I think my first encounter with anime was back in '95. Yeah, I'm getting old 😔
(I know some people will hate me for my take on this classic, but it's like Jack Burton always says: "Give me your best shot, pal: I can take it.")
Rewatch
Long ago I saw Akira on television, and I was impressed with the amount of detail that went into the backgrounds, though the story was quite weak and some of the characters were direct descendants of the cheesy Japanese stuff intended for children. Still... I liked it. At the time. How did it hold up since then?
It's 2023 and I just did a rewatch. Hmmm...
Plot
I still can't figure out what the purpose of the movie is, or the core plot. If anything, I'd summarize it as "A lab incident results in a biotech singularity in a post-apocalyptic world." That's pretty vague, but that's what the movie is as well 😎 I might add that the singularity seems to create a new universe at the end. I think. Maybe.
I told you it's vague.
(The whole biotech singularity plot was / is a popular thing, have a look at Bubblegum Crisis in all its incarnations, for example. But by now we've seen it all, including endless variations on the Apocalypse.)
Art / animation
A child of the eighties. The animation is a bit choppy, low framerate, with character designs that are, in Dutch, 'oubollig'. (I guess 'corny' in English?) For its time certain elements were futuristic.
Verdict
Yeah, you have to watch this one, if only to try to understand anime. Is it good? I'd say it's essentially 'okay', but time has caught up, and the animation and some story aspects show it. To be honest, even then the story wasn't it's strongest part.
So yeah, 35 years after it was made, 25 years after I watched it the first time, I still think the story is weak 🤔
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