An exploratory statistical analysis of Akira and Ghost in the Shell

Thanks for this. I've always been very interested in fictional architecture and this looks amazing.

Other than ghibli films, what other anime films look as good or iconic as those two.

Typeset in the future is a treasure. I cannot see eurostile anymore without thinking of it.

Last year somebody posted this [1] right here in HN. Speaking about being mind blown.

[1] https://fontsinuse.com/uses/28760/neon-genesis-evangelion

Interestingly, when I search for Akira on Google, Google remarks that people also search for "Why is Akira so popular?", and links to this site:

https://filmschoolrejects.com/akira-influence-12cb6d84c0bc/

> The story made little sense and appeared to have little, if any, depth.

I felt similarly the first time I watched it, but I walked out feeling confused rather than feeling like the film lacks depth. IMO a large portion of the film is spent exploring the notion of power than one can't control. In fact, we can split the different characters of the film into those who are corrupted by this path (the scientist who clearly wants to see Akira's power blossom, the military lead who wants it controlled for public safety/the military, Tetsuo who is always trying to take on more responsibility and leadership then he can. Only character's like Kaneda, who don't submit themselves to their own desires for power, seem to faire well in the world around them .. but that's just my two cents.

> The graphics looked dated and not very inspiring.

I can't disagree with this more. This film came out in 1988, and nothing else even came close in terms of its visual effects for an animated film. I'm sure at the time people couldn't believe what they were watching, it must have seemed really alien.

I'm honestly surprised that you think it looks dated. Even today, animes I've seen (although granted that isn't many) don't achieve the same level of beauty in their animation of light. You can see examples throughout this link to jog your memory if it's been a while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf0WjeE6eyM

As albertyezer’s comment noted, this was definitely a very influential project for film and art in general.

On the other hand, to understand the significance of the story, you have to notice the subtle “identity” of Tokyo. The city is described as “Neo-” Tokyo, and we hear the characters discuss that the transformation from Tokyo -> Neo-Tokyo occurred after a big explosion. And the film itself ends on a big explosion destroying the city.

In some ways, all these events are subtle references to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the firebombings of Tokyo. At the end, we see the city’s natural state restore itself (with floods of water and sunlight) in an oddly meditative moment. I think for the Japanese population in particular, Akira portrayed an underlying message of hope, trust and humanity, something very important for a recovering nation.

The message is probably much harder for us to relate to, given our time dilation from such historical events.

One thing to note is that it's a film version of a much longer story; the manga is a lot longer (and disturbing) and is (arguably) less vague because it has more room to tell a story.

Yes it was made in a time when there was few big budget animated movies with adult themes.

The art direction is still great. Gorgeous backgrounds and animated gems such as tetsuo transformations are still impressive today.

The story suffers from the fact that it is a much more condensed version of the comic book series.

It’s hard to overestimate the gigantic /smack in the face/ that Akira was when it came out on screen. Much of us had only seen Disneyish / childish stuff so far, and even adult-themed animation was cartoonish in nature. And here walks in the room bikers hitting themselves in the face with steel bars, incredibly detailed sets, flawless animation (Akira was 24 fps on one), exotic graphism and insane music. I skipped class once in my life. It was to take the train and go to the big city to see Akira.

It's kind of impossible to condense a 6 volume dense manga into a feature... I read somewhere that even Jodorowsky chipped in some advice for the ending.

For me the anime shines as a companion to the manga. It's the same age old problem: an ultra rich story dumbed down for the screen.

As to the graphics: 1988 Akira looks anything but dated. I used to watch a lot of anime and it ages amazingly well. They just dont make them like that anymore. Cell animation at it's best with very little CGI.

If you want to enjoy Akira as the creators intended, read the manga first. Then listen to the soundtrack a couple of times. Then sit down and watch it with on a good screen and a loud sound system. Anything less is a felony.

Hey Gwern! Thank you for your note. You're right about the "its", I think a lot of them happened because quotation marks in my Latex setup need to be dealt with individually. I'll make a pass and fix those soon.

I suppose you are also right about the GitS section. The main useful observations I made there were the abundance of skin tone and the gothic look of the museum towards the end, but those are not as significant as the green in Akira. I'd love to hear your (and anyone else's) thoughts on the colors in GitS.

( Also, on a separate note, thank you for all your advice related to ML things in the TPU Discord over the past couple days :) )

What do you think is particularly novel about it?

What conclusions do you disagree with?

I haven't seen chord diagrams used like this before but back in the early 2000s I worked in a shared office with a guy doing movie colour analysis using barcodes, so that at least has been around for a while.