Akira (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Akira
IMDB 7.7/10 (19,231 votes)
Directed by	Katsuhiro Otomo
Produced by	Ryohei Suzuki, Shunzo Kato
Written by	Katsuhiro Otomo, Izo Hashimoto
Starring	Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama
Music by	Shoji Yamashiro
Distributed by	Akira Committee Production (Japan) Orion Pictures Corporation (US) Manga Entertainment (UK)
Release date(s)	July 16, 1988 1989 - 1990 January 25, 1991 May 8, 1991 May 9, 1991
Running time	124 minutes
Language	Japanese
Budget	¥1,100,000,000 $10,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Akira (アキラ, Akira^?) is  a 1988 animated 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, with Akira 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 highly advanced 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 meticulously detailed scenes, exactingly lip-synched dialogue (voices were recorded before the animation was completed, rather than the opposite — a first for an  anime production) and  superfluous motion as realized in the film's more  than 160,000 animation cels.^[1]

While most of the character designs and  basic settings were directly adapted from the original 2000-plus page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the book.

Notable themes of the film include youth culture, delinquency, social unrest and  future uncertainty weighed against the historical spectre of  and  Nagasaki">nuclear destruction and  Japan's post-war economic revival. This pervasive atmosphere of impending doom is  set to fuse in the feature's tag line, "Neo-Tokyo is  about to E•X•P•L•O•D•E."

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Themes and  Symbolism 3 Characters 4 Principal cast 5 Production 6 Releases 7 DVDs 7.1 Box art 7.2 DVD Features 7.2.1 Special Edition 7.2.2 UK Collectors Edition 7.2.3 UK Ultimate Edition 8 Soundtrack 9 Differences between the anime and  manga 10 Trivia 11 Parodies 12 See also 13 Footnotes 14 What's new 15 External links

[edit] Plot summary

The story takes place in the politically volatile city of Neo-Tokyo, built over Tokyo Bay after an  unexplained explosion inciting World War III destroyed the original city in 1988. The cataclysm is  revealed to have  been caused by the frightening psionic powers of a child, Akira, who had earlier been the subject of a secret government research project for the development of psychokinetic abilities.

Thirty-one years later, in the year 2019, a gang of teenage bikers led by a smug teenage delinquent named Kaneda find themselves involved in a street fight with a rival gang called the Clowns. Tetsuo Shima, Kaneda's best friend, having pursued two Clown members in the abandoned Tokyo, finds a wizened child (Takashi, one of the Espers, who has just been kidnapped from a government facility), blocking his path. As Tetsuo tries to avoid him, his bike inexplicably explodes. When the gang arrives at the scene, several military helicopters arrive. Led by Colonel Shikishima, armed soldiers take Takashi and  the injured Tetsuo away. Kaneda and  his friends are  arrested.

The gang is  brought in for questioning, but the interrogators are  soon convinced the boys are  not members of the anti-government Resistance. Kaneda recognizes the female terrorist Kei from a mugshot and, finding her attractive, gets the soldiers to release her by convincing them she is  part of their gang. Kei abruptly leaves the scene, leaving a spurned Kaneda behind. When the boys are  returned to their vocational training school, they are  harshly disciplined by the school administration.

Meanwhile, Colonel Shikishima is  summoned from a discussion of a Supreme Executive Council inquiry into Takashi's escape by the Doctor, who is  monitoring Tetsuo at the government lab. The Doctor says that Tetsuo is  displaying strong mental frequencies that are  unlike anything he's seen before. Warning that Tetsuo may turn into "another Akira," the Colonel orders the Doctor to kill Tetsuo "without hesitation" should his power grow beyond control. Tetsuo, apparently using telepathy, repeats Akira's name in his mind.

Tetsuo escapes from the government hospital and  meets up with his girlfriend Kaori. Deciding to run away together, they go to the school the next day and  steal Kaneda's bike, which stalls just as the two are  leaving town. They are  immediately attacked by Clown members, who beat them up and  are about to destroy the bike when Kaneda and  his gang show up and  defeat them.

