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Akira [Blu-ray]

Akira [Blu-ray]Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Actors: Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Mitsuo Iwata, Tesshô Genda, Hiroshi Ôtake
Studio: Honneamise
Category: DVD

List Price: $49.98
Buy New: $27.49
as of 11/21/2009 14:53 EST details
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New (31) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $23.90

Seller: Amazon.com
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars 689 reviews
Sales Rank: 5703

Format: Animated, Color, Subtitled
Languages: English (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Japanese (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.5

MPN: BR62004
UPC: 669198620041
EAN: 0669198620041
ASIN: B001LMU182

Theatrical Release Date: 1988
Release Date: February 24, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com essential video
Artist-writer Katsuhiro Ôtomo began telling the story of Akira as a comic book series in 1982 but took a break from 1986 to 1988 to write, direct, supervise, and design this animated film version. Set in 2019, the film richly imagines the new metropolis of Neo-Tokyo, which is designed from huge buildings down to the smallest details of passing vehicles or police uniforms. Two disaffected orphan teenagers--slight, resentful Tetsuo and confident, breezy Kaneda--run with a biker gang, but trouble grows when Tetsuo start to resent the way Kaneda always has to rescue him. Meanwhile, a group of scientists, military men, and politicians wonder what to do with a collection of withered children who possess enormous psychic powers, especially the mysterious, rarely seen Akira, whose awakening might well have caused the end of the old world. Tetsuo is visited by the children, who trigger the growth of psychic and physical powers that might make him a superman or a supermonster. As befits a distillation of 1,318 pages of the story so far, Akira is overstuffed with character, incident, and detail. However, it piles up astonishing set pieces: the chases and shootouts (amazingly kinetic, amazingly bloody) benefit from minute cartoon detail that extends to the surprised or shocked faces of the tiniest extra; the Tetsuo monster alternately looks like a billion-gallon scrotal sac or a Tex Avery mutation of the monster from The Quatermass Experiment; and the finale--which combines flashbacks to more innocent days with a destruction of Neo City and the creation of a new universe--is one of the most mind-bending in all sci-fi cinema. --Kim Newman

Product Description
A secret military project endangers neo-tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop. Studio: Infinity Resources Inc Release Date: 02/24/2009 Starring: Mitsuo Lwata Run time: 124 minutes Rating: R Director: Katsuhiro Otomo

Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 689
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4 out of 5 stars Outstanding animation, disjointed story   October 16, 2009
H. Jin (Melbourne, Australia)
It's easy to see why 'Akira' became one of the first anime to be really successful in the West. The dark, apocalyptic storyline was very different from the usual Japanese magical girls and fighting robots, and there was plenty of flashy eye-candy in the form of outstanding animation (for its time). However, while the style is great, the substance is lacking.

The fundamental problem with 'Akira' is that it is a 2 hour movie cobbled together from a very long manga, meaning the story is compressed and rushed almost to the point of incomprehensibility. There are so many important plot points that are skimmed over or left out altogether, and the pacing of the movie is poor. Most of the important plot points (involving Tetsuo) are dispensed with reasonably early in the film, and the entire second half is given over to Tetsuo's rampage and destruction. They should have cut this down and spent more time fleshing out the story.

Another problem is the characterisation. Since the main characters are mostly biker punks or ruthless military/medical men, there isn't exactly much room for depth and sensitivity. In fact, it's pretty two-dimensional to be honest. Kaneda is a sort of anti-hero, and he does at least show some development and growing maturity over the course of the film. Kei is probably the closest thing to a true heroine, while The Colonel has some humanity to him despite being the main antagonist.

Sure, given the flashy and action-packed nature of this anime, you can just switch off your brain and enjoy the eye-candy. On a very basic "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!" level, the film is easy enough to follow. But to truly understand 'Akira' requires the utmost concentration, and almost certainly multiple viewings. This is the issue with the film: blood and guts action fans will probably not want to make such an in-depth investment, but the more intellectual fans might be put off by the pointless violence and brutality.

From the viewpoint of 2009, 'Akira' is arguably more important for its influence than for what it actually is. However, its historical importance is enormous, and despite its major flaws remains essential for every anime fan.


1 out of 5 stars I guess I'm in the minority...   September 13, 2009
Ana Mardoll (United States)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful

Kaneda / 013023153899

It's always strange to come away from a movie disliking it and then see a plethora of reviews hailing it as the best thing ever. Inevitably doubt sets in, and I find myself wondering what it is that all those other people saw in this movie that I did not, but I just didn't like "Akira" at all.

