Akira (1988 film)

Akira (アキラ< span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display:none">, AKIRA ^?) is a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk anime film directed by Katsuhiro Ōtomo released on July 16, 1988 in Japan. It is an adaptation of the homonymous manga created by the same Otomo and co-written with the help of Izo Hashimoto. The film's character designs and setting were adapted from the original manga, while the plot is a restructuring of events that differs from the print version due to the fact that the manga was still in progress. publication process.

Despite only receiving one award, at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, since its release Akira has received long-term recognition as a cult film and is considered one of the best films of animation and science fiction of all time. The making of the film is a milestone in the history of cinema, being considered the most expensive animated production in history at that time.

Kaneda Cosplay.

Plot

Kaneda motorcycle replica.

In the year 2019, 31 years have passed since an explosion that completely destroyed the city of Tokyo sparked the start of World War III in 1988; the city was later rebuilt and renamed Neo-Tokyo.

Shotaro Kaneda sets out with his motorcycle gang bōsōzoku, called The Capsules, to fight against a rival gang known as The Clowns. However, Kaneda's best friend, Tetsuo Shima, is in an accident when he crashes his motorcycle into Takashi, an esper boy who was freed from a secret government laboratory by a dissident underground revolutionary organization. Takashi is captured by armed soldiers, Tetsuo is hospitalized, and the police arrest Kaneda and his gang. During the police interrogation, Kaneda meets Kei, a girl member of a dissident revolutionary group to whom he is immediately attracted, so he pretends that he is part of her gang so that they release her along with the police. other members.

After using Tetsuo in some experiments, Colonel Shikishima and Doctor Onishi discover that he possessed a latent potential comparable to that of Akira, an esper child who caused the destruction of Tokyo 31 years ago when his powers got out of control, sparking World War III. Kiyoko, another waiting girl, has visions of the future destruction of Neo-Tokyo, so the colonel orders Doctor Onishi to kill Tetsuo in case the powers they have given him go out of control. control. Meanwhile, Tetsuo manages to escape from the hospital and meet with his girlfriend Kaori. They both decide to escape from Neo-Tokyo by stealing Kaneda's motorcycle, however they are caught by the Clowns and later rescued by Kaneda and his gang. Due to the consequences of the experiments, Tetsuo's personality has become more volatile, and in a fit of fury he admits to Kaneda, who sees him as a brother, that he has always hated him for feeling his presence and strength overshadow him before him. rest; after this he begins to suffer severe headaches, the police appear out of nowhere along with doctor Onishi and they take him back to the hospital.

Later, Kaneda saves Kei from being attacked by law enforcement. Kei takes Kaneda to the rebels' headquarters. They intend to kidnap Tetsuo and after hearing the plan, Kaneda decides to cooperate with them. Meanwhile, Takashi, Kiyoko, and Masaru—another waiting child—try to kill Tetsuo to no avail. Tetsuo reacts with incredible violence destroying the hospital and killing several guards in his madness to take revenge on the espers . Kaneda, Kei, and the Colonel try to stop Tetsuo, but all their efforts are in vain. Tetsuo discovers that after the city's explosion, the parts of Akira's body that managed to be recovered were dissected apart and stored in a cryogenic state in an underground repository located in the new Olympic Stadium in Old Tokyo City. Following this, Tetsuo flees the scene.

Tetsuo arrives at the Kaneda gang's bar club and kills the bartender and his friend Yamagata. Kaneda and Kei are caught and locked up by the police. Kiyoko uses Kei as a medium and explains to Kaneda that Tetsuo must be stopped, she frees them from his cell and Takashi takes Kei to fight Tetsuo. Colonel Shikishima carries out a coup, arrests members of the Government and orders martial law over Neo-Tokyo. Tetsuo unleashes chaos in the city as he makes his way to the Neo-Tokyo Olympic Stadium, causing the death of many people. After learning about Yamagata's death from his friend Kaisuke, who witnessed the event, Kaneda chases Tetsuo to the stadium to avenge him. Tetsuo breaks through and manages to enter the warehouse where Akira's cryogenic container is located. Kei tries to stop her from getting close, but is defeated. Tetsuo manages to get the cryogenic container out of the ground and opens it: but discovers that Akira's remains have been dissected into several parts, each one bottled for scientific experiments.

