Akira + Ghost in the Shell

AKIRA

 Akira is a film that really has it all. Body horror, politics, police brutality, fanatical religious groups, human experimentation, and more. I've only seen Akira once before, and was surprised to see just how much I didn't catch onto the first time around or didn't remember.

This film is a unique one, I've never seen anything like it. I don't have much reference to go on as far as 80s anime goes aside from the Devilman OVA from 1987, but the animation is amazing, particularly the characters. The characters' movements and expressions are nuanced and realistic, especially their hand gestures and faces. Honestly I was blown away by just about every shot, the cityscapes in Akira and backgrounds in general are beautifully detailed.

I made the mistake of watching the dub this time around out of curiosity and it wasn't great, the voice acting was completely out of sync with the characters' lip flaps and just not very good in general at times. I don't regret it but in the future I'll probably stick to the original.

This iconic film has made its' mark on the film and television industry worldwide. I can't count the amount of times I've seen the classic shot of Kaneda on his motorcycle referenced in TV shows and movies, but I'll include a few below along with the original.

Akira (the original)

Adventure Time

Pokémon

Steven Universe


I'm sure you get the point, onto Ghost in the Shell. 

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell is a series I'm not all that familiar with. It's one I've heard a lot about and remember seeing commercials for back in the day (middle school) when I still watched Toonami on Adult Swim. But I've never actually got around to checking it out, so I guess now's a good a time as ever!

The full color pages are really detailed, the style and color choices just scream 80s/early 90s manga. These pages also remind me a bit of western comics, I think this is due to the lack of typical mark-making that is usually seen in manga such as crosshatching for shading or full black backgrounds for emphasis on a character. 

I was only able to read up until the fourth chapter, but so far this manga seems to be full of government related drama. Our main character Motoko and her colleagues are a group of cyborgs that work for an anti-cybercrime law enforcement agency. By the second chapter we see the horrors of forced child labor and abuse as well as human experimentation. But this manga also has some funny moments as well, such as this:





Interestingly enough, Ghost in the Shell and Akira both have similar themes of politics and human experimentation. Another thing that's interesting to see in both is a strong female character. I'd say Motoko is probably the better example though. At times Kei is kind of just a tool for the plot to advance or used by the esper children for convenient exposition, but she's also a member of an anti-government organization and can hold her own alongside the other characters in the film.

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