Review of Akira (2 Disc Set)

Introduction

This is it, the one movie that opened the eyes of the world to the phenomenon that is Anime. Akira is the classic movie that takes science fiction and cyberpunk to new levels. It has been 15 years since Akira stunned audiences worldwide and has since rightfully become a cult classic. When I first saw Akira, I was blown away by outstanding animation, which Hollywood has never been able to match, but far more than that, I was impressed by a plot and narrative that far surpassed much that Hollywood can provide, animation or live action. I am glad to say that watching the film today, when superior computer animation is the norm and traditional cel animation has seemingly fallen by the wayside, the film still has the same impact on me.

After World War III and the destruction of Tokyo in 1988, reconstruction and regeneration have resulted in the metropolis of Neo Tokyo rising from the ashes. Society has rebuilt also and on the surface, the world seems to have healed from its wounds. But the fervour for reconstruction has faded by 2019 and Neo Tokyo`s populace is beginning to show the strains, with anti government demonstrations and terrorism rife. The youth are disaffected and rebellious as you would expect, and it`s one particular gang on which the story concentrates. Kaneda leads his motorbike gang against the notorious clowns in a familiar turf war, resulting in confrontation and violence that the beleaguered police are hard put to contain. During one particular confrontation, Kaneda`s childhood friend, Tetsuo is injured when a strange wizened child surprises him and his motorbike crashes. The military, from whom the child has been kidnapped come to rescue him and take Tetsuo as well. The military has been conducting experiments in psychic abilities in children since before the war and the wizened child is one of their subjects. Examining Tetsuo, they find that he has abilities beyond anything they currently possess and administer the appropriate medicine to awaken these latent abilities. While Kaneda and a young terrorist girl, Kei attempt to break into the military lab to rescue Tetsuo, his abilities manifest with frightening rapidity and he finds himself unable to cope with these strange powers and goes on the rampage. When he faces a group of the psychic children in mental combat, he learns of one stronger than him, the mysterious Akira.

Video

Disc 1 contains the movie. Akira was always a visual feast, but on DVD it has been given special treatment with a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. The whole film has been digitally remastered and the print has been substantially cleaned up. The level of detail is amazing and the image pin sharp and colourfully atmospheric. The print has been cleaned up and other than one or two exceptions there are no instances of scratches or dirt. This film could have been released last year.

Audio

Sound, and here we get into contentious territory. You have a choice of a newly translated and dubbed DD 5.1 English soundtrack, or the original 2.0 Stereo Japanese track. I am of the opinion that films should be watched in the original language, with the aid of subtitles rather than a dub, as the intent and emotion of the original actors is often lost in the translation. So my comments and marks, by and large refer to the Japanese soundtrack. That said I did sample the English track for comparison. The sound is startlingly effective, and I had the feeling of being immersed in the film, with action happening all around me. As an example, compare the scene where the bike crashes through the restaurant window. In 5.1, you get an explosion of sound that you can really feel, but in the stereo mix, the sound is flat and confined to the screen, despite my TV`s attempt to Pro Logic it up. However, just five minutes of English dubbed dialogue was enough to convince me to turn it off. The original dub had the characters speaking with fake American accents, but for the new dub, the managed to hire America actors to provide the voices (You can compare the old and new dub by watching the making of documentary where snippets from the old version are shown). I closed my eyes, and was convinced I was listening to a Charlie Brown cartoon. O.K I`m being facetious, but the fact remains that I didn`t find the English performances at all convincing. The feeling and depth of emotion portrayed by the original cast was lost and the characters appeared two dimensional and shallow. But as I said, that was after 5 minutes acquaintance and I could be displaying my bias. The Japanese soundtrack, accompanied by the newly translated English subtitles is the way I`ll always watch the film. (I`m a little uncertain about the new translation, at one point one of the characters is called a `crackhead`. Now I`m sure that the term didn`t exist in 1987.) But the feel of the film remains and the performances of the original actors are undiminished. Another minor gripe is that the only English subtitle track provided is the hard of hearing track. The occasional interjection of "Wind Howls", " Dogs barking" or "Piercing shriek" are initially distracting, but rapidly fade into the background as you are enchanted by the magic of the film. As I may have stated, the Japanese track is in stereo only. The result is that the sound is flatter than the English track. This initially disappointed me, but I rapidly realised that this is still the best that I have ever heard the film. The dialogue is clear and the music is still excellent, despite the lack of audio refinement, the subtleties of the Japanese soundtrack drew me in quite effectively and I soon found myself involved in the story. It is still a shame that the 5.1 treatment couldn`t have been given to the Japanese track, in fact it should have been as there is more than enough room on the disc.

Features

The extras are a joke. All of them are supplied on a second disc, packaged in this ridiculous and flimsy digipack. A new mechanism to remove your discs is supplied and it looks like it`ll be broken in a week or two. First, Manga Entertainment sees fit to supply us with a page of Akira stickers. Hello, have you seen the rating? It`s a 15 movie and they`re giving away kiddie stickers. I thought we had gotten past the days where a cartoon was assumed to be for the tots. Patronising gits! The extras on the disc aren`t much better. The animated menus and the accompanying music are very nice, but the rest doesn`t amount to much. An Akira and other Manga trailers are supplied but are shown in a little box in the middle of the screen, with much of the image missing. What`s the point? The same box is used for the gallery, which is a slideshow of a measly 23 stills. One of the extras is a weblink of all things, to the Akira website, allow me to render it redundant… www.akira2002.com
There is a quiz that gives you 5 multiple-choice questions. If you answer them correctly, you get a code sequence that allows you into the VIP section of the website. There is an opportunity for you to create your own trailer for Akira, using 5 clips taken from a choice of 8. This is fortunately full screen, complete with layer transition like pauses. It`s quite gimmicky. Finally there is the production report, a 48 minute long, making of documentary, which is an interesting look at the life story of Akira. At least it would be interesting, were it not for the translation. The original feature was Japanese, but the version we get has the translations spoken over the top of the interviews. This wouldn`t be bad, but the translators are the most tedious, monotonous bunch that I have ever heard. The person who has the most to say, Katsuhiro Otomo himself, gets the worst translator. Someone who speaks in a dull monotone, with . abrupt pauses when you … least expect . them. The other translators are of similar quality and it`s disconcerting when you see the interviewee speaking volubly and emotionally about their work, but the voice is of someone who couldn`t care less. If you can get past this, then the production report is a worthy complement to the movie. Of course there are no subtitles. You wouldn`t expect them to get something right do you?

Conclusion

I have to admit that I was dreading this particular release. After the travesty that was Manga Entertainment`s release of Ghost in the Shell, with its horrific sound problem, I was expecting the worst of the classic Akira. My expectations were almost fulfilled. Most importantly, an opportunity was missed with the Japanese Soundtrack, which should have been remixed to 5.1 standard. Also a plain vanilla English subtitle track should have been provided in addition to the hard of hearing one. The packaging is a joke and the extras quite pathetic. There isn`t enough material to justify a two-disc release and all the material could have fit on just the one. It seems that we have the leftovers of the region 1 release, which had added documentaries, and a gallery worthy of the name, containing some 4000 stills and design sketches. This is still a bargain though. Last week I saw the Akira-Production report double VHS still retailing for £25. To be honest, while Manga Entertainment and Palm Pictures do their best to mess this release up, they still can`t sully the work of Katsuhiro Otomo. Underneath all the ridiculous packaging, trivial extras, and one or two minor flaws, the brilliant Akira shines with a stunning new print. The story is brilliant with a labyrinthine plot, the characters deep and complex and the movie is a visual tour de force. Oh, just watch it!