There is something so undeniably beautiful about anime. We as Americans are of course products of a different culture and consequently cynical of movies like Akira, which many times seem to us highly melodramatic and comic. I would argue, indeed, that my generation as moviegoers are often so cynical that in our sarcasm we stubbornly refuse to allow ourselves new and evocative experiences. I believe there is a nobility and honesty present in anime (particularly post-WWII films) that most American animations lack, perhaps stemming from Japan's more turbulent modern history. At any rate in 1988 Spielberg and Lucas were quite correct in stating that Akira was unmarketable, although it was perhaps morally questionable to make such a condemning assertion. As a viewer however I would have greatly preferred English subtitles as opposed to the dubbing, which was of mixed quality and prevented us from experiencing the film as the director likely would have intended. 160,000 is a lot of animation cels, and there's no denying the visual aspect of this film is absolutely meticulous. Overall I kinda liked Akira more than I thought I would, and as a fan of film animation respected it more than I liked it as a cinematic representative of a whole different world.