The Influence of Akira
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- In this video I discuss the influence Akira had on anime & the industry. I discuss the 80s building up to Akira, its immediate effect in the 90s and how its influence evolved into modern anime.
Music:
Akira & Macross Plus soundtracks
Outro Music: samuraiguru.ba...
Social Links:
My twitter: / anime_everyday
My Facebook: on. 1p1QJTV
My hummingbird: hummingbird.me/...
My MAL: myanimelist.net...
Anime mentioned: Macross, Gundam, Ghibli works, Royal Space Force, Patlabor, Giant Robo, Macross Plus, Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Serial Experiments Lain.
I was watching Sailor Moon on Toonami, the year was 1998, then my uncle came into the living room and said "ill show you something way better" and put on Akira. 5 year old me was pretty freaked out after ha.
Your uncle is fucking awesome.
Uncle Awesomeo
# me too 😂😂
Dude I was 11 when I saw this and it freaked me out I can't imagine how bad it must've been to see it at 5.
Your uncle is an uncle
and the creator wrote and drew the manga too. it's incredible. he's a genius
I feel like the Anime industry needs a new Akira to correct course.
It'll never happen, but it is exactly what it needs.
cant agree more, don't worry i will do my part in 10 years
YOU DAMN RIGHT AFTER, AKIRA, EVANGELION, COWBOY BEBOP, (DRAGON BALL, NARUTO, BLEACH BEFORE TURNING INTO SHIT) WE NEED SOMETHING NEW.
@@heriksalvadorianreacts6646 have you seen samurai champloo?
@@birdsamora9925 I loved it, feels very similar to cowboy bebop.
I just finished Akira ~an hour ago. It hit me in the way 2001: A Space Odyssey did. Non entirely literal, and really smart. A genre definer.
Thought the exact same 2001 thing
Those movies were ahead of their time. Very amazing
BRO MY TWO FAVORITE FILMS
“Non entirely literal” uhhhhh what? What do you mean by that? I don’t get what your trying to say?
Yeah. You're not the same after you watch those movies. Both are truly "devastating". And so much is left unanswered at the end!
The fact that Akira is all hand drawn animation is mind blowing. There will never be another anime with this much detailed hand drawn animation again. At least not so long as attention is drawn towards shit filled with fan service and otaku pandering bull.
There's something special about cel animation, specifically form the late 80s and 90s. I mean, look at this shit:
livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/otonarisoku/imgs/5/5/55adbb98.gif
You don't see this kind of pacing withing the frames, nowadays, even with the highest budget.
+VejyMonsta 80's cyberpunk and mecha anime is so much more interesting than the crappy magic academy light novel harems that the current anime industry seems to be obsessed with.
Redline (2009) was too almost completely hand-drawn. Unfortunately, it didn't get much attention. Not as good as Akira (I don't think anything will be) but it's still a good watch
Redline and spirited away say hi
Don't forget shitty 3DCG
At its core, Akira is an expression of post-World War II anxieties, mirroring Japan’s warped and disorientated state following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which America’s history books tell me weren’t even that bad. As in real life, the film’s Neo-Tokyo is suspended in a power struggle between new religious zealots, corrupt capitalists, and aimless, violent, oddly parentless youth. More specifically, the character Tetsuo personifies Japan’s postwar struggles. Tetsuo’s psychic powers and bizarre mutations are reminiscent of the deformations the Japanese suffered due to radiation poisoning.
Additionally, Tetsuo goes from punching bag to omnipotence in a matter of hours. Similarly, Japan went from a country in shambles to one of the most advanced economies in the world by the 1980s, just in time for the cocaine boom. The grotesque nature of Tetsuo’s transformation juxtaposed with his enormous power suggests that although Japan took pride in their new position among world powers, they were also afraid of it -- afraid it would completely consume their cultural identity and turn them into douchebags.
The film suggests that Akira takes Tetsuo to some kind of alternate dimension, where he creates his own universe -- without even looking at the instructions. This is the new beginning Japan yearned for, free from the burdens of the past. The final battle takes place at the Olympic Stadium, where Tokyo held the 1964 Summer X-Games. Traditionally considered a symbol for Japan’s incredible resurgence after the war, the stadium’s destruction seems to symbolize a rejection of all Western influence.
Wisecrack.
That is deep.
Talk about looking beyond the surface.
I could never come up with that interpretation myself.
Nice Plagiarism for Earthling cinema...
