Summary: It's 2019 and the world lies on the brink of destruction. Tokyo fills with rioting crowds and violence.

A landmark film that introduced much of the Western world to modern anime, AKIRA is a marvel of modern animation. Based on Katsuhiro Otomo's 2,000 page manga, AKIRA begins on July 16, 1988, when what was believed to be an atomic bomb was dropped on Tokyo, completely destroying the city and marking the beginning of WWIII. Thirty-one years later, Neo-Tokyo has sprung from the ruins of the old city and is experiencing a prolonged period of civil unrest caused by student uprisings, political instability, and, most destructively, biker gangs. One of the members of these biker gangs, Tetsuo, is detained by the military after a near accident with a strange young boy. After recognising innate psychic ability in him, the military begins using Tetsuo as a test subject to channel Akira, a source of unimaginable power and the cause of the explosion that destroyed the original Tokyo. However, the military's plan backfires, and instead of locating the source of Akira's power, Tetsuo becomes a medium for it. Endowed with incredible psychic powers that make every one of his destructive impulses a reality, Tetsuo begins to go on a rampage that threatens to completely annihilate Neo Tokyo. Combining a complex science-fiction universe with intricately detailed animation and phantasmagoric images, AKIRA is a stunning visual experience and a disturbing vision of the future.

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Like a good dream, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translationenvelopes you with an aura of fantastic light, moody sound, head-turning love, and a feeling of déjà vu, even though you've probably never been to this neon-fused version of Tokyo. Certainly Bob Harris has not. The 50-ish actor has signed-on for big money shooting whiskey ads instead of doing something good for his career or his long-distance family. Jetlagged, helplessly lost with his Japanese-speaking director and out of sync with the metropolis, Harris (Bill Murray, never better) befriends the married but lovelorn 25-year-old Charlotte (played with heaps of poise by 18-year-old Scarlett Johansson). Even before her photographer husband all but abandons her, she is adrift like Harris but in a total entrapment of youth. How Charlotte and Bill discover their soul mates will be cherished for years to come.

Written and directed by Coppola (The Virgin Suicides), the film is far more atmospheric than plot-driven: we whiz through Tokyo parties, karaoke bars and odd nightlife, always ending up in the impossibly posh hotel where the two are staying. The wisps of bittersweet loneliness of Bill and Charlotte are handled smartly and romantically, but unlike modern studio films, this isn't a May to December fling film. Surely and steadily, the film ends on a much-talked-about grace note, which may burn some, yet awards film lovers who "always had Paris" with another cinematic destination of the heart. --Doug Thomas

Main Language:	Japanese
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1988
Release Date:	June 23, 2003
Runtime:	300 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	M A N G 2012
Keywords:	Action, Collection, Two, General, Ultimate, Animation, Akira, Adventure, Discs
Genre:	Action/Adventure