The Akira impact

So, I finally saw Akira.

I've known its existence for over a decade but never really had the moment of "now I'll sit my ass down and educate myself by watching Akira". Gladly my friend took me by the hand (who is a huge Akira fan), made me sit down and watch it with her. And damn, I wasn't disappointed. I have a soft spot for old anime anyways, so this was a nice treat. I could go on and on how effective the visuals and the colors were combined with the sound design, but I could just put it simply and say that it was an inspirational film experience in all its rawness.

And most importantly, I finally saw the original bike slide scene in its context which is referenced in many, many other series and movies.

And since I got a "bit" interested in the subject, here are some thoughts of mine and stuff I came across while I was looking more into Akira.

An Inspiration

You don't even need to dig that deep to see how much Akira has inspired a lot of artists and made a huge impact on pop culture. Akira didn't made an effect to only Japanese media: it introduced the western people what anime can be at its best, and also what cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic and sci-fi stories can be. The movie was the first anime for many kids of the 80's-90's in the west and even though it's raw and violent, it showed how talented and high quality animation and film Japan can produce (if people hadn't seen any other anime before, that is). Akira could be one of the biggest reasons that anime got a chance for better marketing for the west as early as in the early 90's, because people wanted more of the same stuff.

And since Akira got a big fanbase overseas, that lead to more anime for the west. It inspired many new anime series and movies (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop etc.) but not only animation - live action movies, too. It has given inspiration to The Matrix, Kill Bill and Stranger Things, to name just a few.

Hell, even Kanye West's Stronger music video is full of Akira references. 

So, it goes without saying that the movie is a cult classic. Even today it's brought up as a peak performance in animation history and as a spectacular masterpiece in the industry.

Akira in Finland

The original manga started in 1982 and ended in 1990. It was translated and published in Finland in 1995, making Akira the very second manga being translated to Finnish (Barefoot Gen being the first Finnish translated manga in 1985). 

The Akira movie came to VHS already in 1994 in Finland; in the beautiful era of straight-to-video anime, when both anime classics and very obscure series were released in Finland which were either subbed or dubbed (unfortunately there was no Finnish dub made of Akira. Yes, I said unfortunately). Namedropping one of my favorites from that era here because I can: Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, Cyborg 009, Detonator Orgun and Candy Candy.

The Finnish Akira VHS covers. Source: http://www.puhummesuomea.com/?sarja=Akira

There was anime available in Finland before Akira, but it brought more perspective about the possibilites of anime and proved that animations targeted to an adult audience do exist (IMDb says it's R15 but... you know, there's some pretty gross scenes). And, well, I think we finns tend to love miserable stuff, so Akira was a good movie to start one's love for anime. That wasn't how it went for me, but I'm sure that was the case for many others.

And now...

The movie became relevant once again in this awful year of 2020 when Akira came to theaters all restored in 4K. What a perfect time for it to arrive to remind us how miserable the future can be with the beautiful visuals. And, you know... The 2020 Olympics were supposed to be held in Japan. In Akira movie it's year 2019 (in manga it's 2030) and there's the Olympic station where shit hits the fan... At least Akira didn't predict the pandemic, right? Or the horrible dystopia? Wouldn't mind if it predicted the cool bikes, though.

There's also been talk about making of a live-action film of Akira, but seems that it's been pushed back quite a few times. I'd just like the filmmakers to count to ten and give the idea a second thought - are you sure you want to put your money to an anime live-action? 'Cause so far it has never worked, not with the western films at least. Like, do you know what happened to Ghost in the Shell? But clearly the Akira still keeps on affecting people, even to the point that people want to make remakes. It's impossible to recreate the magic Akira or any other anime or animation holds that was made in the "golden era", and maybe it should be left at that. Just watch the movie and read the manga (which, for your information, looks just as stunning as the movie).

And well, Akira did affect me as well. I immediately after wanted to draw the characters. It made me crave for more of that old anime aesthetics, unnecessarily smooth animation and gruesome atmosphere. I adore the possibilities animation can bring us and these kind of movies are the proof for those poor souls, who still think that animation is just for kids, that they're wrong.

But enough about that, this post is all over the place. My point being: if you've never seen Akira, please do. If you don't mind some gross gore moments and miserable view of the cyberpunk dystopia with shocking audiovisual experiences, that is.

Even I got so into the feels that I just had to sketch the main character Kaneda more than a few times.

Lastly, I wanted to add two videos about Akira that my friend suggested me to watch, and now I suggest you to watch them as well if you're interested in the subject!

Here's an animation analysis on Akira. It's 39 minutes long, but y'all animation peeps might be interested in the topic (and seeing how freaking long this film must've taken to finish with doing everything by hand 'cause you know... cel animation).

Here's a short video on looking more closely into the matte paintings, backgrounds and cels.

Sources and links:

https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/31328/1/akira-anime-studio-ghibli-kanye-west-michael-jackson-pop-culture

https://www.ranker.com/list/all-the-things-influenced-by-akira/anna-lindwasser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XeBW08HbMk

https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000006600667.html

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2018/07/16/30-years-of-akira-the-triumph-and-legacy-of-a-legendary-film

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/10/akira-anime-japanese-cartoon-manga

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094625/