walking
07-20-2006, 12:49 AM
Well, I've gotta admit I'm not much a fan of Japanese anime. I've seen alot of avatars and pictures for alot of members here on WoP and they are anime buffs, I'm sure. I've given it a chance with a good handful of full-length animation films like "Perfect Blue" and "Ghost In The Shell"; each to their own when it comes to animation tastes. (I prefer the short animated films from the National Film Board of Canada.)
But I've gotta admit that nothing blew my mind like my first time experience of "AKIRA".
The science-fiction storyline involving military science experiments on a young biker from a gang, and his power and fury that unleashes from it against Tokyo, didn't sound like breaking the foundation when I read the back cover at the store. But kudos to Pauline Kael who once said about a movie, "All this makes it sound terribly pretentious, yet sometimes even the worst ideas can be made to work."
I loved the dialogue in each new situation involving politics, science, and even the gang Kaneda and Tetsuo were part of. When one screenwriter (or more) can write dialogues for a multitude of different characters and make each one their own unique personality, the effect can pull you in further to the experience, like what Robert Altman did with over 24 different characters in "Nashville". And boy, did the voice acting ever fit each character naturally! (Japanese with English subtitles for me; I can't stand overdubbing.)
The animation, especially in those adrenaline-soaked chase sequences and Tetsuo's shocking path of destruction, was so finely detailed that it's stuck long in my mind even after seeing this movie two years ago. The olympic stadium sequence; that horrific fusion of metal and flesh those Japanese take such a sadomasochistic pleasure in. Animation has no limits to the imagination, also evidenced in the low-budget cult-horror movie, "Tetsuo: The Iron Man".
And who says the Japanese can't make great music? The score absolutely fuses together with the situations that makes my hair stand up on the tip of my goosebumps every time I remember it.
Sometimes, we can find just one film in a genre that stands out for us from the rest and stays with our memories as a great experience not to be forgotten. For Japanese anime, "AKIRA" is that movie for me.
So now that I've recieved the DVD today, I'm gonna go get giddy! :D
But I've gotta admit that nothing blew my mind like my first time experience of "AKIRA".
The science-fiction storyline involving military science experiments on a young biker from a gang, and his power and fury that unleashes from it against Tokyo, didn't sound like breaking the foundation when I read the back cover at the store. But kudos to Pauline Kael who once said about a movie, "All this makes it sound terribly pretentious, yet sometimes even the worst ideas can be made to work."
I loved the dialogue in each new situation involving politics, science, and even the gang Kaneda and Tetsuo were part of. When one screenwriter (or more) can write dialogues for a multitude of different characters and make each one their own unique personality, the effect can pull you in further to the experience, like what Robert Altman did with over 24 different characters in "Nashville". And boy, did the voice acting ever fit each character naturally! (Japanese with English subtitles for me; I can't stand overdubbing.)
The animation, especially in those adrenaline-soaked chase sequences and Tetsuo's shocking path of destruction, was so finely detailed that it's stuck long in my mind even after seeing this movie two years ago. The olympic stadium sequence; that horrific fusion of metal and flesh those Japanese take such a sadomasochistic pleasure in. Animation has no limits to the imagination, also evidenced in the low-budget cult-horror movie, "Tetsuo: The Iron Man".
And who says the Japanese can't make great music? The score absolutely fuses together with the situations that makes my hair stand up on the tip of my goosebumps every time I remember it.
Sometimes, we can find just one film in a genre that stands out for us from the rest and stays with our memories as a great experience not to be forgotten. For Japanese anime, "AKIRA" is that movie for me.
So now that I've recieved the DVD today, I'm gonna go get giddy! :D