Kaneda fights Tetsuo using an experimental laser weapon, while the colonel uses a satellite laser to kill Tetsuo. His attempts to kill him fail, but in the fight, Tetsuo loses an arm. Tetsuo destroys the orbital satellite weapon in the atmosphere and creates an artificial arm and studies Akira's remains. When Kaori arrives, Tetsuo's psychokinetic powers cause her immense pain. The colonel explains that the migraine drugs given to the esper were applied to Tetsuo to stunt the evolution of his uncontrollable psychic powers. Tetsuo almost kills the colonel, but is rescued by Kaneda. Unable to control his powers, Tetsuo transforms into a giant mass, engulfing Kaneda and killing Kaori.

The espers awaken Akira, who had grown beyond the requirement of a coherent biological form, and is reunited with his friends. Using his psychic powers, Akira creates a sphere of light to contain Tetsuo within. As Akira confronts Tetsuo, the espers rush to teleport the Colonel to safety, and Takashi jumps into the sphere of light to rescue Kaneda. The other espers join with Takashi, warning that the three will have to sacrifice themselves to save Kaneda and convinced that they might not be able to return. Kaneda witnesses the memories of Tetsuo and the espers, how much Tetsuo trusted Kaneda and the way the espers were studied by the government before the war. destruction of tokyo

The espers manage to pull Kaneda out of the destruction and tell him that Akira will take Tetsuo to safety. Kiyoko implies that Kei is developing his own psychic powers and this is confirmed when Kei calls out to Kaneda telepathically. Akira's psychic powers destroy much of Neo-Tokyo, creating a crater that is covered by the ocean and Doctor Onishi dies inside his laboratory when it is destroyed. Kaneda wakes up to find that Kei and Kaisuke have survived and together they drive into the city. The Colonel emerges from the tunnel he was transported into and watches the sunrise over the destroyed city. Tetsuo comes into full control of his powers by exploding into another dimension, saying the words: & # 34; I am Tetsuo & # 34; .

Characters

Main

• Shōtarō Kaneda (Number מה Kaneda Shōtarō): The protagonist of history. Kaneda is the careless leader of a band bōsōzoku. He and Tetsuo have been friends since childhood. He's a reckless and mocking Tetsuo even though he sees him as a younger brother. Since the rescue of Kei, Kaneda becomes involved in his anti-government group in the hope of locating Tetsuo.

• Tetsuo Shima (.. Shima Tetsuo): He is a friend of Kaneda from children and the antagonist of history. Tetsuo is shown as the black sheep of the grid, from which he and Kaneda are part, but suffers much for a deep inferiority complex. Admire your friend but at the same time envy him. When Tetsuo's powers wake up, it quickly becomes Kaneda's nemesis; it wants Kaneda's motorcycle (a symbol of great status and power) and wants to test its power to no longer need protection from anyone.

• Kei (certainty): Activist of the Revolutionary Army, esteems Ryu a lot. Meet Kaneda at the police station. Then he meets him when he fled the police, and Kaneda helps him. Kiyoko can make Kai enter into a trance, and thus allows both of us to escape. Then, dominated by Kiyoko, he fought with Tetsuo when he wanted to wake Akira. It's rescued by Kai.

• Colonel (Taisa): He is the head of the Akira Project, although unlike the Doctor, he sees it from the military point of view. Because of the crisis generated by Tetsuo's second escape, it takes over Neo-Tokio. He meets Tetsuo at the Olympic Stadium, and when Akira wakes up he is teleported outside the blast range. On the sleeve, it is often found with Kaneda, and makes Tetsuo stay momentarily in the hospital.

• Akira Akira was a child who developed psychic skills when he served as an examination for the ESP government in the 1980s. He lost control of his power and annihilated Tokyo in 1988. After that event, Akira was confined and subject to proof of modern science, which proved the inability to demonstrate the mystery. His body was placed inside a cryogenic compartment below the Olympic Stadium of Neo-Tokio, to be entrusted to the study of future generations.

