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[nelsonroyale]

It has my favourite opening to a movie ever. The ride through neo Tokyo is iconic...It symbolised the future urban dystopia, as seen from the 80s and 90s, as vividly as Blade Runner did. The soundtrack is also my favourite movie soundtrack, since it is both extremely creative and highly atmospheric. The visuals in general are still incredible. The story is convoluted for sure, but also rather interesting and definitely disturbing.

 

[so1337]

Here's an example:

On the right is a panel with the English onomatopoeia in the Dark Horse release. On the left is the original. Notice that the panel is flipped on the Dark Horse release.

I'm glad that more and more publishers seem to realize that giseigo/onomatopoeia are part of the artwork. That said, I recently read the English release of "The gods lie" and they felt the need to add a translator's note to "We need to call 119!" after a character in the book had collapsed. 119? Gee, I wonder what that means. Baby steps.

 

[Krev]

I think Akira is a quality movie with incredible craftsmanship put into every aspect of it.

That said, it is kind of difficult to convey the film's impact to someone who grew up with access to all kinds of high-quality anime and adult-themed animation. If your cartoon childhood was nothing but Disney musicals and garbage tier toy commercials disguised as animation (GI Joe, Transformers), then Akira would undoubtedly blow you away.

Similarly, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Halloween are laughable and amateurish collections of horror tropes that probably would not entertain most of today's audiences. You need some kind of historical context to really appreciate what innovators did, because everyone that came after used the innovators' style and techniques to a point where it became generic. Someone who watches Akira for the first time today probably just sees it as yet another philosophical and ponderous cyberpunk flick with some good production values.

Nah, something like Akira stands out for the strength of the vision. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween also stand apart by how good the filmmaking is. I saw TCM for the first time a couple of years ago and it holds up incredibly well.

 

[20cent]

It traumatized me in many ways when I saw this in the theater as a kid.

Yup, you had to be there.

 

[Bulbasaur]

As others have said, it's the production values that make it a spectacle.

Ninja Scroll, I think, is greatest Japanese animation of the late 80's/90's

 

[zoukka]

Yep as a movie it doesn't hold up at all. It's merits lie in the production side of things, the animation, production values, cultural impact in the west and so on.

 

[UrbanRats]

It was OK. The animation was nice except for the way people were drawn. Hated the way they looked. Some nice action scenes. Soundtrack was bad ( DUN DUN DUN!). Story was meh. Characters were meh. This movie is considered one of the best anime films ever. I honestly don't get the love for it and I don't understand why Hollywood wants to make a live action film. Am I missing something Gaf or is it 2deep4me?

One of the best soundtrack of all time it's bad? Lmao.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I'm about to watch Akira again thanks to this thread.

 

[UrbanRats]

It traumatized me in many ways when I saw this in the theater as a kid.

Yup, you had to be there.

No you didn't.
Akira is a masterpiece, but some people just have bad taste.

 

[True Savior]

It was great. The animation was amazing including the the way people were drawn. Loved how it looked. Great nice action scenes. Soundtrack was amazing ( DUN DUN DUN!). Story was cool. Characters were cool. This movie is considered one of the best anime films ever. I now understand the love for it and I understand why Hollywood wants to make a live action film. Hope I haven't missed anything.

 

[DieNgamers]

I thought the movie was a nonsensical mess. People often say though that the manga is miles better than the movie and that's the version to consume. So I read it last year and guess what? It's a nonsensical mess

I love the illustration and the cinematic presentation but holy shit the pacing is awful and all the philosophy and supernatural nonsense just gave me a headache. I'd go so far as to say everything after the first book is just crap.

Tezuka this ain't. It's not even in the same league as Urasawa.

What? The thing is...It's not nonsenical. Only to you. You just didn't get it. The pacing works in favor of the story, especially from book 3 till the end.

I love Urasawa's books, too but their kind of storytelling is SO different, I don't even know how you'd compare these authors. It's like comparing Asimov's Foundation Trilogy to Stephen King's IT or something.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

The story was meh? What the fuck?

Watch it again. The story is incredible.

Agreed. The story is far from nonsensical like some are saying. Yeah a lot of stuff got dropped from the manga, which is more fleshed out. But the movie still makes sense.

I don't get this thread. Bad characters? Tetsuo is iconic. His insecurities and psychological collapse is some of the best pathos in film.

My brain cant even entertain the thought of someone shitting on the soundtrack.

 

[Rehynn]

Yeah, it's a breathtakingly well done mess of a movie.

 

[Taiser]

I feel the same with Princess Mononoke.

 

[saizo]

I can see how the plot can be a little confusing and even possibly feel a bit rushed, even though the run time over 2 hours.

