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Hello and welcome to the Most Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast.

It's the podcast.

We're a filmmaker, a comedian and their fabulous anime fan guests motorcycle chase and psychically review the eighties movies we think we love or might have missed with These are Modern Eye and today we're talking about Okura, a movie selection from nineteen eighty eight, about which letterbox says Tokyo is about to explode, but they spell it out with a period after each letter E period X period, P period L period, oh period D period E period Do I understand why I do not?

They go on to say a secret military project endangers Neotokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

Try saying rampaging psychic psychopath three times fast is what I say.

And here comes the trailer.

Neo Tokyo is about to explode.

Streamlined Pictures presents a state of the art adventure Akira.

So the trailer explains nothing.

It's the least explainative trailer since Bull Durham.

That was just singing.

There's no telling what this movie is about.

But I'm Chrissy Lynz, one of the directors at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater in downtown Mesa, Arizona.

And I'm Nathan Blackwell, independent filmmaker with Christie Studios.

I almost started to introduce you, and I stopped myself and joining us.

This Eve is a wonderful human being, a hilarious performer at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater and a teacher by day, comedian by night, an anime fan all the time.

It's mister David Wesley.

Hello, thank you for that very flattering introduction.

You're very welcome.

So I I have never seen this movie before in my whole life.

I've never even heard of it.

Jesus Lowids.

But Nathan, I expect that you.

Is this a favorite for you?

It is?

I wouldn't say it was a favorite.

It's like one of those movies, what are the I feel like it's one of those five movies that you you first like your introduction to anime, or like, it's on this the short list of Oh okay, I'm going to be serious about getting into anime.

What are the what are what are the casablancas?

What do I have to see to kind of like understand this?

And I feel like Akira is definitely on the short list in terms of I feel like, David, feel free to jump in, but I feel like when I but this is just me because it's it's less like series and things like that.

You know, it's like do you do you do Miyazaki or do you do Akira?

Or do you do something like one of the more action ones like Neon Genesis Evangelion.

You know, David, did you grow up on anime?

Are you an anime fan?

Uh so?

Uh well, I'm I would like to say full on, like, yes, I am like a one of those I may not be as hardcore as compared to other people, but I'm definitely Anime is like something you've asked me, David, what's something that you really enjoy?

I would tell you one of those things would be anime.

I would say that I did grow up on anime.

There's some shows that I would probably debate with people on like Pokemon if that's actually really anime or not.

But even if people don't consider an anime, I feel like there's some anime like style things in that show.

And so there was first that growing up, but even after that, I would say my first uh, indoctrination of anime was actually with Attack on Titan, and so it was very that the person the friend I had at the time, she's like, hey, if you really like intense storytelling and you want to try out like actual, like, here's in depth anime for you.

She kind of threw that onto me, uh, and then followed by Death Note and some other ones like Full Metal.

So I would say, yes, I did grow up with it, but keep in mind for me that was like I'm trying to do the math in my head.

Uh, less less than two decades ago, you're.

A young man, you're at your youth, you're a baby.

Tiny baby.

But yes, I have grown up with anime and I've thoroughly enjoyed it a lot.

Awesome.

So have you seen Akira?

No, this was my first time seeing it.

Going through it, I'm like, okay, because I did a little bit research in one of the things I found was that Akira kind of was like the starting point or setting stone for a lot of other like anime things and being popular and I want and now that I like reflect on the movie, I'm like, oh, yeah, I can definitely see that there's a lot of like tropes of anime that you see later on in other animes that I was like, yeah, Akira is a good starting point for that getting used to art style and just the genre in general.

Mm hmm h for sure, including the fact that it did not make a look of sense to me for the most of the movie.

I was like reading the Wikipedia explanation of the plot as I was watching the movie and going, oh, okay, now I get this, Now I get that, but I still don't really know that I have wrapped my head around this movie.

There's so much, yes, so much happens.

This is one of those maximalist movies, you know, like everything everywhere, all at once, like it there is so much overload.

That's why I recommended that she see the English dub version, because if you're if you're reading and watching this for the first time, it is just you're going to miss so much.

It's so sensory overload, you know.

