Akira (1988)

One the most well known anime films in the west and rightfully so. Akira is a dystopian, action anime set in the crime infested city known as Neo-Tokyo.

The film revolves around Kaneda, a bike gang leader who tries to save his friend after he's kidnapped for secret government experiments developing telekinetic humans. As well as having incredible memorable sequences such as the chase/fight in the sewer and the ending (which i will not spoil), an incredible and almost surreal soundtrack it has sleek jaw dropping animation which is even more amazing when you learn that it's entirely hand drawn. Despite its overall dark tone it doesn't fail to have humorous occasions which is something that other Japanese animated action films that are aimed towards a mature audience often fail to do (Ghost in the Shell). If were to have a problem with the film it would be the ending scene (which is no doubt incredible) i felt that it dragged on for a bit too long and about 5 minutes could've been cut off.

All in all Akira is an incredible film with amazing animation and an original plot i would recommend this film to everyone if you hate anime.