On a technical level, oh yes, Akira is definitely one of the best! The animators did things with ice, smoke and lighting effects that have never been rivaled in animation. Just look at the light trails left behind the motorcycles at night, and look at how those trails fade. All of that was done by hand by an animator with incredible dedication and skill. When the frozen vault is opened and we see thin layers of ice fall away from metal, all of that was hand animated by incredibly skilled animators! The smoke effects in the explosions don't cycle, each frame is unique. No corners cut. Akira don't miss - that's why it's the GOAT!

Definitely one of, if not the, most influential anime movie of all time

That opening scene of Tokyo still gives me chills, AKIRA is one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen

The way the film was made is still so mind boggling. The way that every single light in every single building was drawn frame by frame dot by dot is just absolutely incredible. People broke their backs to create this masterpiece. I always find myself watching the doc on the creation of this film just because it’s so damn good. Edit: Had to go rewatch the doc and there are over 1,500,000 cells/drawings to make this mammoth of a film and there were about only 70 people that worked on it. It still blows my mind that actual human beings created this in the 80s!!!

Akira is also the only full length animated film to be shot on 70mm film, instead of the standard 35mm. Another anime film that that I think makes for a great cinematic experience is Kiki's Delivery Service. The bigger the screen that you see it on, the more amazing those flying scenes are.

i remember staying up very late to watch Akira on BBC thinking it was just a cool movie about cool bikes. boy oh boy was my young little 7 year old naive innocent mind dismantled in to pieces after watching this film (and i understood absolutely nothing about it). and that Kaori death scene scarred my eyes and memory for decades with utter shock and disbelief. Akira is an absolute gem, masterpiece and work of art.

Once every 5 years Joey convinces a new generation of anime fans to try Akira thus creating a new generation of Akira fans. I was one of those people once. Happy anniversary to this legendary movie!

I was around when Akira was new. I remember being stunned by the violence of the film. I have the “graphic novels “ published by Marvel and was able to buy a few volumes of the Manga while in Japan. You are spot in with your summary. It’s a beautiful work of art. Brought me to tears in some scenes even back in the 80’s. Cheers!!!

Definitely right about the use of silence. My Cinematography Analysis class back in my Bachelor's had one entire module about sound, and the professor focused on contrasting the cultural uses of it. She kept praising the use of silence in East Asian media and explaining how auditory saturation, especially in US hollywood films, sometimes did more to kill the mood of scenes rather than build them up. We compared all the versions of The Grudge and, lo and behold, the version we found scariest was the quietest, because of the tension. Same with what Ghibli films do, often emphasizing sad or shocking moments with a lack of music. Silence, for example, is one of the things that really made Breath of The Wild so immersive, to me.

I had the chance to watch Akira around march. In the cinemas here in Italy they organized a two-days event for the 35th anniversary of the film and my boyfriend and I decided to go and watch the original version. For me it was a mind blowing experience. I remember being stunned by the visuals and the music of the film, and once I got out of the cinema I spent the entire trip on the way home discussing with my boyfriend about the meanings behind the film. I still remember the CHILLS I felt during certain scenes. I’m currently catching up with the manga too and I even rewatched the film on my tv recently, and I can agree that it’s a whole different experience from watching it in a theatre. I treasure this film dearly, particularly because from an artistic point of view I got so much inspiration from it, and it’s my favorite anime film. I think people should experience Akira at least once in their lifetime, even if they’re not anime watchers. It’s really a visual masterpiece ❤

First saw Akira in my 2nd year of film school. It was a copy of a copy VHS tape, so the quality wasn't the greatest - it was eye opening. To see an animated film that could just as easily have been live action in the opening sequence changed my perception of what could be done with animation. Years later, any time Akira is re-released to new media it's an instant buy. Sadly, I've never read the manga, but now think I need to!

I totally agree about the best experience being in a cinema, I saw it on a local re-run & original w/ subtitles and it was by far my best watching experience

The bike drift scene alone has influenced so many shows in the last 3 decades it's actually amazing.

