In 1988 a nuclear explosion layed waste to Tokyo (oh, didn't you hear? It was on the news and everything), signifying the start of World War III; Akira takes place in 2019 AD, in a dystopian Neo-Tokyo peopled with incompetent politicians and disillusioned youths. The story begins with Kaneda and Tetsuo, two kids in a bike gang who's lives revolve around dodging school and fighting with other gangs. Fairly early on we are treated to a spectacular running motorcycle battle which ends in Tetsuo crashing his bike into a mysterious young boy.
This boy, Takashi, is on the run from the military who are testing children with psychic abilities to see if they can harness this power in some way. When Tetsuo crashes, his own hidden power is awakened and he is kidnapped by the army Colonel to become the latest test subject. However it turns out that Tetsuo is more gifted than the other children, in fact he is so powerful that he struggles to control his powers and escapes the lab, in search of the enigmatic Akira, the only person who is stronger than him. Meanwhile Kaneda joins a resistance movement in the hope of saving Tetsuo from the army scientists.
Akira's importance within it's genre should not be underestimated, as the first anime to really make an impact in the West it paved the way for any Japanimation which followed. It is a remarkably mature and complex piece of work, a far cry from the Disney output we were used to and which so inspired its creator, Katsuhiro Otomo. However it is exactly this complexity that is the flaw in what is undoubtedly one of the jewels in anime's crown. Condensing a storyline from its original manga of 10 volumes of 250-odd pages each was always going to be challenge and so much of Akira is more confusing and incomprehensible than it was ever meant to be. Every time I watch it I think that this will be the time when I really get a handle on the plot, but there are always some parts I just don't understand; it really does feel like large portions of the story are missing, most notably the motives and actions of Kei's resistance fighters (it's never really clear just what they are meant to be resisting).
The best format to watch Akira is, as per usual, the subtitled version. The voice acting in the dubbed copy is as inept as ever, with many characters sounding like cliched caricatures (Kaneda is turned from the character most easily identified with to an annoying wiseguy) and some awful translating to try and fit in with the lip-synching. But the quality of the drawing is still impressive today and is much less stylised than a lot of Japanese animation, although it pales in comparison to Ghost in the Shell. Trying to unravel the plot is what spurs me on for repeat viewings but somehow I think I will have to buy the original manga to explain some of my unanswered questions. Good job it's being re-released by Titan Books then isn't it? |
