So I just watched Akira...

[Kwesi]

And I don't get what all the hype was about .

I pretty heavy into anime and such and I've had this movie on my list for years now but I just never got around to actually seeing it until today. I'm no movie guy by any stretch of the imagination but this movie seems like it was only a pretty face. The animation is smooth and the artwork was both distinctive and immersive, especially the environments and details on the various machines shown throughout the movie. The soundtrack was also really well done and added to the experience. But, the plot felt like a bunch of undeveloped idea strung together it some attempt at a coherent story. Add to the the almost complete lack of any exposition really left me with a big ole eyebrow by the end.

I guess it would be tough to condense such an expansive manga series down to 2 hours but I felt that a better job could have been done (though I haven't read the manga). The audio/visual elements were awesome and definitely deserve the praise they've received but everything beyond that, not so much.

I just want to know what other people thought about the movie

[chrisisnotevil]

Originally Posted by Kwesi

And I don't get what all the hype was about .

I pretty heavy into anime and such and I've had this movie on my list for years now but I just never got around to actually seeing it until today. I'm no movie guy by any stretch of the imagination but this movie seems like it was only a pretty face. The animation is smooth and the artwork was both distinctive and immersive, especially the environments and details on the various machines shown throughout the movie. The soundtrack was also really well done and added to the experience. But, the plot felt like a bunch of undeveloped idea strung together it some attempt at a coherent story. Add to the the almost complete lack of any exposition really left me with a big ole eyebrow by the end.

I guess it would be tough to condense such an expansive manga series down to 2 hours but I felt that a better job could have been done (though I haven't read the manga). The audio/visual elements were awesome and definitely deserve the praise they've received but everything beyond that, not so much.

I just want to know what other people thought about the movie

Hmmm. I'm no manga obsessive, but I love the film. I can only recommend watching it again and again until you love it too?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I do really like Akira.

Tho I think alot of the hype around it is more to do with what it meant at the time, it came out in 1988 and was quite a landmark. Seminal me thinks!

[Jazz Ad]

The movie is a compression and redim of the whole book series.
So yeah it passes over a few details. It is a very deep and complicated storyline to compress.
The movie itself has incredible drawing and FX skills and it is a nice work of art. Too bad you didn't like it.
There was nothing like Akira when it got out. I'm still amazed by it today.

[Absentia]

It's a cult classic along the lines of metropolis, a clockwork orange and evil dead.
When it came out, we really had no idea what Anime was outside of the odd astroboy, voltron or other kid tv episodes.
Old anime is the best you can't touch it nowadays it all seems to follow the same formula.
Guess you had to see it back in the day

[hover]

Hmmm. I think that movie is a masterwork. In all respects.

[JacoLesFlea]

I like it. I am now watching the Rurouni Kenshin series very good so far.

[Webtroll]

Originally Posted by Kwesi

And I don't get what all the hype was about .

Same here. I like some Japanese animated movies, but this one wasn't one I cared for at all, and I largely blame the story.

[boomtisk]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

The movie is a compression and redim of the whole book series.
So yeah it passes over a few details. It is a very deep and complicated storyline to compress.
The movie itself has incredible drawing and FX skills and it is a nice work of art. Too bad you didn't like it.
There was nothing like Akira when it got out. I'm still amazed by it today.

Yeah, I agree, they kinda failed at "compressing" the storyline told in the manga to movie-length, which was an impossible feat to begin with. The fact that many people consider it a must see has a lot to do with the fact that it was incredible-looking for its time (and still is in my humble opinion). Personally, I sorta liked it but felt it indeed didn't approach the manga overall.

PS:
KANEDAAAAAAAAAAA!
TETSUOOOOOOOOOO!

[Absentia]

personally it took me a few times of watching it to get the whole story straight, alot of stuff is going on in the movie.

Still not as good as any Miyazaki film.

[yellofury]

What version?
they made a second dubbed version which completely ruined the movie
I unfortunately own this one but I watch it in Japanese with subs anyway

I think at the time it was a landmark film
but I think you just waited too long to watch it
not that the story was bad per se
but its like waiting to watch Independence Day now right after watching a movie like Avatar

[Kwesi]

I asked my roommates what they thought about the movie earlier (they had seen it before me) and they both hated how the story played out but said that the art, animation, and scores were great.

Originally Posted by yellofury

What version?
they made a second dubbed version which completely ruined the movie
I unfortunately own this one but I watch it in Japanese with subs anyway

I think at the time it was a landmark film
but I think you just waited too long to watch it
not that the story was bad per se
but its like waiting to watch Independence Day now right after watching a movie like Avatar

Somehow I don't think think that seeing the original dub would've changed much. I checked out some clips of the dub that Streamline did when Akira was first released and I think I like the new one better to be honest. But, I do think you're right about me seeing over 2 decades too late for it to affect me as much as it did so many others. I guess seeing so much newer stuff has gotten me acclimated to a it's style of story telling made me look at Akira differently, which was a pretty far departure from what I'm used to.

