Akira (film)

Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated science fiction action film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. It was written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto and based on Otomo's manga of the same name, focusing mainly on the first half of the story. The film depicts a dystopian version of Tokyo in the year 2019, with cyberpunk tones. The plot focuses on teenage biker Tetsuo Shima and his psychic powers, and the leader of his biker gang, Shotaro Kaneda. Several parties, including Kaneda, resistance terrorist Kei, Colonel Shikishima of the JSDF and a trio of espers, attempt to prevent Tetsuo from releasing the imprisoned psychic Akira. While most of the character designs and settings were adapted from the original manga, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the manga.

The film has garnered a large following as a cult film since its theatrical release, and is widely considered to be a landmark in Japanese animation. It is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest animated and science fiction movies of all time.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Plot

In 1988, a psychic explosion destroys Tokyo and initiates World War III. A new city called Neo-Tokyo is eventually built in its place, but by 2019, a year before the city is set to host the XXXII Olympic Games, the dystopian metropolis is gripped by anti-government terrorism and gang violence. One night, teen delinquent Shōtarō Kaneda has his bōsōzoku gang, the Capsules, battle the Clowns, their rivals. During the fighting, Kaneda's best friend, Tetsuo Shima, crashes his motorcycle into Takashi, an esper with psychic powers, who had fled from a secret government laboratory with help from a covert revolutionary. Colonel Shikishima of the Japan Self-Defense Force, assisted by Masaru, another esper, orders Takashi escorted back to his home and Tetsuo hospitalized. When Kaneda and his gang are interrogated, he encounters Kei, a member of the revolutionaries, and arranges her release along with the Capsules.

Shikishima and Doctor Ōnishi discover that Tetsuo possesses psychic abilities similar to Akira, an esper who caused Tokyo's destruction. Meanwhile, Takashi's friend Kiyoko has visions of Neo-Tokyo's impending destruction, and Shikishima orders Ōnishi to kill Tetsuo if the power grows out of control. Fleeing from the hospital, Tetsuo steals Kaneda's motorcycle, accompanied by his girlfriend Kaori. The Clowns ambush the two but the Capsules rescue them. After Tetsuo suffers severe migraines and hallucinations, the JSDF takes him back to the hospital. During a terrorist attack, Kaneda rescues Kei from capture and joins the rebels when he overhears their plans to capture Tetsuo. At the hospital, the espers attempt to help Tetsuo bring forth his psychic powers by heightening his emotional distress, but fail. Angered, Tetsuo goes on a violent rampage through the hospital, intent on killing the espers. Kaneda, Kei and Shikishima attempt to stop Tetsuo's assault, but are unsuccessful. Learning Akira lies in cryonic storage next to the Olympic Stadium's construction ground in Old-Tokyo, Tetsuo escapes the hospital.

Aided telepathically by Kiyoko, Kei escapes along with Kaneda to prevent Tetsuo from releasing Akira. Meanwhile, Shikishima stages a coup d'état in search of Tetsuo. Tetsuo ambushes Kaneda's friends Yamagata and Kai, killing the former. After being told of Yamagata's death, Kaneda pursues Tetsuo to exact revenge. Meanwhile, Tetsuo launches a rampage on Neo-Tokyo, eventually arriving at Akira's cryogenic storage dewar in the stadium. He fights Kei and exhumes Akira's remains but finds only tissue samples. Shikishima explains that Akira was dissected, frozen, and preserved for future studies. Kaneda battles Tetsuo and Shikishima uses a laser satellite to kill Tetsuo, but their plans fail. Tetsuo destroys the satellite and fits himself with an artificial arm.

Meanwhile, as Kaori finds Tetsuo in immense pain, Shikishima reveals to Tetsuo that the espers' migraine-controlling drugs are to stunt the evolution of uncontrollable abilities. Tetsuo attempts to seek a cure from Kaori, but gets shot by Shikishima. Tetsuo's arm mutates and he attempts to kill Shikishima before Kaneda rescues Shikishima and ambushes Tetsuo. Unable to control his powers, Tetsuo mutates into a gigantic writhing mass and he engulfs both Kaneda and Kaori, killing and assimilating the latter.

The espers awaken Akira, having grown beyond the requirement of a coherent biological form. Manifesting himself from the canisters, Akira reunites with his friends and triggers a second psychic explosion, dragging Tetsuo and Kaneda with it. As Tetsuo struggles against Akira's psychokinetic powers, the espers teleport Shikishima away from the stadium, and Takashi leaps into the explosion to save Kaneda. The other espers aid in the effort at the cost of being unable to return. In the explosion, Kaneda experiences Tetsuo's and the espers' childhood flashbacks, including how much Tetsuo trusted Kaneda and how the children were trained and altered before Tokyo's initial destruction.