Tetsuo declares his resentment towards Kaneda and  his leadership role, revealing his inferiority complex. Tetsuo then has a painful headache accompanied by disturbing hallucinations, including brief glimpses of Akira. Scientists and  bodyguards, upon orders of the Doctor, then recapture Tetsuo and  take him away.

That night, as the gang hangs out in the city, their excursion is  interrupted by a terrorist attack. Kaneda glimpses Kei and  Ryu, and  follows them as they flee the scene. When Kei separates from Ryu and  enters the sewers, she is  spotted by soldiers; Kaneda wrestles with one of them and  Kei shoots and  kills another in self defense. Kei and  Kaneda flee the scene.

We see experiments being performed again  on Tetsuo, who dreams of himself and  Kaneda playing as children as the city around them--and Tetsuo himself--seem to crumble. Tetsuo wakes up, his headache causing a nearby fluorescent light to shatter.

Meanwhile, the Colonel appears at the nursery, where Kiyoko, another Esper, tells him she dreamt that she met Akira again, and  that Neo-Tokyo was destroyed. The Colonel and  the Doctor agree that this might be Kiyoko's precognition at work, and  the Doctor notes that the Supreme Executive Council will want to hear about it. The Colonel travels to another top secret facility, this one at the future site of the Neo-Tokyo Olympiad. They make their way to Akira's underground cryonic chamber, finding that all of the chamber's systems to be normal.

Kaneda and  Kei make their way to the hideout of the Resistance, where Ryu and  the other terrorists lock Kaneda in a room. Nezu, the Resistance leader, tells them they will use special ID cards to gain access to a government facility to rescue a boy named Tetsuo Shima. The group discovers Kaneda eavesdropping on them from a ventilation shaft and  pull him out. He explains that he and  Tetsuo are  best friends and  that he wants to help them. Ryu decides to take Kaneda on the mission, and  perhaps use him as a decoy.

The next day, the Colonel appears before the Council, asking for more  funding for the project. (We see that Nezu, the resistance leader, is  a member of the Council.) They flatly refuse, arguing on how to spend the money on other programs instead and  questioning the Colonel's sense of duty as a soldier. When he is  told he will be placed before an  inquiry committee, the frustrated Colonel abruptly leaves the meeting.

In his hospital room, Tetsuo is  attacked by the Espers - Takashi, Kiyoko, and  a third child, Masaru - posing as gigantic toys. Leaking milk, the toys repeatedly attempt to kill Tetsuo. When he cuts his foot by stepping on a glass, it  scares away the Espers, who are  apparently frightened at the sight of blood. Tetsuo, sensing the Espers' location - their nursery, called the "baby room" - starts to make his way there, killing soldiers and  wreaking destruction.

Meanwhile, the terrorists are  soon spotted by soldiers riding "flying platforms" - flying one-man vehicles armed with machine guns - and  a battle ensues. Kaneda and  Kei take control of a platform and  escape. They hear over the platform's radio that Tetsuo is  making his way to the baby room, that he's extremely dangerous and  must not be let inside.

Kiyoko possesses Kei and  leads Kaneda to the baby room. When they get there, Tetsuo is  already inside, attacking both the Colonel's army and  the Espers. He has learned about Akira, and  is eager to meet him to make him stop his headaches. Tetsuo reads Kiyoko's mind, discovering Akira's location beneath the Olympic Stadium.

After leaving the scene in a flash of light, Tetsuo goes to a bar for a drink. His old gang buddies, Yamagata and  Kaisuke, arrive later, finding the place a mess and  the bartender dead. Tetsuo soon kills Yamagata.

Kei and  Kaneda are  locked in a holding cell. Kiyoko possesses Kei again, explaining that scientists tried to harness the energy inside all living things, but destroyed Tokyo doing so. Tetsuo, she says, has enough of this energy to consume everything around him. Kei then finds the door unlocked and  they escape. They soon bump into Kaisuke, who tells them that Tetsuo has killed Yamagata. A distraught Kaneda then takes Yamagata's bike and  crashes it  into a wall, so he can "send Yamagata his wheels". He and  Kaisuke both see Kei walking on water, meeting the Esper Takashi, and  see the both of them disappear.

