Never Seen It #314: Akira

Look at what they abandoned in their panic, they were afraid! They were too scared, so they hid it away from the public. They forgot all 500 movies they'd never seen before, cast off the civilization and science we had created, and shut the lid of the Pandora's Blog they themselves had opened.

Akira

1988

Katsuhiro Otomo

Thanks to all those who took the time to share their thoughts about Akira! Check out what we had to say below.

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Bobby M.

Visually, I loved Akira. I thought the visuals and sound design set an incredible atmosphere. I'm a big fan of the Cyberpunk genre (currently playing Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch), and this movie had the same issues I have with the genre as a whole—too much worldbuilding, too fast, that is tough to follow. However, the overall message that the world is complicated, the progress isn't linear, that the future might not actually be better than the present, keeps me coming back.

3.5/5

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Stef

I feel like I was set up, because there is so much about a dystopian animation set Tokyo that I'm meant to like—it checks a lot of boxes for me. And the animation was so insane, one could really never reasonably dispute that. But once the thrill of the visuals wore off, I realized I didn't know what the fuck I was watching. I really tried to focus and get myself there, but the whole time I felt like there was just something key I was missing. Like an inside joke that could never be let in on because I HAD to be there. I could probably manage to muster a summary of the plot if asked, but I wouldn't feel super confident in it. I was absolutely dazzled by this movie, and doubly confused. Which is fine, but not fun.

2/5

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Kait

I made the mistake of watching this film on my phone before bed, and of course did not finish it, in part because I did not set myself up for success, and also because it became a bit overwhelming for me to power through. I should've watched this on a bigger screen. I think that would've helped.

From what I did see, the animation was incredible. What a visually stunning movie filled with intricate details especially in the Neo-Tokyo cityscape. Also funny to me that it was set in future... 2019!! I enjoyed the music, too. The story, however, was so fast-paced that I had a hard time following. There was so much going on, and after reading a plot synopsis, I realized there's no way I would've kept up for the entire duration of the film. Maybe on the big screen? But also maybe not. 

2 pukes out of 5

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Sam

I'm squinting to figure this one out. This movie is so 1988 in all positive and negative attributes. Being almost 40 years old, the film's originality loses a bunch of luster based on me the audience member watching a bunch of movies in the interim. If I was an American teen who got access to this in like 1992, I can see my mind being blown. As it is, Akira was too plotty, grimy, and mean-spirited for me to enjoy it too much.

Honestly, this reminded me of a Marvel movie. There's characters that maybe you care about are fighting an existential threat that you spend a lot of time figuring out the plot mechanisms and rules. The end result is predictable, and the fights aren't cool enough to justify it. 

That said, I did enjoy how weird this was. The trauma of post-bomb Japan is just in their bones at this point, and their sci-fi frequently engages with the aftereffects of nuclear annihilation. The demigod super children are creepy and profound and hopeful. The military man hates the hedonistic society he is protecting. The biker gang is visceral but totally annoying, as are the revolutionaries. 

The film likely would have been more enjoyable without the whiney, high-pitched English speakers. I’m a "subs over dubs" enthusiast. I wonder if the content would have gone down easier in reading. 

Ultimately, this felt like a long X-Men episode, in tone, color, and plot. 

Three stars

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Joe w/Sunny

Sam chose this as his Q5 film pick for a small group, but Sunny also chose Akira as his "for Joe" already-seen-it movie. So to make the nesting doll fit snug, I asked Sunny to provide some questions and prompts for my blog-post-within-a-blog-post. Here's the email I received:

"Aite dog, I shoulda gone to bed early last night but ended up just ripping through Akira again. No regrets! Here are some potential questions, maybe loosely ordered from most curious to least curious for me. I imagine you'd have talked about some/all of these in a typical write up anyway, so make your pick of whichever resonates with you!

I remember first time I finished this movie, I went 'hell yeah!' And then 'what the fuck?' I’ve talked to folks and usually get a different answer to the question I'll ask you: What do you think this movie is *actually* about?

You've seen a decent amount of Japanese cinema now (Tokyo Story, Seven Samurai). I've started to notice themes that cut across much of the post war cinema. You've also seen some anime (Miyazaki movies), though this one is 'harder anime,' lacking a better term. What aspects of Japanese culture stood out to you, if any? And, what about the various anime tropes and mores in presenting character and plot, do you find them grating or consistent with the presentation?

Part of what I like about this movie is that Neo-Tokyo is a pretty dark place in a pretty dark time. We open on our ostensible protagonist Kaneda getting into a motorcycle gang fight, and the antagonist is... Tetsuo? The Espers? The gov't of Japan? I'm curious with whom were your sympathies throughout the movie, and did you find that changed as the runtime went?

To my mind, several movies and other media felt inspired by this just through its ideas and structures. Definitely other animes, but I remember a Rick and Morty where he turns into an akira, or that Max Landis' Chronicle, which has a lot of similarities. Hell, the stupid Charles Barkley jrpg is set in Neo-New York. This movies as old as me; after watching it, do you think it feels dated or fresh? Did any of the visuals or plot points strike you as being used in other future media, or did it not click that way for you?

How about that soundtrack boiiiiiii?"

I'll cop to not knowing the answer to the first question. This feels like one of those "it could be about anything, it could be about everything, it could be about nothing" movies. The lesson that the open-endedness and mystery of it all could be part of a film's value didn't actually sink in for me until 2001: A Space Odyssey, but now I'm a proponent of it. Especially if it's clear that there is a purpose, it's just not clear to the audience.

The value is being able to assign it whatever you feel is necessary. And if you move through enough of those types of movies in an enclosed space—say, on a blog, in a film club—then the issue you run into is that the same people see the same shit in all those types of movies, over and over. Which isn't the movie's fault, it's the blogger's fault. I suppose that's the name of the game, though.

You won't be surprised to hear, for example, that I think what Akira is "about" is childhood trauma. That's just where my mind goes (it doesn't help that most of my writing these days is interrupted with phone calls and emails about potential childhood traumas all around our fair city). Tetsuo is figuratively dealing with the pain of his upbringing at a group home while literally dealing with the pain of, uh, a dark spirit taking control of his body, or something like that, I dunno. It's all very gruesome, but it's supposed to be metaphorical too, I think.

Add in the post-war Japan stuff that Sunny talked about, how there was a generation who grew up under the shadow of the atom bombing, and you can see where the collective trauma might come from. What happens when a country rebuilds after a tragedy of that scale? Doesn't it make sense that something dark and dystopian might rise from the rubble? Not saying that Japan in the latter half of the 20th century was dark or dystopian, I'm saying that there was a pervading sense of darkness and dystopia around that stage of Japan's history. Which informs the creation of this art.

In this regard, I think we can view Tetsuo and the Espers both as dual protagonists. Or, if not protagonists, then at least the sympathetic characters here. Kaneda could be viewed as a protagonist, but one removed from much of the action, a Harry Potter type who seems involved in a lot of the action without driving much of it. Tetsuo and the Espers are the beating hearts of the film, in that they are grappling with past horrors, and furthermore witnessing those horrors affect their lives and the lives of those around them in horrific ways. Tetsuo can't control his anger, Kiyoko and the boys make the decision to, uh, step into the other universe with Tetsuo, something something, I dunno I can't explain it but it seemed like a very brave action!

I like the idea of tracking the possibilities of protagonist throughout the runtime, though. There's a connection there to something I thought was interesting in the margins of Akira. It's apparently accepted that a being named Akira was the cause of the destruction of Tokyo in 1988, and in 2019, there is a sizeable portion of the population who worship Akira or look to Akira for salvation. Then it's revealed that Akira has been destroyed (so they think), and that they've been worshipping something that doesn't even exist anymore. It made me think of the joke that if aliens came down and captured America, then many of us would be thankful that someone was able to end the mayhem that is our government. To me, the way that the radicals sought to view Akira was something similar, and spoke to how truly dark times were in Neo-Tokyo.

I'm talking around some of the true structure and plot mechanics of Akira because I just didn't understand most of it. Which is a bummer, but again, says more about me than about the movie. We've already seen plenty of movies in this Film Club whose plot didn't quite make sense, and I've never been one to dismiss it because of that. If anything, I'd be more inclined to watch it again (if I had the time). I appreciated Sunny's implication that a lot of what we know as "anime" as a style of animation started here. I've seen my fair share of Pokémon episodes too, and it was interesting witnessing this style in a pretty violent and surreal adult movie. I am a total novice when it comes to the "animation style" conversation, but I'll note that it was something that stood out.

A quick note about the music: I don't think anything particularly stood out for me, but I'm really glad you mentioned it. I just generally appreciate music listening behavior that was shaped outside of something that I know. Pretty clear from evidence scattered around various sections of the blog like breadcrumbs that Sunny knows his way around an anime soundtrack, and a lot of what he hears and how he hears it was shaped through (I assume) repeats of various anime soundtracks growing up. I just like knowing different perspectives. As with movies, music exploration is a journey, and you are aided in your journey by various passersby, some who will join you for a ways, others who are headed in the opposite direction, all of whom add to the value of your quest.

What does my quest to "understanding movies" look like after watching Akira? I don't know. I can't even say that I understand it yet, if I'm being honest. But I enjoyed viewing it, and I enjoyed being confused, and I think there's plenty to pull from it, even if your largest understanding of what Akira was about is pulled from the Wikipedia page.

GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5

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GROUP AVERAGE GRADE: 2.7 pukes out of 5

Fire the orbital weapon at the cryogenic storage dewar to create a singularity and meet us in the comments to talk about!!

(NEXT TIME: Joe takes Stef's suggestion to watch Spaceballs, which better be funny OR ELSE.)