Akira (1988)

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by two teenagers and a group of psychics.

Director:

Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Writers:

Katsuhiro Ôtomo (screenplay), Izô Hashimoto (screenplay)

Stars:

Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mitsuo Iwata	...	Kaneda (voice)
Nozomu Sasaki	...	Tetsuo (voice)
Mami Koyama	...	Kei (voice)
Tesshô Genda	...	Ryu (voice)
Hiroshi Ôtake	...	Nezu (voice)
Kôichi Kitamura	...	Lady Miyako / Committee A (voice)
Michihiro Ikemizu	...	Inspector / Committee I (voice)
Yuriko Fuchizaki	...	Kaori (voice)
Masaaki Ôkura	...	Yamagata (voice)
Tarô Arakawa	...	Army / Committee G / Eiichi Watanabe (voice)
Takeshi Kusao	...	Kai (voice)
Kazumi Tanaka	...	Army (voice)
Masayuki Katô	...	Engineer Sakiyama / Committe D (voice)
Yôsuke Akimoto	...	Harukiya Bartender (voice)
Masato Hirano	...	Committee F / Spy / Yûji Takeyama / Terrorist (voice)

Storyline

2019. 31 years after being destroyed during World War 3, Tokyo (now 'Neo-Tokyo') has been rebuilt and is a thriving metropolis. Shotaro Kaneda is the leader of a biker gang. His friend Tetsuo is injured in an accident and taken to a top-secret government facility. He develops telekinetic powers but decides to use them for evil rather than good. He has the same powers as Akira, the force that destroyed Tokyo in 1988, and now it appears that history will repeat itself.

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Plot Keywords:

cyberpunk | post thermonuclear war | biker gang | gifted child | science runs amok | 

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Taglines:

The end of the world was only the beginning

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for graphic violence and brief nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

Katsuhiro Ôtomo originally created the AKIRA manga as an homage to manga artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who created Tetsujin nijûhachi-go (1963) (Tetsujin 28). Both AKIRA and Tetsujin 28 have a main character named Shotaro Kaneda and Akira's no. 28 designation compares with the robot's no.28 designation.

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Goofs

When the Clown biker is thrown through the window of the diner in the opening chase scene, the stack order of the animation cels changes for a couple frames (look for the curtains in the background briefly appearing in front of the fallen table in the foreground).

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Quotes

Yamagata: [Glancing at the bar tender's corpse] Kai was right you did this didn't you!
Tetsuo: All you're good for now is telling me where Kaneda's bike is
Yamagata: Tetsuo!
Tetsuo: It's a piece of shit anyway.

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Crazy Credits

Credits roll with Big Bang-like footage of stars and galaxies, in the background.

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Alternate Versions

The 2001 version also includes a restoration credits roll. The credits are set to the music at the mall where the terrorist bombing occurs.

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Connections

Referenced in Spaced (1999)

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Soundtracks

Battle Against Clown
Performed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi

User Reviews

Scary.... American remakers That Is!

Akira is great. I have been watching ot every years for 30 years or so and honestly it still holds up, One has to watch it more than once to get it. The ride is well worth it. Scary part is the Hollywood remake machine has found it. I cannot wait for the toned down, dumbed down, gender switch, franchise standard one-liners and fat twerking tattooed American 'women' to make an Appearance. And I am an American! Sigh!

Details

Official Sites:

Bandai Visual [Japan] Official Site [United States]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

16 July 1988 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Akira: The Special Edition

Box Office

Budget:

JPY1,100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,263, 1 January 1990

Gross USA:

$553,171

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,390,402

Company Credits

Production Co:

Akira Committee Company Ltd., Akira Studio, TMS Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) DTS (re-release) Dolby (35 mm prints) Dolby Digital (2001 re-issue) Dolby (Dolby TrueHD 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1