When trying to systematically analyse my personal frameworks when making sense of Akira (1988), a clear pattern emerges. Akira is a cult classic film I hadn’t previously seen – but I already had an informed opinion of. I knew that the film is regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time – but it is labelled as long, bloody, and somewhat overwhelming.

With these preconceived notions in mind, I had already prepared myself to be in for a ride – and that I also possibly wouldn’t be able to understand the film to its full capacity for the aforementioned reasons.

The truth

‘Crisis of confidence’ is a term that I will temporarily hijack (Ellis et al 2011). Because I already had semi-informed thoughts and opinions on Akira, I didn’t know how I could approach the film in an unbiased way, which is an element…