52nd City

Akira

Testsuo!

Kaneda!

It's 2019 in Tokyo. The city was destroyed in 1988 by a nuclear explosion, sectioning off old Tokyo and Neo-Tokyo, which stands on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay. The military is in on a few things, the government is in on a few things and there's a Resistance, which all futuristic post-apocalyptic cities need. Also, people have mind powers. And some of those people are small and wrinkly.

Akira was first published as a manga, very successful and running from 1982 to 1990. In 1988 creator Katsuhiro Otomo decided to make a film. For me, it's hard to categorize the film. It's violent, dark, disturbing and weird (completely deserving of its "R" rating and then some). It's one of the most amazing animated films in existence, and considering the quality of animation that came out at the same time it was created (1988-1989), it was evidence that anime, and animation in general, could do better.

So if you haven't seen it, you should. You can purchase it fairly easily, or if you're in the St. Louis area on April 6th at 8 p.m., you can head over to the Winifred Moore Auditorium (home of the Webster Film Series) and see it for free.

It's worth seeing on a big screen -- not for the weak of stomach, I'm afraid. Not to spoil anything, but the ending is... juicy.

Time, Date, Place:
April 6, 8 p.m., Winifred Moore Auditorium (which may or may not be haunted, depends on who you ask).