Akira (film)
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is a 1988 anime film by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his manga of the same name. The movie led the way for the growing popularity of anime in the West, where Akira is considered the beginning of the second wave of anime fandom, which began in the early 1990s. Although most of the character designs and basic settings were adapted from the original manga, the movie presents a plot different from the manga. Obvious thematic influences include youth culture and deliquency, World War III and its nuclear bomb attacks and Japan's subsequent economic revival.
Contents
Plot summary
The film takes place in the city of Neo-Tokyo, built over Tokyo Bay after an unexplained explosion that caused World War III had destroyed the existing city. The cataclysm of World War III was depicted to have started due to the superhuman powers of a child, Akira, who was before then part of a secret government research program. Thirty years after these events, a teenage gang of bikers led by Shotaro Kaneda are involved in a fight with a rival gang. While fleeing the police, Kaneda's subordinate and childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima, collides with a mysterious child, who had been abducted from the government. Tetsuo exhibits strange side-effects from this encounter and is taken by the government with the child and subjected to various experiments. The encounter as well as the experiments combine to awaken Tetsuo's own latent powers, with disastrous consequences for his friends, Neo-Tokyo, and possibly the world.Akira, like Otomo's other works (such as Domu), revolves around the basic idea of individuals with superhuman powers, in particular psychokinetic abilities, but much of the story focuses on the people involved, social issues and politics. The social commentary is not regarded as particularly deep or philosophical, but rather a wry look at youth alienation, government inefficiency and corruption, and an old-fashioned military displeased with the compromises of modern society.
In the manga, Akira is a major character who shows up at the end of the second book, while in the movie, Akira has been dissected for study and his remains stored via cryopreservation under the site designated for the 2030 Tokyo Olympiad. In the manga, Akira and Tetsuo join forces, and after Akira destroys Neo-Tokyo, they create the Great Tokyo Empire with Akira as emperor and Tetsuo as prime minister. The manga has many other plot differences from the film, but the outcome is the same in both: horrific destruction.
Characters
- Shotaro Kaneda (金田正太郎 Kaneda Shōtarō) — The anthology's protagonist. Kaneda is a carefree gang-leader with a custom-modified motorcycle. He and Tetsuo have been best friends for a long time, since their childhood. He has a very brash attitude at times, and Tetsuo often feels overshadowed by him. Many a times, Kaneda will be the one to rescue Tetsuo from a tight spot. Upon rescuing Kei, he joins a group of anti-government guerillas who are trying to find the mysterious Akira.
- Tetsuo Shima (島鉄雄 Shima Tetsuo) — Kaneda's best friend since preschool, who admires but also secretly resents having to be saved by him all the time. After a traumatic accident, Tetsuo becomes Kaneda's nemesis, in the movie desiring to possess Kaneda's bike, but also wanting to prove himself as strong and without need of protection or guarding.
- Kei (ケイ) — A young woman whom Kaneda meets on his quest to find Tetsuo. She's a member of an anti-government organization that Ryu and Nezu are also involved in.
- Colonel Shikishima — the head of the government project previously responsible for unleashing Akira's power.
- The Espers — Masaru (マサル), Kiyoko (キヨコ) and Takashi (タカシ) — Akira's psychic schoolmates kept in a perpetual yet aging childhood, with various supernatural powers, who influence the course of events as much as they can and desire. Individually, they are lesser than Akira, but together their combined powers are formidable.
- Akira (アキラ) — The most powerful of the child psychics and the cause of World War III and the destruction of Neo-Tokyo.
- Nezu (根津様) — A mole in the government, who is responsible for Takashi's kidnapping.
- Yamagata — One of the strongest members of Kaneda's gang. He often criticizes Tetsuo and this leads to some hard feelings which eventually determine his fate.
- Kaisuke — Another member of Kaneda's gang, Kai has one of the most important roles out of the other members of the gang besides Kaneda and Tetsuo. He appears to be close friends with Yamagata, seeing as when the gang breaks up, they remain together.
- Kaori Tetsuo's girlfriend.