Simon Sierra Ramirez He puts wisecrack on the bottom
Aguilar José No.
Wow thanks a lot for typing this out, I wouldn’t have appreciate the significance of this movie otherwise
When I was in the army, I told the guys "you gotta see this film!"
We watched it that night. They haven't forgave me to this day.
Thank you for your service not only to our nation but our weeb nation as well
"Joe, we gotta go rent this movie I saw last week.. it's a cartoon movie from like Japan or China or whatever. It's pretty messed up...."
-1991?
joseph picard I gotta see this old ass anime everyone loves - 2015 at 24 years old.
LOL
joseph picard Who was the guy that said this to you
joseph picard
I wonder if some lines like this will come up somewhere, if anime will become more mainstream in the future.
I think someday, the anime culture will experience a new high.
With some kind of mindblowing new super-movie.
Something with an impact, like akira had, in the past...
The Regular Village ghoul well tbh in order for anime to improve we need to encourage more different art style animes, i hate the clean cut anime nowadays with little to no blood
I seen Akira in the early 90's. It was shown in the UK during 'I think' BBC2's world cinema season. I managed to 'tape' it on VHS and poured over it for weeks afterwards. I couldn't believe something like it existed. I was mesmerized. It made me want to get into the animation industry and at the time traditional animation was still the thing. I took the drive to become an animator on into the switch to 3D. Which is where I am to this day.
Akira played a fairly large part in my interests and subsequent career.
such a fantastic story
I'm pretty sure that I saw the same broadcast, which I reckon was this: genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/cd2974960ef74c6c9cdd1f99b2d42fc1
I watched Akira about a year ago on Vice recently they haven't been showing movies only series and now only Saturday after midnight
Nice story. Thanks for sharing!
I rate Akira 10/10 my favorite anime movie! No DOUBT!
+Darius Ratliff And it is only a tasty appetizer for the much more substancial manga. If you haven't already, please read it.
I plan on buying it but it's pricey right now.
+4Clubs Where can I find the English translation of the manga? Book store or Amazon?
Brandon Dozier I bought it in a local book store many years ago (translated into my native language). I don't have much experience with online ones, sadly, so I'm of no use to you. I apologise.
+4Clubs Was gonna read it on some manga site, but a Library in my city area will have it. All I had to do is put volumes 3-6 on hold and I will have access to read the rest of the story.
I'll never forget when I was ~12 years old and saw *Akira* in a small theatre in the east village in Manhattan, sometime in 1989 or '90 (or '91, it was a long time ago)... as you showed, the animation I'd been exposed to up to that point was nothing like *Akira* as it was always very simple and clean. The way the city was dirty, people were far from perfect and the fantasy elements (like the milk scene) seemed to fit the world the film created so perfectly absolutely blew me away, along with t'other people in the the theatre, so much so that they played the film a second time for us.
You saw Akira at age 12 back in 89/90? must had been a an experience
Still to this day one of the most visually detailed and stunning anime. Great video Lewis :)
100% agree, thanks fam :)
That's definitely up there
Makes me wonder if the WARCRAFT movie will end up being more of a cult classic years from now.
First watched AKIRA about... a year and a half ago. It was on Hulu at the time so I decided to watch it because of how much praise it got. At the time I wasn't really exposed to the sort of open interpretation / artistic endings that I would come to love, and so when I first watched it, I must admit that I felt... weird. It gave me a weird feeling and I didn't know how I felt about it. I didn't understand the ending at first and the movie was cemented in my brain for the rest of the night. The more I thought about it, the more I loved it. It was very strange to me. Luckily, AKIRA exposed me to many more open minded and artistic anime (Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, etc.) and it really impacted me. I plan on going into animation and making my own show, so these sorts of atmospheres, themes, and formats of storytelling will influence me eternally. AKIRA is now my favorite movie.
It's awesome that the ending had that effect on you. It's certainly an interesting ending, and one that doesn't get a lot of attention as people are normally completely lost by that point on their first viewing. Thanks for sharing your story :)
AnimeEveryday
It gets better every time I watch it :) no, thank YOU for making these videos. They're very intriguing, and I appreciate how you take anime seriously, not celebrating mediocrity
Growing up in Melbourne, Australia we had SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) which was one of two or three non-commercial stations which specifically focussed on international films and television, usually showing then-cult films and shows in later timeslots (as well as tons of adult material). I must have only been about 12 or 13 and caught an advert for it between segments of Iron Chef for later that night. Set the VCR timer with a brand new tape and then spent years wearing it to uselessness after getting Ghost In The Shell recorded after it on the same tape. Now I work in VFX and animation and comics.
