The GHZ Forum

I've been looking all morning for a decent, clear shot of the giant teddy bear that attacks Tetsuo in Akira. CANNA FIND ONE NOWHERE.

Can anybody help me out here?

Well, I would grab a few screenshots from the DVD for you, but my DVD drive has decided to stop playing anything I put in it. Sorry.

Are these good? I can capture more if you want.

Those are perfect, Lizard, thanks!

Can't believe I didn't think of taking them from my own DVD, though. Whole bloody morning wasted.

On the subject of Akira and its creator, does anyone know if Steamboy was any good or not? I ask because I've just recently found it amongst the new releases and it looked fairly interesting, but after the conflicting reviews I've read I’d rather get an informed opinion here.

I also request firsthand opinions of Steamboy. It looks awesome but I can't afford to take risks at the moment.

Actually though, I've never seen Akira. Phat Boy's got the DVD and I've been meaning to borrow it for some time... I guess I can assume it won't be a wasted 2 hours.

I never understood the appeal of Akira. The story was a chaotic mess and the characters all felt very cookie cutter.

I didn't like Ghost in the Shell either (for much the same reason), so maybe I just don't get popular anime.

Steamboy is all right. Visually, it's gorgeous and stunning and other good words. One of those movies I could watch with the sound off. The plot doesn't live up to the animation. The men in the family are inventive geniuses, father goes mad with power, grandfather wants to stop him, both try to enslist boys help, boys tells everyone how horrible war is, snobby girl flirts with boy, and everyone chases around a plothole deus ex machina. It's worth a watch, but I wouldn't buy it.

P.S. Akira is awesome, CE, shut your face.

I agree with Del, Akira is the shitniz. I mean, the bike, the laser gun, the morphing body tissue and the post-apocalyptic setting all ooze appeal.
I must say that I prefer the graphic novel though but only because the story is more detailed.

Akira is a fantastic comic. The film is merely select scenes from the comic (barring the teddy bear sequence), so you really need the comic to fully understand what the film is going on about.

I disagree there, I think the film is fully enjoyable on its own, despite the fact that like any book-to-movie adaptation there is a ton of stuff missing. It is not difficult to understand what it going on, because at the core of it, the story is not really that complicated. It's a slick piece of animation with a lot of powerful scenes and imagery, it's fun to watch.

Chalk me up as an Akira hater. I had no problems understanding it, either... I just thought it was really, really ugly.

That's unsurprising. You hate everything. :P

Omni Hunter wrote:I mean, the bike, the laser gun, the morphing body tissue and the post-apocalyptic setting all ooze appeal.

For a moment, I thought this was talking about the Shadow game.

I loved Akira and reckon it should be watched by all, even elderly people with heart conditions. It's confusing as heck but still good. The characters do tend to strafe the usual demographic, but I wouldn't call them cookie-cutter. No hyper-cute anime girls, for example.

I do have to say I didn't like Ghost in the Shell I found it preachy and incomprehesibly self-absorbed, with action sequences that really did feel forced. The series, though, Stand Alone Complex, fixes the balance nicely; hardly any relentless babbling and action bits that make sense. Plus one of the sweetest opening sequences ever.

Frieza2000 wrote:For a moment, I thought this was talking about the Shadow game.

Maybe, but Akira carries it off well. I'm not too suprised about Pop's view though, anime films like Akira, GITS and Princess Mononoke among others tend to split many opinions.

Delphine wrote:That's unsurprising. You hate everything. :P

This is a popular misconception. The thing is, I only hate things that suck; it's just that there's loads of them.

I think you'll find that Gibbon hates more things than me, and yet no-one brings that up. Mind you, he's only overtaken me in that respect recently... it took him years to catch up. I see reality with a much greater clarity than the average human being, you see.

I hate the ":P" emoticon, incidentally.

Popcorn hates me, as well. If I didn't know any better, I'd hate me too.

Baba O'Reily wrote:Popcorn hates me, as well. If I didn't know any better, I'd hate me too.

