I used to go see Akira as the midnight show here in Austin, back in...oh....maybe 1990 or 1991. It was a neat movie and it's a film that can stand to be watched a couple times. It's storyline does make sense, I promise.

Of course, once you've seen it a couple times, it's also fun to watch the movie under the influence of substances for the colors and tracers.


I always liked the original dub of Akira better. A re-release was made and re-dubbed with dialogue that was supposed to be more accurate but I didn't care for the voice work.

The anime, I would say is emotionally satisfying, especially how Kaneda and Tetsuo's relationship is handled. You remember that scene, when Kaneda actually pushes the wrinkly kid out of the way so he can go and help mutated Tetsuo? Even if he didn't know what to do or what he could do, he still rushes in to save him. Epic! Unforgettable! Or how about when the two met at the orphanage? Its like the entire movie existed just so that simple scene mattered above all!

Fans hold that relationship dearly - and I'm not just talking about the girl fans. When there were talks to turn Akira into a live action movie, the idiots made the mistake of deciding that Kaneda and Tetsuo were literally going to be biological brothers. Rather than orphaned friends who see each other as brothers.

Uh, that's like the whole point of their relationship! Fans got so pissed off they actually protested, lolz. PROTESTED. I think Akira is probably the first and only anime fans have protested about. So they take that relationship seriously!

But the manga...in terms of their iconic friendship - is lacking.

The brotherly relationship between fellow orphans was a central theme of the movie and the catalyst for Tetsuo's actions, but ti was illustrated simply, and interestingly in my opinion.

The corruption of the bureaucrats and the arrogance of the scientists with the military man caught in the middle...so much conflict in that movie.

Hey. This isn't a dancehall, sport.

I loved that movie. I especially like the feeling of the tough punk biker gang kids being in this city that is just falling apart in chaos and the I forget whats his name but main character just is so tough and unbeatable because the tough circumstances of his life had forced him to be strong.

Originally Posted by melanieb

I think you may just not be into anime much, Xei. And that's cool.

I'm a huge fan of animation and Akira, and I would agree with Xei here. I was bought the manga box set as a kid and I spent hours upon hours trying to replicate those drawings over and over. I'm a big fan. I only ended up seeing the movie recently, and I really wasn't impressed. Yeah, the animation was incredible, the pacing was alright, and everything flowed smoothly. But beyond that, I found the story difficult to understand, the characterization lacking, and the emotion nonexistant. I really felt for the characters of the book, the movies characters felt flat and one dimensional. Kaneda wasn't really likable, he seemed more like a flavorless shonen character than anything. The whole !!!KANEEEDDDAAAAA/TETSUUOOOOOO!!! dynamic felt forced and impatient in the movie. That's not to say I didn't like the movie. I wish I wasn't so disappointed by the movie. The story is so long, it's impossible to cram all that into a feature. If they had spent more time on character relationships versus the strange motorcycle gang subplot the movie picked up it would have been much more coherent. I'm a bit of a purist about these things.

Originally Posted by Xei

Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are a couple of examples of anime which I did enjoy, but even then, that was only because the films were primarily intended as a visual work, and the story took a back seat. Other Miyazaki films like Howl's Moving Castle I also didn't enjoy, because the narrative was in the foreground of the visual elements, and it didn't really make any sense.

Check out Castle of Caligostro if you want a more character/plot driven Miyazaki film that isn't impossible to understand like Howl's Moving Castle (which was a major disappointment for me). While Caligostro is a movie about an unrelated anime series, if you're at all familiar with Robin Hood/ gentleman thief kind of stories you'll easily get into the plot no backstory needed.

I must say that the original dub of Akira seemed very different from the re-dub that is widely available now. The newer dub that is supposed to be closer to the original dialogue has a very different feel to it, antagonistic and hurried.

It's incredible how sound and voice-style can change a movie and the perception of it, but having seen both versions I definitely prefer the original dub, even if it had flaws. It's harder to watch now than it used to be.


I only caught The Castle of Cagliostro once but it was alright. I like the story but my kids were being needy that day and I never got to really sit with it the way I like to with anime, so I missed things.

Originally Posted by melanieb

I must say that the original dub of Akira seemed very different from the re-dub that is widely available now. The newer dub that is supposed to be closer to the original dialogue has a very different feel to it, antagonistic and hurried.

It's incredible how sound and voice-style can change a movie and the perception of it, but having seen both versions I definitely prefer the original dub, even if it had flaws. It's harder to watch now than it used to be.


I only caught The Castle of Cagliostro once but it was alright. I like the story but my kids were being needy that day and I never got to really sit with it the way I like to with anime, so I missed things.

I didn't even know there were two different dubs. It's very likely I could have watched the redub you were talking about. I'm going to have to check that out as soon as I can.