Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira opens on a city that already lost a war with itself. Neo-Tokyo, built over the crater of the old capital, is a sprawl of corruption, protests and gang violence. The film, released in Japan on July 16, 1988, runs 124 minutes and carries a tagline that gives away its temper: “Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.”
Kaneda and Tetsuo
The story follows Shōtarō Kaneda, leader of the Capsules biker gang, and his childhood friend Tetsuo Shima. After a motorcycle crash into Takashi, a child esper who has escaped a government laboratory, Tetsuo is hospitalized and found to possess psychic abilities similar to Akira, the esper blamed for Tokyo’s destruction on July 16, 1988.
That single collision sets the whole machine moving. Colonel Shikishima, head of the military project, recaptures Takashi with help from the esper Masaru, then weighs killing Tetsuo before another cataclysm can start. Doctor Ōnishi runs the research. The esper Kiyoko warns Shikishima that Neo-Tokyo is doomed. Parliament ignores him.
Otomo and Izo Hashimoto wrote the screenplay together, adapting Otomo’s 1982 manga. The plot departs from the source considerably and skips much of the manga’s second half, which kept publishing for two years after the film came out.
A City of Espers and Bikers
The film splits its cast between street kids and state power. Kaneda joins Kei’s resistance cell after meeting her during a police interrogation, tricking the authorities into releasing her. Tetsuo escapes the hospital, steals Kaneda’s motorcycle, and tries to flee Neo-Tokyo with his girlfriend Kaori. The Clowns ambush them; the Capsules rescue them. Tetsuo’s headaches and hallucinations return, and he goes back under care.
The espers try to kill him through hallucinations. The attempt fails. Tetsuo then hunts them, cutting down orderlies and militiamen in his path.
- Takashi, also called No. 26, voiced by Tatsuhiko Nakamura
- Masaru, also called No. 27, voiced by Kazuhiro Kamifuji
- Kiyoko, the esper who foresees the city’s fall
Mitsuo Iwata voices Kaneda, Nozomu Sasaki voices Tetsuo, Mami Koyama voices Kei, and Taro Ishida voices Colonel Shikishima.
Gamelan, Noh and the 2019 Setting
Shōji Yamashiro composed the score, performed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi. It draws heavily on traditional Indonesian gamelan and Japanese noh music, a mix that sets the film apart from orchestral action scoring.
| Element | Akira (1988) |
|---|---|
| Director | Katsuhiro Otomo |
| Writers | Izo Hashimoto, Katsuhiro Otomo |
| Runtime | 124 minutes |
| Genres | Animation, Science Fiction, Action |
| Setting | Neo-Tokyo, 2019 |
Toho released Akira in Japan in 1988. Streamline Pictures brought it to the United States the following year. Theatrical and VHS releases built an international cult following, and the film eventually earned over $80 million worldwide in home video sales.
What Holds and What Doesn’t
Akira earns its reputation as a landmark. It is widely cited as an influential work in the development of anime, adult animation and Japanese cyberpunk, and that standing rests on more than nostalgia. The film’s scale is real, and its violence has weight.
The weakness is compression. Cutting the manga’s later half leaves the back third running on momentum rather than explanation. The political thread, with parliament dismissing Shikishima while the resistance moves through the same city, stays thin.
The espers are the clearest casualty of that compression. Kiyoko gets one warning to Shikishima and little else; Takashi and Masaru exist mainly to be recaptured and to launch the plot. The film gives them no interior life of their own.
Tetsuo is the source’s “rampaging psychic psychopath,” and the film treats him as one. The destruction he causes is the point of the story, not a moral about fear or malice.
Akira is not flawless. It is essential. 8 of 10.
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