AKIRA was Mindblowingly Good! (1988) Movie Reaction | First Time Watching 

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Akira is one of those works of art that transcend their medium. I firmly believe that Akira, manga+film, is one of the more important artistic achievements of modern times. This might seem a strange comparison, but Akira is, for our times, like "El Quijote" on its level of influence and significance.

Everyone obviously talks about the godlike visual, but no seems to be fascinated that this movie created a whole new shade of red in order for the colors to pop out on screen and they coined the new color "Akira Red"

One thing that really blows my mind is this movie came out just 43 years after the bomb fell on Hiroshima. It's possible some of the people who made it experienced it as children.

I was way too young when I watched that and It haunted me for years. What a powerful work of art this anime is.

This movie giving Adam “404 - page not found” moments. Lol

I love this movie and the manga so much. Katsuhiro Otomo is a visionary. The manga is such an expansive and different experience from the movie but part of what makes this film so special is that Otomo adapted his own story to film which makes them both his genuine vision of this world and the people in it. This movie is a technical marvel in animation and the amount of painstaking effort that went in to it is so impressive.

The scene at 19:33 of the sphere of force pushing into the square hallway has been one of the things that's been embedded in my mind ever since I first saw this as a kid.

So glad you guys watched together the GOAT of Anime. Akira is the very pinnacle of Old school cyberpunk Japanese animation and the introduction to the "super humanoids theme". The insane amount of detail, the colors, the scenery, the composition, the contrasts, etc..... I mean, you name it and Akira surely has it. at 8:13 comment- YES Akira & Ghost in a Shell were the template for the Matrix & many Hollywood movies that stole bits from it. In fact Spielberg, Lucas & Burton have praised & spoken about Akira as a source of inspiration.

This film is straight up masterpiece and my intro to the phenomenal chaotic world of anime

The music is beyond masterpiece too. I listen it once a week min since 35 years.

I implore you, at your leisure, to watch this in the original Japanese, cuz nothing beats the original voice actors: *"TETSUOOOOO!"* *KANEDAAAAAA!"*

"I'm glad we saw Totoro first!" Now you guys gotta see *Nausicaa* and *Mononoke Hime.* From the director of Totoro but with apocalyptic imagery like this. Like Totoro, the heroes of both are adolescent girls with cute fantastic creature familiars, but their adversaries are *nightmare-fuel creatures* that cause *disaster/genocide-scale destruction.*

The movie chronicle just totally took a huge chunk of this movie having a main friend get powers and become just evil

Disney could never

I love the blend of computer generated effects with hand drawn cel animation, it's seamless. Compare this to modern animation, and there is so much detail, and they create multi layered images which are stunning. But man, how do you animate something as complex as smoke, and then do it as good as this. The animation is mind-blowing.

It's been around 25 years since I last watched this film. It definitely shaped my love of sci-fi and anime. Such an impressive film and so influential. Now I need to do a re-watch.

I love this anime and so happy you guys are watching it

I never thought about it before, but I think an inspiration source for some of the body horror and incomprehensible power was “Altered States” (1980).

Motorcycle jump kick.... Saw it again in Batman Mask of the Phantasm!!

So good to see you guys again!!

Glad you guys are back. Not sure if you’re doing it but hope to see your Ahsoka reactions. Thanks for doing this.

This movie is the reason why I cruise around Night City on the Kusanagi CT-3X

The anime series that Ôtomo credits for inspiring "Akira" is "Gigantor," which was based on the manga "Tetsujin 28-gō." Ôtomo admits that the characters and story of "Akira" owe a great deal to "Gigantor:"

I really do recommend Grave of the Fireflies. A lot of people are scared of it, but also a lot of people focus on the nuclear bombs and ignore the other horror of the war. Both those that we committed (because we like to think of ourselves as blameless except for that one thing and then come up with justifications for that) while also exploring how people exist during domestically during war. Japan hasn't done a perfect job exploring it's own crimes against Korea for example, but GotF is one of the better ones exploring some of the horrors the war had on itself.

I'm probably the only one in here that needs to watch Akira with the original English dub from 1988... This dub is cool, but I LOVE the original dub.

I feel like our 3 boys here would LOVE "Summer Wars"

This movie was fun. SO much of Japanese story telling in anime/movies/manga and such post WW II was because of things like the atomic bomb, and governments lying to their people, and the horrors of war that it really does paint a picture that makes you think when you go back and watch a lot of this stuff in context, such as this movie or things like the original One Year War Gundam.

Akira, one of the best anime’s of all time

I watched this as a freshman in college at our student theater at Colorado State in 1989. I grew up on Speed Racer, Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers, Gigantor, Kimba the White Lion, Johnny Sokko & his Giant Robot, The Amazing 3, Godzilla, Gamera and Getter Robo 3.

Excited to have you back, fellas!

I wouldn't mind seeing a live action adaption. Heck so many scenes from this movie have already been done in other films, you could probably just cut all those scenes together for a homemade live action akira adaption lol.

I was 14 or 15 when I first saw this movie. My only previous experience with feature length animation movies were Asterix & Obelix and Disney. Lets just say...🤯🤯🤯 Rewatched it after reading the manga, which adds a lot of context and sure helps a lot with understanding what's going on.

