“Quite simply one of the greatest animated movies ever made … [It] shaped the modern blockbuster.”

Andrew Osmond, Empire

“Anime” entered the cultural lexicon in the West due in no small part to the impact of Akira, Otomo Katsuhiro’s retina-searing adaptation of his own manga series and one of the indelible exemplars of Japanese animation and the cyberpunk subgenre. The dystopian epic, tapping into unshakeable national trauma, is set in a street-warfare-scourged Tokyo three decades after a nuclear attack cratered the capital. There, crimson-suited teen Kaneda, leader of a vigilante biker gang, plans a rescue mission for friend Tetsuo, abducted by a government agency experimenting on paranormal children. The immeasurable influence of Akira is undeniable, even if some of the lore isn’t—contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t the most expensive anime up to that point, nor was it animated entirely ​“on ones” (one cell per frame). But one can appreciate how the legend went to print when confronted with the awesomeness of Otomo’s—and arguably the art form’s—magnum opus. Akira screens here in its 2020 restoration.

In Japanese with English subtitles

The Greatest Anime Film of All Time
Paste Magazine

“A towering achievement of imagination and the detail of each frame is a miracle of film artistry … If you haven’t seen it, prepare to have your gob well and truly smacked.”

David Jenkins, Time Out