The Colonel, initiating a coup, orders all members of the Supreme Executive Council arrested. Hearing of this at his home, the mole Nezu murders his staff. As Nezu is  stuffing a briefcase with money, a bleeding Ryu enters the room, saying their mission failed. an  angry Nezu shoots Ryu and  flees, but suffers a heart attack and  dies on the street outside.

Tetsuo is  now wreaking havoc across Neo-Tokyo, destroying helicopters, tanks, and  a bridge on his way to the Olympic Stadium. Kei, again  possessed by Kiyoko, attempts to fight him, but is  soon thrown aside. When Tetsuo pulls the cryonic chamber from the ground and  opens it, he finds nothing left of the dead Akira except dissected body parts in canisters.

In the wreck of the chamber, Tetsuo meets Kaneda, now armed with a laser cannon, who confronts Tetsuo, and  they begin to fight. In the middle of the fight, the Colonel activates a Satellite Orbital Laser, and  its beam severs Tetsuo's arm. an  enraged Tetsuo flies into space and  brings down the laser satellite.

That night, Tetsuo hides out at the Olympic Stadium, where Kaori finds him screaming in pain. He has made a new, apparently mechanical arm, which seems to merge with the Olympic throne where Tetsuo sits. When the Colonel appears, telling Tetsuo to come back to the lab with him, Tetsuo attacks him with flying rocks. The Colonel shoots back, and  Tetsuo's arm turns into a giant blob that attempts to swallow the Colonel. Kaneda arrives and  shoots the blob with a laser cannon, causing the blob to receed. Meanwhile, the Espers have  arrived at the stadium and  seem to be communicating with Akira in the canisters.

Tetsuo and  Kaneda fight again. When Tetsuo is  down and  Kaneda has a clear shot, he hesitates when Tetsuo's entire body evolves into a huge, living blob that almost fills the stadium. Tetsuo's body swallows Kaori, crushing her, and  attempts to consume Kaneda, who shoots his way out with the laser cannon.

Suddenly, the canisters shatter, and  Akira appears, triggering another explosion. Kiyoko touches the Colonel and  sends him to a tunnel far away from the stadium. The explosion starts to absorb Tetsuo, who pleads for Kaneda to help. Kaneda allows himself to be captured by Tetsuo again, and  goes inside the explosion with him. In an  effort to save Kaneda, the Espers decide to go inside also and  use their combined powers to get him out. Inside, Kaneda sees the memories of Tetsuo and  the Espers. The Espers tell him that Akira will be sending Tetsuo away, but the destination is  not revealed. Kaneda then seems to be ejected from the inside of Akira's onslaught, awakening outside the explosion when he hears Kei's voice, possibly a telepatic message delivered by the Espers, calling his name.

Neo-Tokyo is  destroyed by Akira's second appearance, and  is gutted and  flooded by the event. Kaneda survives, as do Kei, Kaisuke, and  the Colonel. The former three meet up at the remains of the Olympic Stadium, wondering if Tetsuo is  truly dead. They then ride their bikes across a bridge into the ruined city.

We last see a stylized "big bang" of sorts, followed by Tetsuo saying "I am  Tetsuo." This may imply that Tetsuo is  now a god-like entity residing in his own universe.

[ and  Symbolism">edit] Themes and  Symbolism

Like Otomo's earlier work, Domu (1983), Akira revolves around the basic idea of individuals with superhuman powers — in particular, psychokinetic abilities — but much of the story focuses on the characters involved, social issues and  politics. it  takes a wry look at youth alienation, government inefficiency and  corruption, and  an old-fashioned military displeased with the compromises of modern society.