I'll forever continue to recommend "tiger and bunny" the best superhero anime.

I got to see Akira at Nuart in Sawtelle a few years ago. Well worth it to see on big screen!

This debuted on my 16th birthday. And gave me a true love for what animation could do.

Many people have said this and after actually having gone and done it I agree; You have to see this film in a theatre, the big screen really does elevate this movie.

Please watch Redline seriously one of the best animated films to ever be released and the amount of love the artists put into that film is just immaculate

“It’s been so long” - Peggy Carter

The jump-kick off the motorcycle is from Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm

so one thing i was dissapointed about during the delayed 2021 tokyo olympics, when the canadian delegation came out during the march of nations at the opening ceremony, there should have been a call and response between team canada and the audience in the stands, a call and response of CANADA!!!/TETSUOOOOOO!!!!!! back and forth

Adams paralyzed shock face x10 is what makes this video. Welcome to the party pal.

In the movie (made in 1987/1988, happening in 2019) "The Olympics will be hosted in Tokyo next year" . In real life, Tokyo hosted the Olympics in "2020" (2021).... let's talk about prediction....

Akira is such a classic!!

It’s funny you guys mention Nope because the motorcycle slide from this movie was in Nope! Keke does it towards the end of the movie 😎

i have wached this a few times grate movie,, it's so dystopian

I haven't watched this movie in nearly 20 years or more. It's still exceptional.

A good follow up movie for this one would be the 2006 Sci-fi/Adventure Paprika directed by Satoshi Kon.

Yes! PLEASE watch the original Godzilla!! It’s my #1 favorite movie of all time. The new movie, Godzilla Minus One, seems like it’s going back to the franchises roots with the commentary about the Nuclear Bombs.

AWESOME!!! Now, I want to see it AGAIN. Thanks for your reaction!

You’re back!!♥️

Good to see you guys back.

This is my first RU-vid comment EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER….may be a stretch….but I have only watched classic anime movies, like Akira. I just discovered Attack on Titan and I have been in aweeeee. Would be so cool to see y’all’s take!

I'm so glad you're back. greetings from Germany

I only watched Akira once…. When I was 15…. 🤯 I am now 40… so hard to bring myself to rewatch it.

The part where Tetsuo obliterates the dudes in the hallway...scene from Watchmen where Dr. Manhattan does something similar in a bar and their guts and limbs are hanging from the ceiling. I wouldnt be surprised if they got that idea from this particular scene in this bc its basically identical.

I am going to create a 4 second vid for my channel at some stage. That might take me a couple of days. Akira took 8 years I think, something like that. Animation is so hard but my god are the rewards astounding. I have no idea how they managed to actually draw every single frame!! I would love to see their archive folders with all the cells.

You guys are alive

In the comic; Akira was actually alive and started another apocalyptic event. So we get to see what Neo Tokyo looks like after. A good part of the country's youth joins a gang run by Tetsuo. But they worship Akria

Glad you guys are back

Godzilla (1954,) yes! But also Shin Godzilla (2016) if you haven’t seen it yet.

love Your UpLoads So happy Right Now

the voice actor for kenada also voiced leonardo in the original tmnt

There is a movie by the same director "Steamboy" which sadly was never as successful and is almost forgotten today. I found it in my Days of Steampunk-Fanboying, big recommendations

You should give Shin Godzilla a watch if you haven’t. That movie has a lot of Japanese themes like you were discussing. They critique Japanese government, post war Japans place in the world, the earthquake and nuclear plant disaster.

I think I still have about 33 issues of the American manga released back in the late 1980s. The movie differs in a number of places and reduces some characters to cameos. But it's still a great movie. The Ghost in the Shell is another good movie to watch.

I don’t know if you guys can pin this, but I looked up Akira and it’s playing on Hulu right now. Watching it now before I finish this. Thanks for the recommendation, guys!

Wow, haven't watched this in 15 years or something. Did not like the character design/art when I was younger, but can't deny it is a cinematic masterpiece. Dedinitely, it has everything except gaint robots -it is a urban biker gang, action, drug induced nightmare, body horror, friendship, cautionary tale, sci--fi, and whatever else. But I think you guys have it too easy. We have people arounfd the world and even in the US where there are neighborhood you don't want to be in -whether war, drugs, gangs, violence, warlords, religious persecution, proverty or whatever else that people can't "just move". If life was that simple. I remember this as one of the biggest animation at the time -the amount of time to draw each frame before computer assisted animation. This is like Avatar of Japanese animation budget. It is one of those movie everyone should at least watch once.

Its been a while! Lets goooooo

Welcome back, fellas!!!!!! ♥️♥️♥️

Did you watch the 4K release. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it looks in the 4K

Guyssss I can’t wait for your reaction on Asokaaaa!!

It doesn't get better than Akira.

Welcome back gents.

Great reaction! It is very interesting to see your reaction to the film Robocop 1987. This is a cool movie 👍🔥🦾

You're Back!

