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Akira (film)
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is a 1988 Japanese animated film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his manga of the same name. The film is set in a neon-lit Tokyo in 2019. While most of the character designs and basic settings were adapted from the original 2,182-page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the book. Akira is regarded by many critics as a landmark anime film, one that influenced much of the art in the anime world that followed its release.
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is a 1988 Japanese animated film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his manga of the same name. The film is set in a neon-lit Tokyo in 2019. While most of the character designs and basic settings were adapted from the original 2,182-page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the book. Akira is regarded by many critics as a landmark anime film, one that influenced much of the art in the anime world that followed its release. Akira is regarded by critics as one of the greatest animated films ever made.
The movie led the way for growing the popularity of anime in the West. Akira is considered a forerunner of the second wave of anime fandom that began in the early 1990s. One of the reasons for the movie's success was the quality of its animation. At the time, most anime was notorious for cutting production corners with limited motion, such as having only the characters' mouths move while their faces remained static. Akira broke from this trend with detailed scenes, lip-synched dialoguea first for an anime production and super-fluid motion as realized in the film's more than 160,000 animation cels. Notable themes in the film include youth culture, cyberpunk, delinquency, psychic awareness, social unrest, the world's reaction toward a nuclear holocaust and Japan's post-war economic revival. The film also explores a number of psychological and philosophical themes, such as the nature of corruption, the will to power, and the growth from childhood to maturity both in individuals and the human race itself. Elements of Buddhist symbolism are also present in the film.
Plot summary
In 1988, Tokyo is destroyed by an apparent nuclear explosion that leads to the start of World War III. Thirty-one years later, Neo-Tokyo, a metropolis built on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, is troubled by political strife and gang violence. Shotaro Kaneda and his best friend Tetsuo Shima lead their motorcycle gang in a war with another gang called the Clowns. As Kaneda and Tetsuo battle a pair of Clowns on a highway, Tetsuo almost runs into a child with wizened features (Takashi) and is injured when his bike suddenly explodes. Tetsuo and the child are taken away by armed soldiers.
Tetsuo, under watch by Colonel Shikishima and Doctor Onishi, is discovered to have mental frequencies similar to "Akira", a boy with powerful, almost god-like, mental abilities. Akira was the cause of the explosion that started World War III thirty-one years earlier. Aware that another gifted child, Kiyoko, has had visions of Neo-Tokyo's destruction in the same manner, the Colonel orders the doctor to kill Tetsuo should the powers manifest any further. Tetsuo escapes and meets up with his girlfriend Kaori and steals Kaneda's motorcycle. They are attacked by Clowns who attempt to sexually assault Kaori, but Kaneda and the the gang show up and fight the Clowns. As Tetsuo is talking to Kaneda, he begins to suffer massive head pains, and a government van arrives to take him away. Later that evening, Kaneda sees Kei, helps her avoid arrest, and goes with her to the Resistance headquarters. Kaneda offers to help after they reveal their plan to infiltrate the hospital that Tetsuo was taken to.
That night, Tetsuo is attacked by the three psychics, Takashi, Kiyoko and Masaru, causing his powers to manifest further, damaging the hospital in his attempts to find them. In the Espers' room, Tetsuo learns that Akira was a young boy with similar powers, now in cryogenic storage below the new Stadium being built for the upcoming Olympics, and that he may be able to help Tetsuo remove his pain. The Colonel, Kei, and Kaneda learn that Tetsuo is heading for the Stadium to meet Akira. Kei and Kaneda are locked in prison, but Kiyoko, speaking through Kei, explains that Tetsuo must be stopped, and helps them escape. Tetsuo fends off full-force attacks by the army on his way to the Olympic Stadium. At the Stadium, Tetsuo unearths the Akira chamber to find it empty except for the organs of Akira stored in jars. Kaneda uses Tetsuo's moment of confusion to fight him with a laser rifle, but Tetsuo is able to dodge the attacks. The Colonel tries to shoot Tetsuo using a orbital laser weapon, managing only to sever his right arm. Tetsuo takes off into orbit and destroys the weapon, then spends the night recovering at the Stadium, psychically forging himself a new arm from inorganic material.