That being said holy shit if the animation quality isn't amazing to this day.

All hand drawn bro... all hand drawn.

 

[AgentOtaku]

OMG, so fucking gorgeous

I still love Akira (saw it in the early 90s as well, but initially just went over my young head)... yeah, it's got it's problems, but it's also a film that get's better with rewatches and if you just appreciate as a piece of art.

I don't get the 'plot was hard to follow' gripe even a little bit, if only because all you've done is repeat that line over and over again as if that clarified things. It's a story about two friends, jealousy, revenge and a rotten society that has fallen apart in spite of its monumental technological progress, torn between a military that feels it has no choice but to suppress its population and a fanatical cult desperate to believe in the leadership of an arrogant, unready god. I conceded that the technobabble (particularly in the dub) is an unfun wall to climb but its impact is limited, and the rather abstract climax is an act of sacrifice from Tetsuo who, at the moment it starts falling apart for him while a true biotechnical god unmakes him, uses the last of his power to share with his old friend the roots of his bitterness as aa boy constantly living in the shadow of a big brother he looked up to but torn by the demons of his inferiority complex. If any of that felt unclear then I can't help but feel you weren't paying attention to the movie, or were watching the Streamline dub, or something external to the film caused it to just fly over your head. The character arcs and story telling are there

amen

 

[BigDes]

Heh, if you think movie Kaneda is unlikeable stay far away from the manga. Dude is a vile little shit in that

 

[Saint of Killers]

You had to be there

Kind of like with GoldenEye on the N64.

 

[Pandy]

Akira is a masterpiece.

I got the English VHS 20 years ago and watched it every day until my VCR died on me two weeks later. The soundtrack CD has been a constant part of my background audio since then.

Sure, the original story was better, but what they did in the film works pretty well within itself.

That said, I will say that I didn't like the later 're-mastered' English version in widescreen anywhere near as much as the original 4:3 version. The new voiceover might be a more accurate translation, but it's really missing a lot of the emotional weight and rhythm of the first English release. The widescreen bits noticeably stand out in some scenes too.
I'm not sure I would have been as heavily into the film if that had been the first version I watched, or if I'd watched it in Japanese with subtitles. (I didn't have the option back then.)

 

[SamuelSupreme]

Akira always creeped me out...those veiny ass espers.

 

[AppleSeason]

Animation and certain scenes are incredible, but overall must of the time the feeling was "This has to be good, it can't be bad", while the movie kept going downhill on the second half and stopped making any sense. Or that I did not want to feel like having wasted money on that VHS (and later the DVD).

Then one day I read the original manga, and it was awesome.

 

[munchie64]

Yep as a movie it doesn't hold up at all. It's merits lie in the production side of things, the animation, production values, cultural impact in the west and so on.

But... all those things hold up exceptionally well.

This thread is so out there to me.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

OST is still quite good but nothing else about it has aged really well. The animation for it's time and many years after was definitely amazing

 

[DiGiKerot]

Akira is a masterpiece.

I got the English VHS 20 years ago and watched it every day until my VCR died on me two weeks later. The soundtrack CD has been a constant part of my background audio since then.

Sure, the original story was better, but what they did in the film works pretty well within itself.

That said, I will say that I didn't like the later 're-mastered' English version in widescreen anywhere near as much as the original 4:3 version. The new voiceover might be a more accurate translation, but it's really missing a lot of the emotional weight and rhythm of the first English release. The widescreen bits noticeably stand out in some scenes too.
I'm not sure I would have been as heavily into the film if that had been the first version I watched, or if I'd watched it in Japanese with subtitles. (I didn't have the option back then.)

The movie was made in 16:9 for theatres - comments on one dub over the other aside (I've only ever seen it in Japanese myself, despite having first seen it back in the 90s), the 4:3 version you had was cropped to the TV standards of the day, rather than the remaster having anything added to the picture. You're free to prefer it in 4:3, but the bits you are saying noticably stand out were parts of the movie all along.

(As for the main topic, I see Akira again every few years and still enjoy it every time. I do not in the slightest understand hating the soundtrack - that probably stands out even more than the animation to me)

 

[darklin0]

For starters it's not the measure of a great movie that it gets remade by anybody in whatever fantasy land the Nolan wank comes from.

