akira has some of the most masterful animation of any animated film. yeah, the story is bastardized from the manga (read it, it's 10x better) but the animation in akira was a big deal at the time and still looks incredible. we will never have animation like this on this scale and budget ever again probably.
yeah, the amount of 1s in akira is pretty incredible and the hand painted cels are a piece of history. the old ghibli films on cels are incredible too.
At the level of akira ,animation wise, there have been 3-4 films post 2000
Redline
Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Whatever the best animated miyazaki film is from that stretch (probably ponyo?)
Children of the Sea
Also a personal pick: GITS 2 Innocence. The amount of realist character animation with complicated af designs is insane
Ah, the state, attempting to hold on to power against popular unrest, unleash powers beyond their control. Also cool motorbikes.
I've never actually seen the film. I read the manga and also the weird Simpsons adaptation that a bunch of people did at one point but haven't seen the film. Am I missing anything?
Its not nearly as complete a story as the manga, its more suggestion and metaphor in that area, but imo that's a magical experience, plus its the prettiest animated thing I've ever seen, and the soundtrack is BUMPIN
yeah people really need to read the manga, which is absolutely incredible story-wise and art-wise. otomo hand illustrated 2000 pages alone. his architecture design alone is amazing, but really the story of the manga is very complete, especially compared to the film.
Having read the manga, the film as an adaptation is wonderful I think, I can feel it more than understand it if that makes any sense
yeah, the film is something you feel. the first time i watched it i had dismissed it for years and years thinking i knew what it was about and wasn't interested. my friend showed me on a big projector, which was an incredible way to watch it, and the movie blew my mind. just the kinetic energy of the movie alone is amazing. the fluid, hyper violent animation, beautiful art and soundtrack make it a very vibey film. i think the manga story is much better, but the film is maybe my all time favorite film and i'm super critical of anime as a genre.
Bigtime agreed
Also, it helps that Akira doesn't do a single thing that anime does that pisses me off, its just the best the genre has to offer
I definitely get the animation aspect of the film - it does look good. The plot just didn't do it for me at all and I felt like I was missing out on a ton of background information that was probably covered in the manga.
I mean if you don't care much for animation in itself as an artform I guess it could be pretty meh, but it's an animation masterclass
Don't get me wrong, the animation is about the only thing I appreciated about the film, so I get that part. But the plot didn't really grab me any more than the plot of Avatar did, and that was also a very technically impressive feat. I'm probably just missing out on whatever the manga extrapolated on.
I haven't watched it in a few years so I don't honestly remember much of it.
Could be, its very artsy and metaphorical in its plot compared to the manga, but idk, it just kinda resonates with me, could be because I know the manga tho
Idunno, its one of the few movies I've ever seen that I'm glued to every single frame of
Have you tried being a 13 year old renting the VHS from the library and seeing anime for the first time?
Yes that was the point of my original post - the movie elicits an emotional reaction and a time-traveling mental experience that overwhelms my objective interpretation of the film.
Yeah, that was a petty form of cross-thread retribution for them accusing me of having reddit energy in a different thread. Sad really.
Your tastes are objectively wrong, please report to the Taste Makers Committee for your re-education assignment.
