For many of my generation whose initial exposure to anime was through imported television series of inconsisten quality, the movie Akira was revolutionary in the artistic brilliance of its animation. Now one man has teamed up with Pittsburg’s ToonSeum to create The Art of Akira Exhibit, whose mission is “To teach the entire world just why the movie Akira is a cinematic, artistic and technical masterpiece.”
The exhibit will include selections from Joe Peacock’s personal collection of Akira production art and cels, which he claims is the larges private collection in the world, and is planned to include a traveling show.
(via MeFi)
As I was discussing with my brother-in-law, becoming an fan of anything all depends on when in your life you discovered it. If you watched Akira today, for example, the "average" viewer would get terribly confused and lost after the first half-hour. "Why is this genius?" my bro-in-law asked.
When I was growing up in rural Illinois, and my one friend had Vampire Hunter D and Akira and the Transformers movie… the rarity alone made it interesting, the difference from Western animation being shown at the time? Colossal! I'm sure if I had to watch it for the first time today, I wouldn't be as impressed.
I had the same experience with Citizen Kane; I really didn't get why people gushed over it. Thankfully, my tape was the anniversary edition, and they had a documentary at the end which _explained_ why it was ground-breaking for its time. Then I got it! So I'm glad someone's doing the same with Akira – the coolness must be understood!
Agreed…I myself never saw Citizen Kane until well into my 20's and was fairly well versed in why it was awesome before viewing it. Maybe it wasn't the most *pure* experience, but I'm sure the film's impact was increased.
As for Akira – oddly enough, I can't bring myself to sit through that movie anymore. It's not that I find it awful – it's still amazing…but I remember every beat of that film so vividly that sitting through it no longer fills me with the same kind of enjoyment that it used to. There are a number of movies that are like that for me now – Clockwork Orange, the original Star Wars movies…
I'm sure I've seen it over fifty times at this point. Still a work of freaking genius, though.