Where do I start? I guess my biggest problem with this film is the overwhelming sense that important details (such as character motivation) have been blithely omitted on the grounds that "deep" or "meaningful" movies don't need such petty concerns. Tetsuo in particular seems driven by no motivation other than malevolent evil and madness and feels like a terrible rendition of a DBZ villain - he only seems interested in fighting for the fight itself, in order to be the most powerful one left standing. That kind of motivation is fine enough in a Bond shoot-em-up, but I expect more from a movie that's supposed to make me think. Kaneda, too, seems motivated not from character development or environment constraints, but merely because the movie *requires* him to behave in certain ways. It seems unreasonable that Kaneda would practically throw away his life trying to kill Tetsuo - or rather, it seems not at all unreasonable for a *movie character* to do such a thing, but a "realistic" character would seemingly take the first chance to make himself scarce... or at least consider it. Kaneda seems not even to acknowledge the possibility.

Other questions abound. Why do the strange children look so old and green, and why do they attack Tetsuo, and why do they attack him with teddy bears bleeding milk from their eye sockets? Why are all the biker kids almost completely interchangeable, dialogue and all? Why is the government willing to pour money into a super-secret super-kid project, and then only hire a handful of guards and one scientist to guard these expensively godly goblins? Why, for the love of all that is sane, are all heroines required by law to fall for the hero who is rude, largely foolish and ineffectual, and has a bad tendency to flash the words "author insert character" above his head in green neon letters?

As for the touted depth and complexity behind this movie, I was blown away with the "explanation" (courtesy of the heroine) that ants are born with less power than humans, but what if an ant was accidentally born with the power of a human? What a huge mix-up that would be! Only, I wasn't aware that it was "power" that made us humans so special - I thought it was things like arms and legs and opposable thumbs and a brain that is somewhat larger and more complicated than that of an ant. I'm told the whole thing is supposed to be a Buddhist analogy for something, but as a method to drive the story and explain the character motivation, it doesn't do the job, in my personal opinion.

I can't help but also note that for a "deep" and "meaningful" movie, this film seems to enjoy itself far too much with the rapant gore and female frontal nudity. One female character - a sweet biker groupie whose boyfriend treats her with complete contempt - seems to exist *solely* for the purpose of sexual violence being played out upon her (twice), while the heroes helplessly watch - there's a tangible feeling of voyeurism and sadism overlaying her character that made me uncomfortable, to say the least.

After reading some of the reviews, I suspect that "Akira" might be one of those movies that you have to be part of the 'in-group' in order to properly understand and appreciate it. And that's fine - it's not my place to start demanding explanations, character motivation, development, or basic plot elements over special effects and in-group backstory. But if you're not already a part of the Akira fan base, and are an outsider like me, then be aware that you may end up as frustrated and irritated by this movie as I was. Then again, Roger Ebert apparently liked this film well enough, so it's entirely possible that I'm just in the minority.


5 out of 5 stars the best sound in a blu ray   September 12, 2009
peace in stillness (cincinnati)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

i was hoping for less dust specs and such on the blu ray but the sound more than makes up for this. akira in blu ray looks great but i remembered how much better the step up to dvd from vhs was and thought the bd would do the same. everything you have heard about the japanese audio is true, it fills up my room in ways that have me looking up and down not just side to side.

this was my first dvd purchase years ago and am happy to own this on blu ray


5 out of 5 stars Akira Blasts into Blu-ray   August 31, 2009
Ahmed A. Bader
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I am an anime freak, own 100s of series - I LOVE this movie, was highly anticipating the blu-ray, but just let me say - Bandai, you suck. I was on preorder for this to get the exclusive first press with the booklet and sleeve. So what do I get 10 weeks LATE? The average-joe version. Definitely NOT worth the $40 I paid.

Movie looks and sounds the best it ever has but the total lack of extras - no 20th+ anniversary special extras or anything seems a waste of the blu-ray's capacity and a cheap ca$h grab on Bandai's part.

So I am both glad to have it and ticked-off with it at the same time.

I would say if you totally love this movie then it is just barely worth it, otherwise just rent it.


5 out of 5 stars The Best Anime Movie Ever Made!   August 4, 2009
Rockstar Romeraux (Baker,Louisiana)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

For years,(ever seince I was born), i've heard alot of talk about a movie named Akira, and how it was one of the greatest movies ever created. However because of it's R rating, I never could watch it. Now old enough, I bought the Blu Ray version, and was blown away! The movie's animation is amazing!, featuring ground breaking high definition for an animated film. The plot itself is pretty good as well, with many likable characters. The action (even though very violent) was pretty good, and the movie keeps you at the edge of your seat until the very end. Again this film is R rated,because of Nudity, Strong Violence, Strong Language, and some gory scenes, so if you have kids, make sure they are nowhere near the television when this film is on, for it has images, and sequences that they might have heavy nightmares about....for a while. Even I was a little creeped out from some of those scenes. Overall, I gave this film a 5/5. If your looking for an epic,suspenceful,action packed movie,Then Akira is sure to please you. Just tuck the kids in before you watch it.

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