Before all the movie theatres shutting down, I had the chance to assist one of the most phenomenal events of all time : AKIRA on big screen. It is simply another kind of experience. I went into the movie theatre not knowing what’s the plot, nor the storyline and what’s it about.
The iconic bike scene that influences many animations and movies!
Set in 2019, we are introduced to a Neo-Tokyo filled with street gangs anti-governments protests, some shady military experiments that lead to children having extraordinary powers. As the plot sounds most movies you heard, this anime movie is quintessential to the influence of worldwide movie and anime culture. As much as a few directors have pitched in the idea of making a live-action project, Akira in my eyes will always shine as a colossus of animation.
There are a lot going on this chef-d’oeuvre, but I will focus on the artistry side of it all. It’s important to note that Akira was created in the time of Cel Animation (creating 2D animation by hand on sheets of transparent plastic called “cels”) that means no computer involved, which means every frame was hand-drawn.
Adding to the perfect and detailed art, comes the amazing and earth-shattering soundtrack. I haven’t fallen in love with music as hard as I did during the viewing of this masterpiece. To be able to create a sound that is both quite sonic and cyberpunked and entrancing at the same time is quite impressive. The more powerful part? The movie soundtrack was recorded before the animation itself. Yamashiro had total freedom to the kind of music he could create, the only directives he had was two themes : festival and requiem.
Having inspired so many cultural icons afterwards, Akira still remains one of the most beloved animation classics.
Have you watched this movie yet? What did you think about it ?
-Trang Tran
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It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen Akira, and never on the big screen. That would have been a thrill. But I recall very much enjoying the movie. It was one of my early introductions to anime in movie form. One of these days I’d love to do a rewatch.
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I recently watched this movie and thought it was amazing. That is so interesting about the soundtrack being created before the movie! Thank you for sharing your thoughts! 🙂
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Wow, I would have loved to see this one at the big screen. That would have been amazing. It’s still one of my favorite alltime anime films, that still holds up incredibly well, despite it’s age. I didn’t know about the soundtrack having been made before the film though🤔 Interesting. Great post!😀
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