Akira: Visual Storytelling at its Best



Animation is my personal favorite forms of story telling, and one of arguably the best examples of story telling in animation is the movie Akira. Akira released in 1988 with the largest production budget for any animated film at the time. Although animation has grown to be much more sophisticated today Akira still goes toe to toe with modern films such as The Incredibles. From the second the film starts it is extremely obvious how much time went into hand drawing every detail. The movement is smooth, and the facial expressions are vibrant. The most impressive detail of the movie is the story. What really sets the story of Akira apart from other movies is how open-ended and philosophical it can be. At the surface level the film is about the struggles of adolescent boys in a dystopian future. However, one can interpret the film as mans struggle with power. What everyone can take away from this masterpiece is the use of non-verbal storytelling. Within the first 10 minutes the movie is able to establish the main characters and their motivations without any sort of exposition. Akira treats the viewer like an adult and refuses to hold your hand at any point. This type of storytelling allows Akira to weave multiple storylines together into one. Akira didn’t invent the concept of multiple storylines, but it did push the idea further in through its presentation and ability to keep the viewer guessing.



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