The Impact of Akira: The Film that Changed Everything
CORRECTION:
The music in Akira is not “Traditional Japanese music” it is a mix of world music but primarily Gamelan from Indonesia, Indonesia having had some… colonization issues with Japan, so that’s a pretty bad mistake to make. I Apologize for the mistake, and to anyone who was offended.
Hey. Akira’s a pretty good movie. Kind of changed the history of anime. Gonna talk about it now.
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Akira: Story Behind the Film:
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Akira fan Poster
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Akira colours:
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Making of Akira (Dvd Extra)
Variety Review:
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Song List:
Scandroid - Neo Tokyo (Dance with the Dead Remix)
Dance with the Dead - Nightdrive
C418- Septic Shock
Hotline Miami 2 - Around
Nikey 9 - Exhausted Divinity
Edamame - Ochre
Makeup and Vanity set - Standing on the edge of a moment
Akira OST - Requiem
List of Anime that appears in the 80s section in order of appearance (Going to make a thread about this in my twitter if you stillcant find what you need): GunBuster Mobile suit Gundam Zeta Patlabour Gunbuster (Again) Urusei Yatsura Beautiful Dreamer Mobile Suit Gundam Fist of the North Star movie Royal Space Force Ranma 1/2 3x3 Eyes Devilman OAV (Guy in car with glasses) Project Ako My Neighbor Totoro Patlabour (Again) Urusei Yatsura Beautiful Dreamer Project Ako 2 Uriotoskudoji (cant actually place this next mecha shot) Urusei Yatsura Beautiful Dreamer Dirty pair flash (girls in car) Urusei Yatsura Beautiful Dreamer Angels Egg Wicked City Angels Egg My Neighbor Totoro Angels Egg Grave of the Fireflys My Neighbor Totoro Gunbuster Wicked City urutosuki Wicked City 3x3 eyes (guy getting impaled by mosnter) Ogre urutosuki Wicked City (Spider Woman) (next one) Dirty Pair Flash Akira
It's mobile suit ZETA Gundam. The Zeta comes first. How the hell you dont know that baffles the fucking mind dude.
Will be making a presentation thursday on my animation class about 80's anime and just rewatched your video about Akira taking tons of notes. Besides giving a context about 80's Japanese animation I will also be talking especifically about the original Dragon Ball, Akira and Angel's Egg. A lot of your work is serving as a main source for my research so I wanted to thank you for that. Also, any chance we can get a video on Angel's Egg? I found out about it in this video and I'm currently obsessed by it.
When was Ghost in the shell ?
95
No Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on your list?
Akira predicted the best description of 2019 .Never showed any flying cars, telportation. Like back to the future.
@Han Boetes what's wrong with the bikes? They ain't shooting lasers or. Bullets, normal asf.
it predicted the cancellation of tokyo olimpics in 2020 too
@@arcinino8509 damn, that's true
@@aswinr936 the film did have those hover-mobiles, though. Like when they got chased through the sewers...
Well in the manga there are some flying hover bikes.
watching akira with my dad and then driving through the city streets at night to get some late night popeyes will always be one of my greatest memories. thx akira
This sounds pure and beautiful as heck.
I watched Akira with my dad at the cinema a few weeks ago, before taking McDonald's at night, all that before me leaving for a few months and not seeing him, which makes it a great memory to me. Your comment really made me smile!
@@cass5710 yours too! Watching akira alone just isnt as good to me anyway
Wholesome
You mean thanks dad?
One of the reasons i love akira (the movie) so much, is its lack of context. You don’t really have time to think and you just sit there seeing all these things happen only slightly realizing the references to real life. And its only after the movie, that you just sit there with your mind slowly comprehending what just happened and starts to connect certain story plots. That is the only way i can describe how watching akira for the first time felt.
well put. which also makes for great rewatches
This movie IS an overrated pile of crap. Only the animations and the soundtracks are worthy. The story telling is absolute garbage, i dont care what you say but THAT IS A FACT not my opinion. The way the story explains everything and what happens is beyond dumb. Only the fan fags will tell you this is the best crap. Dont bother watching if you care about storywriting and plot. This CARTOON is like watching a super sick CGI movie but the writing and plot is just thrown out the window. 5/10
Right! It leaves room for interpretation. You can come to your own conclusions about what you think the movie is tryna say.
Questions after questions. Loved everything about AKIRA
The lack of context you experienced was simply a result of how the story is trunkated in the AKIRA anime. The manga however has the whole story.
I just finished this movie today. Absolutely a visual masterpiece - despite the somewhat vague and confusing plot, it manages to create a powerful atmosphere, one that sticks with the viewer for a long time.
The movie is about a third / a half of the manga books. If you enjoyed the movie the books are really worth picking up.
@@heavyribs1563 Yeah, heard that the ending of the manga was somewhat inspired by the movie, since it did came before the other half of the original story was finished. I actually might, probably after a movie rewatch
This movie IS an overrated pile of crap. Only the animations and the soundtracks are worthy. The story telling is absolute garbage, i dont care what you say but THAT IS A FACT not my opinion. The way the story explains everything and what happens is beyond dumb. Only the fan fags will tell you this is the best crap. Dont bother watching if you care about storywriting and plot. This CARTOON is like watching a super sick CGI movie but the writing and plot is just thrown out the window. 5/10
@@heavyribs1563 if the movie was shite story why read the mange?
@@vadimnimarov8796 because manga might be different and actually be better?
man just wish tetsuo's forehead didnt look like a front porch
Tetsuo is vegeta!
Vegeta
Vegetable
Code Lyoko characters: *quickly puts on bucket*
He's psychic he got a big brain
It's honestly incredible that this came out 31 years ago in 1988 and STILL looks better than most films these days Just imagine the reaction this got back then..
The reaction was either a) ignoring it exists, because it is too truthfully depicting what humans are, or b) "Well, that was my brain. I'm done. And now i'm reborn." - Simpl az dat, nuttin ta menshen et ol ...
Sam Brown “i HaTe tHiS nEw GeNeRaTiOn” - Basically your comment
@@thatsoneinterestingpfpyago2521 He's right though. You just don't see much animation like this anymore, most studios don't want to invest the time or money when everyone else is pumping out CG on the cheap.