And I'm also because I haven't seen this in like twenty five years, you know, like for me, you know, it's like anime for me, Like I it wasn't until like this came out like an eighty eight, eighty nine, eighty eight, and but I don't think, but for for me, it wasn't like really until like the late nineties that I really kind of like there was stuff that we knew about, like Robotech and some of these these older uh series from like the early from like the early eighties or even like the seventies and things like that, but it was still not quite in the mainstream yet.

You know.

It was kind of like my youngest brother Brian was into anime and he had to get like bootleg VHS copies from it from comic book stores, you know that didn't sell like the original version, like you had to get it off of at a comic book stores and like comic cons and things like that.

And so for me, like the real so I was kind of like introduced to it by by observation, by him getting into stuff, and he was into a lot of stuff that I didn't get into, like a lot of series but it was things like uh Hyomiazaki and Akira and and some of the the more like adult sci fi ones, but also series that came out like in the two thousands like Full Metal Alchemist and Cowboy Bebop that really kind of were exciting for me.

And I've never seen any of those.

I've seen Pokemon, And that is the one thing that you guys have mentioned that I'm like, I know, Pokemon.

Okay, we'll allow it.

Okay.

You always have to have an outside perspective, you know, yes, and uh, tonight that's me going, what the moming f is happening in this movie?

So normally, David, I sort of walk us through the movie and we talk about it bit by bit.

But that's going to be a challenge for me and this movie.

I know, I took copious notes.

Yes, so I guess to set the stage.

If you haven't seen Akira, it is kind of so this.

You know, the eighties were wild.

There were all there were multiple people coming up with kind of the cyberpunk genres totally separately, you know, like William Gibson was writing Neuromancer, like the real like novel that kind of officially created like cyberpunk and he went to go see Blade Runner and it's like, oh crap, no, no, no, Before he would like finished the book and he had to leave.

It's like, I don't want this.

I can't have this like influencing me.

And they are very different, but they are kind of both creating like the cyberpunk genre, and this has a lot of that too, Like this is also a parent of like the cyberpunk genre, but it is it is basically all the dystopian part and not necessarily like any of the the internet, you know, hacking part of the cyberpunk genre.

Yeah, for sure, I did see a lot of that, Like going into like after the time jump, you have the setting of Neo Tokyo, and I saw a lot of like parallels of like when it comes to the light pollution we have in our world, right, there's just a lot of like flashing neon lights going on and and and but like like you mentioned, a little bit more dystopian because we're focusing more on like the grittier side of the city with the moretorcycle gangs and and all the like crime and stuff, and so yeah, I did notice that a lot too.

All the social structures and the hierarchies and the haves and have nots and biker gangs.

But it's all done in like clear daytime for the most part, you know.

But it's really emphasizing like you know, the people at the top of the people at the bottom of the people at the bottom really just you know, throwing their trash everywhere and trying to make a living and just trying to entertain themselves in there being marginalized people at the bottom of the food chain.

You know.

But I guess to describe a Kira very early on, it is just sensory overload.

It is just so much kinetic energy and like you're watching it and you're like, you know, it was it's like a revolution in terms of just how much work they put into everything.

You know.

It's it's intense, but yeah, it is very intense.

So we start with this little biker gang of kids, I guess they're like high school age kids, and they're having a bike chase show with a rival gang of kids that seemed more like adults that were dressed as clowns, and they're like hitting each other with pipes as they bike all around the city.

Meanwhile, there's a riot happening.

Oh yeah, and before this, the whole city exploded thirty years.

Ago that this is a During this riot slash bike chase, a guy is running from police, being chased by dogs, and he's got a monster kid with him.

A monster kid.

Yeah, it's basically like a little kid who looks very old.

Yeah, a little kid who looks like a zombie.

He has like green skin and white hair.

And I'm like, what the hell is going on?

Especially after the guy who is running, who's bleeding profusely, kills the dogs that are chasing him, and I was just like, okay, in front of.

A kid in a car watching this.

Yeah, so this movie goes hard right.

Away, just right away, and I'm like taking notes, and I'm like, I don't know what's happening.

I don't understand.

There's another monster kid in a helicopter who's in a little like mechanical wheelchair, and Tetsuo, who is one of the one of our hero kids, right crashes into the weird monster kid.

He crashes into the weird monster kit, and I guess this is where he gets his powers question mark.

So the way I understood it is for me, it was much later because he gets he gets hurt, and because although what I'm confused by is why didn't they take everybody, because everybody saw this green skid screen skinned like frail kid.

But for some reason, they just took Tetsuo.

And then they were like, hey, let's mess with him, mess with his anatomy and give him these powers and see how it turns out.

Because it's clearly worked or clearly hasn't worked for these other kids, Let's see what's like for this kid.

So I was also a little bit confused by that as well.

Right, yeah, so so our our main guy, Canada, he's got the coolest motorcycle in the universe, and then Tetsuo is kind of his sidekick, his Bucky Barnes who who never gets the spotlight, who's always being yelled at.

And then yeah, the military swoops up the zombie kid, but they also take Tetsuo, and then the military takes everyone else, including this girl who's a revolutionary who gets thrown into the group.

And then Canada and.

Carla is named Kay and their other third friend is named Kai yes, and it's Kor And I was like, what the Dickey hickens you made these names up?

You could you not have named them not Hey and Kai.

Like for me, Kay and Kai were in interchangeable name wise, so I just called them the girl and the third guy.

Kind of.

I was thinking.

I was watching, like you know, I bet there was a challenge in the writer room.

It's like, we can only come up with names that's start.

With K yeah, and one.

Tatsuo, one Tetsuo because he's gonna turn bad later.

He's gonna turn bad.

So in the midst of all this, there's an executive council and a general Yeah.

So basically I guess to to if we just go linearly, it's gonna be because we're kind of like.

The big mess.

It's gonna be a big mess because I don't even know right.

We're doled out the mystery as we go.

As we're intersecting with the bike gang once and they're they're you know, them butting up against the military police and things like that.

Basically, the military has these psychic kids, I think they're called the Espers, the Esper children, and it's all a program to unlock the psychic potential or godly power, something that is beyond human and either when Tetsuo comes in contact with one of these kids or they run some sort of thing.

It basically activates him.

You know.

I don't feel like they just injected it into him, like he already had some unknown latency in him, or there was there's something special, because it's never happened like this before with his kids.

Except that they say, his patterns, right, that's where they're looking at his psyche patterns remind us of Akara.

Well, do the hell is Akara?

What is Akara?

What are you talking about?

No one knows?

And they mystery doling it out, They like drip and drop these little pieces where I'm like, well, the movie is called Akira.

So so one of the things I actually initially when I was watching this, I was writing like, ooh, I love the fact that a lot of this is mystery and that we're like figuring things out with the protagonists.

And then like the more the movie progress, the more questions I had.

And I'm not a huge fan of like too much exposition in the beginning, but my pardon me was like, maybe we should have had a little bit more exposition, just.

Like one guy pointing to a map.

Something.

Now that they've got yeah.

Thing, here's what's up.

But yeah, there's a lot of different forces at play.

There's a there's like a city council that controls the city, and the military colonel is just part of that.

And then we've got the revolutionaries who are trying to overthrow things or overthrow each other.

You know.

You've got like the cultists who we don't really spend much time with, who are in reverence of Akira, thinking that there was some that he was some godly force or something like that.

So there's kind of like a cult or mystery because basically a Kira was the thing that that that created that big explosion we see at the beginning that caused or created quote World War three, you know, which looked like a nuclear explosion in the city.

But the main thrust is Tetsuo being activated with these powers, you know, and these kids trying to intervene and and and I guess long story short, he's tetsu was kind of like Anakin skywalker that he is guided, he is given all this power, but he's guided by his emotions.

He's guided by being the runt of the litter.

He's guided by having to prove himself.

And so where where they're like the kids, they don't have those ambitions, they're more quote pure.

You know, he is being led around by all these violent emotions and it's his power as it grows, you know, Like some guards try to stop him in the hall and he just blows them apart, like ye you know, yeah, like they're they're poor characters from violent movie.

Like there's there's so much blood.

There's so much death, like not just the ones we see up close, but like hundreds scores of people die.

There's like a bridge collapse scene.

Yeah, when we see this movie goes hard, like we are saying, this movie goes hard, you know, like so he gets pissed off and he just decides to collapse the bridge.

And it's not like they disappear in a Michael Bay cloud of explosions, you know, like you see people falling and slipping off the bridge in groups over a sequence, you know, like over a long time.

The violence is violent, like you cringe at it.

Yes, and there's a close to rape scene.

Yes, the ladies get it have a real rough time in this movie.

Yeah, they really do.

And they're like we just want to help and we're revolutionaries and or we're just happen to be friends of Tatsuo like the poor girl who wants.

To Oh yeah, the one person who's nice to her, which, if.

We're going back to the because i'm also again Star Wars fan, we're going back to the Anakin Skywalker parallel.

This girl was also kind of like Padmemes is like wanting to be there and helping her come out, and he's like no, no, get away, get away.

I'm like, all she's trying to do is help you, man.

I know she can't do much, but that's that's all she's trying to do.

So Yeah, and then like once like he gets what he wants, he just shoes her away.

I'm just like, this guy is kind of the worst.

Yeah, Tatsuo starts bad and gets worse as the movie goes.

Yeah, and and I think, you know, it's like why do we want to watch that?

Well, the whole point it's like they have a scene where Kanada and ka are talking and they're saying, like, well, what if an amiba, which only eats and consumes, got the powers of a man, Like, what would happen if that happened?

That's what you know, So they're basically saying, that's what happens if a human gets the power of a god, like they are ill equipped to have that power, and that's the whole point of you know.

I think maybe it's lazy to say that, because you could say this about a lot of Japanese sci fi, that this is an allegory for atomic weapons, like us having the ability to destroy the world, like humans being put in charge of this this nuclear ability, you know.

But I think the argument is the same.

It's like, what if a man had god powers?

How bad would that be?

How ill equipped are we for that?

Well, don't give those powers to a fucking teenager, is what I'm saying.

Yea, why is it always a teenager?

Give it to a thirty year old mom who's like seeing some shit and had enough.

At the climax part where Tetsuo is really going off his rocker, they try to kill him with the satellite.

Yeah, it comes so bad, and he just grows and grows and it's unstoppable, and they're like, oh crap, we have like an inverse Akira is what they're thinking, you know, not that we know much about Akira until the end.

Yeah, we when we finally do find Akira, he's he's been disassembled into his body.

Parts, like his nervous system in one.

Bottle, and it's like his brain in a jar and his kidney in another jar.

And it's like, what, okay, this is what you were guarding underneath the Olympic stadium.

Jars them to break.

It's like that's not really good U security or containment.

That's all that needs to happen.

I feel like they the scientists who are not great people.

Even though they do they do express compassion over the kids, they're unwilling, like just like the scientists in Jurassic Park, they're unwilling to give up that power, like they could destroy the body parts and things like that, but no, they must keep it in case one day we can figure it out, you know.

Yeah.

And then so when they finally do bust him out and like activate him, he sort of saves the day.

And he's like, oh, you put my pieces back together, thank you.

I'm sorry for blowing up the city.

Let me fix it now, and he pays Tetsuo, who for some reason has become a pulsing giantic flesh monster.

We're yeah, we're racing pretty quick to the end.

But sorry, I don't know what else to do.

But basically, Yeah, so Tetsuo has gotten so out of control he he thinks that finding a kara or a kira as Americans say it will give him an answer.

But when he finds that it's just a bunch of jars, then he's nihilistic.

And also apparently he's got these like calming drugs in him that are now wearing off that we're allowing him to control this because he was in the facility for a day or two, and and so it's not that he's getting more powerful as they're they're wearing off, he losing control of them, and he's also in more pain.

And uh, Kanada, you know who feels responsible for Tetsuo, even though he's a major dick to him at every turn.

At every turn, Yeah, feels like it is his responsibility.

Like, well, if if my if I he's my friend, I'm going to kill him if he has to be killed, you know.

Yeah, Plus he's got my bike, he's got my super cool bike, which, like the poster for the movie is Canida with the bike and then it says Akira and huge read letters and you're like, what that's not even a one one million?

Yeah, absolutely, I went looking at the poster alone and then I so I looked at that before looking at the trailer, and I'm like, oh, okay, so this is going to be kind of like a speed racer thing.

The guy is Akira, and it's going to be some motorcycle like we're going to race and and everything.

And I thought, and then the beginning of that with when we see the motorcycle gangs, I'm like, Okay, this is gonna be that kind of movie.

Uh.

And and you have that character in anime where you know, it's the rough edged character with really really cool bike or really cool something, and that causes like the audience to like want to gravitate towards that character.

So that was successful in that regard, but it was definitely not the movie I thought it was gonna be.

No.

I kept getting so lost in the weeds and like I took like seven pages of notes of just like everything that happens.

And it also things like they saved Canada, I think, or Canida, I think, Uh, what the heck is going on?

Tatsuo goes to space and destroys the laser.

Uh.

Tatsuo becomes a tiny ball of light.

Kai k and Kanida are alive and the general is alive.

Okay, that's the end.

I guess like what and I guess what the little the little Monster kids go into.

Okay, so at some point a singularity erupts.

Yes, so.

I totally figured this out as I was watching.

I didn't watch an explainer video directly afterwards.

So so when they resurrect a cura, he basically you know, when you see the the globe glowing, it's basically a pocket universe, another universe that is being created.

So that's the thing that's expanding and that things are getting sucked into.

So basically, this godly power, the pinnacle of it is creating is you do become a god, and you're now in your own universe.

So this glowing, expanding orb is basically a new is a big bang, a new universe being created.

So it's sucking things in the energy transference and transference is happening.

But basically anything that goes in, you're you're now part of universe two.

You know.

Yeah, So Knida goes in and the three Monster Kids are like, well, we can help him, and they're like if we go in, we won't come out, and they're like, yeah, it's fine, we have terrible lives.

Let's go save this kid.

So they run into the Pocket universe and do their juju and save Kandida and Kai and k in the General, which, like I couldn't figure out the whole time.

I'm like, this general is a bad guy, he's the enemy.

No, no, no, no, he's a good guy.

Question mark, Well, I feel like he it's it's a nice shade of gray.

I don't think we're supposed to like him, but yeah, because yeah, well I think that's by design.

But at the same time, we don't get that cardinal satisfaction of him getting any come uppance.

And at the same time, at the end, he is doing bad things, but he is also trying to save the city, you know.

And it's not like he has a vengeance against all good guys.

Oh you're on team good guys, so I'm gonna kill you.

Like he's keeping the eye on the ball and trying to stop Tetsuo, and he doesn't care about the other kids.

You know, he's not gonna work, right, He's not gonna be one of those characters.

Is like, now we got to arrest you too.

Yeah.

No.

In fact, they try to arrest him and he just goes nope, like, you're under arrest.

We're taking over your command.

The council has called for your arrest.

And he's like yeah, and he's like, I don't agree with that.

He's like, uh, in fact, you're the ones who are under arrest.

And they're like, oh shit, can he do that?

I guess he can do that.

I guess he can do that.

Run run pack your suitcases full of stocks and bonds and money and run run into the streets and be destroyed.

There's like this whole little corrupt politician character who happens at some point in the movie, Like so much happens in this movie.

It's two hours long, it's not short, and so much is happening.

At every Yeah, oh, you brought up the corrupt politician.

I was confused by that corrupt politician because then we see later, like at least I think we see later the one of the leaders of like the rebellion, and I'm like, how they're working together?

And I'm like, wait, so is this politician with the rebels or not?

And then he and then he shoots the rebel and then I'm like, oh, okay, way he's yeah.

Yeah, I had the same thing.

It's like, oh, well, he's working against the guys we don't like, so he therefore must be a good guy, right, And it's like, oh no, he's on team him.

Yeah, there's no there is no good guy.

Even is not a good guy.

Yeah yeah, Kanita is is a dick.

Yeah, with his big red bike and he's just like and the.

Way he treats Ka, I mean like, I feel like a lot of the him joining in the fight was just so he can get with K.

So yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel like the only like good people is or were like K and the kids.

Yeah yeah.

And I was confused about the kids too, because I was like, oh, okay, I get it.

The one was trying to escape, the girl is bedridden, and the little one in the motorized wheelchair is bad.

And it was like, nope, they're all they're all good turns out.

But I think that that's kind of this movie's move to where we take an assumption and we slowly start twisting it.

You know.

I think, just like the colonel, who starts off as very much the heavy then becomes a bit ambiguous, you know, the kids when they first appear to Tatsuo are super Gary.

Yeah, they're monsters.

Yeah, it's yeah.

I think that ties back into the dystopian style of like nothing's for certain, Like all of our previous mindsets of good character, bad character, a Moraley Gray character is all has all been tested while watching this movie.

Yeah, yeah, that's it's again.

It's like these early themes of cyberpunk, Like it is like film noir, like anything good will.

Spoil, yeah nothing, gold can stay.

Yeah anything.

It's like maybe you won't be betrayed at every opportunity, but you might be let down or that thing will go away.

There is that that that dread.

It's the opposite of optimism.

You know.

Yeah.

And I could just see the looks on the faces of the people who are trying to make a trailer, who were like, well, how do we make a trailer for this?

Let's just make it sounds and sights and explain nothing.

Okay, that sounds great.

What do we put on the poster?

I don't know, the kid with the bike?

Sure, sure, sure, sure, Well what do we call this movie?

I don't know.

How about the kid in the jars?

Okay, kid in the Jars, let's called Kira.

Here we go, let's do this.

Wooo, That's what I figure happened, because otherwise I don't know what you call this, and I don't know what the hell you put on the poster.

I don't know what you put in the trailer.

So yeah, I do not envy those people at all, to be honest, No.

No, But so I was left really questioning to myself, like did I enjoy I was like watching with rapt attention.

I did keep tapping the screen to see how much was left, just because I was like, what else can happen?

I don't understand how there's thirty minutes left, and I did not have a giant pile of goo monster on my Bingo card, but I and I was like, did I enjoy this?

I don't know.

I certainly didn' not enjoy it.

I'm glad I saw it, but I don't know what I learned.

M hmm, if anything, I don't know.

Well, I'm of the camp that that the mystery, the ambiguity, that the shades of great gray are a feature, that they're a part of the appeal of the experience.

But yeah, but I am saying this having seen the movie for the second time.

It's you have I I've if I could remember correctly the first time around, I did not have as much clarity that I did this time around, because I've also had time to think.

About it too, right right, right, right, right right.

Yeah.

Okay, So on a scale of one super cool red bike to ten super cool red bikes, how many super cool.

Red bikes do you give the movie?

Rah, David, We'll start with.

You, so I'll tie you into a little bit.

When Nathan was saying about the mystery part of it, there's I'm kind of like in the middle because I really enjoyed the mys I enjoyed the ambiguity.

I enjoyed the questioning of morals.

I would have liked probably more likable besides him having a really cool bike and taking responsibility for his friend.

I would have liked a little bit more of a better protagonist.

However, I also uh, I also really there was a lot of things I made a list of, like things I saw that were I considered classic anime tropes.

I enjoyed the yelling of names when they're like really really passionate, like people looking older than they actually are and vice versa, so like you have a There was the one point where anyone that the protagonist considers older, they say old woman or old man, and that definitely happened in this movie.

And the officers like, I'm only twenty five and I'm not even married yet.

I'm like, he felt obligated to say that to this teenager, you know, and all this like immense power.

So so I enjoyed when there was There was a lot of moments of action and the fighting was really cool.

I love the artwork.

There were moments when there was some story points where I'm like, Okay, I get what's happening.

But also at the same time, Chrissy, I'm with you.

In the majority of the movie, I had no idea what was happening.

But I can also appreciate being the starting point that it was for this art form.

So I gotta give it either like a generous eight or seven and a half cool motorcycles out of ten for those reasons.

Okay, I love that.

I think that's very good.

And I love your list of anime tropes that, as far as we know, started with this movie, as far as we know very well could have they were started with this movie.

What do you think, Nathan, So.

Yeah, so I acknowledge that I don't like a lot of the characters.

I don't feel like I need to like the characters.

I'm not saying that in all experiences.

I'm saying like, in this experience, I yes, I was constantly yelling at at Kannada to to be less of a dick.

And something.

It's like, no, tell that character you like them, or help them, et cetera.

But I I think that it was all you know, it's part of the experience.

And so I I think on on an action level and on a on a writing level, this movie is is is is stunning.

You know.

I feel like in terms of the energy, the kinetics, the ideas, the tones, the themes, it's it's very much an adult film.

Oh yeah, but.

Yeah, but I mean like the perfect audience is is a teenager who is now curious and looking for like a gateway two more intense adult storytelling and also anime.

You know, this is like the perfect movie for someone to get into a more serious type of story that is honestly very philosophical in nature.

You know, it's ultimately about can't like people suck people suck?

You know, So yeah, I'm I'm I'm I'm.

In.

This is like one of those movies that I'm I'm not going to rewatch as frequently as let's say something like that Hiomiazaki would watch, because ultimately, even terrible things happen in some of his films, there is an optimism to it.

You know, this is this is a hard film.

Yeah, you know in many ways.

Yeah, it's a many ways.

So I'm giving it somewhere between an eight point five and even a nine, just as as cinema.

Okay, I'm making notes of what we all right, give it.

I'll commit to a nine.

I'll commit to a nine.

Nine.

Okay, I'm circling it.

I'm circling it.

Nathan.

It's in the book now.

I agree with both of you.

I, as much as it might sound like, I did not like this movie, and I'm not sure I did like this movie.

I feel changed by this movie.

I feel like I have now seen this movie.

It is within me, it is part of me.

It will inform me for the rest of my days.

So I give it an eight.

I would highly I would I I would recommend this movie, and I would be like, oh my god, it's bonkers.

Clear your schedule for two hours.

You are not going to be playing Candy Crush on your phone during this movie.

And if you are, God help you, because you will know even less than I did.

And I did not know much.

And I was sitting there feverishly writing down every single thing that happened as the movie went on, so I can I thought this was a very good I would call it a film.

This is not a movie, it's a film, agreed.

Yeah.

So that brings us to our deep cut recommendations.

And I'm not gonna make you go first, David, because we have I don't want you to have to go first.

I want you to hear ours first and like get the gist of it.

As a first time guest on the Most Excellent Eighties Movies podcast, I had several ideas before I landed on one, and I was making notes during the movie and I kept changing my mind.

So I I am excited to hear what yours is, Nathan.

You always come up with such good ones, and I do mean to put pressure on you.

Well, mine is is maybe not super obscure, but there's there's definitely a connection and an homage.

So my deep cut recommendation is the anime series Cyberpunk edge Runners.

So it's on Netflix.

So it's a anime based off of the cyberpunk video game The One, Yes, the one with Keanu Reeves, and it's yeah, it's very good, and it kind of deals with a lot of similar themes.

Like the main character is kind of a street rat.

And he wants.

Fame and power, and it turns out that he basically has this unique ability.

Is like when when people add like bionics and cybernetics to them, they can eventually lose their mind.

It's called cyber psychosis.

And we see people just kind of like their brains break and they're they're basically like a tank there.

And then there's like a massacre you know that to send in like the Swat team to kill him.

But with him, he's able to just add more and add more, and so basically the corporations find out about him and try to control him.

Yeah, but it has a lot of it's it's it's very exciting, very cyberpunk action oriented, but it deals with a lot of the same kind of like you know, very colorful, energetic, you know, art design and storytelling, and yeah, it's a lot of fun edge runners.

I love it.

So I'm going to walk you through my thought process.

So I started out.

The first note I wrote down was fight Club.

Two friends who have to face off against each other.

Of course, one of them is spoiler alert imaginary sorry, spoiler for a thirty year old movie or twenty year old old movie.

Sorry, And it's probably older than twenty years you think.

So, oh my god, I'm ancient.

But then I was like, no, no, no, no, no, it's not fight Club.

It's bright Bird, a superhero gone bad, someone who gets those powers.

