Film: Akira - The Ultimate Collection
Release date: 23rd June 2003
Certificate: 15
Running time: 300 mins
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Starring: Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Mitsuo Iwata, Tesshô Genda, Hiroshi Ôtake
Genre: Anime
Studio: Manga
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Akira was instrumental in popularising the world of anime in the western world and is still seen as a landmark film in the genre. Not only this, but it seemed to change the perception of anime for many people, no longer seen as a medium just for children.
The film is set in the year 2019. This is thirty-one years after Tokyo is levelled apparently by a nuclear explosion and set in motion the beginning of World War III.
This is a dystopian future in which, after the destruction of Tokyo, Neo-Tokyo, a new metropolis built on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, is gripped by political strife, anti-government terrorism, and gang violence.
It focuses on two members of a biker gang called Kaneda and Tetsuo. Tetsuo accidentally ends up entangled in a secret government project; known as Akira, when he is abducted by government forces and experimented on which leads to him gaining supernatural powers called ‘psionic’ powers that give him various telepathic and telekinetic abilities. He subsequently escapes from these forces and, as he gets to grips with his newfound powers, goes on the rampage in Neo-Tokyo.
Kaneda sets off on a mission to save his friends but it is not that simple and, along the way, he has to deal with anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader…
First off, in case you are worried about that run time, the film is not actually 300 minutes long. The Ultimate Collection has two different versions of the movie. The first is in the original ratio and animation while the second is the digitally remastered edition, which allegedly cost $1 million, presented in 16:9 widescreen with Dolby surround sound 5:1 and is slightly longer. That does not mean it necessarily makes any more sense than the original version did because Akira proudly sits alongside other classics like The Big Sleep, which, in terms of plot coherence, makes no real sense. This is both one of the film’s major flaws, as it can seem baffling after the first viewing - many fans have suggested it takes four or five viewings before it properly comes into focus, and even then it will baffle some - and one of its joys, as it is easy to be swept along by the action. The reason the plot seems so condensed and the film often feels like it is teetering on the edge of falling apart is it has been adapted from a multi-volume manga comic which clocks in at over 2,000 pages long, and even with the necessary changes from page to screen and scrapping much of the latter half of the comic, it remained, a feat to shoe horn quite so much plot into the one feature film.
Though, like many a great science fiction film before it, from Metropolis to 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner, it is neither the plot nor character that proves to be the film’s greatest attraction but instead the sci-fi concepts, the visuals and design of the piece, and in these areas the film truly excels. Much like the city in Blade Runner, Neo-Tokyo, is an amazing looking megalopolis which, even now, looks sleek and futuristic, particularly so in the digital remaster. The city with its towering skyscrapers, neon colours and brooding noir-ish atmosphere is the very definition of ‘cyber-punk’, a term originally coined by sci-fi author William Gibson in the novel ‘Neuromancer’.
Character is not altogether forgotten, though, and while it might have been nice to dig deeper into Tetsuo’s personality, Kaneda is both fully drawn and complex. While he can sometimes come across as a-typical teenager - petulant and bad tempered - he also shows flashes of real courage and great loyalty in his disdain for all the bureaucracy surrounding the experiment, and focusing on getting his friend back.
Kaneda also has some very good lines, and overall the dialogue is of a high standard - in particular, the gang’s unique street slang proves to be very interesting. The film truly takes off though in the action sequences, of which there are many, with, appropriately, the most spectacular coming at the end with the final confrontation between Kaneda and Tetsuo in the Olympiad stadium.
The movie’s place amongst anime’s greats is assured as it has proved greatly influential on a number of films, most notably, on The Matrix, although not quite in the same direct fashion as that other major (non-Studio Ghilbi) anime classic Ghost In The Shell, which raised the film’s profile even further.
Akira is a truly mind-bending, complicated and, at times, surreal picture. It will not be to everyone’s taste particularly as some will feel uncomfortable with this level of violence in an animated feature. Those who are willing to go along for the ride though will be richly rewarded by this intelligent, eminently re-watchable movie which ranks amongst the finest features of the 1980s regardless of genre.
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