A central theme reflected in key dialogue exchanges concerns evolution^[2] — human, social, and  technological — and  the dangers inherent in mankind's quest to a virtual godhood by the development of tools which defy a capacity to be controlled.^[3] Alongside the more  blatant visual cues in depictions of civil implosion and  de facto nuclear annihilation, its cautionary message is  distilled in exposition that Kei delivers (while channeling an  esper girl) to Kaneda when they are  imprisoned in a detention cell: Everything, including human invention, owes its existence to an  earlier form; the concept of collective unconsciousness is  extrapolated into a theory of cosmic memory whose participants, through accident of experimentation, have  managed to misappropriate power intended for more  advanced stages of evolutionary development.

Kaneda and  his motorcycle gang embody the untamed spirit of youth, the cutting edge of social change that can't be contained by an  older generation.^[4] Neo-Tokyo itself is  alternately portrayed as a disenchanted cyberpunk wonderland and  an explosively unstable gladiatorial arena whose fraying political infrastructure erupts with horrific ramifications in the contest for control.

The esper children seem icons of arrested development by comparison; they are  in fact aged peers of Akira, who was laid to frozen rest thirty years earlier. Living perpetually in an  isolated nursery playground, themselves mere playthings of military ambition, they are  represented as nightmarish toys in disturbing visions beset by the incubation of Tetsuo's still-growing powers (whose nurturing is  symbolized by an  imagined flood of milk).

Consumed by raw anger, Tetsuo retrogresses into a monstrous primordial mutation that engulfs everything within reach, unintentionally destroying even the things he values most — his girlfriend Kaori — and  at one point assuming the conspicuous shape of a mushroom cloud^[5] as he becomes too powerful for his own controlling in the process of metamorphosing to a god-like superpower.

Akira is  the 10-year-old child who first manifested these startling powers, obliterating all of Tokyo (at the beginning of the film) with an  energy too great to be humanly contained — a veritable atom bomb personified in a little boy: wordless and  morally indifferent, the character implicitly represents the 'divine wind'^[6] of nuclear detonation, simultaneously feared and  held in awe by power-hungry humanity. Wearing a perennial Buddha-like grin of misleading docility and  rapturously glorified by expectant fanatics, he stands symbolic of "a greater power"^[7] that humans aspire to while stumbling through episodes of atrocity in the clumsy upward climb of history — the film's climax set within the stadium thus befitting Olympian endeavour toward 'Faster, Higher, Stronger.'

When Akira's form is  reconstituted by the espers, his reawakening proves not unlike the wrathful birth cry of a deity, and  Neo-Tokyo is  apocalyptically devastated once again. Proximity to this psychic force sweeps Tetsuo into the swelling vortex of Akira's "pure energy"^[8], and  his newly discorporated consciousness is  experienced firsthand by Kaneda, who physically passes through spheres of his friend's disembodied memories in several childhood flashback scenes before the cataclysmic dust finally settles.

Akira and  Tetsuo disappear just as suddenly, their harsh departure taking with them the self-serving ambitions of the military scientist whose research crafted this terrible power that an  unevolved human race remains unprepared to possess. ("...But someday, we will be... Because it  has already begun."^[9]) Shafts of sunlight pierce the breaking cloud cover as if to signal Tetsuo's incorporeally survived consciousness somewhere above, transcending all the universe in a tide of star formations, signifying rebirth, as his voice affirms, "I am  Tetsuo." ^[10]

The closing frames of the movie present an  animator's pencil test of the immediately subsequent animated sequence (of an  expanding energy bubble), suggesting that mankind is  already proceeding toward its higher destiny, born from small early steps likened to the movie's own beginnings in humble pencil renderings: Change is  coming, it  can't be stopped, and  it is  sometimes violent.

