AKIRA
The slide seen ‘round the world looks awesome in a whole new way with some clever practical effects.
Come for the Japanese anime references, stay for the plot-changing twist that’s blown viewers’ minds.
The modern animated films of Katsuhiro Otomo, some of the most expensive anime ever made, won’t cost a thing to watch.
One of the bleakest depictions of Tokyo in all of film is part of Olympics celebration projection mapping project.
We doubt anyone could ever forget just how influential Akira is, but here’s a GIF to remind you just in case you ever do!
Akira‘s theatrical poster is almost as iconic as the movie itself. But who knew that a character walking towards their ride could look as badass as Kaneda?
In case you’ve never read any of the Akira manga or seen the landmark 1988 anime movie based on it, here’s a basic rundown of the plot. A powerful organization comes up with what it thinks it a great idea, but before its plan come to fruition, the whole thing blows up in their faces. Years later, though, it tries again, unleashing the danger of potentially even more disastrous results.
In the anime, the “powerful organization” is the military, and the “great idea” is cultivating weaponized psionic children. Some would say this parallels the real-world situation of another powerful organization, Hollywood movie studio Warner Brothers, and its own ambitions to turn Akira into a live-action film, which have faced nothing but roadblocks and angry backlashes from fans of the source material for more than 10 years now.
But just like Akira’s military, Warner Brothers seems convinced that it can still get all the variables just right, and new rumors suggest that the studio might be planning to make not one, but three Akira films, and that it’s courting one of Hollywood’s hottest filmmakers to help.
Each era of pop culture at some point has to go through the uncomfortable transitional period where it’s too old to be trendy and too new to be retro. Right now it’s the ‘80s turn in the hot seat, with the decade’s movies, music, and fashion facing harsh judgement by modern standards.
But for all its glitzy cheese (gleese?), the 1980s gave us two landmark animation events, with anime classic Akira debuting in theaters in 1988 and The Simpsons premiering on American television in 1989. Akira’s animated version began and ended with its single movie, while The Simpsons is still chugging along nearly 600 episodes later, but that doesn’t mean they can’t blend together awesomely, as shown in this trailer for the Bartkira project that combines that tosses the cast of Matt Groening’s most famous work into the world of Katsuhiro Otomo’s.
If you’re equal parts anime fan and Lego enthusiast, this amazing motorised model will be right up your alley. It’s Kaneda’s iconic motorcycle from the animated cult film Akira and it’s made entirely from 1,091 Lego pieces.
The bike is so unique it can only be made with a guidebook and several limited-edition parts that are no longer in production, making this one of the most sought-after items amongst Lego-building Akira fans. Sightings are understandably rare so when we found a detailed video on the internet, we had to take a closer look.