The Numbers (Akira Project)

A secret project of the Japanese government to develop and utilize the mental power of humans. Three children who are test subjects of the same project as Akira, have children's bodies even though they were born in the late 1940s. As a side effect their bodies are wrinkled with age but have not grown physically.

Masaru (loud): Designated as #27, Masaru is physically confined either to a wheelchair or a special floating chair. He has the power to use Telequinesis and is considered the leader of the three.

Kiyoko (CLUDING): Designated as #25, Kiyoko is so physically weak that she is confined to a bed. She has the ability to use teleport and precognition, in addition to having an oracular gift, and therefore the Colonel trusts her. In the anime, it is shown that she is a good friend of the colonel. She also stands out for being a maternal figure and leader in decision-making.

Takashi (tracking): Designated as #26, this child is rescued by a member of the Revolutionary Army, and by fleeing this member is killed by the police. In his escape, he meets Tetsuo, a fact that will be of great importance to history. At the end of the film, he decides that he can rescue Kaneda from the explosion created by Akira. He has the power to use telekinesis. Takashi is accidentally killed by Nezu, but is revived along with the rest of the children of the Akira project near the end of the sleeve.

Secondaries

• Miyako: She is often referred to as Lady Miyako (Mi Miyako-sama?), is a subject of the previous test known as #19, she is the priestess of a temple in Neo-Tokio, and an important ally of Kaneda and Kei as history progresses on the sleeve. In the film, it is only a picturesque monk who advocates Akira's return, and sees Tetsuo the new Akira.

• Yamagata or Yama (PARTURE): It belongs to the gang of criminal mortars led by Kaneda; it always uses a shirt with the Japanese symbol of Mount Fuji, and the rising sun. Maybe he's Kaneda's best friend. In the film, he is killed by Tetsuo when he went to the bar to buy pills, so Kaneda, in a kind of funerary rite, destroys his motorcycle. On the sleeve, he died in a clash between Tetsuo and the Colonel.

• Kai (quot.): The main character is funny, and it serves to give Kaneda some information on several occasions. He does not play an important role at first, but becomes more prominent later in history.

• Kaori It's Tetsuo's girlfriend. She's very shy and quiet, she's the first one Tetsuo is looking for when she first escapes from the hospital. It's heavily hit by the Payasos, without Tetsuo doing anything. At the end of the film he looks for Tetsuo at the Olympic Stadium and is scared to see his mechanical arm. Then Tetsuo loses control and transforms into a mass, catches it, and without wanting it or doing anything, crushes it inside her body, killing it. On the sleeve, it appears at the end of the story and is recruited as one of Tetsuo's sexual slaves, to later become an object of sincere affection, she also serves as a babysitter of Akira. On the sleeve, he dies when shot behind Tetsuo's back, he tries to resurrect it but fails.

• The Doctor (Dokutā) Scientific Chief of the Akira Project. He sees Tetsuo's potential and decides to experiment with him. That's why he's reproached by the Colonel. In the end, marveled at the results, he died when his trailer was destroyed. On the sleeve, it dies when you visit Akira's frozen camera, breaking the coolant hoses.

• Nezu or Nezumi (50€): He is in the council of Neo-Tokio; he is the leader of the terrorist resistance movement against the government and is the contact of Ryu. He seems to be the mentor of Kei and Ryu, and pretends to be the national salvation of corrupt and ineffective bureaucrats in power. It soon becomes evident, however, that Nezu is equally corrupt, and that the only thing he intends to do is to take power for himself. In the film, when the crisis explodes, he tries to flee and shoots Ryu. Although he gets out without being captured by the police, his nerves prevent him from taking his drugs for the heart and he dies in a great scene where when he falls he opens his suitcase and leaves his titles and notes. On the sleeve, he was shot dead by the colonel's men.

