I saw this film around the time of it's release and it was a benchmark in animated features. Manga and Anime came into film vernacular and a bar was set. Thing is, it wasn't a particularly high bar. This film is confusing at best.
It's set in a post apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo and times are hard. The city is under military rule and the city is crawling with biker gangs and revolutionaries. It's not particularly clear what the revolution is all about. It does concern something called Akira.
I'm assuming that the whole spirituality side of the story is lost in translation. It seems to be concerned with chi, or some sort of natural energy that can be harnessed for good or bad. A young bratty biker (Tetsuo) gains control of this power and his powers become destructive to the nth degree. Now everyone is out to stop him.
I do get some of the themes. The whole youth against establishment. The fear of destruction and the threat of the military. I do think that the story of an emotional roller coaster of a teenager garnering the power to destroy with his mind is quite intriguing, I just don't think it's done well here. There are moments of brilliance. I like Kei's exposition speech about what Akira is. She tells of this energy theory that links the building blocks of the world and compared Tetsuo to an amoeba. "What if an amoeba was to harness this power? Amoebas don't build bridges and houses, they just consume everything around them."
The animation is quite dated too. Not a patch on anything by Miyazaki.
So groundbreaking of it's time, but doesn't stand up to Japanimation of recent years.
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