Submitted by Jon Peplinski (Mar 29, 2001) 
This movie is a triumph of animation, of science-fiction and of modern story-telling.Akira is set in a bleak future in Neo-Tokyo, a kind of city of the damned. Apathy amongst the people and corruption among the politicians has made it an anarchistic cess-pool.Set against this back-drop is the tale of Kaneda and Tetsuo,members of a biker-punk gang. Kaneda is is self-confident leader figure, Tetsuo the bullied, disrespected runt. After a motorcycle accident involving an escaped government test subject, Tetsuo is swept up in the legacy of Akira, a mysterious boy who vanished years ago and is only spoken of fearfully by government scientists and military officials. Kaneda sets out to free Tetsuo with the help of a band of revolutionaries. However, as the scientific tests awaken more and more of Akira's power within Tesuo he begins to lose sanity and due to his troubled childhood, begins to use his power for revenge. The military, the government and the people of Neo-Tokyo become drawn into Tetsuo's rage until there is only Kaneda to oppose him. This movie is brilliant. The ending is just mind-blowing. The animation is top-notch. It raises very important questions about where evolution and society are taking us and you can watch it about five times and pick up something new every time. There are a few weak points which prevented a 6 rating (one scene in which a girl's shirt is ripped off seemed particularly gratuitous) but these do little to detract from such a grand work of art. A must-see for any science-fiction fan.
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Akira
(52 ratings)