Keep trying.

I didn't like Akira much either. However, it's been about four or five years since I've seen it, so what do I know.

G.Silver wrote:I disagree there, I think the film is fully enjoyable on its own, despite the fact that like any book-to-movie adaptation there is a ton of stuff missing. It is not difficult to understand what it going on, because at the core of it, the story is not really that complicated. It's a slick piece of animation with a lot of powerful scenes and imagery, it's fun to watch.

Could you please explain what was going on then? I sure didn't understand it when I saw Akira four years ago. Here's what I remeber happening:

There were a bunch of guys in a bike gang.
One of the guys gets kidnapped.
The kidnapped guy finds himself in some sort of (government?) laboratory, where he makes friends with telekinetic blue midget old people. Or very very wrinkled kids.
The kidnapped guy eventually finds out he is even more telekinetic than the midgets.
Meanwhile, the other guy teams up with some girl spyish person.
The kidnapped guy with the telekinetic powers claims rulership of the city.
The firsh guy fights him for some reason not explained.
Then the kidnapped guy mutates into a giant monster for some reason also not explained. Sadly, Godzilla does not rise out of the ocean to fight him.
Instead, the giant monster blows up.
All of a sudden, the blue midgets create a bright glowy circle and they disappear into it, with the giant monster.

Oh yeah, there was some tall government-type guy with a bunch of helicopters as well.

While I kinda understood the first half of Akira, the second half seemed completely random. Why does the kidnapped guy claim ownership of the city? Why does he become a giant monster? And then blow up? How do the blue midgets create the glowy circle? Why didn't they create the glowy circle sooner?

Akira was a very cluttered movie, and not the funny kind of cluttered that I enjoy watching.

While I kinda understood the first half of Akira, the second half seemed completely random. Why does the kidnapped guy claim ownership of the city?

Tetsuo is a "troubled youth." He's in a motorcycle gang. Obviously he has problems. On top of that, he seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order. Once he realizes how powerful he is, he decides he should be in charge. What depressed teenager wouldn't?

Why does he become a giant monster? And then blow up?

He lost control of his power. This is what kidnapping him was probably supposed to prevent, they had him on drugs and stuff, and you may recall his subsequent overdose on capsules after he escaped. These are probably related.

How do the blue midgets create the glowy circle? Why didn't they create the glowy circle sooner?

So you're ok with the flying, telepathy, projected dimentia, and telekinetic creation of a giant monster teddy bear, but the glowy circle requires some sort of explanation? The kids have the same powers Tetsuo does, they are capable of doing things. I would assume the glowy circle (I don't remember exactly what that was about) was a last resort, but look, it's a movie! You always save this sort of thing for the end.

The firsh guy fights him for some reason not explained.

If you're refering to Kaneda then simply put he is the leader of the biker gang. Also, he views Tetsuo as a younger brother, look at the flashback when they're at school and you see they are quite close but he still picks on him now and then but nonetheless he is the closest person to him. So Kaneda could be fighting because of guilt, or he genuinely want's to help or maybe he want's to save the world or even just his hide so he has every reason to do so.

All of a sudden, the blue midgets create a bright glowy circle and they disappear into it, with the giant monster.

This is in fact what Akira done that made that big ass crater before he was exhumed in the film. That incredible power that could ene or save the world that everyone refers to, what Tetsuo hunts down to prove his superiority, that's him. All the psychic kids can do it, from what I gather it's supposed to generate a new universe. Tetsuo power does it and all the midgets can do is contain it to keep the majority of the city safe. After all the explosions and implosions you see a tiny spec of light that is their universe and we see thye midgets, Tetsuo and Akira floating in their new universe.

Well, the Teddy was great, but I'm wondering can anybody help me with another one: I need a lightning monster of some sort. Ideally, this would be the electric Gremlin from Gremlins 2 but I can't find a pic of him anywhere and, this time, I don't have the DVD.

Given the probability that I'm not alone, are there any other similar movie monsters that spring to mind?