I want to check out the original Ghost in the Shell movies too eventually. Both they and Akira got a lot of good words for opening up anime to a wider audience in the US and at the very least I'd like to compare the two. The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series is easily one of my favorite anime (tied for first place with the more recent Code Geass) and while I know that it and the movies that predated it are probably very different, I think I'll enjoy it much more than I did Akira.

Originally Posted by boomtisk

Yeah, I agree, they kinda failed at "compressing" the storyline told in the manga to movie-length, which was an impossible feat to begin with. The fact that many people consider it a must see has a lot to do with the fact that it was incredible-looking for its time (and still is in my humble opinion). Personally, I sorta liked it but felt it indeed didn't approach the manga overall.

PS:
KANEDAAAAAAAAAAA!
TETSUOOOOOOOOOO!

I agree that it really felt like a lot of things were lost in translation in compressing it all down to 2hrs. The movie started what seemed like many deep thoughtful ideas but never carried any of them out enough for them to have any real impact as story elements beyond the obvious.

P.S. you forgot the bold italics but I fix'd it for ya ! You know that the yelling has gotta have it's bold italics, lol.

Originally Posted by Absentia

...Old anime is the best you can't touch it nowadays it all seems to follow the same formula.
Guess you had to see it back in the day

I gotta disagree with you here. I can see where one would assume that newer stuff has nowhere near the originality as the old stuff but that's not the case at all. It's true that the majority of newer stuff is pretty formulaic (though some are pretty entertaining nonetheless) if you look a bit you'll find some true gems that shine just as brightly as anything does a decade or two before it.

In the case of Akira, however, I think I may have seen it "after it's time."

[Jim Nazium]

Originally Posted by Kwesi

...I want to check out the original Ghost in the Shell movies too ...

The original Ghost in the Shell is one of my all-time favorite movies. Definitely check that one out.

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by Webtroll

Same here. I like some Japanese animated movies, but this one wasn't one I cared for at all, and I largely blame the story.

From what I understand, I'd blame the translation more. There's a lot that was lost when it was translated to English.

[hover]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

From what I understand, I'd blame the translation more. There's a lot that was lost when it was translated to English.

Or flat out changed, which was the case with BattleShip Yamato and many many others. But that is what always bothers me about "Americanized translations". NO. keep the original theme specific to the place of origin, we can handle it. Save the watered down version for the tepid Hollywood remakes.

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by hover

Or flat out changed, which was the case with BattleShip Yamato and many many others.

Yeah, even the ones that are still in Japanese with English subtitles are often pretty off in that regard. Not to mention, the little Japanese cultural things are often mistranslated when putting it into English, this is part of the reason why some of the dialogue and actions seem so quirky. Like when they're super excited about something simple like having a cup of tea, or simply relaying basic information.

[bongomania]

There's two things about Akira that are a "big deal":

1) When it came out in US theaters, a lot of us had never seen anything like it. Sure, we had seen Racer X and Thunderbirds and all that stuff, but Akira was another level. Maybe not such a big deal to someone already a fan of anime, but for someone new to it--holy crap!

2) Everyone I knew, myself included, watched it after dissolving a small square of paper on our tongues. I guarantee that makes it a much more interesting movie. That was considered to be the normal way to watch that movie, among my peers at the time.

[Infernal Affair]

The thing with Akira as others have stated is that it's a really compressed version of the manga, which has a pretty dense story. I liked it back when I watched it over 15 years ago, and I think it's stunning as far as visuals and setting. However, even back then I felt that the story wasn't great, mainly because I was reading the comics at the time (Marvel translated them under their Epic brand in the US). The manga has a lot of AWESOME stuff happening and it's VERY different than the anime, especially in how they treat the title character. I would highly suggest reading the manga, since it's definitely a classic.

As for the anime, it's a classic because it's a landmark for its time. It was one of the few titles that started to gain ground for Japanese animation being popular, and recognized as something uniquely Japanese, in the US.

Ghost in the Shell is another one of those titles that's very different in comic and anime form. It's among most people's favorites, but not mine, even though I like the director, Mamoru Oshii, a lot. I'm a much bigger fan of Satoshi Kon (Pefect Blue, Millennium Actress, Paranoia Agent).

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by yellofury

What version?
they made a second dubbed version which completely ruined the movie
I unfortunately own this one but I watch it in Japanese with subs anyway

I think at the time it was a landmark film
but I think you just waited too long to watch it
not that the story was bad per se
but its like waiting to watch Independence Day now right after watching a movie like Avatar

I agree there, the "digitally remastered sound" version, where they have new voice actors for some (if not all) of the cast was wierd.


(I'm more a Ghost in the Shell fan anyways, so it's ok )

[Joe Gress]

Originally Posted by bongomania

2) Everyone I knew, myself included, watched it after dissolving a small square of paper on our tongues. I guarantee that makes it a much more interesting movie. That was considered to be the normal way to watch that movie, among my peers at the time.

Those little squares make everything interesting. It's funny how much even trees become super awesome to gaze upon...

And the movie...

By far one of my favorite animes of all time hands down. It has a great soundtrack, the story is a very well written engaging story, and the animation itself is still very beautiful and well drawn even for its time. That being said the books were much more detailed, engaging, and over all one of the best ever.