I saw Akira at my college's (Univ of Colorado at Boulder) "International Film Series" in Spring of '88, a year before wider release in the US. To say my mind was blown doesn't really do it justice.

I got to watch Akira in 1993 when the VHS reached my country (Greece) in some obscure music stores 😅 Not only did it left a lasting impression (to this very day) but it became the starting point of my lifelong fascination with Japanese culture and history. I read the manga a couple of years later and found it to be equally stunning. Akira is not only a landmark achievement in film but also a reminder of what true passion & dedication can bring about in art.

Watched this a few times back in the 80’s early 90’s. I really should watch it again. Iconic indeed. And I’d say it’s a big part of the “golden age of anime”.

I remember dubbing the VHS in 1993 just to have it for myself. It’s still my favorite anime movie of all time. It’s actually my favorite movie of all time. Thanks for the spiel!

Keep up the great work and videos Joey

Amazing video Joey.

i was 10 years old when i saw Akira for the first time. my friend has the vhs and it changed my life. it influenced my entire life, my love for animation, cyberpunk, japan, and soon after dragon ball and later dragon ball z, the guyver, macross plus, gundam, ninja scroll, demon city shinjuku. i love this film and has a very special place in my heart.

I rented this recently from Amazon for $4 for 3 days after seeing the surge in meme's using the 'Akira' 'NO LEAVE ME ALONE!' bit. I watched it 3 times and every time I see a clip i want to watch it again. it's truly a amazing movie!

thank you joey for todays video

Great analysis of a classic!

I really do enjoy these videos of Joey gushing about something he loves and is passionate about. As an adult, this is the content I enjoy the most from your channel and thank you for sharing this excitement ❤️

What an awesome video on one of the most influential anime movies of all time. I’ll be sharing this with my friends who haven’t seen it yet. I just got back from a trip to Japan and found an original theatrical release program that they gave out during the premiere. Needless to say, I scooped that thing up instantly! Thanks Joey for such a great video!

As a fan of long format KZfaq, I for one would welcome a 2 hour Joey/ Anime man video. I mean even the podcasts are about that length and I don't find they drag or seem to long. Oh and Akira, straight fire it is! 🔥

I've seen Akira just yesterday and I'm so glad it was in a cinema. One of the best experiences of my life...

Watched it for the first time about 3 years ago at a watch party with my friends. All seven of us agree. Akira slapped, continues to slap, and is at this point seemingly timeless.

I was around when Akira came out (it reached Spain in the early 90s) and you guys can't imagine how tremendously impacting it was. I have the feeling that so many of its themes went over my 12 y.o. head at the time, but it was definitely something you felt was important.

I’m glad you made this video cuz I agree! More people need to watch Akira! I wrote an original song inspired by Akira called Tetsuo. Every time I perform my song at an Anime con and ask the audience who likes Akira…the crowd is so quiet!!! Seriously it’s one of the best Anime movies ever. Please go watch people❤

one of my all time favorite movies. and no its not nostalgia bc i didnt watch it until i was an adult, only a handful of years ago. the animation is still so gorgeous after all these years, and then delving into the manga after watching the movie just pulls me into that world even more

One praise I will always give Akira that many other "apocalypse" based films or anime fail to do is actually feel like the world is ending. I think many more could draw this as inspiration of adding more than just a kaiju-level disaster to make it feel like an apocalypse is happening.

1988 - my Freshman year in college at UCSD... you can't underestimate the impact Akira had on the audiences that got to see it. It was the major cross-over movie that even non-anime fans saw, because people who saw it would tell ALL their friends that had to see it. It blew my mind when I first saw it. I would go on to buy the Criterion laser disc which has some amazing extras, and then seek out the manga, which was serialized by Epic, an imprint of Marvel. It's one of my favorite films of all time no matter the genre, and I re-watch my Blu Ray about once every 2 years.

Actually, yes. I would love to see a 2 hour long video analysis on akira- Please and tHANK YOU!

As someone who saw it as a kid in the mid 90s, the most jarring thing was that Kaneda was being voiced by Leonardo of the Ninja Turtles (Cam Clarke), lol it's certainly not a negative but it did kinda dent the immersion at times.

