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Mush
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Registration Date: 07.29.07
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So, I had the opportunity to read the Akira manga series recently. I'm 5 out of 6 books in, and enjoying it quite a lot. While waiting for the last in the series to arrive in the mail, I decided to watch the anime, which I understand is hailed as groundbreaking and amazing and what not.
Somehow, I really didn't like it. At all. I would rather I didn't see it.
Okay, I shouldn't say that. I thought the soundtrack was good, and with surprisingly little synth for an '80s anime, which made it feel not dated in the slightest. And the animation itself was quite something, very detailed and smooth, so I can see why it gets lots of praise and attention for the visuals. It must have cost a fortune to produce, and taken thousands of hours to draw.
But I feel like the story was an absolute mess. If they had spent an hour or two revising the storyboard beforehand, it could have been a better movie by leaps and bounds.
I'm not a purist and I don't mind that they changed the story from the manga. But the way the movie goes, the characters' motivations make no sense, and their actions are irrational. A lot of the elements that were kept become irrelevant to the story, like the military coup, the laser satellite, the doomsday cult, and even some characters (like Mr Nezu). These just consume screen time, each being discarded just as soon as it's introduced.
The ending didn't really bother me, although I do hate it when characters turn into big formless blobs for no good reason, which seems to happen often in anime.
Anyway, I know the movie has a strong following and I don't want to offend anyone who likes it. Maybe I misinterpreted it, and missed the bigger picture?
I'm still looking forward to finishing the manga, where so far at least, the characters have been very well-developed, and have mostly understandable motivations.
What are your thoughts?
Post last edited by Mush on 10.06.2012, 02:26 PM.
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 10.06.2012, 09:37 AM |
  
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husky51
The Old Guy
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| 10.06.2012, 01:03 PM |
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Saddletank
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Maybe I'm more easily pleased as I enjoyed it very much.
It was about the first non-Ghibli anime I ever watched and I recall picking up a copy because the blurb on the back of the Matrix DVD (it was that far back) said the Wachowski brothers had taken some inspiration from it.
I remember at the time being staggered that a subject like rape was being depicted in an animated film.
I guess, like many movie adaptations it helps if you haven't read the book first. Movies rarely can match the storytelling scope of a book or a manga series. Look at Kare Kano.
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| 10.06.2012, 03:21 PM |
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saviour2012
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Registration Date: 02.24.12
Location: Dhaka,Bangladesh
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I do not know about akira but The Matrix was almost a copy of ghost in the shell.
Akira was a good film. If i cut the stupid parts the theme is really very good. It has the typical anime flavor of violence,gore and destruction. The only thing groundbreaking about thus film is Hayao Miyazaki talked about it. Lol. No really he talked about it. And he said how japanese director wants to see japan destroyed in seconds. That is the same theme we see over and over and over in all the anime of this kind.
I am seeing as i am getting more and more familier with japanese anime that all of them have the same kind of drawing style and story. Sure there are some very different like transformers(another series that i completed) and dragon ball z(i know most of you dont like it but i find it better than NGE).
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Watch everything but only take the good things from it
Ask, think and learn. Because the more we know the more we grow.
Watching the wrong to happen is the same as commiting the wrong.
If it looks like things are forcing you to be creative, Then be creative.
its a uniquely Miyazaki film, one only he could make and its uniqueness places it beyond being easily critiqued.[About Porco Rosso]
taken from a quote of Saddletank and Orphic Okapi
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| 10.06.2012, 07:24 PM |
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saviour2012
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Registration Date: 02.24.12
Location: Dhaka,Bangladesh
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I do not know about akira but The Matrix was almost a copy of ghost in the shell.
Akira was a good film. If i cut the stupid parts the theme is really very good. It has the typical anime flavor of violence,gore and destruction. The only thing groundbreaking about thus film is Hayao Miyazaki talked about it. Lol. No really he talked about it. And he said how japanese director wants to see japan destroyed in seconds. That is the same theme we see over and over and over in all the anime of this kind.
I am seeing as i am getting more and more familier with japanese anime that all of them have the same kind of drawing style and story. Sure there are some very different like transformers(another series that i completed) and dragon ball z(i know most of you dont like it but i find it better than NGE).
__________________
Watch everything but only take the good things from it
Ask, think and learn. Because the more we know the more we grow.
Watching the wrong to happen is the same as commiting the wrong.
If it looks like things are forcing you to be creative, Then be creative.
its a uniquely Miyazaki film, one only he could make and its uniqueness places it beyond being easily critiqued.[About Porco Rosso]
taken from a quote of Saddletank and Orphic Okapi
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| 10.06.2012, 07:26 PM |
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husky51
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| 10.06.2012, 11:15 PM |
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Roarkiller
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Registration Date: 06.02.03
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Didn't read the manga.
But yes, the movie was quite... off. Enjoyment factor aside, the movie was released during an era where sci-fi was the in thing, so it having a big following was pretty much expected. The movie was groundbreaking at the time because, I think, the storyline and plot was original and enthralling.
