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[eso76]

Soundtrack was bad ( DUN DUN DUN!).

won't even comment on the rest, but this is the wrongest someone on GAF has ever been.

 

[HoodWinked]

i feel like some people make threads just to see their creation go to 10+ pages for some kind of self satisfaction.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I'm not the one to avatar-quote but...Well. ;D

I'lll take anything in Akira over the inbred style of today's anime. When it comes to character design I hold Ghibli movies in high regard for the same reasons. These characters are not supposed to look beautiful but expressive instead.

Sorry I should have specified. I don't mean the general character design, but more this kind of things:

Spoiler

I get that this isn't supposed to look beautiful, but it's just too gross for me to enjoy.

It's like if there were a movie that was a masterpiece but that was about trypophobia -- I just wouldn't enjoy watching it.

 

[SomTervo]

So anything that features ESP is similar?

Um. Nnno. It's the "one

Spoiler

super powerful unwilling psychic that doesn't know the extent of their own power

person" and "one person who

Spoiler

becomes a massive blob/mutant thing

"

I specifically have no idea where you got "ESP" re the latter

 

[EGM1966]

Nah it remains a great film. You're just not getting it (which is fine) or maybe it is too deep for you!

Don't really get need god threads like these TBH. There will be people who dislike or don't get any great piece of media, which is fine, but it just means you know which group you're in I don't see any realistic chance someone in s post is going to somehow cause a magic understanding to take place.

And for sure you're not going to get everyone going "hey you're right it's not that great".

Akita is a classic. A landmark film and it will be judged as such critically for years to come (I hesitate to say always) so your view is separate to that and doesn't change it.

Anyeaybi guess I now know you didn't like it that much.

 

[Ultramantaro1]

I saw a few months ago for the 1st time. It holds up visually and the soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful. But the story and characters are weak. It's very convoluted and I dont really like or care for any of the protagonists.

 

[dallow_bg]

Great animation and amazing soundtrack.
It's the only anime soundtrack I own.

The movie just couldn't fit the entire giant manga into the alotted time which is understandable.

 

[Astral]

Lol the soundtrack is bad? Bruh.

RASSERA RASSERA RASSE RASSE RASSERA

 

[spekkeh]

It's a morose, icky, gloomy, noire, psychological animation with realistic drawings at a time when we only really knew animated films from The Little Mermaid and the like. Y'all young people growing up on animes don't understand this paved the way.

 

[Servbot24]

I watched it for the first time last year and thought it was great.

 

[joelseph]

Soundtrack was bad ( DUN DUN DUN!).

Couldn't disagree more.

Kaeneda's Theme is a fucking masterpiece. One of the most iconic pieces of Gamelan jegog.

Fuck dude.

 

[joelseph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpDvtIt6Lsc

 

[.JayZii]

2good4you.

Few things live up to internet nerd hype, though.

 

[Lunarwhale]

"I'm annoyed someone insulted something I like"

Akira is trash, nothing you say will change my opinion on that

What makes something trash to you?

also akira owns as a visual experience imo, but I get people not digging it for that reason. If the aesthetics, sense of motion in the pacing and animation, general atmosphere, and music aren't doing it for you, the plot falls apart. It just sort of works for me due to how everything comes together. Gonna recommend people check out the manga if they were in it for a story and felt let down by the movie's plot and characters.

 

[Tain]

sometimes being ridiculously powerful aesthetically is all it takes

I haven't seen it since I was in high school but I'm looking forward to a re-watch.

 

[Pandy]

As I said, the second isn't great. Not sure if watching the first would change your mind, it certainly wouldn't help with being confused by the plot, but the delivery puts more life into the characters. The only thing that bugs me with it is that there are a few parts that are voiced by the same actor/actress to the point that it it recognisable/confusing when they are in scenes close together.

This seems to be the thread to ask, does anyone know if the Blu-ray release has the original English as an option or just the re-mastered English? The description seems to refer to the re-mastered audio so I've never bought it.

Nobody answered, so I did some searching and found some Amazon reviews that confirmed that the original English is on the Blu-ray version.

Thanks, OP. Looking forward to watching it again as soon as my new copy arrives.

 

[BlackBanditSho]

lol the animation is "nice." Say what you will about the actual plot and characters, but the animation is not just "nice." It's fucking phenomenal.

just had to quote this. the writing and characters where never great but that animation still stands up. The only movies even close to this by modern high production anime standards (excluding Miyazaki movies) are Spriggan and, perhaps, the Escaflowne Movie.

They just don't animate stuff like this any more.

 

[All Possible Ways]

I agree that the main draw of this movie is the fantastic animation and the fact that it was one of the pioneers in animation with darker and more mature themes. A more recent exemple of a movie with darker themes that is visually fantastic but can have a confusing plot is End of Evangelion. Both are masterpieces.

Recently I read the manga and was surprised by how much detail it adds to the story. Even then, it is really not anything too deep, I feel the core of it is well represented in the movie as it is.

 

[Staccat0]

Considering I don't give a single fuck about anime and I saw this for the first time last year and loved it I think people here are selling it short.

- The score is fucking amazing
- The animation is fucking amazing
- The "production design" is good. Those bikes. That city. That jacket. Come on.
- The story isn't really that hard to follow and film is not a plot delivery mechanism so it hardly matters to me.
- I think it works pretty well as an exploration of male adolescent rage on an artistic level.
- The body horror works pretty well.

I think it stands on it's own outside of niche anime fandom or as a compliment to the manga.

 

[Crimson_Echidna]

Akira is kind of in the same space as Ghost in the Shell for me where I appreciate it more for the production values and animation than how the actual story was told.

 

[Astral]

Akira is kind of in the same space as Ghost in the Shell for me where I appreciate it more for the production values and animation than how the actual story was told.

Yeah I didn't really care for Ghost in the Shell that much but the animation was undeniably impressive. That tank battle will never not look amazing. The story for Akira isn't so great because of how condensed it is but you absolutely cannot knock the animation.

 

[Cerato]

I watched it in middle school and didn't understand the appeal.

Several years later on the way back from the Tokyo Games Show I bought this:

It's about the devastation of WWII on the Japanese psyche and how that played out culturally with a direct line to anime and manga.

After I read this book, I watched Akira and saw it for the first time.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

The coolest thing about Akira aside from the essential Kaneda's bike i posted,

was the little ceiling lights in the skyscraper buildings that moved individually. (during the intro) but did i mention Project BM!'s Kaneda's bike?

 

[DOWN]

Which dub is the Hulu dub? I know there’s two major English dubs, one from 1991 and then a newer 1996 one that most seem to like more