AKIRA
The slide seen ‘round the world looks awesome in a whole new way with some clever practical effects.
Head of state also picks up an amazing One Piece souvenir that any fan would treasure.
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.
Tiny background detail in ‘80s manga masterpiece getting new attention decades later.
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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.
Think of the two greatest animation achievements in history least likely to go together, and you might come up with an incongruous mishmash of The Simpsons and Akira.
Perhaps precisely because of the way these two animated works (with the exception of “Treehouse of Horror”) couldn’t be further apart from each other in style and execution, the “Bartkira” project – which mixes characters from the series and anime film into each others’ universes and animation styles – has been a huge success.
And it’s coming to Tokyo’s Gallery Hakusen on March 7 and 8; this very weekend at time of writing.
With works like Domu and Akira to his name, screenwriter and manga-ka Katsuhiro Otomo is universally well-known and respected. He is, however, not exactly the most prolific artist in the world, often leaving fans waiting for years on end for his next project or collaboration.
So although we’re thrilled to announce his next work will in fact be completed by March of next year, you should know that it’s going to take a little traveling to get a good look at it. You see, the currently untitled Otomo public art piece will hang in all of its 24-square-meter (258 sq ft) glory in the lobby of the terminal building of Tohoku’s Sendai Airport.
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