@@thatsoneinterestingpfpyago2521 Nope, there's plenty of modern animation I enjoy, I'm also looking forward to seeing where animators take CG once we get better at integrating it into 2D art. But very little is hand drawn with this attention to detail and that's just a fact.
@@thatsoneinterestingpfpyago2521 2/10 disappointing troll
Akira is required viewing for important films and not just for animation and anime. It's seminal. And it was shocking. To see such a vibrant dystopia in an animated film... in the west, we were enjoying Ren & Stimpy, the western cartoon that changed animation forever. It showed us that cartoons can be anything. Akira showed us that, too.
all the characters look so ugly bro Akira sucks
Your mention of the manga's silent moments makes me think of one of the movie's most underrated assets, that being its sound design, or rather, the lack of it. It's probably one of the few movies (along with 2001: A Space Odyssey) to truly master the art of silence in filmaking, using complete or near-complete silence so many times to great effect. It makes the emotional moments hit so hard, it allows us to connect to the world by reflecting real-life silence, and also makes the music better too by concentrating it on key moments that really matter.
With all of it’s cheesyness aside, and there is a ton of it, Castaway was, for me, one of those mainstream Hollywood films that grabs that parallel. My useless 0.02…
The original English dub was also effectively gibberish half the time, so it really needed to connect without words. And it absolutely did.
80's anime is ages like fine wine
Yes it is such age wine
You clearly havent seen golgo 13 or Nora
all anim i watched on the 1980 until now was crap else akira
@@omnianti0 what kind of anime did you watched lmao
@@fedreck89 goldorak
how does ONE guy draw, write, AND direct all so elaborately well?
11 billion dollars and a dream shared with many others
Sir Williams u mean 1.1 billion japanese yen
Gōdon Gurando *proceeds to put fake fake news on my sandwich
@@sirwilliams5532 Eating your own shit I see lol
Because he doesn't work for Modern Marvel
The Akira manga is definitely worth the read. The single massive void-obliterations are terrifying enough, but at the point in the manga where Akira triggers another one, and there's just page, after page, after page, of terrible, terrible destruction of such an immense and unholy capacity with such a terrible silence from the lack of dialog -honestly one of the most memorable and awesomely disturbing points in any manga ever.
Read it back when I was 12, those double-page arts absolutely smashed my brain. They had all the volumes at my local library I sat there for entire afternoons reading them over and over. They actually were banned from borrowing (only one copy) so the kids just rotated with each other passing the books around. We were absolutely blown away.
Akira, Ninja Scroll, Wicked City, Vampire D, Ghost in the Shell, Hellsing, Evangelion, Gundam ... This was my childhood growing up, going to blockbusters with my parents on a Friday night to pick out a movie and some cheeseburgers as a family will always be special to me, i always darted towards the anime section as soon as we walked in ... The tone has changed since then but the classics remain classics.
Akira was light-years ahead of its time.
Light years are still not used for time my dude
well at one tenth of superluminal speed heading for Proxima Centauri, he would mean they were 40 years ahead of time. The purpose of language is to convey meaning, and I know what he meant.
@@cheddar2648 hahahaha comeback of the day
Still is :)
Garry Superales Like The Matrix and Tron
When Kaneda pops out of the water and spits it out it had that goofy, cartoonish vibe to it but a literal second later the guy behind him gets half his face blown off in a brutal animation. Just a small moment that made my jaw drop
Duude,saame.I went from laughing to “😶😶oh damn”
I saw Akira when I was in elementary school and it shaped my entire perspective on the world. I watch it today at almost 40 years old and the effect is exactly the same. Probably my favorite movie of all time.
There is no shortcut in Akira. From frame one to the end, it's anime masterpiece. Every detail, every movement combined with cinematography that could surpassed movies, and gut wrenching, brutal story line. Great narration btw!
Hand drawn will forever be king.
Expensive as heck, but utterly jaw-dropping
@@UNSCPILOT can't argue with that
Even though I never could bring myself to like Akira, I agree that Hand drawn anime was always far better than the computerized animation. All the anime from prior to the 21st Century was hand drawn. Jungle Emperor Leo (Kimba the White Lion) looked amazing, same for DBZ & several other series that were drawn by hand.
Hand drawn anime is still a thing... It's just not done on paper as much as before. It's done on computers. But it IS still hand drawn if you consider drawing on a tablet with a digital pen to be hand drawn, which I do. I don't know if you meant hand drawn as in CGI is the only form of movie animation we tend to see outside of Japan or not. Hell, even CGI is still technically often hand drawn since it's also drawn on a graphics tablet in some way. It's not that CGI animation is bad though. It's just that Japanese CGI animation is still in its infancy and poorly used most of the time. CGI animation can be beautiful if done right. Land Of The Lustrous is the perfect example of CGI anime done right. RWBY is another great example of CGI anime taking full advantage of the medium and using its strengths properly instead of just using it to save money and nothing else. (I don't care if people don't consider RWBY anime, I personally do. At the very least it's American anime. But I'm not trying to get into a debate about it in this comment). Besides, hand-drawn animation is only as good as the people who work on it. Plenty of GARBAGE hand-drawn animation also exists. Even Disney tried to cut costs with reusing shit in multiple movies. 2D animation by its very nature tends to lead to cut corners whether in America or Japan.
@Laguna Mudembei Yeah, clearly. I mean, even something like Pixar CGI animation is still drawn. It's just drawn with polygons in a computer program like Maya. (I assume they probably use it since it's the industry standard for movie CGI) they can probably get away with only drawing key frames and let the computer animate the inbetweens now, but they still gotta animate the characters. Though with CGI models it's just a matter of rigging and then moving a contraint joint and animating key frames with motion. But anime isn't CGI, generally. It's done in a computer, yes. But it's not a 3D model so it's still drawn. They still use inbetweens. I think they might even still draw on paper and then scan it into the computer for at least some anime though I don't know for sure. Digital artwork is still artwork. Programs just make animating things a bit easier and they can do stuff in it that you couldn't do as easily without computer graphics. I do sorta miss things like hand drawn vehicles, sometimes. But the CGI ones are okay. I personally prefer CGI anime backgrounds though. They're just WAYYY more detailed than a painting background tends to be. And can even have animated things in the background whereas a static painting can't.