The espers help Kaneda escape and inform him that Akira will be taking Tetsuo to safety; Kiyoko reveals that Kei has begun to develop psychic powers. The explosion destroys most of Neo-Tokyo, killing Ōnishi in the process. In the aftermath, Kaneda discovers that Kei and Kai have survived, and they drive off into Neo-Tokyo while Shikishima watches the sun rise over the city. Tetsuo comes into control of his powers, and he triggers a big bang in an alternate dimension.

Voice cast

Production

While working on Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo did not intend to adapt the series outside of the manga; however, he became 'very intrigued' when the offer to develop his work for the screen was put before him.^[10] He agreed to an anime film adaptation of the series on the grounds that he retained creative control of the project - this insistence was based on his experiences working on Harmagedon.^[7] The Akira Committee was the name given to a partnership of several major Japanese entertainment companies brought together to realize production of an Akira film. The group's assembly was necessitated by the unconventionally high budget of around ¥1,100,000,000, intended to achieve the desired epic standard equal to Otomo's over 2,000 page manga tale. The committee consisted of publisher Kodansha Ltd., Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc., Bandai Co., Ltd., Hakuhodo Incorporated, distributor Toho Co., Ltd., Laserdisc Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation who all forwarded money and promotion towards the movie. The animation for the movie was provided for by animation producers, Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., Ltd.^[11]

Most anime is notorious for cutting production corners with limited animation, such as having only the characters' mouths move while their faces remained static. Akira broke from this trend with detailed scenes, pre-scored dialogue (wherein the dialogue is recorded before the film starts production and the movements of the characters' lips are animated to match it)^[12] – a first for an anime production, although the voice actors did perform with the aid of animatics^[7] – and super-fluid motion as realized in the film's more than 160,000 animation cels.^[11] Computer-generated imagery was also used in the film, primarily to animate the pattern indicator used by Doctor Ōnishi, but it was additionally used to plot the paths of falling objects, model parallax effects on backgrounds, and tweak lighting and lens flares.^[7] Unlike its live-action predecessors, Akira also had the budget to show a fully realized futuristic Tokyo.

The teaser trailer for Akira was released in 1987. The film was completed in 1987 and released in 1988, two years before the manga officially ended in 1990. Otomo is claimed to have filled 2000 pages of notebooks, containing various ideas and character designs for the film, but the final storyboard consisted of a trimmed-down 738 pages.^[7] He had great difficulty completing the manga; Otomo has stated that the inspiration for its conclusion arose from a conversation that he had with Alejandro Jodorowsky in 1990.^[13] He later recalled that the film project had to begin with the writing of an ending that would bring suitable closure to major characters, storylines, and themes without being extraordinarily lengthy, so that he could know in reverse order which manga elements would make the cut into the anime and thus suitably resolve the manga's various elements into a lean, two-hour story.^[14]

Otomo is a big fan of Tetsujin 28-go. As a result, his naming conventions match the characters featured in Tetsujin 28-go: Kaneda shares his name with the protagonist of Tetsujin 28-go; Colonel Shikishima shares his name with Professor Shikishima of Tetsujin 28-go, while Tetsuo is named after Shikishima's son Tetsuo Shikishima; Akira's Ryūsaku is named after Ryūsaku Murasame. In addition, Takashi has a "26" tattooed on his hand which closely resembles the font used in Tetsujin 28-go. The namesake of the series, Akira, is the 28th in a line of psychics that the government has developed, the same number as Tetsujin-28.^[14]

Releases

Theatrical

Akira was released by Toho on 16 July 1988. Fledgling North American distribution company Streamline Pictures soon acquired an existing English-language rendition created by Electric Media Inc.^[8] for Kodansha,^[15] which saw limited release in North American theaters on 25 December 1989.^[16] Streamline is reported to have become the film's distributor when both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg labelled it unmarketable in the U.S.^[17] In the UK, Akira was theatrically released by ICA Projects on 25 January 1991 and was re released on 13 July 2013. 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 Australian branch merged with Madman. In Canada, the Streamline dub was released by Lionsgate (at the time known as C/FP Distribution) in 1990. In 2001, Pioneer released a new English dub which was produced by Animaze and ZRO Limit Productions and was presented in select theaters from March through December 2001.

Home media

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 led 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. Pioneer Entertainment issued a DVD and a VHS with a new English dub (the dub produced by Animaze) in 2001. This was one of the few releases from Geneon to feature THX-certified audio and video. In 2002, Manga released a two-disc DVD featuring the new Pioneer/Animaze English dub followed in 2004 by another two-disc set containing the original Japanese as well as both the Streamline and Pioneer/Animaze 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 in the United Kingdom using the original Streamline dub.

