Welcome to Akira2019.com

Myself like so many were drawn to it because it looked like nothing we had seen before. Even today it has a style very different from most Japanese animation which tends to be over cutesy. Otomo's style has a life like quality not that common in Japanese animation. Otomo also has a great eye for mechanical design, just take a look at Kaneda's bike which is pure eye-candy, and has hooked many people onto Akira. The famous Akira bike has since gone onto iconic status and secured a massive cult following around the globe.

To this day Akira stands as one of the greatest and most popular animated films from Japan and was wholly responsible for the early 90's Anime boom in the west.

What makes Akira so compelling is it's complex plot intertwining politics, secret government projects, armed forces, scientists, religious fanatics, government resistance, teen biker gangs, psychics and childhood friends; Kaneda and Tetsuo who find them selves at war.

The story focuses on mans struggle for power and it's feeble attempts at trying to understand and harness that which is potentially inside us all.

It delves into mysticism, conspiracy theories and mans fear of the escalating technological advancement we are becoming so dependant on. The story contains social commentary on mans stupidity in the pursuit of power from the only culture to have a nuclear weapon used on it.

All set against the backdrop of Neo-Tokyo AD 2019, a sprawling neon metropolis, not too dissimilar from today, built upon the ashes of a Tokyo long since destroyed by an unknown force. The streets are alive with unrest as rival gangs wage war on each other and terrorists fight a government very much in the hands of corruption and turmoil.

The story is a boiling pot of 21st century fears that can only be cleansed by one boy, a boy who has the power of the universe at his disposal, a boy named Akira.

Akira is a true cyberpunk masterpiece of science-fiction story telling.