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Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.
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| 10.08.2012, 05:25 AM |
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Saddletank
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The parts that I think inspired the Wachowski's were some of the camera angles and cuts and I think there's some slo-mo action in there which they used as their 'bullet time'.
I'm aware GITS was much more of an inspiration for them, only they reversed what was the reality and which was the computer world.
Akira is a famous movie though and rightly so. I know it was a story of-its-time but I think there's some groundbreaking direction in it. I beleive it was well-known (and rightly so) before Miyazaki commented on it.
@ Saviour - there is an enormous variety of anime styles. Nearly every artist and studio has their own style. They follow a lot of agreed conventions but each is diffrent. Look at Evangelion vs Akira vs GITS to name just three we've mentioned recently; then compare those to, say, Porco Rosso and Only Yesterday and My Neigbours the Yamadas.
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Post last edited by Saddletank on 10.08.2012, 08:41 AM.
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| 10.08.2012, 08:38 AM |
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arren18
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Registration Date: 08.15.06
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I've seen it I think three times and I think it's great! I love the way everything is put together, with the visuals and the music and so on, and even though I guess it is a bit confusing, the important plot points are clear enough that you can follow it. I haven't read the manga, but I would like to get round to it some day.
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the film Mush!
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| 10.08.2012, 10:43 AM |
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Nausicaa_Cat
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Registration Date: 10.02.06
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Personally I was blown away by Akira when I saw it, and I continue to be a big fan of the movie. The visuals are so slick and the opening scenes in particular are awesome. I remember it also being one of the first non-Ghibli anime I saw and finding the violence unnerving, but also fantastic - in that it (literally) packed a punch. I feel it's a movie that can't help but leave a big impression.
I definitely get where you're coming from Mush that some of the plot seems a little shaky - but for me it just gave it a sort of intensity that meant it through a lot at you in a short amount of time. It's natural it'd only be able to give you a taste of the original manga, but I think it still manages to develop a pretty wide spanning plot. In general it's very unsettling, but that isn't a bad thing. I probably like it more than some of the Ghiblis even - I'm more fond of it than I am WotH for example, which I'm sure many of the members of this forum would be aghast to hear ahah.
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| 10.09.2012, 01:25 PM |
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saviour2012
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Registration Date: 02.24.12
Location: Dhaka,Bangladesh
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So it looks like science people( here me mush and roarkiller ) do not think Akira ground breaking but others do.
@Saddletank
I have seen many people like to watch or want to know about individuality of different things you are one of them cause you can see the difference between styles and that is a reason why you like psychoanalytic anime much more.
On the other hand i do not believe in individuality very much. i think for majority of the people, their works are a reflection of the society and sorroundings they live. So i seek pattern rather than peculiar aspect of whatever things i look.
From your point of view you are correct that different studios have different style but from my point view i am not incorrect that they are all the same just thet use a different ratio of mixing up things.
__________________
Watch everything but only take the good things from it
Ask, think and learn. Because the more we know the more we grow.
Watching the wrong to happen is the same as commiting the wrong.
If it looks like things are forcing you to be creative, Then be creative.
its a uniquely Miyazaki film, one only he could make and its uniqueness places it beyond being easily critiqued.[About Porco Rosso]
taken from a quote of Saddletank and Orphic Okapi
Post last edited by saviour2012 on 10.09.2012, 08:34 PM.
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| 10.09.2012, 08:34 PM |
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Saddletank
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I think Saviour, that is what "different styles" is. How two people draw the same face or building different ways. Anime has a huge raft of conventions and symbols (such as the sweatdrop, the # mark for anger, and many stylized eye shapes, the simple lozenge slice of shadow on a woman's front to indicate a bust shape), really fundamental things you'll see repeated everywhere, but the other elements are all individual. You can't possibly say that "My Neighbours the Yamadas", "Porco Rosso" and "Ghost in the Shell" are remotely similar in style.
I wouldn't say this is due to how I view things around me. I think you could randomly grab a still or a short clip from each of those films and show them to any 100 people in a city street and the great majority would agree. They are very different.
Its okay NC I can quite understand how Akira might be a more amazing film than WotH, I don't begrudge you liking Akira that much because I think its awesome too.
I agree with you that the whole opening scenes are fantastic, and the motorcycle chase and fight was I think really groundbreaking for its time, not only in animation but in directing generally. By comparison Miyazaki uses quite traditional directing and cutting.
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| 10.10.2012, 02:22 AM |
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Orphic Okapi
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I haven't read the manga, but I'd like to. I also found the movie a disappointment (I have no science background, by the way). The soundtrack is amazing, and the first half holds up pretty well, but the second half totally falls apart. It's just a barrage of chaos and death without any tension or sense of pacing, probably the result of trying to cram too much plot into two hours. If only they'd done a short anime series, the plot could have had a little more room to breath.
I can see why it's famous and considered groundbreaking, but it's flaws are too glaring for me.
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| 10.10.2012, 02:53 PM |
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