[edit] Characters

• Akira (アキラ) — The principal subject of the story. Akira was a young boy who developed immense psychic abilities when serving as a test subject for secret government ESP experiments in the 1980s. He somehow lost control of his power and  destroyed Tokyo in 1988. After the event, his dead body was dissected and  subjected to every test known to modern science. His remains were placed in a cryogenic chamber underneath the Neo-Tokyo Olympic Stadium.
• 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 since childhood. He has a very brash attitude and  is not above heckling Tetsuo. Upon rescuing Kei, Kaneda 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, Tetsuo has an  inferiority complex, admiring his friend but secretly resenting his assistance. After his telekinetic powers manifest, Tetsuo becomes Kaneda's nemesis; he desires Kaneda's motorcycle (a symbol of status and  power), but also wants to prove himself as strong and  without need of protection.
• Kei (ケイ) — A young woman who Kaneda meets and  becomes enamoured with on his quest to find Tetsuo. She's a member of an  anti-government organization that Ryu and  Nezu are  also involved in. Although she does not have  psychic powers, she is  employed as a medium of the espers.
• Colonel Shikishima (敷島大佐) — Head of the government project previously responsible for unleashing Akira's power.
• The Espers — Masaru (マサル, also known by the codename "Number 27"), Kiyoko (キヨコ, codename "Number 25") and  Takashi (タカシ, codename "Number 26") — are  Akira's psychic schoolmates kept in a perpetual yet aging childhood. They affect a variety of paranormal powers to influence the course of events to the best of their ability. While individually of lesser strength than Akira's power, their combined effort proves formidable.
• Nezu (根津) — A mole in the government, who is  responsible for Takashi's kidnapping.
• Yamagata (山形) — One of the strongest members of Kaneda's gang. He often criticizes Tetsuo and  this leads to some hard feelings which ultimately determine his fate.
• Kaisuke (甲斐) — 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 (カオリ) — Tetsuo's girlfriend. She stands by Tetsuo even though he treats her harshly.

[edit] Principal cast

Character	Seiyū	English [Orion] (1989)	Mexican/Latin American (1995)	English [Geneon Entertainment] (2001)
Shotaro Kaneda	Mitsuo Iwata	Cam Clarke (Jimmy Flinders)	Irwin Daayan; Gabriel Ramos (young)	Johnny Yong Bosch
Tetsuo Shima	Nozomu Sasaki	Jan Rabson (Stanley Gurd Jr.)	Benjamin Rivera; unknown (young)	Joshua Seth
Kei	Mami Koyama	Lara Cody (Deanna Morris)	Laura Ayala	Wendee Lee
Ryūsaku (Ryu)	Tessho Genda	Steve Kramer (Drew Thomas)	Salvador Delgado	Robert Buchholz (Robert Wicks)
Colonel Shikishima	Taro Ishida	Tony Pope (Tony Mozdy)	Mario Sauret	Jamieson K. Price (James Lyon)
Doctor Ōnishi	Mizuho Suzuki	Watney Held	unknown	Simon Prescott (Simon Isaacson)
Kaori	Yuriko Fuchizaki	Barbara Goodson (Barbara Larsen)	unknown	Michelle Ruff (Georgette Rose)
Yamagata	Masaaki Ōkura	Tony Pope (Tony Mozdy)	Armando Coria	Michael Lindsay (Dylan Tully)
Kaisuke	Takeshi Kusao	Bob Bergen	Ricardo Mendoza	Matt K. Miller (Matt "Masamune" Miller)
Masaru	Kazuhiro Kamifuji	Bob Bergen	unknown	Cody MacKenzie
Takashi	Tatsuhiko Nakamura	Barbara Goodson (Barbara Larsen)	Kalimba Marichal	Mona Marshall
Kiyoko	Fukue Ito	Melora Harte (Marilyn Lane)	Rosy Aguirre	Sandy Fox
Miyako	Koichi Kitamura	Steve Kramer (Drew Thomas)	unknown	unknown
Nezu	Hiroshi Ohtake	Tony Pope (Tony Mozdy)	Daniel Abundis	Mike Reynolds (Ray Michaels)
Inspector	Michihiro Ikemizu	unknown	unknown	unknown
Mitsuru Kuwata	Yukimasa Kishino	Bob Bergen	Carlos Hugo Hidalgo	unknown
Eiichi Watanabe	Tarō Arakawa	Jan Rabson (Stanley Gurd Jr.)	Jesus Barrero	unknown
Yūji Takeyama	Masato Hirano	Eddie Frierson (Christopher Mathewson)	Yamil Atala	unknown
Army	Kazumi Tanaka	Steve Kramer (Drew Thomas)	unknown	Kurt Wimberger
Harukiya bartender	Yōsuke Akimoto	Bob Bergen	unknown	Ivan Buckley