Akira is amazing.
God bless the SBS
SBS is the reason i got into anime at a young age :)
hollandscottthomas can u explain to me what a vcr timer is? You mean u set the timer on a car to let you know when to start recording? You could actually record two things on a single tape? Or just a different side?
AKIRA is one of my favorite anime movies of all time. It's a classic for sure.
Thank you. Thank you for not only bringing up Cowboy Bebop, but Outlaw Star as well....people seem to forget about Outlaw Star. I feel that is a very underrated anime. Love the videos. Keep up the good work.
Totally! Thanks for watching :)
I was nine and the only anime I had exposure to was Dragonball and Speed Racer.
Then I saw Akira playing on sci-fi's saturday morning anime, it sparked my deep interest in japanese culture.
Don't forget Batman Beyond. That entire show's aesthetic was lifted straight from Akira and had a ton of references sprinkled throughout, such as the 'Jokerz' biker gangs. To a lesser extent there's also Terminator 2, The Matrix, Aeon Flux, and Motorcity (may it rest in peace)
Facts and for Motorcity, it's unlikely comeback will finally happen in the future, very soon.
I'm not into anima but remember when the syfi Chanel showed this movie a lot in the late 90s.. I loved it
Just a few days ago a local theater had a showing of Akira in 4k. It was magical.
it also had a big influence on the show stranger things.
I watched it first at my friends house on VHS. Best Anime ever!!
This is one of the most important films in my life. I saw this when I was 11 or 12 and I loved it so much that after watching it consecutively like 4 times, I started to write out the movie as a story in my English class. After I wrote about 20 pages of the story I wanted to write more and more. So this film, in turn made me a writer and writing is now the most important thing in my life. I just watched it again today and it brought me to tears, not only because of the film but because the implications it had on my life. Had I not seen this when I was a kid I would be a different person
😢🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🙌🏻
when I was 7 my then 10 y/o cousin came over with this VHS he had 'borrowed' from his friend and he was raving about this 'cool cartoon'
two movies were on the VHS. Street Fighter 2 The Animated Movie, which was awesome, stupid and nothing but mindless, cool kickass, 'in-your-face' action! I also saw the first pair of boobs I ever saw on TV ..
that movie finished and just when we thought the VHS would stop, it didn't. It continued ... and Akira started playing. My cousin didn't know about it either. So we watched. I saw my 2nd pair of boobs ever on the same day ... and I had nightmares for 2 months straight because of the meat-balloon at the end of Akira.
This movie was highly disturbing to me as a child and even today I can't quite watch it, without getting the creeps at the end. But I love Akira to death
PS: don't show your 7y/o kid this movie
I was pretty fucked up by Akira and I was probably double the age you were lol. I guess it's a pretty interesting way to get into the medium though!
+AnimeEveryday I didn't get into anime until like ten years later. I of course watched DBZ, Digimon, Ranma and the like growing up, but I never watched those because it was anime (didn't even know waht that was)
I got into anime, after I saw Cowboy Bebop back in 2009
What do you think of Ninja Scroll?
I was 18 when I watched it, still kinda shocks me. I definitely still find tetsuo crushing his girlfriend like a bloody grape unwatchable again
I'm 10 right now and earlier this year I watched Akira on RUclips with my Dad, who watched Akira when it came out. BTW I watched the 1988 dub
I found Akira late at night flipping through channels when it was way past when I was supposed to be asleep, I landed on Teletoon at Night, which is the Canadian version of Adult Swim basically. I was probably around 10 and needless to say I was taken back. I was already slightly into anime because of my older brother, we watched Gundam, Dragonball Z and .Hack but Akira was the first Animated movie I had ever saw or Anime I found on my own. Sitting close to my crappy CRT TV, in my dark room with only the flickering TV casting light, tis an experience I won't forget. Especially Tetsuo's mutation scene, to spooky.
Interesting first viewing, wish I could have caught it on TV back in the day.
When I was 4, I was just sitting around watching Barnie when my 14 year old brother walks up and then just puts this movie on. I remember being completely blown away by this film. The lighting, the story, the animation, it completely changed my life.
Lukewarm jar of tomato sauce Damn, just 4!
The first time I watched Akira I was 7, my parents were watching it on DVD, I walked in right at the start of the scene where Tetsuo hallucinates that his organs fell out of his torso.