Principal cast
| Character | Japanese | English [Orion] (1989) | English [Geneon Entertainment] (2001) |
| Shotaro Kaneda | Mitsuo Iwata | Cam Clarke (Jimmy Flinders) | Johnny Yong Bosch |
| Tetsuo Shima | Nozomu Sasaki | Jan Rabson (Stanley Gurd Jr.) | Joshua Seth |
| Kei | Mami Koyama | Lara Cody (Deanna Morris) | Wendee Lee |
| Ryusaku | Tessho Genda | Steve Kramer (Drew Thomas) | Robert Buchholz (Robert Wicks) |
| Colonel Shikishima | Taro Ishida | Tony Pope (Tony Mozdy) | Jamieson K. Price (James Lyon) |
| Doctor Onishi | Mizuho Suzuki | Watney Held | Simon Prescott (Simon Isaacson) |
| Kaori | Yuriko Fuchizaki | Barbara Goodson (Barbara Larsen) | Michelle Ruff (Georgette Rose) |
| Yamagata | Masaaki Okura | Tony Pope (Tony Mozdy) | Michael Lindsay (Dylan Tully) |
| Kaisuke | Takeshi Kusao | Bob Bergen | Matthew K. Miller (Matt "Masamune" Miller) |
| Masaru | Kazuhiro Kamifuji | Bob Bergen | Cody MacKenzie |
| Takashi | Tatsuhiko Nakamura | Barbara Goodson (Barbara Larsen) | Mona Marshall |
| Kiyoko | Fukue Ito | Melora Harte (Marilyn Lane) | Sandy Fox |
| Miyako | Koichi Kitamura | Steve Kramer (Drew Thomas) | unknown |
| Mr. Nezu | Hiroshi Ohtake | Tony Pope (Tony Mozdy) | Mike Reynolds (Ray Michaels) |
| Inspector | Michihiro Ikemizu | unknown | unknown |
| Mitsuru Kuwata | Yukimasa Kishino | Bob Bergen | unknown |
| Eiichi Watanabe | Tarō Arakawa | Jan Rabson (Stanley Gurd Jr.) | unknown |
| Yuji Takeyama | Masato Hirano | Eddie Frierson (Christopher Mathewson) | unknown |
| Army | Kazumi Tanaka | Steve Kramer (Drew Thomas) | Kurt Wimberger |
| Harukiya bartender | Yôsuke Akimoto | Bob Bergen | Ivan Buckley |
Releases
The original 1988 Japanese released by the Akira Committee Production, followed in 1989 by Orion's English dub for US theaters. VHS releases include MGM/UA Home Video (1990) and Orion Home Video (1994). The Criterion Collection released a laserdisc edition in 1993, and Geneon Entertainment issued a DVD with a new English dub in 2001. In the UK, Akira was theatrically released by ICA Projects on 25th January 1991, and then on video by Island World Communications later that year. The success of this release lead to the creation of Manga Entertainment, who later took over the release. In 2002 Manga released a two disc DVD featuring the new Geneon English dub followed in 2004 by another two disc set containing the original Japanese as well as both the Orion and Geneon dubs. In 2005 Manga Entertainment and Boulevard UMD released Akira on UMD for the Sony PSP (Playstation Portable) using the original Orion English dub.In 1988 Taito released an Akira adventure game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. [link] International Computer Entertainment produced a video game based on Akira for the Amiga and Amiga CD32 in the 1994. [link] To coincide with the DVD release in 2002, Bandai released Akira Psycho Ball, a pinball simulator for the PlayStation 2. [link]
DVD box art
DVD Features
Although certain different DVDs are being released, each have their own special features. The Collectors Edition seems to have the most features of them all, and the Special Edition had a little extra material than a regular DVD.
For the 2 Disk DVD version.
DISK 1
- Akira Remastered version
- Scene Selection
- Subtitles: English
- Languages toggle
- 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
UK Collectors Edition
- Make Your Own' AKIRA Trailer
- Production Report - 'Making of AKIRA' Featurette (the old version)
- Multiple Choice Quiz whereby correct answers will allow you to gain access to particular parts of the akira2002.com website
- Stills Gallery
UK Ultimate Edition
Disk 1- Remastered version
- English (Geneon dub) 5.1
- Japanese 2.0
- version
- English (Orion Pictures Corporation dub)
- Production Report
- Trailer
Soundtrack
Akira: Original Soundtrack was recorded by Geinō Yamashirogumi. 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 the music is featured 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 recorded was probably a direct transfer from the film.
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" (14:25)
Second Soundtrack Track listing
- "Kaneda" (9:57)
- "Tetsuo 1" (12:37)
- "Tetsuo 2" (12:33)
- "Akira" (7:56)
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 between the two is in the role of the titular character himself - Akira. In the anime version, Akira is relegated to the backstory and only appears very briefly in the main action, and even then in a limited form. In the manga, Akira is a major character from the end of Volume 2 onwards.
- Many major parts of the manga weren't included in the film, such as: Tetsuo's partial destruction of the Moon; the establishment of the Great Tokyo Empire; 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 and destroy SOL, the Japanese military's laser satellite. In the manga, the Americans have a satellite with the codename FLOYD, which Tetsuo sends it crashing down on the American naval fleet.
- In the film, Mr. Nezu, the Parliament mole, dies of a heart attack, and not by Colonel Shikishima's soldiers, as in the manga.
- Ryu dies after being shot by Nezu in the film, whereas he dies from falling debris in an elevator shaft in the manga.
- In the film, Kaori, Tetsuo's girlfriend, is crushed to death inside Tetsuo's expanding 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 when his laboratory collapses in the movie; in the manga, he is frozen to death.
- Lady Miyako, an esper who heads a temple in the manga, is turned into a fanatical follower of Tetsuo in the film. In the movie, she is crushed by a sliding vehicle when Tetsuo destroys a bridge; in the manga, she dies when while helping Kei take down Tetsuo.
- Takashi isn't killed by Nezu in the movie.
Trivia
- The sound of Kaneda's bike engine was produced by compositing the engine sound of a 1929 Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a jet engine.
- Katsuhiro Otomo is a big fan of the classic 1950s manga Tetsujin-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. Tetsuo shares the "Tetsu" of his first name with Tetsujin. Colonel Shikishima shares his name with the professor/father-figure of Tetsujin-28's Kaneda Shotaro. In addition, Takashi has a "26" tattooed on his hand which closley 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.
- Tetsuo's metamorphosis was parodied in the South Park episode "Trapper Keeper" in 2000.
- A parody also appeared in the Robot Chicken episode "The Sack" in 2005.
- Atari Teenage Riot sampled Kaneda's line "Let's sit down and talk about the revolution and stuff" for their song "Into the Death".
- A shot of Tetsuo's hooded sweatshirt and glasses on his bike is parodied in the anime FLCL with a shot of the main character, Naota, riding his own bike with a similar hoodie and glasses. He is also seen in the episode Brittle Bullet with the same jacket and glasses, but without a bike.
- In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Mandy shows up during a trip to Japan riding Kaneda's motorcycle.
- Several logo stickers are on Kaneda's bike, the names are: Arai, Big 1, Canon, Citizen, Metal, Neo-Tokyo and Shoei.
- Kaneda's bike gang's name is "Capsules", while their rival gang are the "Clowns."
- An advertisement for Absolut Vodka credits Akira as being the "absolut anime."
- Tetsuo was the inspiration for the King of Fighters character K9999. Nozomu Sasaki, the Japanese voice actor who played Tetsuo in the film also did the voice of K9999 in the video game.
- There is a British band named Kill Kenada after Kaneda.
- The newer version, released on DVD, features newly-translated dialog. The translation improved the film's sometimes poor English, as well as clarifying some confusing exchanges. For example, in the scene with Kei and Kaneda locked in the cell, when Kei was explaining the powers of Akira, the new translation of the dialog explained Akira much more clearly.
- The British Region 2 DVD releases by Manga Entertainment did not contain standard English subtitles, only subtitles for the hard of hearing (closed captioning).
See also
- Films that have been considered the greatest ever
- The Monstrous adolescent character type
Akira
| Akira film#Characters>Characters |
| Akira (character)>Akira | Colonel Shikishima | The Espers | Kai | Shotaro Kaneda | Kei | Tetsuo Shima | Yamagata |
| Akira (anime) > Akira Psycho Ball | Akira (manga) |
External links
- [Akira : AKIRA2019.com : Extensive site on Katsuhiro Otomo's Anime/Manga Akira]
- [An Introduction to Akira]
- [Akira manga review at MangaReviewer.com]
- [Blue Blade Akira]
- [Akira Image Gallery — AnimeGIG.com]
- [Akira Text-Based Resource]
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