Akira

[Mikey the Party Turtle]

WHEW! I rented the DVD for this classic peice of art, and whoa that's different than my worn VHS tape. First off, the dub is different (Mine has Cam Clarke doing Kaneda's voice.), and seems closer to the original text, the sound has been altered to fit the Dolby 5.1 system, and the picture....WHOA! My worn out VHS is really blurry, but to see this DVD...I can't get over the fact that Akira got even better looking.

I was younger when I bought Akira, and there were a few points in the very deep and ever evolving plot, but now that I watch, I completly understand what confused me before. (Like when Tetsuo's powers got out of control, and he is reduced to huge mass of flesh.)

I love the little bit of music that plays whenever Tetsuo does something with his powers...you know, the one that goes "DAH! DAH!" that's just plain awesome, as the rest of the movie is.

Difference between alot of other animes and this? The character design in Akira actually looks more realistic, and the characters actually look asain! :lol: I never really had taken that into acount when I was younger, but after seeing more anime/manga, the difference is really big.

It also amazes me at how much detail was put into everything. Like Kaneda's bike, Tetsuo as a mass of flesh, Neo Tokyo at night, the Akira sphere.....The animation is flawless, and there are no choppy movements, which some anime suffer from. The mouths don't open and shut either, they actually fit the japanese dialogue! :lol: (Again, I'm saying this because I haven't watched it in years!) Now to see where I can pick up the manga....

The funny thing is...Akira was produced in 1988, and Disney has yet to catch up to it's overwhelming animation, even with computers at thier disposal. :lol:

[tekcop]

Hmm... I really wasn't too impressed. It was good and all, but I never got a "wow" feeling. I hear the manga is much better, though and it's on my list of stuff to get.

[Nickokapo]

Ah akira...while i thought it wasnt as surprising as some people made it to be, i still totally loved it :P the animation's excellent, specially for the year it was made, and it still looks great even today of course ;) i have to admit i'll have to watch it a couple of times to fully understand the plot and all, but i got the basic idea...and loved the movie :D
I also liked the bike scenes as i'm a bit of a fan of those vehicles.
As for the manga...yup tekcop ive read some people say it was better than the movie and were surprised at how much of the manga was changed for the anime...yet i still prefer anime/cartoons to manga/comics so i rarely read em.
The funny thing is...Akira was produced in 1988, and Disney has yet to catch up to it's overwhelming animation, even with computers at thier disposal. :lol:
Exactly.
Then people wonder why i prefer japanese animation, yet they've never seen such titles as akira or ghost in the shell, all they know as anime is dragonball :roll:

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Akira was one of the first Anime I watched. I was impressed by it's deep plot. I saw the new version and I kind of prefer the original dub. Both rock though! :)

[Mikey the Party Turtle]

Ah akira...while i thought it wasnt as surprising as some people made it to be, i still totally loved it :P the animation's excellent, specially for the year it was made, and it still looks great even today of course ;) i have to admit i'll have to watch it a couple of times to fully understand the plot and all, but i got the basic idea...and loved the movie :D
I also liked the bike scenes as i'm a bit of a fan of those vehicles.
As for the manga...yup tekcop ive read some people say it was better than the movie and were surprised at how much of the manga was changed for the anime...yet i still prefer anime/cartoons to manga/comics so i rarely read em.
The funny thing is...Akira was produced in 1988, and Disney has yet to catch up to it's overwhelming animation, even with computers at thier disposal. :lol:
Exactly.
Then people wonder why i prefer japanese animation, yet they've never seen such titles as akira or ghost in the shell, all they know as anime is dragonball :roll:

Yeah, I first saw the movie when I was eight, and I was completly lost when they got past the motorcycle chase with the Clowns. :lol:
Good to see other anime fans on this board though. :)

@TetsuDeinonychus:I will always see Cam Clarke as Kaneda. :lol: Though I like the new Tetsuo better than the old one.

[ChibiKasai]

Cam Clarke once did the voice of Kaneda? Well, that's a new wrinkle in my brain. I have the new dub, with Johnny Yong Bosch. (Voice of Vash of Trigun, and ex-Black Ranger. :D )

As for Akira itself: It's good, but I didn't find it "astonishing" as alot of people have made it out to be. I like the manga alot more, personally.

[That Matt Guy]

The funny thing is...Akira was produced in 1988, and Disney has yet to catch up to it's overwhelming animation, even with computers at thier disposal. :lol:

That's no surprise, everyone has surpassed Disney animation. I don't think Disney has made anything good since the 50s. I also think the pinnacle of Disney animation is Snow White and Seven Dwarfs; and that was made in 1937.

[Karpo_007]

Akira=Probably the best Anime ever made.

[kyabetsu]

while i do agree that the MANGA had a more fully developed story line and did a much better job of setting all the sub-plots and subtle ideas down into a clearly understood form... i'd like to remind you that it took 6 books of over 300 pages each to do it.

the movie did a wonderful job of CONDENSING that huge work of fiction. Yes, it had to cut out a LOT of the original story arc to do it, but it still did a great job of holding onto the main thrust of the work: the EVOLUTION of humankind from a corporeal race in to beings of pure energy and the perils of FORCING such an evolutionary jump on humankind before we could handle or understand it.

so yeah. the manga was better. but that's cause there was no time limit on it... the author could take as long as he wanted. however, if it was MY job to cut all that down without wrecking the story... i don't think i could do better than the Movie did.

and yeah... the animation and the soundtrack is awesome. i love listening to that soundtrack, and BLASTING it out my open window when the restaurant next door to my appartment building has BONGO performers out on their patio eating-space.

a girl can only handle so many HOURS of bongos before she's gotta strike back.... DAH! DAH! DA-DAAAAAAH!!

[Mikey the Party Turtle]

Cam Clarke once did the voice of Kaneda? Well, that's a new wrinkle in my brain. I have the new dub, with Johnny Yong Bosch. (Voice of Vash of Trigun, and ex-Black Ranger. :D )

As for Akira itself: It's good, but I didn't find it "astonishing" as alot of people have made it out to be. I like the manga alot more, personally.

:lol:
When Kaneda is whining when Ryu and co. pull him out of the vent, I knew right there that was the same VA as Vash. :lol:


kyabetsu: I hear alot of good things about the manga. I only read a few pages once, but the art is pretty good! *Listens ti Kaneda's song* That song is so awesome. I'm picking up Volume I, II, and III today at my library. :lol: Funny that a library carries manga, no? :D (And a violent manga at that!)

[beaker]

Akira is nothing short of being the MOTHER of all kickass anime, end of story.

As for manga, eh. Ive tried to be a fan of Japanese manga, but since its so cheaply made and usually black and white, I prefer when its color(like Shirow's stuff or Dreamwave)

[Nickokapo]

I once saw some pics from a shirow artwork book which was in color and it blew my mind 8) the guy knows how to draw allright :P
Other than that i'm not much into manga.
And yes, akira is a classic anime by now :evilgrin: