Akira

It's 2019 and the world is on the brink of absolute destruction. Tokyo shimmers with tech-noir fetishism, gangs of cyber-punk bikers cruise the sprawl of the post atomic city and rioting crowds surge under buildings reaching a thousand stories into the sky. Prepare to enter the ultra-violent nightmare created by Otomo Katsuhiro, one of the world's leading animation directors. Disc one contains the digitally remastered versions of this cult series while disc two contains the gloriously presented classic stereo version accompanied by the Production Report.

Manga DVD. Director: Otomo Katsuhiro

What's it all about Akira?

The characters are quite varied, and it's sometimes difficult to tell who is on which side. The main players include Kaneda, head of a motorcycle gang, Tetsuo, who becomes an unwilling military experiment, and the Colonel, who seems to be on both sides of the conflict. I felt a little strange cheering for a bunch of juvenile delinquents, but it's refreshing that there is no solid "hero" in the bunch. Everyone is flawed somehow, which makes them very believable.