# Akira Review: The Cyberpunk Landmark Anime Is Still Chasing

Akira overwhelms you with the physical detail of its world before you've had time to make sense of its story. Katsuhiro Otomo adapts his own sprawling manga into a film that expects you to keep up from the opening stretch. Neo-Tokyo is a neon megacity rebuilt after a war erased its predecessor, and it feels crowded enough to exist beyond whatever the camera happens to show. A biker gang's encounter with a runaway psychic child leads to a furious teenager gaining enough power to level the city. That premise drives the action, but the rain-slicked streets and the force of each explosion are what make it convincing. Even a packed frame has things worth looking at. For a generation of Western viewers in the late-80s, Akira changed the scale of what anime seemed capable of doing. Here was hand-drawn animation willing to pursue an adult vision of apocalypse without softening it for its audience.

## Story & Premise

Neo-Tokyo has had three decades to rebuild since the blast that leveled the original city, and the rot has already set in. Politicians are corrupt, protesters are furious, and street gangs fight over the ruins beneath the neon. Kaneda runs a gang of motorcycle-riding delinquents that includes his oldest friend Tetsuo, who has always been the runt of the group. Tetsuo is badly injured when he crashes into a strange child with a wizened face. The collision awakens a dormant ability, attracting the military's attention. Its experiments on psychic children have been going on quietly, and it takes Tetsuo in only to unleash something it cannot control. His awakening leads back to Akira, the secret buried beneath the city. Otomo has a long manga to fit into one feature, and he keeps cutting between competing parts of the story. The gang's troubles run alongside the resistance, while the Colonel's project becomes tangled up in the awakening. You can feel events spreading beyond anyone's ability to contain them. That gives the film an exhilarating pace, although following how every part connects can be difficult. The confusion rarely makes the action less gripping; it does mean this is a story you have to work to follow.

![Kaneda standing at a chain-link fence above the vast crater at the centre of Neo-Tokyo.](https://hozuna.com/blog/art/review/akira-review--crater.2ac1b222.webp)

*Neo-Tokyo is built on the hole left by the last catastrophe, and the film never lets you forget it.*

## Characters

Tetsuo resents needing Kaneda long before his new power gives him a way out of that dependence. Being treated as the little brother has worn him down, and the chance to stop feeling weak proves ruinous. Kaneda scarcely seems capable of doubting himself. He rides his iconic red bike straight into danger with a grin, bringing the same cockiness to trouble that he brings to leading the gang. His loyalty is real, which makes the damage to their friendship hurt. Their history gives the destruction a personal cost even when the film's scale grows enormous. Kei, a resistance fighter, draws Kaneda into the larger conspiracy. Colonel Shikishima understands enough about his own side's work to be frightened of what it has produced. The Espers are Takashi, Masaru, and Kiyoko, children whose wrinkled faces and quiet manner conceal enormous psychic force. The film has less room for these surrounding lives than it needs. Kei and Kaori can feel only partly developed, and the political figures suffer from the same compression of the manga. Kaneda and Tetsuo get enough attention that their relationship carries the emotion through those gaps. You may want more from the supporting cast, but you never have to guess why these two matter to each other.

## Animation & Sound

The animation makes Neo-Tokyo feel like a place with actual weight. Akira was made when hand-drawn animation was the only option, using a reported 160,000-plus painted cels and custom color shades mixed specifically for the production. You see that care in the way rain catches the neon, as well as in the surfaces of the city's crumbling concrete. The detail would mean less without movement to match it. Where many films of its moment economized, Akira gives motion a fluidity that still lets you feel the weight of a bike or a body. Kaneda's bike leaves the light trail that has been copied endlessly since, while the climactic mutations turn fully-animated movement into grotesque body horror. The voices received unusual attention, too. Akira was among the first anime to use prescored dialogue: the actors recorded their lines before the mouths were animated to match. The precision of the lip-sync comes from that choice. Geinoh Yamashirogumi's score, under Shoji Yamashiro, gives the film a sound as distinctive as its images. Balinese gamelan sits alongside Noh chanting, with thunderous taiko drums adding to the force of the music. The ritual cry of 'Kaneda!' is unforgettable. That sound gives the spectacle an almost sacred quality without taking away any of its terror.

