Akira

The Anime Film Akira directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and based on the Akira Manga novels, was first released in 1988 and is often thought to be the most ground breaking anime to date. Ground breaking in its visual animation, which was far ahead of its time (one of the first to actually use lip-synching), its influence on the style of much anime to follow and in being the main catalyst that catapulted the popularity of Anime in the West, firmly establishing Japanese animation in mainstream media. The influence it had can be summed up in one quote from Empire Magazine “No Akira, No Matrix”.

Akira was a military experiment on a being who developed godlike abilities and lost control of his powers obliterating 1988 Tokyo. The body was recovered and suspended in animation for study by future generations.

Set in neo Tokyo 31 years later Akira is a romp of hyper violence and cyber punk culture, following the two main characters Shotaro Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima best friends and members of a violent motorbike street gang, one of many that now run a post World War 3 apocalyptic Tokyo. A child with amazing psychological powers breaks free from a top secret military project and crosses paths with Tetsuo which causes the manifestation of similar psychokinetic powers within him.

In the hope of locating Tetsuo, Keneda becomes involved with a female revolutionary, Kei and her anti-government group.

Experimented on by the military and the mental strain of such godlike powers slowly tears Tetsuo’s psyche apart, blurring his imagination and reality. Tetsuo turns on a society that has ridiculed and abused him for most of his life, killing all in his path on a journey to unearth the secret of Akira and cure his pain. With the revelation at what his friend has become Kaneda sets out on a mission to takedown Tetsuo “Tetsuo's our friend! If anyone's going to kill him, it should be us!"

One of the most influential Anime films ever, this is one to watch!