I don't get the 'plot was hard to follow' gripe even a little bit, if only because all you've done is repeat that line over and over again as if that clarified things. It's a story about two friends, jealousy, revenge and a rotten society that has fallen apart in spite of its monumental technological progress, torn between a military that feels it has no choice but to suppress its population and a fanatical cult desperate to believe in the leadership of an arrogant, unready god. I conceded that the technobabble (particularly in the dub) is an unfun wall to climb but its impact is limited, and the rather abstract climax is an act of sacrifice from Tetsuo who, at the moment it starts falling apart for him while a true biotechnical god unmakes him, uses the last of his power to share with his old friend the roots of his bitterness as a boy constantly living in the shadow of a big brother he looked up to but torn by the demons of his inferiority complex. If any of that felt unclear then I can't help but feel you weren't paying attention to the movie, or were watching the Streamline dub, or something external to the film caused it to just fly over your head. The character arcs and story telling are there.

You opened the thread by saying you don't get the love for it. Multiple posters have told you why they loved the movie, sometimes in great detail. And you want to provide some kind of rebuttal to that by reducing the movie with silliness like 'take away the animation and what's left,' mang I'm telling you the animation is a masterwork of storytelling and action choreography, you can't pretend it's not there and an essential part of the film's appeal while claiming how mystified you are about the love this movie gets. If it didn't do anything for you then obviously the movie isn't for you and that there's a bunch of other unnamed animated films you like better. Oh well.

Exactly.

OP is making the same bad argument others make against Mad Max: Fury Road.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

For many people, Akira was their introduction to anime so it means a lot to people. I personally like it a lot, but I don't fault you for thinking it was only okay.

Yeah, Akira, GitS, and a few others were basically all the anime I watched early on, because the sci-fi channel would show them on Saturdays.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

People are so weird about just allowing a work of art to be loved purely for the superficial. So every facet of the audiovisual presentation is not only amazing, but damn near unchallenged by most 2D animation, but because the story isn't great, the movie must be overrated and it "doesn't hold up" and "you had to be there."


Like.... no. People love Akira because the animation is insane, the cyberpunk style is appealing, and the music is great. It's ok for that to be it. Yes it's a chopped to hell version of a longer form story. So what? As a cinematic showcase for animation and music, it's a ridiculous spectacle on a level we do not get anymore..

 

[Screaming Meat]

Akira is a cyberpunk masterpiece. There's no debate to be had.

 

[FStubbs]

OP, the answer to your question is basically this trope:

Seinfeld is Unfunny

Akira is old and, while flawed even when it came out, the cool stuff it did has been iterated on and done better in the time since.

 

[Krev]

People are so weird about just allowing a work of art to be loved purely for the superficial. So every facet of the audiovisual presentation is not only amazing, but damn near unchallenged by most 2D animation, but because the story isn't great, the movie must be overrated and it "doesn't hold up" and "you had to be there."


Like.... no. People love Akira because the animation is insane, the cyberpunk style is appealing, and the music is great. It's ok for that to be it. Yes it's a chopped to hell version of a longer form story. So what? As a cinematic showcase for animation and music, it's a ridiculous spectacle on a level we do not get anymore..

Yep.
People are saying that it has been surpassed by a lot of things. Like...what? Akira stands alone in some of its accomplishments.

That said, I will say that I didn't like the later 're-mastered' English version in widescreen anywhere near as much as the original 4:3 version...The widescreen bits noticeably stand out in some scenes too.

The movie was made in 16:9 for theatres - comments on one dub over the other aside (I've only ever seen it in Japanese myself, despite having first seen it back in the 90s), the 4:3 version you had was cropped to the TV standards of the day, rather than the remaster having anything added to the picture. You're free to prefer it in 4:3, but the bits you are saying noticably stand out were parts of the movie all along.

Evidence of how hard it is to get people to look beyond what they're used to, quality be damned.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

OP, the answer to your question is basically this trope:

Seinfeld is Unfunny

Akira is old and, while flawed even when it came out, the cool stuff it did has been iterated on and done better in the time since.

I cant think of many films that have done Akira's style and setting better or even as well since. I cant think of many films that depict psychological turmoil as powerfully either.

And the animation itself is clearly still a winner. If anything it's more of a treasure because of how rare big budget theatrical 2D animation is currently. Let alone fully hand drawn.

 

[entremet]

Why wasn't there much production value put into the drawing and animation of women?

How so?

 

[ChryZ]

It was OK. The animation was nice except for the way people were drawn. Hated the way they looked. Some nice action scenes. Soundtrack was bad ( DUN DUN DUN!). Story was meh. Characters were meh. This movie is considered one of the best anime films ever. I honestly don't get the love for it and I don't understand why Hollywood wants to make a live action film. Am I missing something Gaf or is it 2deep4me?

From my point of view ... the "problem", it's all you.

 

[Porcile]

I mean, I don't particularly love Blade Runner but I certainly appreciate almost everything about it from an artistic viewpoint. Akira isn't perfect but fuck is it an incredible experience and an incredible feat of film making

 

[Chinbo37]

The music was bad?

