Akira

Ah, who doesn't love a movie that starts with a city blowing up? Akira is one of those movies that starts with a bang, and keeps at it for the entire film, starting with its plot and including it's themes and animation. In many anime circles, Akira is considered to be a classic and one of the defining moments in anime history. If you're interested in anime, it's usually required watching, not because a person may like it, but for educational purposes. It's kinda like Neon Genesis Evangelion; you watch it because everyone else has and makes reference to it, even in university lectures*. Except I think more people argue about Evangelion and like Akira more**.

Let me make something clear though: Akira is not a kids movie. Subject matter includes sex, drugs and teenage biker gangs beating the crap out of each other. Which then becomes exploding peoples heads and exploding cities. And that's the simple stuff.

Akira also boasts some interesting theories about where human knowledge and creativity comes from, theories which are dwarfed by the topics that occur in the seven huge volumes of graphic novel that the movie just skims over. The movie takes the basics of the original manga and condenses it into a compact but coherent and spunky whole.

Yes, subject matter can be a tad heavy, but Akira is in no way boring. Rather, it is packed with action, with a lively script and animation that has held up over time. Also, the voice acting for both the English and Japanese cast is really superb. I highly recommend it to viewers, anime lovers or no, new or old, who want something that will take them seriously, is fast-paced and full of action, and who aren't afraid of blood and gritty parts of reality.

I also recommend that you pick the language settings that are the easiest for you to follow along, because you really don't want to miss out for a second when watching Akira. 

*at least, they do in mine. But then, I went to a pretty progressive university with courses on cyborg fiction in English that included a lot of movies, and a course on comics in culture studies where we studied speed lines in manga and had Ty Templeton as a guest speaker.

** However, that's just my opinion.

Ponyo and Miyazaki

Okay, I was going to tackle Airbender, but I love this movie not to do this.

Ponyo is a gorgeously charming film about a sea princess in love with a human boy and longs to become human. Yes, it's an adaptation of the little mermaid, but it is a beautiful re-interpretation of it, from the master of anime Hayao Miyazaki.

It's actually really hard to separate this film from Miyazaki's other masterpiece works. So, let's put them together. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle are just some of the movies he's done and are considered anime classics by many, myself included.

All of his works are full of imagination and magic, usually with very thoughtful children characters that go on quests, not for self-discovery, but to explore and ultimately do good for the world. There is often a very subtle, yet very meaningful environmental theme to his works that while is present, does not distract from the unfolding story.

What also is remarkable about his works is that there often are no villains; each film explores the views of opposing sides, with one seeming to be the obvious villain. However, through the stories, both the characters and the audience discovers the humanity of each character, even the non-human characters. This delightful character development illustrates that evil often depends on a point of view and that a lot of the time, what we see are good people trying to do good with the resources and information they have.

In some works, there are scenes of violence, however, Miyazaki's films are lovely classics suitable for families, adults and movies lovers alike. And in conclusion, I highly recommend and encourage my readers to watch, if you already haven't done so.

Neon Genesis Evangelion and RahXephon review

This may be a bit long. I'm really having a hard time separating my review of Neon Genesis Evangelion from RahXephon, two really excellent anime series. Yes, Evangelion came first, and their summaries on imdb.com are seemingly very different, but they're both mecha anime, and plots tend to have very similar elements.

These two anime, however, I have to put together because they get compared to each other so much. This is probably because most mecha plots have a more battle-field focus, even with boy/teen pilots and the fantasy mecha anime.

With these two, the stakes are much higher, in a relying-on-religious-mythology/symbolism-heavily-for-a-reason kind of way. In both, a teen boy is coerced to pilot an organic mobile suit against mysterious enemies that caused a major catastrophe, for the sake of the world and humanity. The sakes are the same, the symbolism at least similar if not the same, and both have underlying conspiracies of pretty much the same thing.

The differences between the two series are the details.

Evangelion's Shinji has abandonment and psychological issues (as does most of the cast), and often comes across as a whiny brat. However, Evangelion goes into these psychological issues in such a way that can cause psychological trauma to the audience. Even if you manage to escape trauma, many viewers have either started really complex analyze of the series, or just sit there in a "what the heck?" shock. This is because Evangelion has either a happy ending, or doesn't have a happy ending, depending on your point of view and definition of "happy".

Don't worry, to this day, Evangelion still sparks very engaged discussion online, and not just because of it's incredible hand-painted cell animation.

RahXephon, on the other hand, has a definite happy ending. Focusing more on an a musical symbolism with it's religious symbolism, the characters face various issues, but for the purpose of dealing with the issues and achieving a sort of closure in events. Ayato, the main character, is more composed, a psychological stable young artist coming to understand the truth about events happening around him. Not to say he doesn't have his outbursts, but he gets pissed for some very good reasons.

Between the two, I like RahXephon the best. I like the music, the characters and the plot, an elegantly crafted story. Evangelion, I admit, has a mark on anime history, to the point where it is a defining and very recognizable name in anime circles. It's one of those series that you have to see when first getting into anime. Unless, of course, you can't take the trauma. Then, stick with RahXephon.

~ Corina
P.S. This review does not take the Rebuilds of Evangelion into account, as that series of movies is still incomplete, and the various manga and off-shoot Evangelion manga.