The frame rate, art and lighting was ahead of its time
It still is.
The framerate was before it's time if anything
We still haven't catch up lol
Alex Lee it‘s still better than todays anime in my opinion. 80‘s and 90‘s anime all are
but the story and narrative was terrible?
Knowing that the movie basically had to summarise 2/3 of the story in its second act really explains a lot, I assumed that Akira was just hard to understand but that obviously seems like a byproduct of this approach to adapting the manga. This was a great video!
You did an amazing job of showing how impactful this movie really was, even decades later this movie is still amazing in every possible way, the animation is incredibly beautiful and the story is so well made. Akira is astonishing.
I love 80s to 90s anime, their animation is something really special, like a hidden gem, a mystery
Honestly, I love the older stuff like robotech where the attention to detail is insanely good
Omg I love robotech my dad showed it to me and i wish I could forget it so I could see it again
Yeah they put alot of effort
in 1990 Akira got a Award Oscar academy...
Not that hidden
"It doesn't look like modern anime, it doesn't move like modern anime, it doesn't feel like modern anime" GOOD.
Well, it kind of calls into question his assertion that Akira is so influential. It's SO influential that stuff that followed doesn't look, move, or feel like it?
@@WalterLiddy Supereyepatch Wolf is referring to how Akira impacted the Western World's view on Japanese Anime. It was one of the biggest lynchpins to introducing the medium to the west as a niche thing, which evolved into the globalized industry it is today.
To be fair Akira is the main reason why anyone from Generation X in the west would like anime. They weren't raised on anime as children like later generations would be. Akira wasn't even all that popular in The States, it's always been a cult film. 4kids ironically contributed more to anime taking hold in The States than Akira thanks to Pokemon & Yugioh. Toonami & Studio Ghibli paved the way for anime here far more than Akira ever did. As for Akira being influential, all I can think of it's influence are psychic powers like Akira had becoming way more mainstream & as a longshot Yugioh 5Ds 1st Season. I can't think of any other things influenced by it, unless Akira was influential as an example of what not to do. Really Akira shouldn't be considered as modern anime. All it was is an R-rated movie that didn't change the anime industry all that much unless it caused guidelines to be placed because of how controversial the movie was.
@Deku The Hero Using the soulless anime of today (2018 & 2019) as a comparison just isn't fair. I could go into detail for why said anime of today feel soulless, however I would prefer to start by saying there were a few handdrawn masterpieces that looked better than Akira. While the only 90's example I can think of for where the handdrawn animation clearly surpassed Akira in quality was Gundam Wing, the 2010s series Gundam Unicorn & Fate Zero greatly surpass Akira as well. I admit Akira had a lot of work put into it's animation for its time, although really it feels like wasted effort considering the movie's content itself. I mean Akira wasn't made for people who want to consume artwork, it was made for an insanely violent part of Gen X. I mean you can tell the movie had themes to reignite strong AntiAmerican feelings that existed from the postwar era. The video itself even suggests it was made to be enjoyed by those who are wrathful based on the commentary. What I'm saying is they didn't want impressive framerate or high quality animation, the audience just wanted blood & destruction. All to sync up with their stored up rage.
@Laguna Mudembei Have you seen Season 3B of My Hero Academia & how awful it was? I mean it's like a repeat of Bleach after Aizen if All Might was Ichigo & keep in mind this is still relatively early series for MHA. Season 3 killed whatever potential that series had. Then we have Black Clover which was always an inferior Naruto Clone. Which leaves us with the need for obscure short series to satisfy ourselves with, although then we have the problem of finding 1 of those that stands out as being good out of literally dozens. Boruto series had promise, although it's kind of in a complicated place right now where it can either recover or sink further. Only time can tell & I'm deliberately trying to avoid talking about One Piece for the same reason as Pokemon in that it's a series that will just go on forever regardless of quality. Although to be fair Pokemon itself pretty much lost its footing completely starting Gen7. Yeah the quality of Japanese products has decreased in recent years for some reason & it's not exclusive to anime as videogames & even Yugioh's card game have suffered. Part of me worries that Japan may be westernizing & losing their sense of craftsmanship they had for centuries.
most of the clips you showed are INSANELY better than modern animation
Is it possible to make realistic, detailed traditional 2d animation? Like hair for example? And I don’t mean a single shape representing hair, I mean individual hairs
why does it matter ? why does realism have to be held up as the pinnacle of art ? like, yeah, with insane time and dedication, someone could probably render by hand a 2d animated photorealistic head of hair flying in the wind. but like, why. we have video cameras for that.
@@olliek8235 Why are you making the fringe "counterargument" against the commenter's opinion about realism not mattering the most in art? Does Akira, the basis of the commenter's statement, try to look like the most realistic cartoon ever?
@@Syndiate__ i was trying to reply to that alesky person in this reply chain. for some reason youtube didn't put their username as an @ in my comment when i replied
Those of us who grew up on Toonami owe Akira a gigantic thank you
That's crazy that Akira takes place in 2019 and its 2019 now wow!!!
I was just thinking that. Honestly man I think some crazy shit is about to go down soon too. A lot of times fiction can somewhat predict the future. Escape from New York had a scene where a hijacked airplane was heading towards the world trade centers. I've been talking with other people and doing a lot of praying to God, and I feel as though some major world changing event is about to take place. It's a good idea to get right with Jesus now.
July 16 2019 is gonna be fun
Nah, that's not. What *actually* crazy is that Akira action was in year prior to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Guess where would be the next one?
@@chupasaurus The next one after tokyo is paris 2024, then LA 2028
I just watched it last week too
its almost 2019, wheres my akira bike
I think that you want Kaneda's bike... Akira doens't have a bike. ^^ And as Kaneda has said: "Do you like it? steal one for you."
Jambock “YOU WANNA RIDE IT, TETSUO!?!” But seriously. I love Kanedas bike but what is even better is Tetsuo on it. Hahaha
You'll find it at "Neo" Tokyo.
@@Felipeezo that's my bad, but I think I meant to say it like "the bike in Akira" or something like that
It is 2019. Where's my bike?
