Akira (1988) 4K Re-Release Review: Iconic Movie Certainly Has More Good Than Bad
Updated: 4 days ago
One of the most referenced animated movies of all time, Akira, is back in theaters with a 4K re-release! I had never seen this film before, so wanted to change things up a little and do a retrospective review! This will play exactly as one of our regular reviews, but I just wanted people to know that right off the bat: enjoy!
Synopsis:
"A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop."
Cast:
Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Taro Ishida
Release Date:
Streaming Now
Incredible Animation, Especially For The Time Period
Although I knew this movie was from the 20th century, I was absolutley shocked to see that this movie came out 1988. Reason being that the animation here is so good that it could be released in 2026 and still feel top of the game. You can very easily tell that this influenced so many animated films that came after. There's obviously singular moments, like the classic "Akira Slide", but you can see inspired moments even in just some of the larger sequences. I am so glad that my first time watching this was in a theater because it truly is a spectacle in so many ways. There is the third act that has so many big settings and moments, but even in the early scenes where the famous slide comes in - there's just so much to like with how its directed and animated. Another big standout there would be the sound design - the speakers were booming at my local Regal and I am not complaining whatsoever.
With this said, it allows those same animators to just go for it all in that final act. The final act was by far and away my favorite part of this entire film, which is due so much to how well they are able to craft everything that's going on. There's just so many insane and large story beats, but still somehow they found a way to make it all clear and at the same time jaw-dropping. It can be light but also dark, as well as knowing exactly what style to use for the larger moments vs. the softer intimate moments. The conclusion here was very satsifying for me, with it being grounded in very human themes even for this grand-scale concept. Even with the issues I had earlier in the film, more on that later, I found myself leaving on a high note because of those sequences in the final act.
Generally Fascinating Story and Concept
Again, I took issue with some ways it was played out, but I genuinely was very invested in this story and concept. From the posters and the opening scenes you maybe think it's going to be some basic movie about racing hooligans, but we eventually mix both sci-fi and drama for a really thrilling bit of storytelling. The movie is playing out multiple character arcs at once, but the one that got me the most invested was the descent into madness from our quasi-villain. There's a backstory and a connection to some more innocent characters there that really resonated for me as the movie went on. It's a classic light vs. dark story, pondering what the world would do if power was placed into the hands of people who don't deserve it. Sometimes even not people who don't deserve it, but people who simply aren't ready for the burden. There are even ways you sympathize with the main villain towards the end and that's just about the biggest feat you can pull off considering some of the things he did. As I said in the other section, these mysteries were concluded and revealed in a satisfying way for me by the end of the film.
Struggles To Build Out Its World and Characters
My biggest problem with Akira was that I got completely lost in the world, especially early on. This first hour of this is a bit of a mess with interesting plotlines sprinkled in there. It mostly boils down to the fact that there's a lot of elluding to the backdrop and setting, but I never really understood any of it. You'll have to forgive me for my lack of knowledge about the poltics in this given setting, assuming that it's based off prior history or novels. It would have been fine if it was just alluded to throughout and never really made relevant, but the world itself is directly involved with the story at many occasions. It made it so there were some storylines that just lost me because I couldn't understand exactly what exactly was meant to be happening. This also happened with some of the characters involved, as there is some shared history that we never fully see. The main relationship between our two main characters plays a big part throughout the film, but it is never shown to us until the very end.
Unfortunately, this becomes one of those movies where it feels like an entire other movie took place before and that we as an audience never saw it. There's so many character dynamics that just aren't given the full time of day, even with this being a longer runtime for an animated movie (which I really appreciated, by the way). The problem is just that I couldn't fully get invested into certain parts of the story because of this. It feels like the organization that is hunting our main characters for testing could be a whole movie in itself, seeing their backstory and how they started. Again, we get some of this towards the end, but it really took too long. I don't mind at all getting pieces of the puzzle slowly throughout, but this one just didn't give us those pieces in a clear enough way to keep me invested all the way through the first 1.5 acts.
Confusing and Baffling Story Choices
At the end of the day, this film just left me confused at many points. Now, there's two sides to this. On the one hand, I was confused generally. Although I was totally paying attention the entire time, there were just some things I don't think they fully explained. Again, this plays into the backstory. There's many questions I still had leaving the theater and I never like when that's a standout when I'm watching a film that came out many years ago. The second part of that would not even be confusion because they left our details, but more because the execution was just weird and didn't work for me. There's just characters and plotlines that are much more strange than some of the more interesting ones.
One of those big failures in execution for me was the use of the score. Now, I want to make it clear - I loved the actual score itself. However, the way they placed the tracks just was bizzare for me. it feels like there's a ton of moments where a score beat is needed and its silent. This definitley is another thing that hurt the first half, as I found myself bored at points when I'm not invested in the story and there is no score to back it up. There's also a strangely major use of sound effects in this film. None of them really make sense in their placement or even inclusion in the first place.
Final Thoughts
I leave this film slightly disappointed just because the high expectations that I had. It's very much a mixed bag for me, but I definitely think that there was more good than bad, hence the slightly above average score below. It's hard to articulate things in too much detail without getting into spoilers, but generally my main problem was with the world building. However, I would recommend giving this a watch, as it certinaly does serve as an influence for many of our favorite animated movies from the 2000s!
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Editor's Note: Since this movie was released before 2026, there will be no ranking for this review! However, check out my Letterboxd to see where it ranks in all the movies I've seen this year and follow while you are over there!
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