Starting off the year with an old classic seen through new eyes.

I’ve heard that Akira is a pretty unknown movie in Japan, and that it hit so big in the west because adult animations were all but non-existent. The truth of this statement however, I do not know, but I don’t doubt it to be true. Akira is neither the best nor the smartest flick out there. It’s just a sci-fi anime adaption of a sci-fi manga. It’s just doing what it does best; delivering a cool sci-fi/action movie. And it’s really good at it.

Everything in the movie is hand-drawn and absolutely gorgeous. It gives a feel to the movie that I miss in newer animes, everything feels alive and in constant motion. The music is great too, Akira’s blessed with one of the best anime soundtracks of all time, I especially like the one where most of the music is based around a man panting heavily. It sets the mood immediately, delivering an eerie feeling of panic.

The story is pretty thin, the characters are pretty shallow, you don’t really care about the people in the movie. But you don’t care, because everything that happens is so awesome. And most movies those days had pretty shallow plots and portrayals, which is why I find many old movies pretty overrated as I usually think of them in the same terms as newer ones.

Akira is pure entertainment, plain and simple. It’s not too deep (even though it’s trying to at some points), it’s not particularly complicated, it’s just an exploding barrel of anime fun, leaping out and biting you in the face, leaving you with a sensation of awesome.

Good enough for me.