Akira (1988) Review

Title: Akira
Year: 1988
Director: Katsuhiro Ohtomo

Country: Japan

Language: Japanese

Manga artist Katsuhiro Ohtomo first published his manga Akira in 1982 in the pages of Youth Magazine, a weekly source of manga in Japan, published by Kodansha. Otomo’s planned six-volume series would not be completed until 1990 after more than 2,000 published pages. As with many popular manga series its author would eventually be approached to adapt the story into a feature film. Ohtomo was uncertain any individual other than himself would create his vision; so he demanded full creative control. 

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member, Tesuo, into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

Akira can be seen as a metaphor for post-war Japan's fears. In real-life postwar Japan would grow overpopulated and Westernized, and the country’s rampant economic growth would lead to what is considered the epitome of futuristic cities: Tokyo. Exaggerated in this film, the Tokyo of the future becomes a metaphorical center for loss of national identity, loss of freedom and the great fall into a world of excess. 

As in most post-war Japanese "horror" movies, the main villain, in this case the unstoppable Tesuo, is a stand-in for the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's a fairly common theme and I'd argue that it was done best 44 years before this with Toho's Godzilla (1954). That film had a smarter script too, whereas Akira is far too reliant on spectacle and gore. For a film about fear of the West, this picture is certainly very inspired by Western action movies of the time. 

Beloved in Western pop-culture, I'd argue that Akira may be the least authentically Japanese anime to have been created in Japan by a Japanese person. I personally don't understand the love for this film even though I do "get" the metaphors and I think it's very pretty-looking.