They can't handle those powers and they turn bad.

And then I was like, no, no, no, no, no, it's sky High.

And I don't know.

I don't know why I thought it was sky High, but that was a fleeting thought I had that would be a very deep cut recommendation.

And I think that was just me being like, I need to get out of here and get somewhere a little more positive, right, I need a hug, please, And I finally landed on Logan, MM, because you've got the experimentation on kids, You've got the person who is losing control of their powers, and those are the two references.

But I am putting forward with my deep cut recommendation of the movie.

Logan sounds great.

Okay, awesome.

So David, you don't have to take us on a journey, but certainly.

I'll take you on a brisk stroll.

Yes.

So, initially thinking about when I had you know, it was given the thought of, like, you know, come up with a recommendation, one of the things I thought about was Batman beyond the TV series, especially besides it being animated.

It has that very noir look, the lighting saying kind of like lights with futuristic city, and there's a sense of like some of the morals are like Morley Gray, you got your bad scientist who does an experiment ends up being becoming in his own villain.

He happens also to be a corrupt, rich guy.

So there's that too.

Uh.

And then you got you know, if you're fans of watching teen Inks, you got that as Terry's trying to also be a teenager.

I meant superhero at the same time.

But then as we started to have our discussion about Akira, about the uh, you know what if man played God and the all these consequences of like, hey, maybe mankind shouldn't do that, it got me thinking about one of my favorite, probably the favorite book of mine of all time, which would be Mary Shelley's Franken's sign because you got your uh, you got your scientists that it's just absolutely horrible, but you still follow him because you just got to see how his demise is going to happen.

And you got this question about uh, like life and like creating life, and again the fact that you know he's playing he's using science to play god, and like maybe deep down he knows that what he's doing is wrong, but he's still wanting to pursue that anyways.

And so having this power to create life and still design and roll with it and just ultimately his stubbornness like Tetsu's a stubbornness leads to his fall.

So yeah, I definitely recommend Frankenstein for sure.

What a smart teacher answer.

Definitely goes in my teacher side for sure, showing that, Yeah.

I love it.

That was perfect, great job, David, Thank you all right.

So David, do you have anything that you want to plug?

And you certainly can tell people where they can see you perform improv, but anything else that you want to plug before we wrap up the main pod.

That is a great question.

I'm honestly trying to think if there's anything that I'm doing noteworth that's noteworthy of being noteworthy to plug other than where I perform.

Yeah, I'm just gonna go with that.

Uh So, Yeah, you can find me at Neighborhood Comedy Theater mainly Saturdays right now.

But I also do a variety of things there, from coaching jams to doing the shows, to doing shows like the Spare Change Sketch Comedy Show.

So yeah, you can very much find me there almost every weekend, if not every weekend.

Yay.

And that's NCT Phoenix dot com if you're in the downtown Mace area.

I want to see David and me be funny together high fiving each other on stage.

That's where you can see it.

And Nathan, where can people find your filmmaking?

A genius at work?

Squishy Studios dot com.

If you want to check out our short films, web series or feature film The Last.

Movie Ever Made, which you should definitely check out, Rent it by it do all that stuff.

David's face appears in David's.

Face another thing that we could plug.

Yes, there we go, there we go.

Oh my gosh, that part with David and Daniel we shot so and I say we but like two years before we shot the.

Rest of the movie.

Yeah, yes, oh my god.

And I love it so much.

Whenever I see that part of the movie, I'm like, yay, I made those little costumes.

I loved it so much.

And you could find me not only at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater and not only on the Most Excellent Eighties Movies podcast, but also on Gank That Drank, a supernatural drinking game podcast, which is exactly what it sounds like, a drinking game about supernatural which can also be found on True Story Fm.

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And if you want a little bit more, if you're here at the end and you're like, I gotta know more about what Nathan and Chrissy and David think about animated films, then you want the bonus content, baby, and you can get that by becoming a member at true story dot fm.

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And tonight we are going to be talking about our favorite animated movies and TV shows.

So in addition to Akira, what do we love, what we recommend that you might love in the animated genre, and yeah, thank you so much.

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