Akira

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Pittsfield Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Blu-ray Animation Akira	1-week checkout	Due 04-14-2024

Based on the graphic novel "Akira" by Katsuhiro Otomo.
Originally released as a motion picture in 2008.
Special features: Teaser #1; teaser #2; TV commercial; trailer #1; trailer #2; storyboards (still images).
Japanese voices: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Taro Ishida, Tessyo Genda, Mizuho Suzuki, Tatsuhiko Nakamura, Sachie Ito, Kazuhiro Kando.
World War III breaks loose in 1988. In 2019, Tokyo is a megalopolis. Kaneda is the leader of a group of young robust delinquents who spends his nights tearing through the urban wastes and racing his motorbike against rival groups. One night while out riding with his gang, his friend Tetsuo suddenly encounters a strange boy. He is the product of human experimentation and is injured in an ensuing crash. Shortly therafter, a military squadron appears on the scene to take the boy and Tetsuo away to an army research facility. Determined to free Tetsuo, Kaneda sneaks into the facitily. However, a regimen of extreme experimental procedures has awakened a new power in his friend, and now he is consumed by madness.
Blu-ray disc, widescreen; Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, Dolby PCM surround, 192 kHz, 24-bit, BD50 GB, 1080p High Definition.
This Blu-ray disc will not play in standard DVD players; use a dedicated Blu-ray Disc player or Playstation 3 for playback.
Contents: Akira.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Awesome submitted by mysterio on August 8, 2011, 10:45am Awesome

One of the best! submitted by popsiclefroyo1 on June 19, 2014, 3:13pm One of the best anime movies ever!
The attention to detail throughout the film is incredible.

Enter the harbinger of the Second Wave of Anime submitted by Jeff.Hill on June 21, 2014, 9:28am Akira (the movie) was completed prior to the manga. Therefore its plot significantly diverges from the manga. However, the themes remain the same: the view of a dystopian future after some unexplained cataclysim where "Neo-Tokyo" is built, bōsōzoku (biker) gangs run the streets, and a mysterious government project begins to attract attention when one of it's subjects escapes. Though the film derives its name from a child? experiment? event? -- the main characters are Kaneda, a leader of a biker gang; Tetsuo his friend who develops as a psychic/esper; Kaori, his girlfriend; Kei, a resistance guerrilla, and the Colonel -- the leader/caretaker of the program that gave rise to Akria and is responsible for the care and development of the espers.

As a film it led the second wave of Japanese animation, or anime, crashed on US shores. Originally shown in "art house" venues (the first showing in Michigan was at the Detroit Institute of Arts), the film has taken on cult status with significant interested to warrant this Blu-Ray release. The animation has no computer elements. The dialogue was recorded prior to the animation and was used as a reference by the animators -- which is in stark contrast to much anime where the face is held static and the mouth moves in rough approximation to the original Japanese. Here you see each cell carefully drawn, lavishing exquisite detail even on the background. The entire effect draws the viewer into the dark underbelly of Neo-Tokyo, riding the neon streets and then drawing you into the bright sunlight of illumination as Tetsuo gives birth to a new universe.