This film got me into bikes 20 years ago. I've been riding ever since, and the core message of the film stuck with me. That brotherhood is bittersweet and we are all responsible for each other, and that there is still mystery and awe in this world. That we are to be careful with the power we are given, and must confront those we love when they go wrong. Also be like Kaneda, he's pretty cool. Oh yeah, and bikes. Mostly bikes.
Well said.
30 years later, i'm still waiting for scientists to invent those supercool persistent-trace lights that was mind blowing
Haha the film also made me love motorcycles, and even red leather jackets lol
I honestly watched the movie since I saw a clip of the iconic bike slide on youtube. And boy was I given more than I asked for.
5 years later: LEAVE ME ALONE. [ding] AHHH. [ding] AHHH(akira)HHH(akira)HHHH.
The biggest sign as to how incredible the film is, is that no one has ever adapted it again. Because you can't top it. well supposedly a more faithful adaptation is coming. But we'll see.
SpecialNewb sadly a live action may be on the way - don’t have faith in it sadly
I have read that Taika Waititi is adapting it, and will be basing it on the manga. But i think it got delayed or canceled not sure
I'm very hype for the Akira anime. Maybe it won't top the animation in the original film but the story will be 10x improved.
@@jeijei3255 It was delayed indefinitely but I honestly hope it gets canceled.
you should watch perfect blue its such a classic unbelievably level good
1980's "Before weebs ruined anime," got it.
I'm a proud otaku generation :D
Can't fully blame the weebs. It's also the studios who cash in on fanservice.
no one has really ruined anime lol
@@illegalalien6542 overly political people just get annoying after a while There edited out the oittle 12 year old sjw rant, you guys happy now?
@@thatlonelygiraffeinc.6989 triggered lol
I watched Akira last year for the very first time and fell in love with it. Everytime I get the chance to show it someone else, by god I'll take it. It's an unforgettable masterpiece!
Akira will always be timeless IMO.
I've watched Akira several times at home but saw it for the first time on the big screen at Prince Charles Cinema in London. Let me tell you its an entirely different experience where you really get to fully appreciate the highly detailed animation and overall production value. I can only imagine how mind blowing it must have been for audiences back in 1988
Tomorrow, the first public viewing of Akira (4k) in Finland since 1992. I've got ticket and am beyond excited!
Seeing in IMAX this Friday - I am stoked
Not interested in any of those animes. The reasons are: To much talking, this mean reading subtitles if you aren't Japanese. To many things happened on the screen that get very confusing. Avater the last air bender is the only anime that I enjoyed watching because they have a great story that's easy to follow and I love their characters build up.
I just saw this at the local theaters and it goes to show why you can’t just stream it on your tv and expect the same outcome. Spending the money to see it was worth the experience. I wasn’t born when Akira came out and seeing this for the first time made me feel like I was part of it.
condorX2 is.... is this satire?
I went to see Akira in 4K in the theatre with my dad a couple of days ago, we both came out of the cinema in awe of the animation, themes and violence and sheer creativity of Akira even though he hasn't even seen an anime before. We talked about it all night and he was genuanely interested in it, it goes to show how well made and culturally signifigant Akira was and still is.
Read the Comic if you can mate👍🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 to truly appreciate the scale of it. And the artwork.
did the exact same thing at the biggest cinema in england it was truely stunning
I love this comment
@@calvinjohnstone2664 The manga is better for sure :)
It's cool you could get your dad to watch that with you. Only a few anime films have gotten my dads interest as he saw me watching it enough for him to sit down and watch it
The editing at the beginning of this video is too good. I’ve watched it dozens of times, looping it. I come back to it every few months since it came out. It got me into the genre that music. It set the music theme for the next 2 years of my life.
Scandroid is freaking amazing. Such a fun artist. The particular song playing is Neo-Tokyo (Dance with the Dead remix)
I can unironically say that seeing Akira for the first time, on scifi channels Saturday Anime block, changed my life. And as much as I still love anime to this day, there really is something special about late 80s/early 90s anime that we will never see again. Both in their aesthetic hard drawn beauty, as well as their tone.
Producer: "Explosion, then a second explosion" Co producer: "how about another explosion after the second explosion" Pro: "great idea "
Michael Bay: WRITE THAT DOWN! WRITE THAT DOWN!
Spot on :-D The amount of hand-drawn explosions, smoke and steam in this movie is crazy!
My god I didn't even realize how beautiful the animation was in the 80s. The transitions were slower but the detail contained within was enormous!
FelineHYPER animation has completely gone to shit in modern times. Even looney tunes looks amazing compared to the shit we get today.
Faster transitions just makes an excuse for lazy animation work nowadays.
look at when the bridge blows up and you see each brick by brick coming apart...
@@Video-Games-Are-Fun i will notice that when i see the movie again
I'm not putting up an excuse here people, but don't movies generally receive a much higher budget than a TV show? Like with Dragon Ball Super for example, the movies and the TV show.
I SOOOOO appreciate you making this Akira tribute. In the early 90s, Akira had this mythical aura around it, as it was talked about in simultaneously excited and hushed tones. I ended up buying the VHS when I was probably around 16, and watched it alongside my brother and cousins. We were completely transfixed and blown away. I entered art school to study animation BECAUSE of this film, and still hold a reverence for it to this day.
The film is a watered down version of the comic - which tells you how great and detailed the comic is. The film is fantastic on its own, but would be at least 6 hours long if it was true to the comic. I would definitely recommend reading the manga as a companion to the film. There is SO. Much. More. So much. Also, I know the newer B&W volumes are popular now but the original, full color manga is wonderful.
By the same token though there is so much more to what makes the film great than the story. The atmosphere, the soundtrack, the quality of the animation etc
"DISCIPLINE! *slap*, DISCIPLINE! *slap*, DISCIPLINE! *slap*, DISCIPLIIIINE!!! *big slap*, DIIIIIIISMISSED!!!!!"
OMG YES
Summary of my grade/grammar school in those days. Corporal punishment are all over education systems. Not it was all bad. But sonetimes, it went too far.
@@nfspbarrister5681 There's a sociological argument to be made for it having far-reaching damaging effects on family life, in that kids disciplined with the cane might internalize the idea of violence as a means to stability and order, resulting in more domestic violence, fear, intimidation and coercive dynamics in relationships and parenting styles of the time.
ThANK You VEry MUCH SIrrrrr...