The Colonel pleads with Tetsuo to return to the lab, but Tetsuo thinks it is a trick to kill him and attacks the Colonel. When the Colonel fires back, Tetsuo is unable to keep control any longer, and his body begins to swell into a gigantic mass that crushes and kills Kaori. The Espers, watching from afar, realize the only way to stop Tetsuo is to call forth Akira, his life force contained in the body parts in the chamber under the stadium. Akira's manifestation causes another explosion, and the Espers teleport the Colonel to safety. Despite warnings from the Espers that entering the field will prevent Kaneda from being saved, Kaneda enters the field to try to save Tetsuo and Kauri. The Espers agree to sacrifice themselves to save Kaneda, and also enter the field. Kaneda experiences Tetsuo's and the Espers' memories, including how much Tetsuo trusted Kaneda as a friend and how the children obtained their powers. The Espers remove Kaneda from the field and tell him that Akira will be taking Tetsuo "away" and to find somewhere safe to ride out the explosion. The explosion engulfs much of Neo-Tokyo. Kaneda wakes up to find that Kei and Kai, another gang member, are safe as well, and they drive away from the ruined stadium.
Characters
- Akira ( The eponymous, principal subject of the story. Akira was a young boy who developed transcendent psionic, nearly god- like abilities when serving as a test subject for secret government ESP experiments in the 1980s. He subsequently lost control of this power and annihilated Tokyo in 1988. After the cataclysmic event, Akira's dead body was recovered and subjected to every test known to modern science, which proved unable to solve the mystery. His remains were placed within a cryogenic chamber underneath the Neo-Tokyo Olympic Stadium, to be entrusted to the study of future generations.
- Shotaro Kaneda ( Kaneda Shotaro) The anthology's main protagonist, Kaneda is a carefree gang-leader who boasts a custom-modified motorcycle. He and Tetsuo have been best friends since early childhood. He is brash and not above teasing Tetsuo despite feeling affection for him as a younger brother. Upon rescuing Kei, Kaneda becomes involved in the activities of her group of anti-government guerrillas in hopes of locating Tetsuo.
- Tetsuo Shima ( Shima Tetsuo) Kaneda's best friend since preschool and the second principal subject of the story's theme. Tetsuo is shown as a black sheep in the gang he and Kaneda are part of, and quietly suffers from a deeply rooted inferiority complex. He admires his friend yet at the same time strongly resents his own reliance upon him. After his psychokinetic abilities manifest, Tetsuo quickly becomes Kaneda's nemesis; he desires Kaneda's motorcycle (a symbol of status and power), and seeks to prove himself supremely powerful, without need of protection. Eventually, his power overwhelms him and the Espers are forced to awaken Akira to stop him.
- Kei A young female revolutionary whom Kaneda meets and becomes enamoured with on his quest to find Tetsuo. She is a member of an anti-government faction that Ryu and Nezu are also involved in. Although she does not possess preternatural abilities, Kei is employed by the espers as a type of medium on several occasions.
- Colonel Shikishima , also known as simply The Colonel The head of the ongoing government project which was responsible for inadvertently unleashing Akira's power thirty years earlier.
- The Espers Masaru (codename "Number 27"), Takashi (codename "Number 26") and Kiyoko (codename "Number 25") Akira's fellow psychic test subjects kept in a perpetual yet aging childhood. They exhibit a variety of paranormal powers which they use to influence the course of events to the best of their ability. While individually of lesser strength than Akira or Tetsuo, their combined effort proves decisive in the story's final confrontation.
- Nezu A mole in the government, who is responsible for Takashi/Number 26's kidnapping.
- Yamagata One of the most prominent members of Kaneda's gang. He often derides Tetsuo, which leads to harsh feelings between them that will ultimately seal his fate.
- Kai Another member of Kaneda's gang, Kai plays an important supporting role in the eventual battle against Tetsuo. He appears to be close friends with Yamagata given that they remain together when the gang breaks up.
- Kaori Tetsuo's girlfriend. She stands by Tetsuo even though he treats her rather harshly sometimes, which ultimately leads to her demise.
