It never feels good to watch a hailed classic and have it not click with you. While “not getting the themes” might be the root cause here, Neon Genesis Evangelion had a similar reputation while still being an enjoyable mecha regardless. From my perspective, I think you’re at least likely to appreciate and adore the sheer eye candy of Akira even if the plot also doesn’t do it for you.

The first fourth of the movie is setup that shows off Neo-Tokyo. A lot of time and effort was put into making this place as uncomfortable to behold as possible, which sets a fascinating mood. The music really helps, too. I’m told this is the grandfather of cyberpunk, even! I didn’t read the synopsis so I was thinking “I have no idea what’s happening” for this entire stretch, but as it turns out you don’t really need to.

After this, the actual psychic plot of the movie starts to pick up. While it has some neat ideas and serves as a vehicle for awesome animation, this is unfortunately the part I wasn’t a fan of. It felt like it completely dropped the worldbuilding and plot that was being built up, then only paid off by doing a handful of interesting things.

My biggest problem with Akira is our antagonist. From the very start, Tetsuo is shown to be a desperate loser who wants to be as useful and cool as Kaneda. As far as I can tell, that’s literally his entire character. However once he gets his power, it barely affects his relationship to Kaneda. Tetsuo mentions not needing Kaneda’s help anymore once or twice, then turns around and goes on a completely irrelevant rampage with his powers.

After getting a disproportionally large amount of power with not enough explanation, he becomes a ““badass”” that just destroys everything in his way. Without a connection to Kaneda to keep his motivations interesting, he’s left needing charisma of some kind to be an enjoyable villain. And he has absolutely none. I feel nothing towards him, which is damning because he’s the focal point of ¾ of the movie.

The one interesting wrinkle/theme I actually did catch here is that Tetsuo’s character becomes the embodiment of “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. While it could explain Tetsuo being stone-cold, it doesn’t fix my problem with him. It at least goes hand-in-hand with the police brutality of Neo-Tokyo.

I hate to say it, but Kaneda didn’t grab me as a protagonist either. While he at least has an enjoyable personality, it didn’t feel like he actually did anything. The story acted upon him so much instead of the other way around that his inclusion felt unnecessary. That is, until he actually does some cool stuff in the climax. But by that point it’s way too late.

Kei is also another main character I didn’t end up enjoying. She starts off cool, but has no independence halfway throughout the movie. The romance between her and Kaneda doesn’t feel earned at all either, especially with how cold she was to him at first.

Granted, I did like pretty much all of the side characters. I would’ve preferred it to be the other way around obviously but they certainly help make the experience enjoyable when they’re acting.

I think this story would’ve been better if the plot revolved around Tetsuo using his psychic powers to drastically 1-up Kaneda in the scope of their thug lives instead. That way it could’ve focused on both the griminess of Neo-Tokyo and Tetsuo’s inferiority complex — the incomplete hooks that were more interesting to me than the greater psychic forces at play.

Despite how critical I am of the plot, I don’t think Akira was too unenjoyable while I was watching it. At worst I think it can act as a simple spectacle that anyone can at least enjoy looking at. And of course, Akira being a cultural cornerstone that many things take from can help appease any distaste. So while it might not grab you too, I think it’s worth the risk if you’re still interested.
As an aside, the manga apparently is more expansive and might do a better job at making things interesting, so that might be a better alternative.