The Neon Genesis of Anime - Akira

Akira

I will be up front and tell that this is at least the greatest anime movie ever made. Akira is definitely the first anime that made it seem like this genre could create a major studio, four star, blockbuster film.

Ghost in the Shell is good, but feels more like an art film.

Synopsis:

In August of 1988, World War III begins when a nuclear explosion occurs in Tokyo. By 2019, Neo-Tokyo is built, but unfortunately there are anti government protest, terrorists, and an ongoing motorcycle wars. Tetsuo, a teenage biker, is involved in an accident with a strange looking child who the army (and domestic terrorists) seems to have a classified interest in. When his friends come to the rescue, army helicopters come and take away the boy and Tetsuo. Worried about his best friend, Kaneda needs to find out what's going on. He also needs to impress a young female terrorist, Kei, so he joins her terrorist group that is out to stop a project called Akira from occurring or possibly occurring again.

Whatever Akira is, the army seems to want to use Tetsuo to be the body to contain it. Let's just say the power to disintegrate people is a power that is to be quickly abused.

Check out the rest of this critique at AnimeRuss.blogspot.com - For those curious about anime but hate the geeks.