Voice cast
- Nurse: Steven Blum (Animaze Version)
- Animaze's additional voices by William H. Bassett, Josil Ferhardt, Rebecca Forstadt, Jessica Gee, Dougary Grant, W.T. Hatch, Matthew Hustin, Christopher Joyce, Lee Kelson, William Frederick Knight, Lex Lang, Patricia Ja Lee, Peter Lee, Mike Lembaw, Detroit Louie, Cody MacKenzie, Mona Marshall, Dan Martin, Michael McConnohie, Steve McGowan, Derek Stephen Prince, Ted Rae, Joe Romersa, Tony Sarducci, Adam Sholder, Michael Sorich, Skip Stellrecht, Sam Strong, Jim Taggert, Lisa Tarulli, Julie Ann Taylor, Chloe Thornton, Kirk Thornton, Ezra Weisz, Kurt P. Wimberger, and Dan Woren
- Streamline's additional voices by Eddie Frierson, Watney Held, Melora Harte, Lewis Lemay, Julie Phelan, Tony Pope, Burt Walters, Bruce Winant, and Brad Wurst
Production
Akira Committee was the name given to a partnership of several major Japanese entertainment companies brought together to realize production of Akira. The group's assembly was necessitated by the unconventionally high budget and ambitious scale of the cinematic project, in order to achieve the desired epic standard equal to Otomo's manga tale. Akira Committee consisted of publisher Kodansha Ltd., Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc., Bandai Co., Ltd., Hakuhodo Incorporated, distributor Toho Co., Ltd., Laserdisc Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and animation producer Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., Ltd.
The film was completed and released in 1988, two years before the manga storyline officially ended in 1990. Otomo had immense difficulty completing the manga; he has stated that the inspiration for its conclusion arose from a conversation that he had with Alejandro Jodorowsky in 1990, but Jodorowsky cannot recall what he said to Otomo.
Katsuhiro Otomo is a big fan of the classic 1950s manga Tetsujin-28 (Ironman-28, known as Gigantor in the US). As a result, his naming conventions match the characters featured in Tetsujin-28: Kaneda shares his name with the protagonist of Tetsujin-28; Colonel Shikishima shares his name with Professor Shikishima of Tetsujin-28., while Tetsuo is named after Shikishima's son Tetsuo Shikishima; Akira's Ryusaku is named after Tetsujins Ryusaku Murasame. In addition, Takashi has a "26" tattooed on his hand which closely resembles the font used in Tetsujin-28. The namesake of the anime, Akira, is the 28th in a line of psychics that the government has developed, the same number as Tetsujin-28.
The sound of Kaneda's bike engine was produced by compositing the engine sound of a 1929 Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a jet engine.
Differences between the anime and manga
Although they feature the same characters, premise and themes, the anime and manga versions of the story are quite different. Apart from numerous details of plot, very few scenes or lines play out the same way in both versions.
- The most significant variation is in the role Akira himself, who in the film adaptation is relegated to backstory and only appears very briefly in the main action, and even then in a limited form, as his remains are revealed to have been dissected for study and stored via cryopreservation under the site designated for the 2020 Tokyo Olympiad. The manga, by comparison, has Akira as a major character from the end of Volume 2 onwards, joining forces with Tetsuo to preside over the city after it is destroyed by Akira.
- The film is set in the year 2019; the manga is set in the year 2030.
- The anime cropped the whole of the manga's destructive aftermath scenario caused by the title character, which notably included: the establishment of the Great Tokyo Empire, with Akira serving as its divine emperor and Tetsuo as its operational minister; Tetsuo's partial destruction of the Moon; and the arrival of an American assassin sent to kill Akira.
- In the manga version, Akira destroys Neo-Tokyo halfway through the story. In the film version, he destroys the city at the very end.
- In the film, Tetsuo manages to fly into space to destroy SOL, the Japanese military's laser satellite. In the manga, Tetsuo does not destroy SOL, but an American satellite named FLOYD, which Tetsuo sends crashing down on the American naval fleet.
- In the film, Mr. Nezu, the Parliament mole, dies of a heart attack, and not by the Colonel's soldiers, as in the manga.
- Ryu dies after being shot by Nezu in the film. In Volume 6 of the manga, he is crushed to death by falling debris in an elevator shaft.
- In the film, Kaori, Tetsuo's girlfriend, is crushed to death inside Tetsuo's grotesque, swelling, and mutating body; in the manga version, she meets a less gruesome fate when she is shot by Tetsuo's lead henchman.
- The Doctor, the Colonel's scientific advisor, is crushed to death in the movie when his mobile laboratory collapses; in the manga, he is seemingly frozen to death when Akira's chamber leaks supercoolant, but is apparently revived by the fourth volume.
- Lady Miyako, a major character in the manga, is an esper who heads a temple. She dies while helping Kei face off against Tetsuo. In the anime, she is portrayed as a fanatical priest-follower of Tetsuo with no contributing story, and dies when hit by a sliding vehicle as Tetsuo destroys a bridge.