So yeah
😳😨😨😨😨😨😨😨
I remember my dad rent that movie for me when I was 8 years old and blockbuster was open at the time and I watch it on the portable DVD player and freak me out. Later in few years I rewatch it and end up becoming my favorite movie
Otomo was/is a genius, I read it first as a manga,the anime was amazing, but in Ghost in the Shell, it became every bit as relevant as film. Astounding.
Gits was not made by Otomo...
@@frankjaeger2565 you are of course right, it was Shirow, Masamune, who wrote Ghost, he also did Appleseed, which I still have with me as manga, the CGI anime box set of which I bought in Japan, along with Steamboy which was by Otomo, Katsuhiro. The video I was commenting on is Akira, which was the same in print as it was on film. Ghost in the shell however was very much different IMO as manga, as opposed to the stunning achievement that is the Anime. I was talking at cross purposes, sorry for the confusion.
first time: 2003, the Pioneer dvd rented from the movie store. Second time: right after the credits rolled. Then I bought the special DVD from ebay, watched it hundreds of times, then I bought the pioneer, then the VHS, then the toys, the the novels, then the colored comics, then the blu ray.....I think I have a problem
They make Akira toys??!!
@@IndyMuttProductions Do not be ashamed, it is only who you are.
This is really one of the best animes ever made.
I really got into akira with the manga. the manga is amazing
The first time i'd watched Akira was when Toonami was showing movies in 2014 in December. I was amazed by the quality of the animation and the sense of scale the film had.
Back when I enjoyed WatchMojo, I was binging their Top 10 anime lists. I clicked on "Top 10 Craziest Anime Transformations" which has Tetsuo in the middle of his mutation as the thumbnail. Tetsuo's mutation was number one on the list, and I was so disturbed by it that I couldn't sleep for two nights and refused to watch the movie for over a year. I ended up finally watching it when Toonami aired it, and I ended up liking it a lot, so much so that I have it tattooed on my arm.
Imagine watching this when your 6 years old and you are intrique by the animation then your mom comes downstairs and ask "what are you watching?!!" and tetsuo starts to transform... :|
Just watched it for the first time last year (summer 2018) but as I watched it things started clicking in my mind. I started recognizing direct references to Akira and the influence from it and I was awed not only by that but by the movie itself. I wish I'd seen it even sooner! I'd certainly heard of it before but actually seeing it myself was an amazing experience
When I was ten, my mom was like, “We should watch Akira” So I looked for it on a streaming service and found it on Hulu and told her and then we watched my favorite movie.
Cool. You have a cool mom.
I watched it drunk in my basement
Good choice
AnimeEveryday My grandma bought a VHS copy at a yard sale when I was around 10. I was at her place service a school suspension. It was like 1995. I don't think I've blinked a lot during the 2 hours. Next movie was Princess Mononoke, I was basically hooked by then.
liar, it's ur mom's basement
I saw when I was 16 when Watchmojo gave me a strong recommendation and saw it late night with my phone
I saw if for the first time in the cinema a few weeks ago, and I was so blown away by the music and visuals that my own imagination was going berserk, so I lost track of the subtitles and plot early on. But it was fine though, because the sensory, non-verbal experience was enough to carry it and I just pieced the story together myself.
Streamline pictures early 90’s VHS copy was mine. And my uncles ( who knew nothing of Anime) knew about it because they are from NY and in the city Akita was in the theaters in the late 80s.
The first time I saw Akira
I was mind blown by the sheer amount of visual imagery that it provided even in the 80s
And for the most part it still holds up to this day
I first saw this movie when I checked out a copy at my local Library. By the way your videos are great keep up the great work.
Thanks Arnoldo!
I actually just got done watching Akira a few minutes ago. Nerdwriter released a video about it, so I just had to watch it. Now, I'm watching a bunch of analysis videos about the film (yours being quite good) because I'm still reeling from it. Such an amazing piece of animation. I can't believe it took me so long to watch it.
When Fox started setting up TV Stations in the US, they showed Robotech (Macross Saga), and that was my first taste of anime...but then one day, they showed Akira, and my mind was blown away--it will always have a dear place in my heart.
back in the 90s Sci fi channel used to show anime on Saturday nights...that was the first time I saw Akira, and was blown away..
I watched Akira in the year it was set for the first time , 2019, and my mind was utterly blown at how advanced in technique and scale this movie was ! I cannot actually word the feeling it left me with and it is definitely a must watch for any anime enthusiast.
I first saw Akira when I got the DVD from my local library.
I watched it for the first time yesterday - it's absolutely goddamn gorgeous! I'm a fan of Mob Psycho 100 and people who were also fans spit-taked when they found out I hadn't seen Akira, so we all watched it in a group. It's interesting seeing something that seems to have taken some inspiration before seeing the thing it's taking inspiration from.
I came across a copy of Akira on VHS at my uncles house I was about 12 at the time I asked is I could watch it as it looked like a cartoon. I was blown away by how amazing it was I still have the copy on VHS now as my uncle let me keep it! Akira is my all time favourite movie and I am so happy it came out the year I was born because of that I will always have a special connection with Akira.
influence indeed! I was 12 when Akira released but didn't see it for the first time till 92 as a junior in high school. now that I'm 41, only a handful of movies (like ghost/shell) follow Akira as favorites of mine but nothing will ever match it...EVER! thanx for the vid!
In 1988 I turned 16yo. I had recently discovered a place called, The Comic Book Cafe.
On an early visit I found many of the regulars gathered around a tv in one of the rooms. Watching what I had learned was anime, but it was something new. It was beautiful and smooth.
A guy about nineteen says "Three, two, one", boom the top of the gymnasium in the background explodes.
About 15-20 people gathered in a small room watched a movie entirely in Japanese and hardly said a word.
I remember watching this on sci-fi back in the 90s on like a special presentation on a Saturday night,I recorded it onto vhs,I was like 14. I bought it a couple years later when I got my first job and that was it,I was hooked on Japanese anime,I remember buying ninja scroll right after that,then wings of honneamise,ghost in the shell,wicked city and so on and so forth for many years to come. Akira is still big in my life.
I remember being a kid of about 7 in the early '90s and watching Akira on television for the first time. I just couldn't believe it, that couldn't possibly be a cartoon, it was much more crisp and well animated than the usual mess TV had me accustomed, not to mention much more violent and bloodier. My father was with me at the time and he was watching it much more attentively than I was, having to avert my virgins eyes from all the gore. The bright colours, the madness, the music, the coolness of it all was a truly multi-layered sensorial experience. I only came to appreciate it more sincerely many years later, though.
Blade Runner is the movie that influenced all scifi movie/manga that came after. BR influence in Japan was massive in the 80's especially with the creative crowd.
This was my first anime ever, then nausicca or castle in the sky. Good memories good times. Now i barely have enough time to watch anime.
That's some pretty good titles for first anime.
The year was ~1998 and I picked up a VHS copy of Akira from a comic shop in Cardiff, UK. The American dub was a little grating/cheesy at times, but I had never seen anything like it - so began my obsession with what I called "Manga Films" (I didn't know the term anime back then). I went through all the classics - GitS, Ninja Scroll, Fist of the North Star and some others like Wicked City, Urotsukidoji, Cowboy Bebop series and Evangelion series.
I still consider Akira one of the best films ever made, animated or live action - and I was lucky enough to see it a couple of years ago in a cinema; remastered, with newly recorded Japanese dialogue and subtitles. I came out in goosebumps throughout many of the scenes, the power of the soundtrack on a cinema sound system was breathtaking. And the animation just looked incredible on the big screen, the neon lights/trails and dystopian city backgrounds were just out of this world, yet so real. One of my favourite films.
This was ground breaking when it came out..and it showed the way for all Anime to follow..I fell in love with this and then it was Ghost in the Shell..
I love the machines in Motoko Kusanagi vs the Tank.
I saw GITS at age 14 and wasn't impressed then saw it again in 2016 and still not a fan
This movie was really disturbing to me from the first time I put in the VHS tape when I was a kid. Now it's my favorite movie of all time.
In 1989 while attending a small American Legion Hall comic convention, and starting to tire of Western comics and in 11th grade, a friend and I were passed a flyer on the way out. The flyer was for a new weekly meet up of the Michigan Anime Club at a small comic shop on the outskirts of Detroit. 9 mile, just north of the the famous 8 mile. They were hosting a showing of AKIRA, raw with no subs. We attended the event known as Tora Tora Tuesday at Comics Cafe. We, white suburbun teens, felt a little out of place around a largely black 20-somethings to moddle-aged crowd. The lights of the city and at night really captured the cyberpunk feel, that we were aware of, do to Blade runner, but not used to. Watching movies in a black crowd was new to us, because they were very animated and vocal. My friend and I loosely knew of AKIRA from the Epic comic release, which neither of us read. We were utterly blown-away! We went back every Tuesday well.into the 90s, joined the MAC, and met a ton of new friends we know today. It was the birth of our interest in anime and influenced our lives much in the same way Star Wars did. To this day, for me, I've never had that experience with anything again. Ironically, in my 40s, I was fired from teaching High School for showing AKIRA to 11th graders.