[edit] Production

Akira Committee Productions 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 Productions consisted of:^[11]

• publisher Kodansha Ltd.
• Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc.
• Bandai Co., Ltd.
• Hakuhodo Incorporated
• Toho Co., Ltd.
• Laserdisc Corporation
• Sumitomo Corporation
• Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., Ltd.

[edit] Releases

The original 1988 release by Akira Committee 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)^[12] which saw limited release in North American theatres from late 1989 throughout 1990. Streamline is  reported to have  become the film's distributor when both George Lucas and  Steven Spielberg labelled it  unmarketable in the U.S.^[13] 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). 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. 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 Orion English dub.

In 1988 Taito released an  Akira adventure game for the Famicom. [1] 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. [2] To coincide with the DVD release in 2002, Bandai released Akira Psycho Ball, a pinball simulator for the PlayStation 2. [3]

[edit] DVDs

[edit] Box art

US Special Edition

US Regular Edition

US Japanese DTS Edition

UK Ultimate Collection Edition

[edit] DVD Features

The available DVD releases of the movie each have  their own particular features.

[edit] Special Edition

For the 2-disk Region 1 Special Edition DVD:

Disk 1 Akira Remastered version Scene Selection English 5.1 Surround Japanese 4.1 Surround Subtitles: English Capsule Option - english translation of graffiti and  signs

Disk 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

[edit] 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

[edit] UK Ultimate Edition

Disk 1 Remastered 16:9 version English (Geneon dub) 5.1 Japanese 2.0 English Hard-of-hearing subtitles

Disk 2 4:3 version (VHS Port) English (Orion Pictures Corporation dub) Production Report Trailer

[edit] Soundtrack

Akira: Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack by Geinō Yamashirogumi
Released	1990
Recorded	1988
Length	69:31
Label	Demon Records
Producer(s)	Shoji Yamashiro

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 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.

Track listing

1. "Kaneda" – 3:10
2. "Battle Against Clown" – 3:36
3. "Winds Over Neo-Tokyo" – 2:48
4. "Tetsuo" – 10:18
5. "Doll's Polyphony" – 2:55
6. "Shohmyoh" – 10:10
7. "Mutation" – 4:50
8. "Exodus From the Underground Fortress" – 3:18
9. "Illusion" – 13:56
10. "Requiem" – 14:25

Second Soundtrack Track listing

1. "Kaneda" – 9:57
2. "Tetsuo 1" – 12:37
3. "Tetsuo 2" – 12:33
4. "Akira" – 7:56

[ and  manga">edit] 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 anime cropped the whole of the manga's destructive aftermath scenario effected by the title character, which notably included: the establishment of the Great Tokyo Empire, with Akira serving as emperor and  Tetsuo as prime 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 doesn't destroy SOL, but the Americans have  a satellite with the codename 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, 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 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  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, and  then crushed by a sliding vehicle when Tetsuo destroys a bridge; in the manga, she dies while helping Kei face off against Tetsuo.
• 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  Kaisuke 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.

[edit] Trivia

• The film was completed and  released in 1988, two years before the manga storyline officially ended in 1990.
• 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 (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's, while Tetsuo is  named after Shikishima's son Tetsuo Shikishima. Akira's Ryūsaku is  named after Tetsujin's Ryūsaku Murasame. 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.
• Several corporate logo stickers decorate Kaneda's bike: 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."