• Ryu: It is the "operating leader" of the revolutionary Army and Kei's companion. Plan the extraction of children from the Akira Project, and maintain contact with Nezu. Precisely, in the crisis caused by Tetsuo's escape, Nezu shoots Ryu, but he doesn't die and gets hurt, walking down the streets to die just a few steps from Nezu.

• The Clowns: Motorcycle gang, enemies of the Kaneda biker band. Leaded by Joker, and then by Tetsuo. On the sleeve, they have a more important action.

• Joker Jōkā: Head of the Clowns. On the sleeve, you must yield your position to Tetsuo, and you are even forced to work with Kaneda.

Production

While working on the Akira manga, Katsuhiro Otomo agreed to make an anime adaptation of it, as long as creative control remained in his hands. This requirement of his was based on his work experiences during the production of Harmagedon . The budget to make the Akira film was so high that it was necessary to bring together several companies to make it. This company of companies was called Akira Committee and was made up of the most important entertainment companies in Japan: Kodansha, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Bandai Visual, Hakuhodo, Toho, Laserdisc Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and TMS Entertainment., to obtain financing of more than 1 billion yen, making this film the most expensive made up to that time in Japan.

Often, many anime productions cut production costs by using limited animation techniques, such as animating the lips of the characters while leaving their faces static. Akira broke with this trend by showing highly detailed, pre-recorded dialogue scenes (where dialogue is recorded before production of the film begins so that the movement of the characters' lips matches their speech).) – first time in an anime production – and super fluid movements thanks to its 160,000 animation celluloids.

The Akira teaser was released in 1987. The film was completed and released in 1988, two years before the manga officially ended in 1990, which is why the story of the film takes its own course. Otomo experienced great difficulties in completing the manga. The author stated that the inspiration for his conclusion came from a conversation he had with Alejandro Jodorowsky in 1990.

The sound of Kaneda's Moto was achieved by combining the sound of a 1929 Harley-Davidson motorcycle with that of a jet engine.

Broadcasting and dubbing

It was released in theaters in Spain on July 10, 1992 under license from Manga Films and distributed by Golem Distribución. In Argentina it was released on VHS without going through theaters on October 15, 1993 by Transeuropa Video Entertainment with a Argentine dubbing, it was reissued by Plus Video (also on VHS) in mid-2000. It would only be released in limited theaters and with Spanish subtitles on September 6, 2017. It was licensed for a television pass by Locomotion at the end of 1999, being released on March 28, 2001 with a new redoubling made in Mexico.

Cast

Character	Original Actor (Seiyu)	Fold actor Argentina (original mist)	Fold actor Hispanoamérica (redoblaje second version)	Fold actor Hispanoamérica (redoblaje Locomomotion)	Fold actor Hispanoamérica (Netflix red tape)	Fold actor Spain
Shōtarō Kaneda	Mitsuo Iwata	Gustavo Bonfigli	Irwin Daayán	Irwin Daayán	Elliot Leguizamo	Sergio Zamora
Shōtarō Kaneda (child)		Gabriel Ramos
Tetsuo Shima	Nozomu Sasaki	Benjamin Rivera
Kei	Mami Koyama	Laura Ayala
Colonel Shikishima	Tarō Ishida	Mario Sauret
Doctor.	Mizuho Suzuki	Ismael Castro
Ryūsaku	Tessho Nakamura	Andrés Gutiérrez Coto
Masaru	Kazuhiro Kando	Love Santini
Takashi	Tatsuhiko Nakamura	Kalimba Marichal
Kiyoko	Sachie Itō	Rossy Aguirre
Kaori	Yuriko Fuchizaki	No data
Yamagata (Yama)	Masaaki Okura	Armando Coria
Kai	Takeshi Kusao	Ricardo Mendoza
President of the Nezumi Council	Hiroshi Otake	Victor Mares
Miyako	Koichi Kitamura	Abel Rocha
Inspector	Michihiro Ikemizu	Blas García
Eiichi Watanabe	Taro Arakawa	No data
Mitsuru Kuwata	Yukimasa Kishino	Carlos Hugo Hidalgo
Yūji Takeyama	Hirano Masato	No data
Army	Kazumi Tanaka	No data
Harukiya Bartender	Yosuke Akimoto	No data
Inserts	N/A	Blas García

