When I was 11 I developed something of an obsession with Anime. Having been exposed to it casually mixed in with my usual morning cartoons, I felt something of an affinity with its strong (if not melodramatic) stylisation. Unfortunately at the time, a wide variety of anime were not available to me, not showing at a reasonable hour on television (at least for an 11 year old) and very few apart from what I had seen were in stock at the local video store. There were, however, 2 titles that I could get my grubby hands on, 1988's Akira and 1994's Ghost in the Shell. Now, my poor dad, holder of the rental card was unaware that there was a substantial maturity gap between the Pokémon and Dragon Ball of Cheese TV and these 2 cult classic sci-fi anime. He did notice that Ghost in the Shell has nudity and sexual references and so he rented me Akira...Retrospectively, of the two- he made the wrong choice.
Too bad for him, awesome for me.
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| Throne of Badassery |
Akira neatly
summarises a lot of the clichés established in the west of Japanese Animation,
in fact as one of the first anime features to be heavily exported to the
states, it is largely responsible for these clichés (admittedly these are
fading as anime becomes more widely popular). The piece tells the story of
Neo-Tokyo, a city in the not-so-distant future, riddled with economic problems,
where the youth are running free and violently. A group of these youths in a
biker gang are quickly drawn into a government controlled mystery when one ,
Tetsuo, crashes into an escaped esper (psychic) and then quickly begins to
develop abilities of his own. His best friend and gang leader Keneda launches a
quest to save his friend, from the government and ultimately- from himself. All
the while, the tale behind the mysterious titular Akira, begins to unfold,
forming a tale that echoes many modern anxieties we have regarding the changing
attitude and empowerment of young people as well as the control our governments
have over us.
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| This totally isn't the kind of movie that will scar you for life... |
The film has been masterfully directed by Katsuhiro
Otomo, a veteran of Japanese Anime features. The score is incredible,
utilising silence in such a stark way as to evoke the deep contemplation this
movie begs of you. The characters are what really make this film shine-
they are rich and multi-layered. The dialog between them feels very real,
despite the outlandish content. This is a movie that is going to require more
then one viewing to be truly appreciated as there is simply too many facets to
completely ingest in a single sitting.
Is it something you should be showing to an 11 year
old? Probably not. This is a dark fantasy that is going to manifest some dark contemplation.
That said, if you enjoy anime, science fiction or simply want to tick of
another cult-classic from your list of films, Akira cannot be missed. 11
year old Alex came out of Akira feeling thoroughly confused, but 9 years later,
but thirsting for more. I can say that this is one of the most fantastic anime
films I have ever seen and is definitely responsible for my further journeys
into eastern cinema.
Akira is available now on Blu-ray and DVD… go out
and feast upon it.
Alex
Cyberpunk
since 2003.
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