• Atari Teenage Riot sampled Kaneda's line "Let's sit down and  talk about the revolution and  stuff" for their song "Into the Death".
• The music video for Michael Jackson and  Janet Jackson's 1995 song Scream featured clips from Akira and  other anime.
• There is  a British band named Kill Kenada after Kaneda.
• 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.
• 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,^[14] 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. However recently talks have  began again  as Warner Brothers has signed on to produce the film. Stephen Norrington (writer) along with Jon Peters (producer) have  signed on to make the movie. [4]
• In an  episode of Genshiken, Madarame sprains his wrist while slipping on wet pavement. Before he is  taken away by paramedics, he looks at his swollen hand and  remarks that he forgot to do an  impression of Tetsuo.
• In the SquareSoft video game Live A Live, one of the game's scenarios revolves around a young boy named Akira who has unique powers, much like the Akira from the anime film. The themes of bikers and  gangs also resemble that of the film.
• The final boss of Konami's Violent Storm (an arcade beat'em up) was partly inspired by Tetsuo: in the beginning he looked like a child with a cape sitting on a throne, then turned into a hulking man with psychic powers.
• In the original version of the Linkin Park song 'High Voltage' which can be found on the 'In The End: Live & Rare' EP the name 'Akira' can be heard in the background at around 1 min 4 secs into the song at the beginning of the second verse. an  obvious reference to the film of the same name as band members have  often expressed a love for Japanese Anime & Manga. The video for their song 'Breaking the Habit' is  entirely anime style animation.

• The Pop Will Eat Itself single "Karmadrome" features voice samples from the original english dubbing of Akira that was produced by Streamline Pictures.

• Absolut vodka has a commercial in which the "Absolute: Anime" is  Akira
• Akira is  referenced in sitcom Spaced when Tim refuses to take Daisy to see a re-release screening of Akira. According to Daisy, Tim said that you have  to experience it  on a big screen. Tim argues that they 'could sit closer to the TV'.

[edit] Parodies

• A parody appeared in Robot Chicken episodes "The Sack" and  "Robot Chicken Christmas Special" in 2005.
• A shot of Tetsuo wearing a hooded sweatshirt and  goggles while 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  goggles. He is  also seen in the episode Brittle Bullet with the same jacket and  eyewear, but without a bike.
• In an  episode of  and  Mandy">The Grim Adventures of Billy and  Mandy, Mandy shows up during a trip to Japan riding Kaneda's motorcycle.
• An episode of The Powerpuff Girls entitled "Twisted Sister" parodies the end of Akira when their Doppelgänger sister explodes, mimicking the silent explosion which engulfs Neo-Tokyo.
• In the Homestar Runner Halloween cartoon "Three Times Halloween Funjob", a hidden easter egg scenario offers a small jar of pills labeled "Akira" as a option which causes Stinkoman to scream as his arm mutates wildly before he finally stops to remark, "That tickles."
• In Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo, when Starfire and  Robin are  watching a Sumo match, Kaneda and  Yamagata look-alikes are  seen from behind sitting among the spectators. Robin's bike also resembles Kaneda's, except Robin's is  blue.
• One of the segments on The Wacky World of Tex Avery featuring Maurice and  Mooch included a parody of The Colonel, who looked like Colonel Sanders.
• In the 4th Season South Park episode entitled "Cartman's Trapper Keeper", Cartman merges with the trapper keeper causing him to mutate in a fashion similar to Tetsuo. They parody the arm mutation with an  unknown part of Cartman shooting out causing the door to crush Kenny. Later in the episode Cartman crushes Rosie O'Donnell in a direct parody of Tetsuo crushing Kaori. Also, the music playing in the background is  very similar to the score that played during Tetsuo's mutation in Akira.
• In episode 4 of  is  My Master">He is  My Master, Sawatari Mitsuki shaves Kume Shinji's hair into the likeness of Colonel Shikishima from Akira.
• In the video game Mario Tennis: Power Tour, there is  a character called Mason who strongly resembles Tetsuo. Unsurprisingly, he is  designated a 'power player'.
• In the 3rd season Drawn Together episode "Unrestrainable Trainable", the scenes of destruction after Captain Hero's son hugs a nuclear bomb are  similar to the blast scenes from Akira.