I was in Blockbuster with my mom and brother I was 10 years old back in 2005. My parents were leaving over 2 nights to go to a couple concerts in Vegas, (I live close to Nevada in a small town in AZ, it’s less than a 2 hr drive for us). Anyway my mom told my brother and I we could rent 2 movies each, I wanted Akira and a DBZ movie, I don’t remember which one. The guy at the counter overheard my mom asking me what it was rated he jumped in a said it was R, my mom then asked the guy if it was that bad for a cartoon. He asked how old I was I said 10 he said probably a little to mature for me. So I had to pick another movie. So I’d kept up with anime since then and probably 5 years ago my Junior year of high school, I was up late during a Friday night,(my parents have since divorced by my junior year, my dad and I lived with my grandmother in her house then). I was the only one home besides my dog, I was channel surfing bored out of my skull, then on Cartoon Network I saw Akira, immediately grabbing my phone to see it this was that movie from when I was a kid, it was. I’ve never clicked on a channel faster! The movie was 2 mins in, I was hooked, one of the greatest movies over ever seen, the best anime movie I’ve ever seen! 10/10, A+ absolutely love it!
went to a friend's house back in 94 and spent the night. I said let's watch a movie he showed me the movie rack and the only title that stock out to me was a black vhs box with frayed corners and creases in it that said akira. I said let's watch this. he started to hesitate saying are you ready to have your brain scrambled any question life? I asked him what he ment he said this movie is unforgettable and crazy and will change me forever. we watched it and I have been hooked ever since. he keeps that vhs copy in a safe now because of how much it pulled everyone in our group of friends even closer. it was a ritual for new coming friends to have to watch it to be in our group or accepted lol
I know this video is old but I want to respond to the prompt anyway. I first watched Akira only a few months after taking a serious interest in Anime. I had seen just a few series and they had all been relatively outlandish styles (nothing that took itself as seriously or artistically rigorous as Akira does). My view of anime had been shaped as an exploration and appreciation of a new cultural approach to entertainment. I had seen artistically impressive anime like FLCL and really enjoyed it.All the while I knew about Akira. I had seen the title in the iTunes store long before I had ever seen any anime and back then I didn' t know what to make of it. Years later I began to do some casual research on it (trailers, scenes, and stuff) and my mental view of it changed slightly. I was then both cautious about watching it but simultaneously incredibly excited. Eventually, I bought it on iTunes and watched it. This was during my freshman year of college, so amidst the homework and early mornings, my sleep schedule was not the most healthy. I watched Akira for the first time at like 1 in the morning, in the dark, with no distractions. I knew it was going to be an experience so I wanted to watch it in a completely immersive setting. I had no idea just how much of an experience it was going to be. Once the film was almost entirely complete and Kaneda's theme fades in, along with the credits, my mind was a little scrambled. I didn't know what to make of what I had just watched. I went to the bathroom and just stared in the mirror for a few minutes trying to understand what had just happened.I wish there were more films like Akira.
I found out about AKIRA after I got home from the US Army. I put this movie up on the shelf with other complex movies like DUNE or BLADE RUNNER.
For me, it took several watches to finally get the complete storyline straight. Even though I grew up on Star Blazers and Robotech, AKIRA made me realize how graphic anime can really be.
For a few years after getting out, I always kept an eye on the anime rack at the comic shop and saw the culture grow. It's unfortunate that MAGIC had such a tough pull on comic shops and I drifted away from anime for quite a few years.
Funny how APPLESEED pulled me back and I try to stay up with all the good stuff...
AKIRA was a huge help, that's for sure!
Whats facinating is I grew up with Digimon, Eskaflowne, and other shows on Fox kids and Jetx, then Adult swim Saturdays had Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, Trigun, Yu Yu Hakusho. As my love for anime grew I watched more and more. Only now I am going further back in time to look at the history of anime and where it all started and how it all started. Like a self taught "History of Anime" class. (which should be a college curriculum offered).
It was August 19, 1995 I was 12 and had just came home from seeing Mortal Kombat when I turned to what was known as the Sci-Fi Channel and it was on. And I haven't stopped liking it since. I still have the 2 Disc Special Edition DVD from 2001.