In the version I saw he was yelling SHUT UP! SHIT UP! SHUT UP! As he hit the kids
Not the easiest to get into, but one of the most important titles out there!
mikeymegamega I LOVE your channel. Your drawing videos helped me SO much.
I think if you've watched enough anime, akira shouldn't be that much of an alienating movie
Hell, I've heard of people who got into anime WITH Akira.
its super easy to get into wtf are you talking about like you just put the movie in and within ten minutes people are getting shot and beaten to death that will grab most people instantly if anything the manga is way harder to get into due to its length and the fact most places dont carry physical copies
I did
Princess Mononoke was my Akira. Watched it at my childhood best friends' house when we were 9 or 10 and it rocked my world. Something about anime's devastating depiction of brutal reality mixed with simple humanity, mind-bending strangeness, and a reverent twist on Lovecraftian spiritual beings... the shit is insane (in a good way of course). It's no wonder it's taken over the world. Even today, it's rare to see a Western movie or show that can convey that kind of intensity. I'm sure there's more out there than I'm aware of, but all I can think of is Annihilation and The Matrix (at least when The Matrix first came out).
Akira sparked my love for anime when I first saw it as a teenager in the mid 90s. This video is an extremely well researched, introspective and insightful breakdown. Thank you and keep up the good work sir.
Akira is when Anime became serious. However, nowadays, I believe we take all this for granted.
We really do
Fr. Watch Devilman Crybaby it’s a great return to form for that brutal era
it was a shitty movie back then, and it still is
@@barrygol7146 you sound like you have really good opinions
@@peetsaman8889 ironically the main characters called akira
BEST. INTRO. EVER.
0utta S1TE he has a list in the description
This might just be my fan-self talking, but I highly recommend buying or at least listening to all of Dance With The Dead's songs btw-- especially if you like synthrock. The replay value of their albums is super high too haha!
0utta S1TE he bought it?
This is far and away the best Akira review I have ever seen, it's fully encompassing, well summarized and articulated, amazing, thank you.
That intro.... That intro man and the line that "Then there was Akira" is soo perfect as Akira is like the start of anime coming to the world.
"May Lord Akira return once again and with a burning fire cleanse us of our sins!" XD
Well ... kind of. We had anime Saturday morning cartoons (cut and dubbed) in the early 80s so the style of Akira wasn’t completely foreign to us. Just the execution of the concept
Fr fits the vibe so well
Meanwhile, in the West, we got Boss Baby, a garbage movie that got the nomination for Best Animated Feature in the Oscars but a masterpiece like Koe No Katachi(A Silent Voice) didn't.
Gemini Jemini bro he’s a boss and a baby, a boss baby how cool is that boss baby dude epic boss baby
I mean, we also got Coco....
Primal came out recently, might want to check it out.
Boss baby was created by Satan to spite humanity
Gemini Jemini are you even American??
I finished it a few days ago. Man, what an eye treat. I think I'll read the manga to get the full picture of the story.
Akira was the 1st anime movie I watched with my dad when I was 7. This is what started my path on anime and I tell everyone you need to watch this work of art! It was not until I was 24 did I realize I was missing so much with the manga which is incredible! Akira stands as an amazing piece of work that people stop talking about because of time.
7 is waaaay too young for Akira though. That film is genuinely scary.
Haha I mean now I relize I was way to young. But 7 year ikd ne was blown away with what a cartoon could be. That shapped me for anime as I got older and what pushed me into the unknown to give everything and anything a try.@@CC3GROUNDZERO
There are techniques Akira uses that most anime still do not even come close to scratching.
Such as turning into a gaint testicle
Such as turning into a giant testicle
Of course but nobody does cell anymore. It's all CGI now even in Japan. There was like a big argument over it at the time. A lot of animators considered cell to be more traditional and wanted to keep doing it but that was a long time ago now.
Well? At least give an example. Or two. Or several. Just one at least?
When there are seven organisations pooling their resources into one project, even scratching the surface of the output is difficult.
I love the absolute SCALE of this film, it's persistent all throughout and it doesn't hold back to show massive detail on every small piece of rubble and every element at play colliding with the environment
So it is possible to make realistic, detailed traditional 2d animation?
@@AleskyMaxomovishPeshkov Is is, but it's so costly and tedious it's really unpractical unless you REALLY REALLY love the project and don't mind it not returning its budget in sales, which thankfully it did
@@Jack_Woods I want to do that; maybe become the next “Kane Pyxis” on KZhead (I’m sixteen right now and have no experience…)
@@Jack_Woods why? Do you have any experience with animation and drawings?
I thought that that fact they animated the pipes and electrical wires in the rubble or when they made a hole in the ground it's a nice touch that grounds you in the scene
When I had finished watching Akira for the first time, I was stunned and overwhelmed, because I had seen something which I had ever seen or even imagined before. An incredible feat!
The beginning gave me goosebumps and brought tears of joy. akira is truly a classic gem. It's what started my journey as an artist.
Funfact: The percussion that used throughout the soundtrack are not Japanese traditional instruments. It was in fact Indonesian bronze instruments called gamelan, which you can hear carefully by the sound of metallic thumps it generates. Amazing video nonetheless
Yeah i also think it was gamelan. You have source for that info ?
@@B__SYAHRULMUBAROK Here's my dude garage.vice.com/en_us/article/paw5bg/akira-30th-anniversary-anime-metrograph-kanye-approved
@@rakaipikatan8922 thank you
Thanks fyi
Well if you watched the video there's a clip showing Indonesians playing the gamelan. They definitely were not Japanese maybe Javanese hehe!
While the manga didn't have as big of an impact, it's a veritable masterpiece of sequential art, and everyone - and I mean everyone - who is interested in comics and/or manga - should read it. Several times.
Who Am I to desagree?
I read hell alots of manga but still didnt read akira yet.
Perfect statement. For me tha manga is one of the great pieces of arte of all time.
I have all 6 volumes of the manga. They are a treasure to me =)
The manga is fucking mind blowing! The pacing, characters, philosophy, analyses of consciousness, and sheer massive scale... absolutely fantastic!