The only thing that sucks about the movie is how much it had to cut out and change from the manga due to having to fit in movie length. In many ways, the manga is completely different from the movie. Hopefully that new Akira show turns out good so more people can experience the full complete story.

This video could have easily been main channel video for Joey if he talked more about anime there.

I've seen this movie so many times, but never in cinema... Maybe I'll rent out a theater and watch this for my birthday. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Joey!!

Crazy how i just watched this movie, for the first time, yesterday and now i'm watching this video. The stars aligned (reference) perfectly my dude

Hell yeee, joey video about akira, finally!. Also, id fucking love a 2 hour video covering the movie and manga! maybe some less known facts about its production- or just your opinions on everything would also be great

I remember having a copy of this movie on VHS back in the day and still remember some of the iconic moments in the movie! I must watch the film again cause it is such a amazing movie in terms of effects/soundtrack/visuals/character designs!

Good video, i still love Akira to this day, i need a 2 hour review now!

The only reason I knew about akira was because of Memes...Damn

I love Akira. Ive rewatched it like 8 times (With the latest being my 1st time watching it on the big screen) and its still my 2nd favorite anime movie too this day. Everything from the animation to the sound design/ost and the simple yet amazingly executed story makes it absolutely timeless.

Got a funny story based around this movie. There's a media store called HMV in the UK, and I have one in my town. Now HMV has an anime section, and in that section Akira is a part of a 2 for [insert price] deal. Only problem here is Akira is the ONLY thing that is a part of that deal in the anime section in my local store. The ONLY way to take advantage of the offer is if you were buying 2 copies of Akira.

It still does surprisingly Tubi shows classic animes and alot of the 80s anime and movies have been really good

Akira does audio really well compared to so many things from it's time. Would love to hear you talk about the movie for 2 hours!

I saw Akira in 1988 at the brand new art cinema in Wolverhampton, where I had previous been a student and where I was still going to the university (polytechnic at the time) cinema society shows. Being a dedicated design there were not that many rows, you all got a good view, and the screen was large and wide enough to provide peripheral vision. A friend talked me in to going knowing I liked art cinema, cartoons, and comics. I did not know what to expect. The movie started and ... WOW - as you mentioned the absolute silence as you see present day Tokyo explode was just on another level, which then was raised by the next scene, the bike fight with the Clowns. As soon as Akira was released on video in the UK I bought it, same for DVD, both directors editions with the additional making of film. Well worth watching that as well as it really goes in to how they composed the music, animated mouth movements to the spoken word (not the other way round) the colour pallets .... And to the sound track, I still occasionally listen to it.

I like how Joey's grumpy voice is an impression of Chris. Poppycock!

You've come a long way, baby

I remember watching this back in the mid 90s when they used to show it on the sci-fi channel out in the US. I was around 8-10 years old and despite it being edited for tv, it still was extremely captivating and violent. Anytime its been in a physical theater out where I am I will go and see it. I actually got to see some of the animation cells on display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures a year ago and its just crazy to think of the cultural and animation impact this movie has made. Its definitely a landmark movie in animation for all the things it did.

I remember being a kid and seeing ads late night for the VHS. Its probably still one of my favorites. I've watched it with my kids a while ago.

I was born January 88’ so technically I was around but unaware. We found this at the local video store in 97 me and my brother were 9 and 7 . The way my brother and me got nightmares for months from this movie but still watched it 4 more times cause it was so cool. It’s still fucking cool and still Stan it.

Its so good that I watched the dubbed and subbed versions back to back

I saw Akira under covid in 4k in the cinema what an experience 😮

I couldn't agree more, Joey. I first saw Akira when I was eleven, and it changed my life. It is a timeless classic. Akira stands alongside other greats of its time (Ghost in the Shell, Princess Mononoke, etc) as the standard by which all anime films can/should be judged. The music too; scores and soundtracks alike should strive to fit their material even half as well as Akira. It came out the year before I was born, and it is one of my favorite films of all time, animated or otherwise. ❤❤❤

great video. i love when you cover the history of anime, you do it so well. i do get the copyright risk etc reason you probably don't do it much any more.