Lol we studied the music in my university course - "The music of Japan and south east asia". Any my professor was a badass in Japanese music.

 

[ferr]

The music is one of the best parts. The animation is amazing and still looks great today. The style is very 80s and cool.

Kaneda is cool as fuck. He wears a leather jacket with a pill on the back and drives a huge motorcycle that shoots out electricity.

I think so many anime/movies/etc have been inspired by / ripped off Akira over the past 3 decades that the elements from its story are no longer appreciated.

There was also a huge wave of not-your-dad's-animated-movie thing going on, and any sort of violent animes got an automatic cool rating. The trend became tired, or just commonplace, so that is lost in the mix.

 

[Gattsu25]

The manga is gorgeous, heavily influenced by U.S. action cinema and in turn was a significant inspiration to the graphic design of western comics. The story makes a whole lot more sense not being cut down to a vestigal nub, but I still don't think I'd recommend it to someone who didn't like the movie.

P.S. The soundtrack is fantastic, maybe you just dislike stuff that is good?

The character art style is amazing as well. I think this is the answer.

 

[MsKrisp]

This was my first exposure to Japanese anime, ever. They were playing it on the SciFi channel and I caught it flipping through, and was hooked. I had never seen anything like it before. It still looks gorgeous. This thread has made me want to watch it again.

 

[Murgatroyd]

Soundtrack was bad ( DUN DUN DUN!).

What the F?! Fantastic soundtrack!

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

OP, the answer to your question is basically this trope:

Seinfeld is Unfunny

Akira is old and, while flawed even when it came out, the cool stuff it did has been iterated on and done better in the time since.

What other 2D animated movie doies a motorcycle chase better?

 

[nOoblet16]

It was the animation that made it special and it did influence a lot of sci fi materials later, all of which are common now.

Btw it was animated at 24frames per second and the scenes can have a lot of camera movement, animes are usually done at like 8-12fps with an almost still camera...that's a MASSIVE improvement and a big reason why the animations in Akira are so good even today.

 

[Laws00]

I saw it back early 1997 and I still don't get it.

I like it love it. I have the original VHS, the remastered dubbed vhs, the dvd or the remastered, and the blue ray of the remastered lol

 

[Gattsu25]

As if everyone hasn't had enough evangelizing the manga, I'll have to do my part as well.

There's a 35-year anniversary boxset coming out towards the end of the year, all in hardcover, not published by Dark Horse, but by Kodansha USA. What's special in this edition is that it reads right-to-left, with original Japanese onomatopoeia. Also includes the Akira Club artbook.

What if you complain that the Akira in the Anime isn't well fleshed-out? Well, that's because the manga isn't anywhere near finished when the movie came out. This collection will rectify all that.

??? Why is this a selling point to an English reader?

 

[Skulldead]

This thread is fucking depressing.
You had to be there? Bullshit, I wasn't and I certainly love the movie.

True i've watch Akira around 2007, it was freaking amazing. I was blow away by the quality of the anime, i watch it like after paprika, i was still amaze. The story was really good (forget that last 15 min that make 0 sense), the music was great, also love the setting. I can understand why this movie is still a classic...

 

[Mattlikewhoa]

I'm about to watch Akira again thanks to this thread.

Same here!

 

[DiGiKerot]

??? Why is this a selling point to an English reader?

Because it means fewer alterations to the original artwork, which is a big deal when the sound effects are drawn dynamically around or behind figures in the scene. It's as much part of the artwork as anything else in the frame, and there's usually more than enough white space around the page or in panel lines to include a comment as to what the effect means.

 

[Chuckie]

Soundtrack was bad ( DUN DUN DUN!).

This is the worst opinion I have ever read on GAF.

 

[UrbanRats]

??? Why is this a selling point to an English reader?

Left to right thing isn't that big of a deal (could even be a problem, culturally speaking) but onomatopoeia are part of the artwork, you can't always just translate them without also ruining the aesthetic of the panel.
They are sometimes necessary (not that often honestly) to the narrative, so in that sense it's a trade off.

I'd rather have the original art over some redundant information though (if a bike is going full speed, i don't need a "vrooom" to know its engine probably makes a sound).

 

[Tertullian]

Because it means fewer alterations to the original artwork, which is a big deal when the sound effects are drawn dynamically around or behind figures in the scene. It's as much part of the artwork as anything else in the frame, and there's usually more than enough white space around the page or in panel lines to include a comment as to what the effect means.

So, will this boxed set include translations of the onomatopoeias in the margins?

 

[DiGiKerot]

So, will this boxed set include translations of the onomatopoeias in the margins?

They've said they'll have translations for them, but I'm not sure they've specified where precisely.