8. Akira (1988)
Katsuhiro Otomo 1988s sprawling sci-fi epic was the first film to break Japanese anime into western world of animation. While the later produced Ghost in the Shell provided influence to future Hollywood filmmakers, Akira provided the structure from which audiences worldwide could appreciate the art of Japanese animation and thus spawn its immense popularity today. The film is set in the dystopian streets of Tokyo in the year 2019, where biker gangs do battle against the cyberpunk-esque backdrops of the great Japanese city. The plot follows biker Tetuso Shima, who is trying to release the psychic Akira. Preventing from doing this lies the leader of his own respective gang Shotaro, who must prevent Tetsuo from releasing the omnipotent being. The cause of this lies in their accidental collision with a government run project that deals with telekinetic powers within children. Its understandable to being unable to penetrate its elaborate plot. It can seem strange then that Akira has an oddly hidden depth and scale to it and one that is only truly remembered when watching it through again. Its ambition can lead some to call its plot convoluted but its real beauty lies within the stylistics of the film, from the hand-drawn cityscapes to the numerous characters that litter the film. Everything sets itself in grandeur and the film benefits from this aesthetic. The animation therefore is gorgeously drawn, with the sheer extent of the undertaking shown before us; from the numerous set pieces that continuously compel and improve upon the last, to the explicit scenes of violence that gruesomely depict each bullet as it hits its intended target. For a film that is now 25 years old, the quality of the aesthetic is still marvelling to look at. Akira is undoubtedly one of the greatest pieces of Japanese anime to hit western theatres. Its neo-Tokyo setting is beautifully depicted and with the sci-fi edge, the film reaches a cataclysmic height of pomposity, something the film marvels at. While the plot may be deluding to some, the beauty of what has been created should see many past this complication. A film that must be re-made immediately.