[edit] See also

•  have  been considered the greatest ever">Films that have  been considered the greatest ever
• The Monstrous adolescent character type
• Thematic similarities in Altered States and  Childhood's End.
• Akira (video game)

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Production insights, Akira #3 (Epic Comics, 1988).
2. ^ Direct references to evolution are  made by: the Doctor in an  early elevator scene narrative; again  when the Colonel visits the cryonic storage facility; and  elaborated at length by Kei in the detention cell, who by analogy equates mankind's possession of nuclear weapons as dangerous as imbuing an  amoeba with such power.
3. ^ When Tetsuo's emerging aura is  first viewed on the doctor's holographic display, the Colonel declares that "Control must be maintained" in dialogue evocative of the historical race to nuclear arms, along with his observation that "Memories are  short" in reference to the first psychokinetic catastrophe (or figuratively, metaphor for Hiroshima and  Nagasaki); at the cryonic facility, "I can't believe the politicians would dare to tempt fate again"; and  in heated argument at the council session.
4. ^ Manga overview in Wizard: The Guide to Comics #67 (March 1997). Biography information provided in Akira #2 (Epic Comics, 1988) lists movies such as Five Easy Pieces and  Easy Rider as some of Otomo's cinematic influences, admired for "capturing the new spirit of youthful unrest and  rebellion... [whose] sensibility can still be detected in Akira and  other [Otomo] work."
5. ^ After Tetsuo's girlfriend is  crushed in the grasping monstrosity of his burgeoning form, the neonatal-visaged deformity flares up behind the Colonel (a character epitomizing control, dwarfed in the foreground,) to unmistakably resemble the explosive swelling of a mushroom cloud.
6. ^ When Ryu and  Nezu rendezvous downtown to discuss progress in their espionage efforts, they observe Lady Miyako fatalistically street-preaching about contemporary spiritual decay while her acolytes deface the roadway with a blood-red splattering of paint announcing Akira's second coming; Nezu remarks they have  only to "...wait for the wind called Akira."
7. ^ During the nursery showdown, Tetsuo manages to read Kiyoko's thoughts to learn that "Someone has a greater power" than his own before setting off for Akira's location.
8. ^ In the detention cell, Kei conveys to Kaneda that Akira has achieved the "pure energy" which Tetsuo now vies for; later, the Doctor refers to their annihilating union as a "cosmic rebirth."
9. ^ Voiceover dialogue from Kiyoko and  Masaru as relayed to Kaneda while he floats within the energy sphere littered with the helixing debris of extinguished lives (suggested in DNA formations taken on by the urban rubble).
10. ^ The movie's enigmatic closing line.
11. ^ Production insights, Akira #3 (Epic Comics, 1988).
12. ^ Interviews with Streamline Pictures' co-founders Carl Macek and  Jerry Beck in Protoculture Addicts #9 (November 1990), and  company spotlight in Protoculture Addicts #18 (July 1992).
13. ^ "Otomo Takes Manhattan", MARVEL AGE #100 (Marvel Comics, May 1991).
14. ^ Linder, Brian et al. "Akira (Live Action)", IGN, April 12, 2002, retrieved October 24, 2006

[edit] What's new

Otomo Katsuhiro is  the character and  mecha designer for Freedom Project, a 7 part OVA series commissioned by Nissin Cup Noodles for their 35th anniversary. Freedom's lead antagonist Takeru bears an  uncanny resemblence to Kaneda, leading people to speculate that Freedom is  a sequel to Akira, which is  incorrect. Freedom bears no relation whatsoever to Akira, only that in both films the characters and  mecha were designed by Otomo Katsuhiro. Here is  the official website for Freedom Project.

[edit] External links

• Akira Official Website (Japanese)
• Akira at the Internet Movie Database
• Akira : Akira2019.com : Extensive site on Katsuhiro Otomo's Anime/Manga Akira
• An Introduction to Akira
• Blue Blade Akira
• Cyber Punk City
• Otomo Katsuhiro's Freedom Project(Japanese)