Something older movies didn't do, especially those we see as classics, was holding our hands. I noticed something with younger reactors, 25 and younger. They have so many questions about characters, the world, and the plot and are genuinely confused when they don't have the answers delivered within the first five to ten minutes. I don't blame younger people for this, I blame modern movies. I'm also not talking about what arthouse likes to do, this whole "Uh, eh...the meaning? Uh, symbolism! And uh...it's what you interpret it to be! Right! That's the art!" thing (can be good but rarely is done well). You get the answers when you get there. You learn the premise when you learn it, or who is good and who is evil. It made movies richer, more engaging, and less predictable. Sure, Akira and many other heavy-themed animes seem to have an extra cryptic layer but a lot of that comes from the culture clash and the perspective of the intended audience. Either way, I think Akira is one of those movies you have to see three times with not too many years in between. The first time for the experience. The second time to grasp the themes, plot, and character dynamics. The third time, when you aren't too focused on following the plot, just enjoy the visuals and music. Anyway, I love about Akira that it's to sci-fi and cyberpunk what Poltergeist is to the horror genre. Even if you don't like the movies, after watching them, you cannot deny that they parkoured so that many, many popular works, maybe even your favourites, could walk. As a final thought, and I only got that one because I watched it several times since I was a teen: I think Kaneda's survival isn't just plot armour. I think Tetsuo wants to win against Kaneda, just once, but not to kill him. There's so much going on that the friendship dynamics get pushed into the background but the whole movie starts with Tetsuo admiring Kaneda and one of the first things he says after shit hits the fan is that the days of Kaneda having to help him are over (not a quote, paraphrasing). At the showdown, he could do anything he wanted but as soon as Kaneda shows up, it's all about the one-sided rivalry. That he kills his girlfriend, who he liked, unintentionally but Kaneda survives pretty much the same situation, also makes sense. The whole time, Kaneda has a "He's my friend, he's weak, it's my responsibility to save his ass if he's in trouble, and if he's trouble, it's my responsibility to stop him." and Tetsuo hates this (think about it, when he steals the bike to ride with his GF, they only get in trouble with the other gang because the gang recognises the bike and think it's his. And he cannot do anything to help himself or his girl, Kaneda has to do it, again). I vaguely remember there's something about Japanese social culture that has to do with people becoming/seeing themselves as responsible for others, due to circumstances, so there might be a cultural factor that we don't see at first glance. But also, I wonder if there's some symbolism about allyship, loyalty, the responsibility that comes with both, and how ego, pride, and delusions of grandeur ultimately lead to self-destruction.

Damn can’t stay but will rewatch y’all later 🤘🏽🙏🏽❤️

This was super fun to watch, homeboy who’s never seen it reminds me of pro wrestler Kevin Owens while you other 2 were perfect nerd bread for the sandwich of his experience. I saw this movie at age 13 in like 04 and can confirm everything in pop culture isa reference to the atomic bomb and inherently this movie 😂😂😂

If you gentlemen haven’t seen it, you all should check Jin-Ro: The Wolf Brigade. Similar dystopian themes.

The Clown biker gang music will forever be top tier.

Kaneda is basically captain america

A classic, a one of a kind piece of art

Actually I think Disney was working on a live action of this movie at some point in the recent past.

I can tell you that, as an avid lucid dreamer, telekinesis is my favorite power to use, in dreams...and it's pretty much like the abilities that Tetsuo has during his rampage out of the hospital. Lol.

Akira is one of those movies that stayed with me for a long time. Hence my username lol! Like Hector as much as I love it and respect it, I can only watch it every few years. It’s so heavy. It just stays with you. Nothing I’ve seen since, probably Ghost in The Shell being the other makes you think about the imagery and themes. Glad Adam enjoyed it! There’s a reason why it’s so influential.

I thought this was a street racing movie 😮😂

Hector saying that he'd move outside of the city seeing how dangerous it is made think, "Hey, why are these people in Tokyo living there when you know Godzilla's going to destroy it any minute..." 🤣

Miss you guys

Can it be? The boys are back in town??

Yesssss ,👏👏👏 more animation gems like these please, like Ghost In The Shell,Neon Genesis Evangelion, Princess Mononoke,Paprika, , ,

Tenho um dvd original guardado do Akira ! Sou do Brasil e curto assistir vocês um abraço!! E cadê a reação de ahsoka?

Potentially my age talking here, but there was an English dub, or 2, before this one? I've only ever really enjoyed the original dub myself. Thanks for reacting to this, brings back many memories of watching "Manga" VHS tapes in the UK and listening to the awesome intro they all had. I'd recommend Lensman, or Venus Wars. Patlabor is great too, but can be slow.

It's crazy how condensed the movie is compared to the manga, and the fact (IIRC) that the manga didn't finish until after the movie, so there's ultimately divergent/different plots. So much of both are so relevant to issues that we're tackling today, a lot of it feels prophetic in a way, almost cyclical...

Fun fact: Akira was considered as one of the main inspirations for the Blue Beetle movie, alongside Drive and Pacific Rim.

Great reaction!

I’ll stay a little bit longer 😂

Such a great movie, inspiring on every level

This should not be remade. It's like Hollywood wants to be hated.

You need to do Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll!