Akira

Pioneer

115 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
Released: 07/24/2001
Reviewed: 01/17/2005

Way back in high school, it's been awhile for me, one of my current roommates (Jerry) and I had a little joke. It was excessively lame, as we now realize, but at the time we were quite proud of it. Finding ourselves to be about the only anime fans in our school -- or at least, the only ones we didn't want to throw right out a window -- we quickly began discussing the finer points of what limited anime was available in the late 1990s. One of which was the seminal Akira. So impressed were we with the Streamline dub that often the halls of our school would echo with his shouts of "KANEDA!!" and my booming reply of "TETSUO!!" We were seventeen, we really didn't know we were dorks.

But the tradition endures. Even to this day I have Jerry listed as "Tetsuo" in my cellphone, which is patently ludicrous because Jerry isn't even his real name to begin with. Consider it a double indemnity in case the terrorists attack, or something equally devious. They'll have to go through twice the encryption to get my roommate on the phone. I'm not positive on why contacting Jerry from my cellphone would be the linchpins of the terrorist's plot, but it makes me feel a damn sight safer than the Patriot Act does.

What I'm trying to say here is that this anime has endured the test of time and then some. I'm not just talking about the ultra clean animation, though it's a dozen times better than the CG shlock that comes out nowadays, but about how everything in it chose to form this wonderful whole. I am not a man that likes to sit still for two hours. I fall asleep in movie theaters, I get antsy and use my computer while watching anime I actually like, but I could finish Akira in one sitting easily if you asked me too. I did not do that this past weekend, but I got dang close. Like the Dirty Pair flick I suggested awhile back, Akira just feels like a movie, not some overly long cartoon episode.
And everything you see in this version of Akira has been improved for the better. Even on my fairly lackluster TV (a 32" sharp with Xbox component ins) I can tell the startling difference in quality between this version and my "old and busted" VHS tape that I purchased about ten years back from one of those CD mail-order programs that lets you get a bunch of stuff for a penny when you first sign up for them. It's a testament to Akira that I can remember the movie and not the name of that mail-order service. Didn't they used to be really popular?

Oh wait, Columbia House. Whatever. Akira's still around, and they're probably floundering for customers in the age of internet purchasing.
If you don't know the story of Akira that's fine, but don't expect that the show is going to hold your hand. Many people's complaints with the original is that it was startlingly hard to follow. I never saw what they were talking about, but I'm willing to admit the language used in the original Streamline dub can be a little hinky at times. But really guys, if a thirteen year old can watch it and pick up the gist of the story then you really have no leg to stand on. If you suck it up and actually pay attention to the movie it's all quite cogent. One night while out on a joyride in the city, a biker punk gets into an accident involving a psychic child that sets him on a path of destruction to discovering the mystery of "Akira", a legendary being that destroyed a good portion of Tokyo about fifteen years prior to the events of the movie. That's it, that's the story. I don't understand why the tittering internet masses persist that it's so difficult to grasp, other than the fact that some people are so lame that they'll hate whatever's popular in an attempt to look cool. I never got that.

Really my only complaint with this DVD is the new dub. It's competently acted, but so close to the Streamline original that it barely seems worth the effort to re-dub it in the first place. I'll never complain about a vocal track that contains people like Jonny Yong-Vosch and Mike Reynolds, but I grew up listening to Cam Clarke (Leonardo the Ninja Turtle) doing the voice of Kaneda and I'm not comfortable with anyone else in the role. I know there's people that share my sentiment. Akira is the only anime VHS I have left, because I refuse to let that portion of anime history slip away. I remember fondly quoting lines with Andrew, and how he'd never get them right. This stuff was all a part of our history.
And that's why it took me four years to write about this show. I was nervous that I wouldn't do it right. I know I haven't, but I won't let my fear control me! I hope my recommendation is enough, in spite of my poor composition. Maybe I can't say Akira is the best anime I've ever seen anymore, but it's in the top five and without a doubt it is the most beautiful. It's not exactly what I would use to introduce people in into the medium, but come on... laser guns, psychic powers, biker gangs? That's a recipe for success.