I remember the first time I actually saw Akira. It was back in 2011, when I had seen it mentioned in Empire 500 (basically, Empire magazine making a list of 500 movies that you CANNOT ignore under any circumstances - basically, it was like a film necessity to be aware of this movie), so I (being a teenager at the time) "okay okay I'll watch it". And my mind was blown.
This was before I saw Shigurui (which I highly recommend. Its drop. dead. gorgeous), and definitely before I saw Ghost in the Shell. This anime is inspiring. Tbh, the manga is a real gem and a pleasure to read, but this - this was the best thing to happen to anime, and the only best way to adapt that manga (essentially, six volumes, roughly 250 to 300 pages each). Everything in this anime, is a labour of love.
Just to end it here, I saw this movie 4 times in a row back in 2011. Once with a friend who pretty much also adds it in his anime list of must watch movies. And recently in 2016... probably twice in a single sitting because, to my surprise, the best part of this movie is the mind fuckery. You cannot watch this movie without appreciating how much the mind fuckery is so much better than modern anime try to pull off.
this video was really good. akira is one of my favorite movies ever but you put a lot of effort and research into this video. well done
My older cousin gave me a VHS of Akira which was taped from BBC2 in the early 90's. I watched it on a Saturday morning, instead of the usual kids TV which would have been on. Blew my 9 year old mind and I've loved the film ever since.
I'm surprised they aired it on the BBC lol.
The way I got to know about Akira was through reading the book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao where the main character, whos name I can't remember, watches the movie over and over again. One year later I downloaded the movie. The first time I tried to watch it I was interrupted by my mom who wondered why I'm sitting in a dark room in the middle of a summer day and told me to go out. I retried after around one year and the movie blew me away and sparked my curiosity for great anime. I feel like it's time to watch it again now!
You're right. I was in middle school, was BLOWN AWAY by Akira the first time (and 10th time) I watched it. I used to blast the credit music while I sketched random, in retrospect very interesting pictures for a 9th grader. Akira opened my mind, at least somewhat, to what is possible thematically for a story. Anime was incredibly inventive at that time, but if you were a middle/high school nerd at that time, Akira took you creativity from 2 to 11, and probably also disturbed you (if you were younger than 15). I was also impressed/intrigued, inspired and disturbed by Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, and Tank Police, all available at your neighborhood Blockbuster :)
I first saw this as a kid early 90's and it scared the shit out of me. But watching it over the years i came to realize how much of a masterpiece It was and so far a head of its time and still is in some respect.
I watched it for the first time this year and despite not being the biggest anime fan it’s one of my favorite movies of all time
My first experience was I was home sick and felt like watching Akira because I heard it was good and I knew nothing about it, I was blown away by that movie
I've seen this movie well over a dozen times, yet watching this short 7 minute video I kept noticing scenes I feel like I've never seen before. There's so much visual information in Akira, it warrants multiple viewings. Blink once and you'll miss something.
I first saw Akira on VHS in a rural Nebraskan town around 1995. I was 14 at the time and had rented it from a Blockbuster because I had read a mini-feature about the manga in an issue of Wizard. I knew enough about the time-consuming and expensive process of animation to know that what I was seeing was unlike anything since the early days of Disney features. Even though I didn't really understand the story, I was moved by the power of the film.
hadn't watched Akira until very recently. I loved watching it surprisingly even after being spoiled with anime from the early 2000's through today. great vid by the way!
I watched it in the library video viewing room in college back in 2003. You could also rent videos but since I didn't have a tv, I used that. They had these cubicles where you'd basically just sit down and watch a movie like sitting at a desk in the library, with headphones. It was so awesome, and like you said it really got me into anime. I never joined the anime club at college, but I ended up getting more into anime when I met more people. Before that some of my friends were into DBZ, but it never grabbed me like this.
This video just gave me crazy nostalgia. Ghost in the Shell and all that. Good analysis.
This & Fist of the north star was how I was introduced to anime as kid
1996 I was finishing my degree at NIU, where I met my pal Jarrod & would kick it at his place. He asked & I said I hadn't seen Akira. So he grabbed the VHS & insisted I watch it. FANTASTIC!