- In the manga, Tetsuo becomes the leader of the Clown gang, ousting Joker from the position. Joker later joins forces with his former enemies Kaneda and Kai in attacking Tetsuo. In the movie, Tetsuo does not become involved with the Clowns and Joker does not play a role in the film beyond his initial skirmish with Kaneda.
- Chiyoko, an important ally of Kei and Ryu and a major supporting character in the manga, is completely absent from the film.
- In the manga, Akira destroys Tokyo in the year 1982 (1992 in the western editions), as opposed to the year 1988 in the film.
- In the film Kai and Yamagata meet Tetsuo in the bar and Tetsuo kills Yama offscreen, Kai later reports this to Kaneda. However, Tetsuo uses his power to crush then explode the back of Yamagata's skull right in front of Kaneda in the first volume of the manga.
- Kaori is not in the manga until the fourth volume, she attempts to get pills from Tetsuo to save her father but instead stays with him and Akira. In the film she is, and has been, Tetsuo's girlfriend.
- Tetsuo's character design is slightly different in the manga. Instead of boots and a sleeveless shirt, he keeps the slippers from the hospital and completely lacks a shirt. He also keeps his robotic arm obscured behind his cape. In the Anime Tetsuo's right arm is shot and burned off by SOL (the Japanese Satellite Laser), while in the American translation of the manga it is his left. This is due to the American version being mirrored for easier reading. Furthermore, Tetsuo's Hair goes from a pitch black to a light brown, then finally to a whiteish-grey in the manga, while in the movie, his hair stays black throughout.
- In the manga, Takashi is shot by Nezu in the third book (he was aiming for Akira, who was walking right next to him). He doesn't die in the movie.
- Tetsuo is not designated "Number 41" in the film, which is a piece of information in the manga to which frequent mention is made.
Katsuhiro Otomo decried his fame and said that his conclusion of Akira was false in both the Japanese and American editions, and that he could never truly finish his epic. Nevertheless, Akira is widely considered a masterpiece of graphic storytelling.
Releases
Theatrical
The original July 16, 1988 release by Toho in Japan set attendance records for an animated film. Fledgling North American distribution company Streamline Pictures soon acquired an existing English-language rendition (originally dubbed for the Hong Kong market) which saw limited release in North American theatres from late 1988 throughout 1989. Streamline is reported to have become the film's distributor when both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg labelled it unmarketable in the U.S. In the UK, Akira was theatrically released by ICA Projects on 25 January 1991. In Australia, Akira was theatrically released by Island World Communications and distributed by Satellite Entertainment, later on by Manga Entertainment, then Madman Entertainment after Manga Entertainment's Australia branch merged with Madman. In 2001, Pioneer created a new dub and was presented in theaters.
Home video
VHS releases included the initial Streamline Video offering (May 1991), later wider distribution by MGM/UA Home Video, and a subtitled edition from Orion Home Video (September 1993). In the UK, Akira was released on video by Island World Communications in 1991. The success of this release lead to the creation of Manga Entertainment, who later took over the release. The original VHS release of Akira started up Manga Entertainment Australia and VHS distribution was handled by Ronin Films and Polygram until 1994 when Siren Entertainment took over all of Manga Entertainment Australia's distribution including Akira under a special license from Polygram, who handled Island's video distribution. Akira was re-released on video in 1994, and again on DVD in 2001 and distributed by Madman Entertainment and The AV Channel. The Criterion Collection released a laserdisc edition in 1993. Pioneer Entertainment issued a DVD and a VHS with a new English dub in 2001. In 2002, Manga released a two-disc DVD featuring the new Pioneer English dub followed in 2004 by another two-disc set containing the original Japanese as well as both the Streamline and Pioneer dubs. This version did not contain standard English subtitles, only closed captioning subtitles. In 2005, Manga Entertainment and Boulevard UMD released Akira on UMD for the Sony PSP (Playstation Portable) using the original Streamline English dub.
A Blu-ray Disc edition of the movie was released on February 24, 2009 with 5 additional minutes of the movie. There is no schedule for a blu-ray release of Akira in Australia. The Blu-ray release is the first to use the highest quality audio available (Dolby TruHD 192khz 24 bit: Japanese Only) and is also the first to use the hypersonic sound (only available in this track).
