Japan Synopsis
AKIRA
“Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.”
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Audience Engagement
3,727 audience reviews — more than 99% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 92th percentile among Japan films.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Akira. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From MBS
Animation + Science Fiction in Japan
314 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Animation and Science Fiction genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Akira itself).
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
★ 8.3 · 1997
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
★ 8.3 · 2021
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War
★ 8.3 · 1993
The Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These Seiran 2
★ 8.2 · 2019
Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya
★ 8.0 · 2013
Date A Live: Mayuri Judgment
★ 8.0 · 2015
The 1987–1989 Japan Window
Among 104 Japan films we catalog from this window, Akira places #8 — near the top of its class.
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1980s in Japan, 280 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Akira premiered alongside 32 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 4m runtime, production spent $81K per minute on screen and earned $4K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 32 other Japan films in 1988.
The 749th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Akira, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- street gang · 5
- stadium · 4
- underground · 4
- motorcycle gang · 4
- psychotronic · 4
- megacity · 3
- mutation · 2
- 2010s · 2
- total destruction · 1
- army · 17
- experiment · 13
- atomic bomb · 13
- saving the world · 10
- general · 8
- anime · 711
- adult animation · 101
- cyberpunk · 48
- dystopia · 45
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #628 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (86th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.0 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Animation productions specifically: #527 of 2,532 (top 21%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | MBS, Sumitomo Corporation, TOHO, Studio Fuga, Studio Aoi |
| Runtime | 2h 4m |
| Release Date | July 16, 1988 |
| IMDb | tt0094625 |