My first experience with Akira was not as profound as many people have. I had been exposed to anime through FMA, and Brotherhood and then with a few Miyazaki. I had hear Akira behind had up as the great godfather of the genre so I had pretty high expectations going in. As a result I was slightly underwhelming. However, after watching quite a bit more anime and delving into the history behind the movie and surrounding its release and then noticing the influence of the film, my respect for it has gradually grown.
My first experience with akira was finding the vhs tape which my dad's friend left at our house when I was 8. I had only ever seen American cartoons, and so I popped it in thinking it would be something like power rangers. The tape was cued up to the first scene with #26 where the guy who's helping him escape gets torn to pieces by machine gun fire. Those images of his body parts melting off of him and him crawling on the ground half dead while 26 watches in horror are burned into my memory forever.
Thanks for expanding the topic! I've seem many akira's impact videos out there but this one gave me a wider look on the subject 🏍
I was in college in the late 80's, and a Japanese exchange student told me that Akira was as big in Japan as Batman was in the US.
Tim Burton's Batman was the first flick to gross $1 billion.
"I should go back and watch some classic anime" ~ 2018
(I watched this and ghost in the shell)
I think this is the cyberpunk age of japan
First time I saw Akira was on it's first North American tour. I was already a fan of the Manga series. Me and my friend got to the theatre just in time for the opening scene and had to sit down in the front row where the last 2 seats were. I think I had my mouth open for the first half hour before I realized it.... It is the movie I have seen the most times in my life and maybe the only one I never get tired of.
I found out about Akira after i watched blade runner for the first time. I was searching for movies with similar aesthetics to BR and Evangelion, and when i watched Akira i was mind blown. Akira blade runner and evangelion have my favorite stories and visuals of all time
I saw it. Didn't really know what I had just watched.
Antonio Tyler I would love an in-depth analysis!
that's the beauty of the show don't tell rule! The movie doesn't spoon feed you information. It's up to the viewer to realize what is going on.
The best way to describe watching Akira for the first time is akin to picking up your first copy of heavy metal magazine, it literally will blow your mind and set you on a course of finding the good shit.
I first saw Akira by accident, when I was a kid. I was flicking through the 8 channels on my tv and discovered that BBC 2 was having a Japanese anime weekend/night sadly I had missed most of what they had put on but Akira was just about to start, I stayed up well past bed time and much of the film went over my head but I was hooked.
just amazed that this masterpiece was made in 1980s and the quality of animation and story-telling , no doubt one of the best animation movie of all time for me
Saw it at the ICA in London on it first cinema release. Nothing was like it I remember walking out of the screening shocked and utterly intranced. Seen then there has always been a copy of the film in my house either a VHS DVD UMD next up Blu Ray.
My first experience with it was actually last night at the movie theater. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen
First time seeing Akira was in college 2008, came across it in my school's library and a classmate immediately recommended it. Growing up rural my access to anime and manga was fairly limited to my shonen jump subscription. So my first real anime exposure was "Wrath of the Ninja" which thinking back I was far too young to be watching. Despite how weird and bizarre yet amazing both these movies are they stand out and I recommend them when I get the chance.
This is one of my favorite movies ever.
I worked at a video store when I saw this in 1990. Rented it at a discount, hooked up 2 VCRs to dub and wore that copy out!! I hope statute of limitations has run out. Versions I see streaming now have different translation than I'm used to but still good.
I'm 31 now, I watched this when I was 6 or 7, my older brother got it on VHS tape. Did not quite understand exactly what was going on in the film. A few scenes did disturb me and were seared into my memory, one being Tetsuo hallucinating that his guts are falling out and he's scrambling to put them back in again. Or the Milk seeming to bleed out from the giant Teddy Bear and of course the swelling, pulsating techno-organic, all consuming blob at the end squishing that girl into puree.. Have to watch this film again
I️ was 7 or 8 and my babysitters younger brother was about 16 it was 1992 and he played Akira for me one day and something about it captivated me...still to this day it’s the only anime I can stand to watch
I did the book of Akira for an english project, but i hadn't finished the book, so I told my parents to let me watch the movie instead. I skipped a lot of the parts that I didn't need for the project, so I do want to rewatch it in its entirety. This was a year ago btw.
I was already a fan of anime, as part of the Toonami generation. I don't know why I knew Akira was legendary, but when I finally got the DVD, I knew by then it was and it didn't disappoint.
I was also a youngster when I first saw Akira... My best friend managed to find a VHS copy of it and I remember just being blown away by it! It was the craziest thing I ever saw and although I had a hard time comprehending the story because of my young age (8 years old) I knew I was watching a masterpiece!