DVD features
The available DVD releases of the movie each have their own particular features, including a 'making of'. The 2-disc Region 1 Special Edition DVD contains:
Disc 1
- Akira Remastered version
- Scene Selection
- English 5.1 Surround
- Original Japanese 2.0 Surround
- Subtitles: English
- Capsule Option - English translation of graffiti and signs
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Disc 2
- Production Report (The Making of Akira)
- Sound Clip (a documentary on the creation of the soundtrack)
- Director's Interview (conducted in 1988)
- Production Materials
- Restoring Akira, a Documentary
- Akira Glossary A-Z
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Critical reception
Roger Ebert selected Akira as his "Video Pick of the Week" in 1989 on Siskel & Ebert and the Movies. For its wider 2001 release, he gave the film "Thumbs Up." As of February 2009, the film has an 88% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As of February 2009, it is ranked #42 on IMDB's Top 50 Animated Films. Channel 4's 2005 poll of the 100 greatest cartoons of all time featuring both cartoon shows and cartoon movies, Akira came in at #16. Empire magazine released the 500 greatest movies of all time, Akira came in at #440.
However, not all critics had a favorable opinion of Akira. Makigumo gave the film a 47 % rating, noting that the film's weakness is that it tried to condense six volumes of manga into one two-hour film. "Akira is rich with ideas, but lacking in expression. Its just not possible to cram in so many thematic elements, and then dilute them to fit a moviegoing audience and still make everything work.
| Source | Reviewer | Grade or score | Notes |
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| Bamboo Dong | Overall (dub): A
Overall (sub): A- | DVD/Movie review of Limited Edition Metal DVD Case | | Chris Beveridge | Content: A
Audio: A+
Video: N/A
Packaging: A+
Menus: A+
Extras: A+ | DVD/Movie review of Special Edition | | Raphael See | 4 out of 5 | Movie review (1 of 2 reviews) | | Tian Ma | Rating: 47 %Opinon: Weak | |
Soundtrack
Akira: Original Soundtrack was recorded by Geino Yamashirogumi. The music was composed and conducted by musical director Shoji Yamashiro. It features music which was additionally rerecorded for release. "Kaneda", "Battle Against Clown" and "Exodus From the Underground Fortress" are really part of the same song cycle elements of "Battle" can be heard during the opening bike sequence, for example. The score is generally sequenced in the same order that the music occurs in the film.
A second soundtrack was released featuring the original music without rerecording, but also including sound effects and dialogue from the film; the recording was probably a direct transfer from the film.
Symphonic Suite AKIRA is the same version than Akira: Original Soundtrack, but without the voices and sound effects
Disc 1 Track listing
- "Kaneda" 3:10
- "Battle Against Clown" 3:36
- "Winds Over Neo-Tokyo" 2:48
- "Tetsuo" 10:18
- "Doll's Polyphony" 2:55
- "Shohmyoh" 10:10
- "Mutation" 4:50
- "Exodus From the Underground Fortress" 3:18
- "Illusion" 13:56
- "Requiem, Part 1" 10:20
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Requiem, Part 2 - 4:00
Disc 2 track listing
- "Kaneda" 9:56
- "Tetsuo 1" 12:36
- "Tetsuo 2" 12:33
- "Akira" 7:56
Video games
In 1988, Taito released an Akira adventure game for the Famicom. An Akira game for the Super Famicom was cancelled and never released. International Computer Entertainment produced a video game based on Akira for the Amiga and Amiga CD32 in the 1994. To coincide with the DVD release in 2002, Bandai released Akira Psycho Ball, a pinball simulator for the PlayStation 2.
Live action film
In the early 1990s, Kodansha Ltd. was in negotiation with Sony Pictures to produce a live-action remake of the film. Talk circulated again a decade later, but the project has yet to materialize. Rumors circulated that the project was cancelled in both instances when the projected budget for the film was upwards of $300 million.
Recent talks have begun again as Warner Brothers has signed on to produce the movie with Stephen Norrington (writer) and Jon Peters (producer). Akira will be developed into two live action films with the first scheduled for a summer 2009 release. Warner Brothers and Appian Way will adapt the two movies from the manga, with each one covering three volumes. Akira will be Ruairi Robinson's directorial debut for a feature film. He was nominated for a short film Oscar in 2002 for Fifty Percent Grey. Gary Whitta is writing the script. Andrew Lazar, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jennifer Davisson will produce the film. No announcement has been made regarding the cast.
The new expected date is February 2, 2011 but all dates are still unofficial.
External links
- (English-based fansite)
- (English-based fansite)
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