I bought a pack of 2 Akira dvd’s from ebay earlier this year, one that has the actual film and the other that have special features like behind the scenes of the film. This became a coincidence because the Leave Me Alone meme was developed just days later and this year is Akira’s 35th anniversary.

Great 👍🏻 video nice 👍🏻 hype!!!!!!!!!!

Akira was shown in national tv in chile in like 94-95 maybe... My parent let me watch it at 5 years old because they thought it was like other anime like doraemon or shin-chan. I ended up vomiting in the climax. It was great, best movie ever

just rewatched the movie on 4k, still holds up, had it on vhs, dvd, blu-ray and now on 4k

Akira got me hooked on old anime movies. The very analogic animation is just a beautiful sight to behold

Looks like I’m gonna be rewatching Akira tonight ❤

I remember how throughout the years people kept recommending this movie. When I finally decided to watch it I did not do so alone. I got 2 of my friends who isn't into anime/weeb culture like me to watch it with me. In the end of the movie I could do nothing but apologies for wasting our movie night. We were all quiet just watching this movie trying to make sense of it. The animation was indeed legendary with really good music. But what about the story and the characters? I can't help to think that you need to read the manga to understand anything that happened. It was just chaos and violence. Things was just happening and going somewhere without any explanation. I just find it unfortunate that I couldn't enjoy the movie like so many others seems to have. Yet I hear people say its a flawless movie with nothing to critic. Which confuses me. I know no one who personally liked this movie yet strangers badmouth me just for trying to understand. The movie did not convince me to read the manga since if I have to read it to make sense of it. Then that is just a bad movie with amazing animation and music.

In terms of visuals it definitely is one of, if not the actual best. Having seen this in cinema (on film!) as well really is something else. It deserves all the praise mentioned in the video and comments. What I personally like is the animation: everything moves. Be it in the background or the main characters, everything feels alive. Even in the background there's always something going.

as someone who read the manga before watching the film... i had issues with the movie, the animation sound desgin and all that is fantastic, my only issue is with the characterization and how the story just feels fast (because i read the manga).

joey, please make more video of your manga collections 🙏

Timeless classic and still holds up today. Phenomenal film and one of the rare instances where the film and manga are quite different but they are also equally good in my opinion.

A 2-hour Akira video yes please

One of the very first anime i ever seen, was in my teens (46 now). flipping through the tv stations one night and TBS was having an anime night, the movies was "Robot Carnival" , "Vampire Hunter D" and "Akira" to top off the night. Been hooked on anime ever since.

Been meaning to watch it for ages, and finally did last night. I agree with everything you said and now I am also going to read the manga. I wouldn't exactly put it in the category of "all time best movies" but I also wouldn't be mad if U saw it on one in the lower section.

Akira for me remains as the bastion of traditional animation. The amount of work that has been put on this film is insurmountable and deserves the recognition it has today. Movies are not made in this fashion anymore, and while that's not a bad thing it definitely 'feels' different. Geinoh Yamashirogumi's primal music as you describe it is used on purpose; Otomo's work is deeply influenced by Stanley Kubrick's body of work among others. Almost every decision for this film was done with love and true care. The film itself may have some pacing issues naturally, because it is based on a manga series. A medium that can take advantage of a slow burn pace better than a film can. On top of that the manga's scope is monumental, many characters are not developed enough in the film leaving some of them in very ambiguous waters or as background actors really. I think Akira, Paprika and Redline are three examples of impressive, thrilling and beautiful animated movie opening sequences.

Joey we would love a 2 hour video on Akira with you. Team up with a Video Essay channel if you need some extra muscle I'm sure they'd love your profile and voice.

When I saw it as a kid, a lot of it didn't make sense to me, but more stuff like: I'd never been in a bar. Sure, I saw bars in movies, but it's a far cry from say, the bar scene in Crocodile Dundee. Gritty realism about places and things I had never seen or experienced, so I didn't know it was realism. The interpersonal interactions made more sense at an older age too. It's like, realistic in ways that the Hollywood movies I was allowed to watch were not, which my parents surely didn't realize - it was a CARTOON, so it was okay!

Even now it's still very memorable

Akira was groundbreaking in a way that no animated movie will ever get the chance to be again (imo) are there more recent anime movies with more compelling stories, maybe. Have animation techniques improved, sure. But Akira advanced the medium and put it on the map like no other. It's not just one of the most important and greatest anime movies ever made. It's one of the most important and greatest *movies* ever made full stop. Also, thanks for making me feel old in the opening of this video, I was 9 in 1988 🤣

I got to see Akira initially on laserdisc and this thread makes me realize that was a lucky opportunity. Seeing a hi-res version of the film probably contributed to how blown away I was by the animation and lighting effects, not to mention the story. A lot of ppl like the Akira slide, but I challenge anyone to shout out some other content that pays homage to the scene where Testuo exits his hospital sector room and smushes the med tech and security guards to bits. I'll start with Lucy starring S. Johansen. Can anyone think of any others (there have to be at least 4 or 5 others....)?

The music mixer what blew my mind when learn about it. Absolutely outrageous

I absolutely love this film/manga since I was like 11 years old. Now I'm almost 37 years old, and I probably watched it more than 50 times by now. I just watched it yesterday again too. Absolutely the master piece of all time ;) By the way, I bet many people cranked up volume at beginning and blown up their ear drums when the laud drum sound happened xD

I think what makes Akira so brilliant as an adaption is that it knows what to cut and what to change to confine it from a large epic manga into 2hrs. There's so much that is cut overall but it holds the story and spirit that still allows you to get a different experience with both. Incredible visual design, soundtrack, colours, animation but I think it really needs to be given credit how an original creator having a full grasp of what their story is and what they want it to be. Truly groundbreaking stuff.

As a child of the 70s watching John Carpenters The Thing I can't feel the glass scene as much as you but I did buy Akira when it was released in America .

It was aired on early pay-tv here in germany in 92, I was 10 when I saw it, blew my mind I´d really like that 2 hour in-depth analysis video of akira ^^

18:45 Joey going full Chris Broad here. 😂

I first watch Akira when I was in a bit of a haze from a fever, and, that bell/ding noise does something wild to your head, Akira is such a good movie

18:47 bro went full Chris Abroad for a sec😆

I remember seeing Akira in the theater when it first opened.

My fiancee and I just watched it for the first time a couple months ago and to say we were blown away by it is an understatement. An absolutely fantastic movie.

My favorite is seeing the Akira slide in different forms of media

This is hands down my favourite movie of all time and one of my favourite anime’s of all time. I loved Akira since 2021 and now I’m reading the manga and being blown away from it.

We will always support this channel. They’re one of the best

The first time I watched Akira was my sixth grade summer. My dad knew my and my brothers were into anime. So one summer night while we played monopoly, my dad brought the film and played it for us. We didn't finish playing monopoly that night. Also I am happy my dad didn't stop the film either.

Going to watch it now.

Your hospital scene experience of Akira and my hospital scene experience from end of Evangelion We aren't the same

Akira and perfect blue is one of my fav anime movies of all time from around the 80s and 90s

I'd love to see a new Akira movie based on the manga story.

Just remember that while we got this in 1988, we got Ex Arm in 2021

I've seen it at 4K on IMAX. Absolutely stunning! As for nitpicks it definitely needs more than one watch to get your head around a few things.

I love Akira, it’s one of the best animated things ever. People think it’s well animated for it’s time, but it’s better than most anime today. Even before I was into anime, I knew about Akira as a film buff. I said to myself “I won’t watch anime, but I will watch Akira.” Ironically I ended up getting into anime before I saw Akira. Funny how things work

I watched Akira for the first time in early 2000, and I was blown away. It got me into anime and manga. I can also say that ever since no other film came close to it

The bike slide scene is infamously used in alot of anime, it is an awesome scene