Cyberpunk: dystopian futuristic science fiction, neon lights, complex ideas, and a certain style of music that I've always loved. One of the best examples of both written fiction and film of this genre is Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 anime film Akira, based on his own manga series of the same name released in 1982. Showing a beautiful spectrum of animation, neon colors, and trippy music, I find this animation is one of the best examples that "just because something is animated, doesn't mean it's for children."

Akira's story takes place in the futuristic city of Neo-Tokyo, in a dystopian version of 2019, where it shows the power breakdown or relationship and psychological telekinetic powers between the teenage Shōtarō Kaneda, leader of a bike gang known as The Capsules, and his childhood best friend Tetsuo Shima, the latter of which gains these supernatural abilities after a motorcycle accident during a gang rival battle. The film's plot deals with their friendship through these challenging times, and how militarism and dystopian society handles these events. Supernatural events, human experimentation, psychological trauma, and even fun laser beams are shown in this one-of-a-kind animated feature.

The first time I watched this was at the beginning of this year. My roommate, who knows a lot about film and anime, recommended we watch this movie, as she said it's one of the best-animated movies of all time. So, we sat down one January afternoon and watched, and man, it left a huge impact on me. I remember the first ten minutes of the movie - for those who have watched it, you know the opening I'm talking about - was so freaking amazing. My older brother had gotten me the manga for Christmas two years ago, and I had just finished the first one, so I was curious about what made the anime so much more amazing, and man, without a doubt, the animation and the soundtrack is what stood out for me the best.

The anime revolves around two main characters, as stated above. First is Kaneda, a sixteen-year-old bike gang leader. While he acts cocky, tough, and rebellious on the outside, I found him to be quite a funny little dork a lot of the time, and I grew to love his character in many ways. He's seen as facing the main problems, and the main antihero - his best friend - with bravery, but also determination - almost to the point of being plain stubborn about it. And it makes me smile just watching him and all his dorky antics. Also, the fact that he has that badass red leather jacket - that, yes, I bought after watching the film - and everything else he wears is red, it's just such a cool look for his character.

Kaneda's best friend Tetsuo takes on as the film's antagonist. But really, he is more of an antihero, or, in my real opinion, more of the unfortunate victim of the militarism and scientific experimentation of the anime, and the story's byproduct showed that through his character. He's an example of giving someone destructive power in the wrong hands. Pretty much, his ego boost doesn't help him, so he has to learn to play God in a different way. However, his character shows that he's impulsive, rash, and a big superiority complex, showing he clearly doesn't like to be over-shadowed by his best friend. The baby boy has a lot going on for him, and in the end, his character really does present itself very well, as you don't really know who you should be rooting for as the hero and the enemy.

Visually, the anime is absolutely beautiful to me. Even though it's not as fleshed out or lacks eye-popping colors as in, say The Stranger By The Shore, the contrast of the bright red of Kaneda's character, or the neon lights showing throughout Neo-Tokyo, or the absolute beauty of the animation that shown. Smooth transitions, complex styles in the telekinetic powers, the small details, emotions in the character's faces, and let's not forget the infamous "Akira slide" that's been replicated throughout many media now, make the movie an experience that I never forgot. I honestly wish I could experience this movie for the first time just for the animation and visuals alone.

Just like the animation, the voice acting is incredible. All the characters drive their lines with such emotion and have such an impactful voice that really adds depth and feeling to their characters. Akira is one of those few animes where I actually don't mind watching the English dub at all - however, we do not mention the horrible 1989 dub. You can't convince me it exists and is canon. Mitsuo Iwata and the 2001 counterpart of Johnny Yong Bosch deliver their lines as Kaneda very well, portraying him as the serious but dorky bad boy we all know and love.

"Now you're king of the mountain, aren't ya, but it's all garbage!"

Tetsuo's voice actors of Nozomu Sasaki or 2001's Joshua Seth absolutely nail his character almost to the damn microfiber of his being. You can sense the rage, hatred, betrayal, and confusion in his voice, as well as the power that's gotten to his head, and not knowing how to handle things correctly.

"Kaneda, you've always been a pain in the ass, y'know. You've been telling me what to do since we were kids. You always treat me like a kid. You always show up and start bossing me around, and don't you deny it!"

In the soundtrack department, I think honestly is what makes this movie from amazing, to absolutely god-like. Shōji Yamashiro and Geinoh Yamashirogumi had this under control totally. Kicking off the amazing ten-minute start as the motorcycles race down the highways in a brawl as the theme of "Kaneda" starts playing, mixed with different soft drums and distant chanting really sets the ominous and mature mood to the movie. "Battle Against Clown"'s deep, ensnaring hyperventilating that comes after "Akira" sets the very serious tone to the first few minutes, and while some might find the music repetitive, I think it's more about adding the experience to the movie than the actual music itself. And even the well-known "Tetsuo", played at the hyper-most climax of the movie, with loud, impactful preaching-like singing that screams raw power really pulls the watcher deep into the immersion of the anime, and I think that's what was most important.

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed watching Akira the very first time I watched it. Granted, it's pretty different from the manga. How much can you cram from a thick collection of six huge mangas into a two-and-a-half-hour movie? Not much. However, granted Katsuhiro Otomo gave the okay over the entire project, and you can tell it was also his vision and version of his story shortened. Watching it was very impactful, beautiful, and fun for me. I encourage everyone to watch this movie not only if you're an anime fan, but if you're an animation or film fan in general. I think it's a very important movie to watch. Do I think that the manga did stuff better? Yes. Do I think that Kaneda and Tetuso should've just dated to get rid of all that tension between them and the whole situation could've been avoided? Yes - but that's just my personal ship that doesn't mean shit. However, it was a deeply impactful, and very meaningful film. One that I like to share with everyone, because it holds a special place in my heart, and many others, and keeps the lights in our hands glowing.