In 1992, video-distribution company the Criterion Collection, which specializes in licensing "important classic and contemporary films", released a LaserDisc edition of Akira.^[18][19] The release is notable in that Akira is the first animated film to be released by Criterion and for more than twenty years their sole animated film to be released until their 2014 Blu-ray/DVD release of Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).^[20]

A Blu-ray disc edition of the film was released on 24 February 2009 in North America by Bandai Entertainment under the Honneamise label.^[21][22] A Blu-ray edition of Akira was subsequently released in Australia by Madman Entertainment under exclusive license from Manga Entertainment UK and Kodansha.^[23] Madman has recently released a DVD/Blu-ray combo which license is separate from the standalone Blu-ray release because instead of the DVD version being the Manga Video UK version, it uses Madman/Manga's 2001 Special Edition DVD release which is licensed from Manga UK. The Blu-ray release is the very first to use the highest sampling rate currently possible (Japanese Dolby TrueHD 192 kHz because of its analog roots) and is also the first to use the hypersonic effect (only available in this track and via a high-end audio system). As well as Japanese with English subtitles, the Blu-ray also features the 2001 Pioneer/Animaze English dub (Dolby TrueHD 48 kHz). The DVD version of Akira has been re-released in 2012 by Bandai Entertainment. The film was licensed again by Funimation following Bandai Entertainment's closure shortly after its DVD release.^[24] The Funimation release includes both the Streamline and Pioneer dubs.^[25] Funimation released the 25th anniversary Blu-ray/DVD combo and separate DVD release on 12 November 2013, which contain both English dubs.^[26]

Television

The Pioneer dub of the film has aired twice on Adult Swim's Toonami block. Once on 7 December 2013,^[27] with a rating of TV-MA-V, and again on 20 December 2014, both times with explicit language and nudity censored. The Streamline dub version premiered on The Sci-Fi Channel in the mid-90s during their week-long anime events and Saturday Anime block. It has aired numerous times on Australian FTA station SBS.^[28]

Reception and legacy

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times 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 September 2014, the film has an 87% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 46 critics, with an average rating of 7.5/10; the general consensus states: "Akira is distractingly bloody and violent, but its phenomenal animation and sheer kinetic energy helped set the standard for modern anime."^[29] Metacritic gives the film a score of 76, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."^[30] The title has been regarded as one of the greatest animated movies of all time and prompted an increase in popularity of anime movies in the US and, generally, outside Japan. It is still admired for its exceptional visuals. In Channel 4's 2005 poll of the 100 greatest cartoons of all time featuring both cartoon shows and cartoon movies, Akira came in at number 16.^[31] On Empire magazine's list of the 500 greatest movies of all time, Akira is number 440.^[32] It showed again on Empire's list of The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema, coming in at #51.^[33] IGN also named it 14th on its list of Top 25 Animated Movies of All-Time.

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 with many illustrators in the manga industry citing the film as an important influence.^[34] The film led the way for the growth of popularity of anime outside Japan. Akira is considered a forerunner of the second wave of anime fandom that began in the early 1990s and has gained a massive cult following since then. Akira has also been cited as a major influence on live-action films such as The Matrix,^[35] Tetsuo: The Iron Man,^[36] Chronicle,^[37] and Looper.^[38] The Akira anime also made TIME magazine's list of top 5 anime DVDs.^[39] The film also made number 16 on Time Out's top 50 animated movie list^[40] and number 5 on the Total Film Top 50 Animated Films list.^[41] The film was ranked #1 on Wizard's Anime Magazine on their "Top 50 Anime released in North America".^[42]

Anime News Network's Bamboo Dong commends the Limited Edition's DVD for its "superbly translated" English subtitles and the commendable English dubbing, which "sticks very close to the English translation, and the voice actors deliver their lines with emotion".^[43] THEM Anime's Raphael See applauds the film's "astounding special effects and clean, crisp animation".^[44] Chris Beveridge comments on the Japanese audio, which brings "the forward soundstage nicely into play when required. Dialogue is well placed, with several key moments of directionality used perfectly".^[45] Janet Maslin of The New York Times commends Otomo's artwork, stating "the drawings of Neo-Tokyo by night are so intricately detailed that all the individual windows of huge skyscrapers appear distinct. And these night scenes glow with subtle, vibrant color".^[46] Richard Harrison of The Washington Post comments on the pace of the film, stating that the author "has condensed the narrative sprawl of the comics to provide coherence, though there's a bit of "Back to the Future Part II" incompleteness to the story. That hardly matters, since the film moves with such kinetic energy that you'll be hanging on for dear life".^[47]

