C&C - Akira [12/20]

[Gatomon41]

To think at the start of the film he kept trying to ask her out, and now she's genuinely worried about him.

"But someday, we ought to be able to--"
WHAT? YOU OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO WHAT?

That always got me at the ending. It's so ambiguous and confusing, no one is sure what the ending was supposed to be about.

 

[The Talon]

That. Was. Awesome. Completely lived up to the hype for me!

Now I wonder, what happened to that Hollywood adaptation that they were gonna do with the guy from Tron Legacy?

 

[animePWNS]

I see Gainax worked on this too. That explains it.

 

[Gatordragon]

Well, that happened.

This movie was... different to say the least. I liked the first half a little more. Things were more coherent then. I started to get lost later on.

Now that it's over, I'm going to bed. Good night, fellas!

 

[animePWNS]

On the DVD I watched back then, there were some extra credits with cheery music playing (Tokyo Shoeshine Boy again, I think).

 

[Nobodyman]

So, what have we learned here today? Well, I learned that...

-Motorcycles are the only way to travel
-All authority figures are d**chebags
-Mad scientists are stupid
-Drugs are bad, mmkay?
-Teenage thugs are the true heroes of the world

All in all, still a pretty good movie, if only for the astounding animation. Some plot points were kinda dumb, the vague ending is a bit annoying, and I wish they'd developed the Kaneda/Tetsuo relationship a little more. But still, good movie and it holds up pretty well. And to anyone who's interested, I highly recommend checking out the manga (I swear, things are a lot more coherent in it)

 

[JShaggy]

Well, that was an interesting film.

Next week is Summer Wars, and for those who are curious, this was the old AotM thread for the film:
Anime of the Month (03/2011) - Summer Wars (For archival purposes only; NO POSTING)

 

[Gatomon41]

So, what have we learned here today? Well, I learned that...

-Motorcycles are the only way to travel
-All authority figures are d**chebags
-Mad scientists are stupid
-Drugs are bad, mmkay?
-Teenage thugs are the true heroes of the world

And this is what we call Cyberpunk

 

[Dudley]

I don't wanna sound like a phillistine, but this is why I can't stand most anime (I'm generalizing, I'm aware). It all ends up being some pretentious, ambiguous, metaphorical, confusing crap.
I'm not saying I prefer American animated movies, those have their own problems, but when I watch a movie, I expect something straightforward. I wanna go "Ahhhhhh" not "Whaaa?"
Still, great movie.

 

[animePWNS]

Ooh, Neon Indian! I've heard them.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

For those of you who may have missed Akira, here it is again:

[video=youtube;r_ymggr4mro]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_ymggr4mro[/video]

 

[Dilla]

Haha, the ending to that Neon Indian MV was pretty great.

 

[Nobodyman]

Oh yeah, one last thing I'll leave you all with.

[video=youtube;162rSgMysDY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=162rSgMysDY[/video]

 

[Mr. Anime]

For anyone who didn't really understand the ending, it's basically Tetsuo accepting his powers' deeper implications and scope like Akira supposedly did, rather than using them to destroy or trying to restrain them or get rid of them.


Like the amoeba he was compared to, he evolved again. It made humans the lowest form of life, as further emphasized by the typical human inability to grasp the final moments, and made Tetsuo something higher. Kaneda helped him accomplish this by quieting Tetsuo's self doubting.


Think of all the powers he had: Teleportation, flight, genesis, complete manipulation of matter... He was basically able to do anything, and let himself become everything. Also, Akira canceled out Tetsuo's explosion by creating and sucking him into another universe along with Kaneda.


And yes, the manga's plot makes much, much more sense.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Well you gotta realize...

A. The manga was still only a few pages into Volume 5 when Otomo put it on hiatus in 1987 to make the movie (The series finally ended in 1992, four years after this film was released and nearly ten years after it began).

B. Even if it was finished, trying to cram in 2,000 pages of content into two hours is a terrible idea.

C. You think the ending is non-sensical and the lip synching bad (an unfortunate side-effect of Otomo's infatuation with pre-recorded dialog, Steamboy has the same problem), try watching the Steamline Dub!

 

[MadMan400096]

I actually rather enjoyed this movie. I was constantly enjoying the plot, and the symbolism wasn't too obvious. The animation was awesome (even better than TMS's work on the WB cartoons). I'll admit, there were a few things that confused my (mainly what happened to Kei), but still, great.

 

[Dudley]

I got up this morning and read up on the movie on Wikipedia which cleared up most things up for me. I'm glad I gave this movie another chance a decade after I've last seen it. I have a greater appreciation of this movie. Though not necessarily a favorite of mine, this truly is one of the greatest animated films ever made. My only concerns now are minor, like did Akira's powers created a new universe the last time he exploded? Did he die when he exploded, or did scientists later kill him for study? Was Tetsuo going to explode? Did Akira also mutate before he exploded? Did Akira call out for Tetsuo throughout the movie because he knew all this would happen?

Also, I found out (and saw in the credits) that Telecom / TMS Entertainment animated this movie.
TMS really is one of the best animation studios ever.

 

[The Man in Black]

Last night was a fun ride and I really appreciated this movie much more than when I saw it on VHS back in the 90s with the Streamline dub. A great night for Toonami indeed.

 

[ShadowGUN]

"Sitting in my hotel room after tonight's show, watching myself on TV. Still the best thing I've ever recorded."- tweeted by Jousha Seth: https://twitter.com/joshuaseth/status/409572889298354176

Indeed it is. As for the movie still awesome as I remenber.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this was an interesting movie. This was my first time watching Akira. I've heard a lot about it, but I never saw it before. The animation and the voice acting were the best parts about it. The animation looked terrific and has hold up extremely well. The voice acting was solid, especially for Kaneda and Tetsuo. There were parts that were too violent for me, but I could handle most of it. Some of the scenes with Tetsuo getting those visions were really trippy.

I wasn't that impressed with most of the characters though. Kaneda's attempts to get with Kei even after he saw people die just made him look unlikable for me. Kei was pretty much a plot device and a means to provide frankly stupid exposition rather than a character. Tetsuo was pretty uninteresting until his absolute power started to corrupt him. The setting was interesting, but it felt unexplored, especially in regard to the political problems. That probably wouldn't be so much of a problem if it wasn't what caused Kei to meet up with Kaneda and they never quite explained why she was with the rebels or what they were all about. Maybe that has to do with the adaptation problems the movie has. I knew that the manga was long, but I didn't know that it wasn't even finished by the time this movie aired. That would explain a few of the movie's issues. I also feel like they could have done a bit more with Kaneda and Tetsuo's relationship. They were clearly good friends, but it felt like it needed a bit more time to flesh out before Tetsuo gained his powers and/or before they fought each other.

The ending felt so vague and ambiguous that it was practically a non-ending. I could understand that Tetsuo was becoming a God with his powers and Akira helped him I think, but it seemed a bit too vague and maybe showing an epilogue of Neo Tokyo recovering from the damage might have helped the ending. Overall, I thought that it was okay. It was interesting with great animation and voice acting. I can see why people would consider it such a great movie. I'm not sure if I'd consider it one of the best animated movies of all. Maybe I'd feel different if I rewatch it again, but it was primarily an interesting movie with great animation and voice acting more than anything else for me.