A movie rarely holds my full attention as I believe I have some form of ADHD. Only 3 movies have had me completely engrossed to the point I only saw the screen and nothing else, one of them being Akira. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Along with the visuals, another aspect of the film I feel doesn’t get the attention it deserves is the soundtrack. It is bone-chilling and unnerving and played at exactly the right moments. The writing as well, absolutely brilliant. Can’t say enough good things about this classic.
God the art in this film is amazing, first time viewing it today and i was blown away by not only the art but the freaking story, jesus this is one of if not the best movie i have watched in over a decade.
Every frame explodes with detail. Feverish, creepy, weird, mind-bending detail.
And every line of dialogue makes you want to explode your brains to end the mind numbing tedium. Just watch Redline. Much better animation with a GASP! coherent story.
Much better animation? Really dude?
kzhead.info/sun/oqaMqpR9fJtrfGg/bejne.html Yeah, you're right. Much better animation doesn't capture how much better it is compared to Akira. Spectacularly better animation. Superbly better animation. Amazingly better animation. Awesomely better animation. My point is that Akira sucks and only an idiot would praise it.
Did Akira killed your family or something?I can understand not believing is the best shit ever especially talking about the plot but about the fucking animation? So because its shiny and more ''beautiful'' redline is better? Dont get me wrong still a very very well animated movie that is a shame people forget about but Akira has insane work and polish in its animation people should see and copy that shit not forgetting it.
Or maybe I just hate that people act like it's the best movie ever made when it's a truly awful movie with only a few interesting shots worth looking at. Redline is far superior in both story and aesthetics. Also, if you want to talk about "insane work and polish" then Redline destroys Akira in that resepct as well. Redline took 7 years of work and every frame is pouring with the creators' love for something amazing.
I started reading Akira when I was 13. While I was in awe of what I was reading, my interest for some reason kind of declined by around volume 4. I just recently turned 17, and made it my duty to continue where I left off and hopefully finish it. Turning the final page of volume 6 was a bittersweet moment. It didn't feel real. Here I was, after finishing a story that kept feeling longer and longer the more and more I put it off. To put it in short, Akira is a once in a lifetime read. I took for granted how lucky I was to live in a world where something like Akira existed. If you take anything from this, get out there, and buy yourself the 35th anniversary box-set. You won't regret it.
Wholesome kid here folks there is hope
@@jjcoola998 YESS
I’m not really into films but I spend a lot of time listening to music i remember kayne saying this was his favorite anime I watched it a couple days ago and plan on rewatching in a little bit but really I’m glad I watched this before I really went into anime as a whole
@IONIZE That's cheaper than it was in the '90s for a good copy. I remember saving up for it and gave up and just bought a bunch of MtG cards instead! I'm still kicking myself for getting rid of the Kaneda figure I had with the laser rifle from back then because and ex said it was childish. Turns out those original figures are worth an insane amount these days!
I watched Akira in the early 90’s after a bootleg video tape was being passed around school friends. It was a film where you had seen it and were supercool and talked about it for weeks, or you hadn’t seen it yet and we’re not “in the club”. I think that way of thinking about Akira holds up still today.
I remember my dad showing me this movie along with gundam wing when I was around 9. This movie awakened something in me. I loved the odd happenings and music. I recently rewatched it with him and loved it more. This was a huge part of everything, honestly.
I was 12 years old when I saw *Akira* at a small art house theater in the east village... it was only meant to be shown the one time there but at the end the projectionist came out and asked if we wanted to watch it again and of course we did, two more times. It was a seriously magical day that really did change the course of my life.
Hmm, was it the FIlm Forum? Actually they were able to extend the showtimes, luckily, so I was able to catch it after school. :-)
When I read akira I was like damn now I know where stranger things got their ideas
Shamone, Stranger Things is a rip-off of literally every successful thing in hollywood ... no disrespect to the show itself, ofc, it pulls it off in a way it made itself successful.
@@liberpolo5540 Almost every 80s hit plays part in stranger things. Especially goonies lol
if anything, stranger things ripped off elfen leid
Fate/Zero definitely is heavily "inspirated"
@@baronobeefdip1119 i think they just used the old concept of the psionic, instead of ripping off some anime
Brilliant production, mate! Akira was my first as well, back in 1989. I used to collect the colorized manga albums from Dark Horse and I still have a large inlay poster from a triple album box set hanging on my wall, thirty years later. Thanks for some excellent musings around our favourite anime/manga, you bring up some very interesting points and new perspectives. Here’s a sub with bells on, well deserved.
I know I'm late to the party. But, this is a great overview of both the manga set and the movie. And, how it sort of brought anime to the west. Akira was also the very first movie I watched as a child, at around 7 or 8 years old. It's still easily in my top 3. The anniversary set of the manga set is really nice too. Japanese Animation is certainly not afraid to push the boundaries. And, highlight so many things. From the far out Sci-Fi like FLCL, to the human experience like Kino's Journey, and then over to psychological thrillers like Psycho-Pass. From dark to light topics. Light and heavy topics. Covering a huge range of story genres.
The detail in the animation, particularly the camera movement in the bike chase is absolutely stunning, particularly given that this was pre-CGI.
@@SnailHatan Huh? They say right there, it's stunning. Especially since it was pre-CGI.
Is it possible to make realistic, detailed traditional 2d animation? Like hair for example? And I don’t mean a single shape representing hair I mean individual hairs…
@@AleskyMaxomovishPeshkov no
@@darkbustergt8085 damn it. How do you know?
@@AleskyMaxomovishPeshkov The human eye doesn't even perceive individual hairs in a real-world scenario so animating hair strands looks more "realistic" than animating individual hairs...
I saw this when it came out, on the big screen, at age ten. Everything since has borne the marks of that.
Maybe, but the fact is that Akira is nothing compared to the Taco Bell Fry Force commercial.
Are you 43 years old, then?
If you watched this at 10 you definitely didn’t understand what the hell was going on lmao this film is convoluted af.
That's awesome. I was literally a baby when it came out so I wouldn't see it until a couple of decades later.
I feel the inspirations many things share in this too. I just watched it for the first time and the notes that resonated with me were the similarities to Final Fantasy 7. The moogle playground slide, the sewers, the tank where Jenova was held....all very similar in art design.
