Akira

Japan, 1988. An explosion caused by a young boy with psychic powers tears through the city of Tokyo and ignites the fuse that leads to World War III. In order to prevent any further destruction, he is captured and taken into custody, never to be heard from again. Now, in the year 2019, a restored version of the city known as Neo-Tokyo—an area rife with gang violence and terrorism against the current government—stands in its place. Here, Shoutarou Kaneda leads "the Capsules," a group of misfits known for riding large, custom motorcycles and being in constant conflict with their rivals "the Clowns."

During one of these battles, Shoutarou's best friend Tetsuo Shima is caught up in an accident with an esper who finds himself in the streets of Tokyo after escaping confinement from a government institution. Through this encounter, Tetsuo begins to develop his own mysterious abilities, as the government seeks to quarantine this latest psychic in a desperate attempt to prevent him from unleashing the destructive power that could once again bring the city to its knees.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kaneda, Shoutarou Main

Iwata, Mitsuo Japanese

Shima, Tetsuo Main

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Kei Main

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Shikishima Main

Ishida, Tarou Japanese

Akira Supporting

Kai Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Kaori Supporting

Fuchizaki, Yuriko Japanese

Yamagata Supporting

Ookura, Masaaki Japanese

Kiyoko Supporting

Itou, Fukue Japanese

Miyako Supporting

Kitamura, Kouichi Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Otomo, Katsuhiro Director, Script, Original Character Design, Original Creator

Aketagawa, Susumu Sound Director

Hashimoto, Izou Script

Reviews

Jan 22, 2026

Chanrey

Recommended

I rewatched Akira with a 4K Blu-Ray that had finally arrived. The impact that this film had on filmmaking is incredible, it was a major piece of work that has lead to the direct popularity of one of my favourite medians (anime) in the west, during a time when Hollywood executives saw this film and thought it would fail in west, because nobody wants to watch a cartoon with mature and adult themes and ideas, fortunately for us they were very wrong, as now we have anime movies that outgross a lot of the big Hollywood movies this year.

Now getting onto what I ... actually think of this gem, starting off what you would notice just looking at any frame of this movie is the visuals and animation. The work in the backgrounds are incredibly done, there is so much effort and detail put into the backgrounds, when you think about the fact that this movie was handmade with pencil and paper, it’ll blow your mind the effort they put into these incredible looking backgrounds, just every single detail put to screen looks like something that could be put in a museum.

The story and concepts this film puts into you are incredible and though provoking, when you watch this film, I’ve seen a lot of people who have never watched Akira and just thought it was a biker film and then they watch it, and their minds are blown away by what is being presented to them. The majority of the characters with some exceptions (Tetsuo and Kaneda) are admittedly forgettable and not that well baked, but the ideas put into this are so amazing you forget about how many of the characters don’t have much to them and just focus on what’s happening on the more ideas driven story about some sort of military project. Admittedly this movie can also be confusing to watch, but the more you rewatch it, like many other classic anime movies, like Ghost In the Shell or Perfect Blue, (although I fell in love with perfect blue the first watch) the more you understand it and why it is so amazing, I digress.

To conclude, it really hurts me doing this but I just cannot give it a 10 rating, due to some underdeveloped characters and messy writing, I have to give it a 9/10, I really wish I could give it a 10/10, because I love this movie to death, but that is the way it is unfortunately.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Oct 31, 2025

Krohanar

Mixed Feelings

In short:
If you're into the cyberpunk genre and like a chaotic, dystopian future, this is for you! It has aged well and is still a fun watch. If you don't like stories where "the world is degenerated" and not everything is explained clearly, well, this might not be for you.

Intro:
Akira is a landmark in the cyberpunk genre. Some people say it was Akira that brought anime and manga to the wider world, especially the US, and made it popular with a younger audience. So, if you care about the "history" of anime, you should stop and watch this movie.

Art: 10
Akira changed the way anime was ... made, and the techniques used in the movie were truly game-changing. Especially in the voice acting, they recorded the voices before animating the characters' mouth movements (a process called pre-scoring). So, if you're listening in Japanese, you'll see the lip-syncing is incredibly good.
To be fair, watching it in 2025, the animation has of course aged a little bit. I like the old-style anime, but it's not "clean" like shows are nowadays (of course). But it would be unfair to give any score below 10, because it truly changed the way anime was produced. The action scenes are really good, too, and that old-school vibe is just great.

Story: 6
I mean, I liked the story, but some topics are too broad and not explained in the movie as well as they are in the manga. (If you like the movie, you should definitely read the manga; it's really deep and well-written!)

To be spoiler-free, it's a story that opens A LOT of questions and fails to deliver the answers to all of them. It's fine, you'll have fun, but it feels rushed in many scenes.

Sound: 7
I'm no sound expert by any means. So my opinion is just based on whether the anime had any sounds that sounded off, or if I have anything to remember (memorable music or a great dub). It's good, but not awesome.

Characters: 5
The movie has 3 main characters and a lot of side characters. I think because it's a movie, they couldn't go deep and develop all of them, but not even the protagonists or the antagonist are well-developed. I think that's the biggest downside of this movie. It didn't have any memorable or impactful characters, either.

Enjoyment: 6
It's a good movie. But for me, the chaotic vibe was a little bit too unrealistic and threw me off. The story held me until the end, but I can't say I was fully engaged.

Overall: 7 (good)
Akira is one of the most important animated movies ever made, not just because it's a good movie overall, but because of the popularity it brought to anime in the West. You should watch it if you're into anime, but keep in mind that the story is from a manga made in the 80s.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 28, 2025

Leogos

Not Recommended

Funny

Akira is absolute trash, the only reason why it is so hyped is because someone feels edgy and thinks they are cool for watching it, or pretend to have acquired taste.

This might have been a hit back in the day, but it was only due to being absolutely weird and having animation that no other animated film had and that's it.

If you watch it in modern day you realize that it just doesn't live up to any hype and is actually very very bad, characters are dull, there is no development, anime has no message, story doesn't make any sense, and nothing is connected.

Only good ... thing about this anime is Music and Animation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Akira Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Friendlysoul - Apr 12, 2008	249 replies	by refreshed_carrot »» Apr 6, 4:00 AM
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