Akira Back to Index

Imdb Rating: 7.7
Genre: Animation
Directed: Katsuhiro Ôtomo (comic) and, Izô Hashimoto (written by)
Country: Japan
Year: 1988
Duration: 124 min

Media: Hot stuff
Recommended by zMin

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Actors: Mitsuo Iwata (as Shôtarô Kaneda (voice)), Nozomu Sasaki (as Tetsuo Shima (voice)), Mami Koyama (as Kei (voice)), Tesshô Genda (as Ryűsaku (voice)), Hiroshi Ôtake (as Nezu (voice)), Kôichi Kitamura (as Priestess Miyako, Council A (voice)), Michihiro Ikemizu (as Inspector, Council I (voice)), Yuriko Fuchizaki (as Kaori (voice)), Masaaki Ôkura (as Yamagata (voice)), Tarô Arakawa (as Eiichi Watanabe, Council G, Army (voice)), Takeshi Kusao (as Kai (voice)), Kazumi Tanaka (as Army (voice)), Masayuki Katô (as Engineer Sakiyama, Council D (voice)), Yôsuke Akimoto (as Harukiya Bartender (voice)), Masato Hirano (as Yűji Takeyama, Spy, Council F (voice))

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Description: "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 psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.

Comment: I only recently watched Akira (though I have heard a lot about it) and I must say I am impressed (so much that I bought the DVD). This is, beyond any doubt, one of the best animated films in existence. Visually impressive, solid direction, with a compelling story (if a little complicated), just the right amount of character development, good and very appropriate soundtrack and an extensively detailed New Tokyo, Akira manages to be as groundbreaking as it was when it was first released.

It's only drawback is that most people (including me) will probably have to watch it again (and again maybe) to completely understand the full story. Highly recommended (especially to anime fans). I give it 8 out of 10.

IMDB TRIVIA FOR AKIRA (1988):
- This was one of the first Japanese anime films to have the character's voices recorded before they were animated. While this is the typical practice in U.S. animation, in Japan the animation is generally produced first.
- The film was re-released in 2001 with a new voice dub and soundtrack, reportedly costing over US$1 million.
- At one point in the 1990s, Sony contemplated a live-action version of the film, but scrapped the idea when the projected budget went north of US$300 million.
- The music for the film was completed before any of the composers saw a frame of film or read the script. The music did have to be edited to fit some scenes though.
- The production budget was nearly US$10million, a record sum in Japanese animation film.
- The movie consists of 2,212 shots and 160,000 single pictures, 2-3 times more than usual, using 327 different colors (another record in animation film), 50 of which were exclusively created for the film. The reason for this statistic is that most of the movie takes place at night, a setting that is traditionally avoided by animators because of the increased color requirements.
- Katsuhiro Ôtomo originally created the AKIRA manga as an homage to manga artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who created _"Tetsujin nijű-hachi gô" (1963)_ (Tetsujin 28). Both AKIRA and Tetsujin 28 have a main character named Shotaro Kaneda and Akira's no. 28 designation compares with the robot's no.28 designation.
- The 1940s-style song heard following the terrorist bombing is "Tokyo Shoe Shine Boy", released in 1951 by jazz singer Teruko Akatsuki. The song was not included in either the Japanese, or American releases of the Akira soundtrack; however, it had previously appeared on the release of the soundtrack from MASH (1970).
- Because Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd. licensed Akira through Manga Entertainment rather than Pioneer/Geneon, the Australian DVD release of Akira has both the original Streamline dub (which Manga has the license to) and Pioneer/Geneon's new English dub.

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