Reception and legacy

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 91% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9 out of 10. The site's critical consensus reads: "< i>Akira is distractingly gory and violent, but its phenomenal animation and raw kinetic energy helped set the standard for modern anime". The title has been considered one of the best animated films of all time. times and caused an increase in the popularity of anime films in the United States, and in general, outside of Japan. He is still admired for his exceptional visuals. In Channel 4's poll of the 100 Greatest Animations of All Time, Both Film and Television, Akira was ranked number 16. On the list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. times of the Empire magazine, Akira is number 440. It appeared again in the Empire list of the 100 best films of the world of cinema, peaking at number 51. IGN also named it 14th on its list of the 25 Best Animated Films of All Time. The Akira anime also made the magazine's list. TIME Top 5 Anime DVDs. The film was also number 16 on Time Out's Top 50 Animated Movies list and number 5 on the Top 50 list. animated films from Total Film. North". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times selected Akira as their "Video Selection of the Week" in 1989 at Siskel & Ebert and the Movies. For its widest release in 2001 he gave the film 'Thumbs Up'.

Akira is considered by many critics to be an anime film, which influenced much of the art in the anime world that followed its release with many illustrators in the manga industry citing the film. as a major influence. Manga author Masashi Kishimoto, for example, recalls being fascinated with the way the poster was made and wishing to imitate the style of series creator Katsuhiro Otomo. The film paved the way for the growth in popularity of anime outside of Japan. Akira is considered a forerunner of the second wave of anime fandom that began in the early 1990s and has gained a massive cult following ever since. It is credited with setting the stage for anime franchises such as Pokémon, Naruto, and Dragon Ball to become global cultural phenomena. Akira has also been cited as a major influence on live-action films such as The Matrix, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Chronicle, Looper, Midnight Special and Inception, as well as TV series such as Stranger Things. John Gaeta cited Akira as an artistic inspiration for the bullet time effect in the The Matrix films. Akira He has also been credited for his influence on the Star Wars franchise, including the prequel film trilogy and the Clone Wars film and television series. The film has also influenced the work of musicians like Kanye West, who paid tribute to Akira in the music video for his song "Stronger".

Bamboo Dong of Anime News Network praises the limited edition DVD for its "superbly translated" and the commendable English dub, which "sticks very close to the English translation, and the voice actors deliver their lines with emotion". Raphael See of THEM Anime applauds the "amazing special effects and clean, crisp animation". Chris Beveridge comments on the Japanese audio, making "the advanced stage sound good when called for. The dialogue is well placed, with several key moments of directionality used to perfection". Janet Maslin of The New York Times praises Otomo's artwork, stating that "the Neo-Tokyo drawings at night are so detailed that all the individual windows of the huge skyscrapers appear different. And these night scenes glow with subtle, vibrant colors. Richard Harrison of The Washington Post comments on the film's pacing, stating that the author "has condensed the sprawl narrative from the comics to provide consistency, though there is some story incompleteness "à la Back to the Future Part II. It hardly matters, since the film moves with so much kinetic energy that it will stick around like a lifetime.

Variety praises the "imaginative and detailed design of tomorrows film with booming Dolby effects on the soundtrack" but criticizes the "slightly stiff drawing of human movement." Kim Newman of Empire praises the film's "brilliant animated visual effects, and not one, not one, a computer-assisted shot in sight'. Phelim O'Neill of The Guardian draws a parallel in the influence of Akira on the science fiction genre with Blade Runner and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dave Kehr of Chicago Tribune praises the " great animation-specific ideas from Otomo: the vehicles leave little trails of color as they roar through the night, and there are a number of dream sequences that make good use of the medium's ability to confuse scale and distort perspective". Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies states that anime "remains fresh and exciting, easily holding its own against the products of two decades of massive technical advances". ta Soon, in February 2004, Dan Persons of Cinefantastique listed the film as one of the "10 Essential Animations", simply referring to the film as "the film that changed everything".