12 Best Sci-Fi Movies You Can Watch Online For FREE
8. Akira
The one that probably needs no introduction. Akira's more than a movie, it's a movement. If there's anyone one piece of media that can be credited for sparking the West's obsession with anime and manga (for better or worse), it's this. Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 cyberpunk epic might be a far cry from his sprawling 2000 page monstrosity (spanning six volumes), but it's an indeniable masterpiece in its own right.
Every single individual frame is a work of art, worthy of printed and hung on billboards for all the world to see. Every building, every vehicle, every piece of clothing, every prop, every expression or movement character makes seems so thoroughly realized it's easy to forget what you're watching is, in fact, not real. It's animation so good that it transcends the limitations of the medium into the realm of hyperreality. It's one reason why the long-touted, long-delayed remake - for all the potential talent that could go into it - will almost certainly fall short.
Because Akira isn't just an animated movie, it's THE animated movie. It's an incredible tour de force of beautifully-rendered animation, deep world-building, biker gangs, giant milk-filled teddy bears, and graphic violence that's the most galvanic and visceral example of a nation's collective psychic fallout since the original GOJIRA. And it's amazing.