Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Akira is a landmark of anime and cyberpunk cinema with breathtaking hand-drawn animation and a richly detailed dystopian Neo-Tokyo that remains visually stunning decades later — cinematography is genuinely exceptional. Its vision is so singular and distinctive that its novelty is equally outstanding, defining an entire aesthetic language for science fiction animation. The plot, while ambitious in scope, is dense and occasionally difficult to follow, condensing a sprawling manga into a sometimes incoherent narrative — above average but not exceptional. Voice acting (in both Japanese and English dubs) serves the story adequately. The ending is thematically bold but narratively murky, leaving many viewers confused rather than satisfied, landing it at above average rather than exceptional.