Somewhere around 1990 I got my first U.S. dubbed bootleg copy of Akira on VHS. Terrible quality (copied from NTSC to Pal) and horrible dub. Must have watched it 20 times and still did not get the story line, not until I finally got the U.K. deluxe box set including the original Japanese version with English subtitles...

So why am I bringing up a totally unrelated animated film from about 30 years ago? Firstly and foremost, due to it changing my view of what animation could be... forever! It's doubtful if 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' would have existed without it... or is that going too far perhaps? It changed (for the international market) adult animation in any case. Animation wasn't just for kids any longer.

Secondly, for me, it changed how I viewed the Japanese movie market. Despite minor hits, I still thought 'Godzilla' before 'Akira'. And to me Sony is still Japanese, and no they are, as far as productions are concerned, not strictly Japanese. But they do release a lot of (computer) animation such as 'Resident 'Evil.' Besides having a Disney-challenging animation department.

So... I like animation... I like adult animation... I like Japanese animation/ anime/ manga... I'm not adverse to super-hero stuff, DC, Marvel, otherwise...

So... why am I not loving this? Well, perhaps this got presented as "something you've never seen before, pure innovation." It's NOT! This may be technically impressive an innovative. But 'Men in Black 3' was not better than 'The Empire Strikes Back' due to more modern effects.

I like this. I gave it a 6 out of 10. The story seems aimed at younger viewers, that fine. This may be the most impressive animated feature this year.

I however, am still waiting, after 30 years, to see something animated that has more EMOTIONAL impact on me than Akira did... Sorry...