![Kaneda's red bike streaking through a dense neon Neo-Tokyo street, light trailing behind.](https://hozuna.com/blog/art/review/akira-review--megacity.907d20c4.webp)

*The frame count is legendary, and it shows - every background is drawn like it matters.*

## Themes & What Sets It Apart

Tetsuo makes the film's view of power brutally clear. A wounded kid gets godlike strength, and the result is catastrophe. His pain does not prepare him to handle that strength, however desperately he wants it. Akira follows that hunger outward into the institutions that already hold power and the damage they are willing to cause to keep it. Its dread is distinctly post-war and post-nuclear: a nation that has already been unmade keeps rushing toward another detonation. Government corruption belongs to the same picture as reckless science and experiments on human beings. Otomo lets the consequences appear on screen without stopping to explain every implication. As bodies swell and transform, the apocalyptic imagery can be understood as sensation before it can be sorted into a clear account of what is happening. That refusal to pause is part of the film's force, even when it makes the story harder to follow. Animation gives those changes a capacity for awe and horror that needs no excuse about the medium being for children. You can still see subsequent decades of cyberpunk borrowing from Akira. Its neon streets and pervasive dread turn up in live-action blockbusters as well as countless anime.

## Strengths & Shortcomings

Akira's animation remains extraordinary, and the city is so thoroughly realized that the atmosphere rarely loosens its grip. The pace helps: even when the plot gets tangled, the film keeps moving with enough force to pull you along. Few films match it for spectacle or sustain that mood so completely. The compression that gives it speed also causes its most obvious problems. Otomo fits a long, dense manga into a single feature, leaving too little room for some of its material. You receive the mythology surrounding Akira and the Espers in a rush, and the government project remains deliberately difficult to understand. On a first viewing, the finale's turn toward the cosmic can leave you unsure what you have actually seen. Kei's involvement with the resistance loses space that it has across hundreds of manga pages. Nezu's scheming and the wider politics are cut back as well. These are substantial losses if you want each subplot to develop fully. You also need to pay attention: looking at a second screen is an easy way to lose the thread. The film succeeds through the intensity of the experience more consistently than through the clarity of its storytelling. That is a limitation worth taking seriously, even though it does not undo what works. Watching again makes much of it considerably clearer.

## The Verdict

Akira earns 92/100 because its flaws in storytelling sit beside some of the greatest hand-drawn action of its era. The detail is extraordinary, but it is the way that detail moves and breaks apart that makes the film so powerful. Kaneda and Tetsuo's friendship gives you something human to care about as a civilization races toward destroying itself. This is bleak viewing, and the density of the plot can put you behind on a first pass. Still, I would recommend it strongly to anyone interested in what adult animation can do, especially if you value striking images enough to tolerate a story that sometimes gets ahead of its explanations. Its images remain vivid even where a tidier film might be easier to follow. Give it a large screen and enough volume to hear the force of the score. It also deserves your full attention, with a second viewing offering a much clearer grasp of the story. For all its rough edges, this is a flawed masterpiece whose visual ambition remains difficult to match.

## FAQ

### Is Akira worth watching?

Yes, especially if you want cyberpunk with a densely drawn city and hand-drawn action that feels physically forceful. Its intensity and demanding story suit viewers who want to see animation tackle adult material and are willing to pay close attention.

### Is Akira good for newcomers to anime films?

It can be a striking introduction to what animation can do, provided you are comfortable with graphic body horror. The plot asks for concentration, and its mature themes make it a heavy first choice. Newcomers looking for something easy-going may find it a difficult starting place.

### Where can I watch Akira legally?

Depending on your region, Akira streams on Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Tubi TV. Tubi TV is free and ad-supported. The available services change over time and differ by country, so check which carries the film where you live.

### Is Akira a standalone film?

Yes, Akira tells its story in a single, self-contained feature. It is not a series or part of a franchise that requires prior viewing, so you can watch the whole story in one sitting without seeing anything else first.

### Do I need to read the manga to follow Akira?

No, the film stands on its own. Otomo's original manga is much longer and gives the characters more room, along with fuller treatments of the politics and mythology. Reading it afterward suits anyone who wants to spend more time with material the film has to compress.

### What should I watch next if I loved Akira?

Ghost in the Shell suits an interest in philosophical cyberpunk, while Perfect Blue takes you further into psychological dread. For more of Otomo's meticulous attention to machines and the worlds around them, try his own Steamboy. Each brings ambition and care to its animation in ways an Akira fan can appreciate.

## Related

- [Where to watch Akira](https://hozuna.com/anime/akira)