Just got back from watching this film in 4k at a 35th anniversary theater showing here in Poland. It's probably been two decades since I've seen it. Remember watching this as a kid on sci-fi channel anime Saturdays and being blown away. Had a huge impact on me creatively and my worldview in general (for better or worse) even though I didn't entirely understand it at the time. With the advent of computer animations & now AI, we probably will never get a film like this again. I'm incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to watch this piece of art as it was intended!!
I recently watched Akira, and even though it's decades old, I was blown away by the richness and freshness of the animation.
The artstyle is impeccable as well. The hand drawn aesthetic really differs from the digital animation nowadays, and it is leagues better than how CGI is *normally* used in anime.
stop following me
Justin Y. You are comparing a fucking movie to tv anime.
I agree Justin
i'd love to but i can't get into old-looking anime :/ it's a shame
I swear to god. Wherever I comment there you are. Justin Y. tell me... Are you an actual Ninja. Tell me your secrets. How did you master being everywhere, but nowhere?
One of my favorite parts is when the colonel and scientists goes to verify Akira is still stable, the frozen doors and it even shows their breath. Most people don’t even remember the part but it shows how incredible the movie is. Such detail. I rarely see breathes in cold scenes in live movies.
Still remember seeing _Akira_ for the first time at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa. For me, as a storyteller, there was the time before _Akira_ and the time after... it truly did change everything.
I rewatched this for the first time in a long time. It came out 12 years before I was born, but for being over 30 years old, it's gorgeous. It looks like it could be from like 2005-09, but it looks stunning for 1988. Wasn't too far off from actual 2019 to now either lol
I saw this early one Saturday morning on Sci-Fi Channel as a kid of seven or eight years old. I thought it was a hallucination for years.
I know exactly what you mean. I watched it with my sibling at a young age and to this day I am still terrified of it. I had to close my eyes and scroll down to the comments so I could watch the video!
Yep, the Sci Fi Channel's Saturday Morning Anime is what turned me on to anime in the early 90s when I was just a wee lad. I still vividly remember the lipsynching in Akira blowing me away. I had never seen animation like that before.
I thought it was terribly made garbage that made Sailor Moon look amazing by comparison.
Akira needs a whole series to better reflect the full story of the manga, all with the same quality of the film. That would be excellent :)
There’s a series coming from sunrise the people who made Cowboy Bebop.
@@anthonydelarosa You mean Studio Bones? Because Sunrise no longer exists, but basically the entire staff founded Bones
@@TheAnomaly00 wdym studio wunrise doesn't exist? They are the mecha studio right? That created gundam. They are still around bro
@@ahnafahmed4951 So we are both kind of right. Sunrise Studio went bankrupt in the early 2000s and got scooped up by Bandai Namco. The staff of studio 2 who made Bebop specifically then left and formed Studio Bones.
Akira with a 5+ season anime would be insane fr
Awesome analysis! I remember when I first saw this movie I was immediately sold on anime for practically most of the reasons (and more) you mentioned in this video. Great work!
Man, you're telling skills are so good. Never a boring minute, wow...
I was wondering why this channel never made a video essay about Akira. I really appreciate everything about this essay.
Vicente Ortega Rubilar You don't have to call it an essay you know. Its a video with a script.
What, that Wolf's takeaway doesn't read into the deeper narrative at all? This has to have the most surface-level, ambiguous fucking thesis in any analysis I've seen. Calling it an essay is an insult to essays. You're probably still in high school, huh? Newsflash: this isn't how professional critics interpret art, because he's not trying at all. This video's much more probing about anime in the west than anything to do with Akira
lol, millennials and their interpretation of the 80's. It's like what going out used to be like before the internet and you get 1001 camera phones stuck in your face. This magical mythical world where imagination runs wild. You can tell the commentator hasn't the foggiest clue what he's talking about, and going off second and third hand information. He left out what it was really like to live in the 80's, the political impact of the Cold War, and Western animation movies like 1981's Heavy Metal. But while he's interpretation is completely inaccurate it's all good, he's having fun!
Yeah
I'm 50 this year, UK based, got into anime in the late 80's via interest being grabbed at a sci-fi convention screening. I'm also a 3rd Gen Sci-fi buff and a table top gamer (at the Time of Akira, Mostly Runequest, Traveller and Twilight 2000! We almost never play D&D in our group, then or now!). To be honest, Heavy Metal was the other end of the 80's and a whole generation earlier. Its high certification and lack of video release meant I never got to see it in it's glory. I was old enough to be aware of it, not old enough to see it. After Heavy Metal, nothing. Before that? Ralph Bashki seems to be the lightning rod, but most of his output was visually interesting, but suffered from usually puerile writing (see Wizards, in my opinion, 6th form f*nw@#k wraped round an over long pun). The Whole idea of Animation for adults in the west just died under a sea of Transformers/GI Joe/He-Man product placement for the rest of the 80's. There was a near complete dearth of Sci-Fi to watch then as well. That is why I got into Sci-Fi. Star Trek next Gen had started, but it was not to everyone's taste. Other than a couple of failed series (Space above and Beyond) there was nothing. What was a 3rd gen Sci-Fi Fan to do? I latched onto Anime for that pulpy sci-fi action adventure fix. Robotech was the starting point (still love Macross to this day) but then there was Dirty Pair, Gundam, Patlabour, Dominion Tank Police etc. Yes we had the niggling fear of the bomb/cold war, we paid as much attention to it as most people pay to Global Warming a decade ago, that being not a great deal. Note that was before the youtube/facebook echochamber histrionics took hold, but yeah, we are still all going to die! It's almost like Mankind can't live without that feeling! I was one of the lucky ones who saw it at the Scala. Akira made adult animation mainstream again. Akira was a BIG DEAL. Then they followed it up with Fist of the effing North Star! And sent Adult Animation into the ghetto of being a cult genre again. DOH!
Watches Akira at 9 *Doesn't get perpetual PTSD*
12 high-five!
I saw the texas chainsaw remake at 8
What is PTSD?
@@Izzatrising post traumatic stress disorder
Watches Akira at 17 *Does get it*
I saw Akira in the Phipps Plaza theater in Atlanta as a 15 year old kid. I was really into the Robotech series and that’s why Akira caught my eye.