Variety commends the film's "imaginative and detailed design of tomorrow to the booming Dolby effects on the soundtrack" but criticizes the "slight stiffness in the drawing of human movement".^[48] Kim Newman of Empire commends the film's "scintillating animated visuals, with not one - not one - computer-assisted shot in sight".^[49] Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian draws a parallel on Akira's influence on the science-fiction genre to Blade Runner and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.^[50] Chicago Tribune's Dave Kehr commends Otomo's "excellent animation-specific ideas: Vehicles leave little color trails as they roar through the night, and there are a number of dream sequences that make nice use of the medium`s ability to confound scale and distort perspective".^[51] Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies claims that anime "remains fresh and exciting, easily holding its own against the products of two decades of massive technical advancement".^[52]

Akira was one of the four nominees for the American Anime Awards' "Best Anime Feature" award, but it lost to Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.

Johnny Yong Bosch, Kaneda's voice actor in the Pioneer English dub, was nominated for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy at American Anime Awards, but lost to fellow Naruto and Persona voice actors Vic Mignogna and Dave Wittenberg, respectively.^[53][54]

Soundtrack

Akira: Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Geinō Yamashirogumi (芸能山城組)
Released	1990
Recorded	1988
Genre	Anime, film, gamelan, noh
Length	69:36
Label	Victor Music Industries, Demon Records/JVC Records
Producer	Shoji Yamashiro

AKIRA: Original Soundtrack was recorded by Geinō Yamashirogumi (芸能山城組). The music was composed and conducted by musical director Shoji Yamashiro (pseudonym of Tsutomu Ōhashi). It features music which was additionally re-recorded for release. "Kaneda", "Battle Against Clown" and "Exodus From the Underground Fortress" are really part of the same song cycle – elements of "Battle Against Clown" 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. The North American version featured extensive production notes by David Keith Riddick and Robert Napton.

A second soundtrack was released featuring the original music without re-recording, but it was made into character study collages with sound effects and dialogue from the film; the recording was probably a direct transfer from the film.

Symphonic Suite AKIRA is the same version as AKIRA: Original Soundtrack, but without the voices and sound effects.

Video games

In 1988, Taito released an Akira adventure game for the Famicom exclusively in Japan.^[55] Another Akira game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis and Sega CD was being developed, but cancelled along with prospects of another Akira title for the Game Boy and Game Gear handheld consoles.^[56] International Computer Entertainment produced a video game based on Akira for the Amiga and Amiga CD32 in 1994.^[57] To coincide with the DVD release in 2002, Bandai released Akira Psycho Ball, a pinball simulator for the PlayStation 2.^[58]

Live-action film adaptation

In 2002, Warner Bros. acquired the rights to create a live-action remake of Akira,^[59] and since then several attempts have been made to write a script and start production.^[60] On June 2010, producer Andrew Lazar explained that they contemplated splitting Akira in two movies based on manga volumes 1-3 and 4-6, respectively.^[61] According to Gary Whitta, at one point the script had the events taking place in a Japanese-owned Manhattan.^[62]

Since the project began, several writers, directors, producers, actors and actresses have been attached to the project.^{[59][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73]}

George Takei spoke with The Advocate in April 2011 about the casting rumors at that time, stating that any decision to cast white actors in Akira would offend both Asians and the fans of the original manga or animated film.^[74]

As of 14 July 2014, the latest writer known to be working on the script was Dante Harper.^[75]

On 8 March 2015, the planned director Jaume Collet-Serra told Collider in an interview that there was no progress on the film and planned to take a break from directing. However, the studio might get the movie made eventually.^[76] On 8 June 2015, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that the studio has resumed work on the film and Marco Ramirez, known for his work as one of the showrunners for Marvel's Daredevil, will write the film.^[77] On 14 September 2015, Den of Geek reports that Warner are planning to make Akira a trilogy and Christopher Nolan is helping out with the film.^[78] Warner Bros. offered George Miller the chance to direct the film at one point but turned it down because of commitments to other projects.^[79]

See also

• Tetsuo: The Iron Man

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Akira

• Official website (Japanese)
• Official website (US)
• Akira at the Internet Movie Database
• Akira at Rotten Tomatoes
• "Akira" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2007. 
• Akira (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
  • BD review
• BlueBlade Akira (English-based fansite)
• Akira 2019 (English-based fansite)
• Official Cast and Crew credits for 1989 Streamline dub
• Official Cast and Crew credits for 2001 Pioneer dub
• TIME review (subscription required)