Akira - Blu-ray DVD

I've seen this movie a couple of times before on DVD and seeing it finally in high definition I fell in love with it all over again. Yes, it's a long, bizarre, dark and gritty vision of the (then) future. Yes, we are approaching the real 2020 Tokyo Olympics (a year late because of the pandemic), so let's hope no teenagers blow up into giant blobs after trying to kill everybody. This cartoon is definitely not for kids, having quite a bit of blood, brutality and some nudity. This is a the mature blockbuster that shocked the Western world into the knowledge that Japanese Anime had come into its own. The artwork is incredible (and the style has thankfully not been copied much, although fans of Dragonball Z will see clearly the inspiration their shows have taken), with fluid animation and lifelike, frightening images of destruction and illusion come to life. The troubled characters try to live within the bizarre nightmare world in which they are placed. The story follows a couple of young men caught up in a government scheme to bring about a psychic super-being: a human weapon that cannot be controlled, a warning about tampering with the mind and doomsday weaponry as well as the loss of innocence and cheapening of human life when overwhelmed by technology, greed and the lust for power. It's a thrill ride that inspired many later on down the line besides Dragonball, but also the Matrix and Blade-Runner. Sci Fi fans will recognize inspiration taken from the Star Wars movies and Tron, and video game fans of the early 90's will see images shown here (Turtles in Time for one). Next to the works of Studio Ghibli, this is probably the best example of big budget anime as mature entertainment one can find (mature as in 'not just for kids'). Package includes the DVD version as well as the Blu-ray, extras and you can listen to it with or without subtitles and have the choice of original Japanese language or two different English tracks (from the 80's and a new one done in 2001). This is worth it for collectors of the genre not just fans of the movie. Read more

Peakest movie before EoE Read more

First off, the movie is fantastic. Fantastic story with great action and plot and character development on such an epic scale. My personal favorite animated movie of all time. As for the 25th anniversary, it delivers quite well. All 3 versions are here of the Japanese dub with English subs, streamline dub and pioneer dub. HD 1080p looks amazing and the already amazing looking animation looks even better. The audio is great for both English and Japanese dubs here. If you prefer to watch things in dub because you don't like reading and watching at once, I recommend the pioneer dub over streamline because they fit the roles of the characters better and they actually pronounce things correctly but if reading subtitles isn't a chore for you, I'll say that the Japanese dub with English subtitles is the best way to experience this movie. Must watch for any anime fans or anyone who loves a good movie in general. Read more

The title kinda sums it all up. I’m not exactly what the message, meaning, purpose, or point that this anime was trying to make, and even after looking it up on the internet I’m still not sure, but… I don’t really care because it was a cool movie. This animation in my opinion is at the pinnacle of great animation. Oh to go back to the days of hand drawn details without the tainting of computer generated vehicles that look so out of place. Just look at those helicopters, they look fantastic no computer can conjure up such impressive visuals. For that reason alone I could rewatch this over and over. Now the story again I don’t know exactly what they are trying to say but it’s still a good story and you can follow along the entire time but there just seems to be some bigger message the ending is trying to get at and even after looking it up I still don’t understand. The characters are pretty good and really a solid movie that’s very entertaining. If nothing else watching the beautiful visuals that traditional animation from the 80s can create makes this one a must watch. Read more

Classic Read more

You can stream akira, see akira on TV or cable, but those will not have the capsule feature. For those who do not know, if you enable the capsule feature, when there is interesting graffitti or signs, a capsule will appear on screen, if you press a button on the remote, a transaltion of said graffitti will be shown. I saw it on DVD in 2002 and it gave the movie a deeper level than in the theather. couple that with the fact that this version has a new music mix, and this is a great addition to your collection. If you never experienced the capsule feature, is a great excuse to view akira again. PS: Pump up the bass, enable dynamic bass, and every single bass relaed feature of your home teather. Under no circumstances watch this with the punny speakers built in your TV Read more