Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - A 2 Mins Read

    Akira (1988)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Akira begins as it means to go on – with a nuclear explosion that devastates Tokyo.

    It ends with pretty much the same, augmented by the sort of bio-organic body transmutation that would have David Cronenberg reaching for the anaesthetic and self-piercing kit.

    In between these mind-blowing bookends is a sprawling, cyber-punk epic haunted by the ghost of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and obsessed with the unchecked power of the human mind and youthful rebellion.

    The year is 2019 and Tokyo has been rebuilt as Neo-Tokyo after some cataclysmic event caused 30 years ago by someone called Akira.

    akira_022

    Tetsuo is a young member of a motorcycle gang, who greatly looks up to its leader, Kaneda. One night Tetsuo is involved in an accident with a child-like being who has been sprung from a laboratory by an underground resistance group. As his gang look on, he is taken away by the military.

    Tetsuo is taken to a military hospital where he becomes the subject of a secret army experiment in ESP that renders him able to destroy anything by sheer will alone.

    Escaping from the hospital and on the verge of insanity, Tetsuo sweeps through Tokyo armed with his supernatural power on a quest to look for the legendary Akira, who apparently is held captive somewhere by the military.

    It’s up to Kaneda, his rebel friend Kei and a trio of ‘psionics’ to stop Tetsuo and prevent the destruction of the world.

    akira_049

    The action is all wrapped up in director Katsuhiro Otomo’s scintillating animated visuals, with not one – not one! – computer-assisted shot in sight. The detail in the animation is superb: the texture on buildings, realistic lighting effects and constant movement in the background make the film extremely atmospheric.

    With 38 volumes of Otomo’s original Manga comic condensed into a two-hour film, trying to make this movie as a “live Action” flick would have bankrupted several small countries!

    For anyone who thinks Manga is all about incomprehensible storylines, naked girls with no pubic hair and a myriad of monsters that invariably turn into a giant penis, Akira will set you straight.

    Simply put, No Akira – No Matrix (1999). It’s that important.

    akira_042

    Mitsuo Iwara
    Nozomu Sasaki
    Mami Koyama
    Taro Ishida

    Director
    Katsuhiro Otomo

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Houseboat Horror (1989)
      Houseboat Horror (1989)
      A rock group travel with a film crew and various groupies and hangers-on to desolate Lake Infinity in the Aussie…
    • Gothic (1986)
      Gothic (1986)
      Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne), Percy Bysshe Shelley (Julian Sands), Mary Godwin Shelley (Natasha Richardson) and other literary luminaries gather at…
    • Amazing Mr Blunden, The (1972)
      Amazing Mr Blunden, The (1972)
      Director Lionel Jeffries adapted this follow-up to The Railway Children (1970) from an Antonia Barber novel entitled The Ghosts. A…
    • Dead Ringers (1988)
      Dead Ringers (1988)
      David Cronenberg is not a director for the squeamish. In Dead Ringers, he returns to his obsession with - and seeming disgust…
    • Grandmother's House (1989)
      Grandmother's House (1989)
      On the death of their father, David (Eric Foster) and Lynn (Kim Valentine) are taken to live with their only…
    • Scanners (1981)
      Scanners (1981)
      This modern horror classic from Canadian writer/director David Cronenberg - in which he seamlessly blends the genres of science fiction…
    • Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
      Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
      It's 30 October 1988, and Michael Myers has been in a coma since his pursuit of Laurie Strode was finally…
    • Mission, The (1986)
      Mission, The (1986)
      Spanish Jesuit Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) travels to the South American wilderness in 1750 to build a mission in order…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleAirplane II: The Sequel (1982)
    Next Article Alamo Bay (1985)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Ivor The Engine
      1 9 5 9 – 1 9 6 4 (UK) 32 x 5 minute episodes 1 9 7 6 […]
    • Scorpion Tales
      1 9 7 8 (UK) 6 x 60 minute episodes As the title suggested, the […]
    • Polyester (1981)
      Former Baltimore hairdresser Harris Glenn Milstead carved quite […]
    • Crystal Voyager (1973)
      Crystal Voyager – a surfing biography about legendary […]
    • Time After Time
      1 9 9 4 – 1 9 9 5 (UK) 14 x 30 minute episodes Kenny […]
    • Mother And Son
      1 9 8 4 – 1 9 9 4 (Australia) 42 x 30 minute episodes An […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.