I will never forget Akira! I saw it the first time when somewhere around 1990 and was already flashed by this "animated movie" within the first minute, as the light of the neon sign is reflected in the puddle. I would never have thought this optical quality was possible in an animated film. And then there were the world and plot, which apart from the somewhat exaggerated ending ;) doesn't have to hide from great films like the 1982 Bladerunner or the 1992 Freejack
Just saw Akira for the first time in a 4K remastered theater version. It was an amazing experience and the sound design was so good.
Nice pfp 😏
A dystopian Tokyo still often looks nicer and cleaner than most other cities at their best.
after watching Akira, I became mildly disappointed with downtown Houston, Texas, because of how pathetic it looks compared to New Tokyo. Houston, Texas is top 5 largest cities in the US lmfao.
"looks" "cleaner"
Right
@@ytyoungrichnhigh Houston is known for having a pretty small metro area, maybe better comparisons are Chicago or New York in the US
@@Mainz_1901 yep.. did a bit more research after seeing Akira like 2 - 3 years ago and I concur New York and Tokyo are literal life-size comparisons of New Tokyo. And yeah Houston’s downtown may be compact but our Uptown is massive. I hop on South Post Oak road taking the ramp and going left at the fork, and Tanglewood’s entire scene is right there
I remember the first anime I ever watched, the original Ghost In The Shell, and fell in love with it. Then I watched Akira and it absolutely blew me away, still two of my top 10 favorite movies of all time but I admit I kinda got spoiled instantly with those two being my introduction to anime. I'm almost 40 years old and still love anime, Akira is definitely one of the most important movies ever made when considering the impact it had on the entire genre and getting it out to the rest of the world, and it's still beautiful and absolutely genius even this many years later
Whenever I feel old for only being able to name-drop this (VHS), “Wicked City”, or “Ghost in the Shell” as legit Anime I liked, I remember that they’re the only titles anyone still talks about anyway. GREAT film essay. It really did knock people out back then, especially Sci-Fi and Horror fans!
I watched a slime tutorial and it brought me back here.
Phylarious lmaoo same, watched the whole 2 hours
@@abdullahceka3613 lol i watched the whole thing on hulu witch i pay for and then found the slime tutorial and was like wtf?!
@@fluffyssj2693 if u want to watch anime for free with no ads go to twist.moe it's hd too
@@abdullahceka3613 thanks the website i was using before had hd but it takes FOREVER to load. thanks again!
ssj m1cah np g, but it only has subbed anime if u don’t mind
I especially love the drawing style on human characters in Akira: all in proportion, with an emphasis on realism rather than style. Particularly noticeable in how women were drawn: they actually look like normal people, rather than being hyper-sexualized and cartoonish. It reminds me of Hergé's art style in Tintin, which similarly stands alone in its time as a drawn medium that took a uniquely realistic approach to drawing people. edit - this may not be a coincidence. Roger Ebert claims that Hergé was influenced by 17th century Japanese graphic artists.
Excellent.
major facts women are so over sexualized in some animes. like for no reason lol
@@tayk-47usa41 Target audience plays a key role there
@Osman Yousif vegeta was heavily inspired by tetsuo
@@tayk-47usa41 at this point I would say most anime.... everything is exaggerated, men over masculinized women over sexualized. If either are toned down it is to communicate something else (like to contrast add some super whiney men). I just wish they would make a few animes every year which would keep things realistic... damnit. I mean there are some good once where sexualization is kept to a minimum just to keep things interesting but majority are just an overload (maybe I am under-sampling idk).
ive seen grave of the fireflies so often and yet EVERY TIME im CRYING like a baby... saddest work of art of all time
What a great overview and perspective. Great job!
As a young man, I dismissed all anime as childish until one of my stoner buddies said "no, you need to watch Akira and Wicked City and then get back to me once you've scraped your jaw off the floor." He neglected to offer me a spatula--which would have been useful when I was scraping my jaw off the floor.
ROLF!!!
Two words: Ninja Scroll. Show that to anyone who says anime is for babies, and there's a 66.6% chance they'll ask you to recommend more stuff.
Anime now is just upskirts and softcore pettie porn then theres a few gory one but they are meh akira is untouched its pretty much a new born america
IMO Hellsing Ultimate is one of the best introductions to anime to non anime fans to prove they can be adult themed. Excellent animation quality, with a classic mostly historical depiction of vampires following a narrative most of the western audience is familiar with (van hellsing). Additionally, english voice actors (as in England), set in England instead of Japan with VERY adult themes.
Kyle - that’s how I saw anime until I saw AKIRA.
Just saw Akira yesterday and my mind is totally blown. And I have watched anime for many, many years.
ChaohsiangChen It's been four months so I am not sure if that have seen it. But if you want to watch another trippy anime check out Serial Experiment Lain.
Same i just saw it today
Visuals were good but the story was meh.
@@larsrodriguez9404 so true. I don't get why everybody loves this so much. I mean, it looks AMAZING, and the world and characters are pretty cool, but the story is so....bad. I thought most put the story ahead of visuals a lot of the time.
@@Surteronarto I already read the manga and the story is not that masterpiece. Its good, but not the best thing of the world that leaves all modern animes in a trashcan.
Such an iconic film… for some reason my nickname even became Tetsuo for 15 years as a kid & teen haha so nostalgic watching this… Thanks so much for making this narration. Legend.
Every now and then I get back to this wonderful video
One of the very most phenomenal films to ever exist. Having a flourishing economy and low demand allows for the creation of masterpiece like this.
KermisVoyager1997 If animators intended to create a whole new international culture and market, then Akira was the best business decision ever.
Market and culture was always there. This took anime videotapes from back street Asian grocery stores to being a section at blockbuster
One additional thought about the manga vs the anime: Akira is an actual character in the manga, while he is a bunch of jars in the anime. That part always felt like a baffling let down in the movie.
He was a character in the movie, but you only see him for a little bit
Yes! This drove me crazy in the movie! I guess it's because there was so much with him in the story in the manga that it would take more time in the film. They had to keep a certain runtime.
coming from someone who watched the film first, I thought the idea of the 'person' the film is named after being more of a concept than an actual character was fascinating, but after consuming the manga I have to agree
Oh my got dude, I need to get acquainted with so much of these films you are showing clips from
What a masterful analysis and what a trip back into memory lane; thank you mate !