Akira (, ) is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk action thriller film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, produced by Ryōhei Suzuki and Shunzō Katō, and written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, based on Otomo's 1982 manga Akira. Set in a dystopian 2019, it follows Shōtarō Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang whose childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima, acquires powerful telekinetic abilities after colliding with a child esper in a motorcycle accident, eventually threatening an entire military complex in the sprawling futuristic metropolis of Neo-Tokyo.
While most of the character designs and settings were adapted from the manga, the plot differs considerably and does not include much of the latter half of the manga, which continued publication for two years after the film's release. The soundtrack, which draws heavily from traditional Indonesian gamelan and Japanese noh music, was composed by Shōji Yamashiro and performed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi.
Akira was released in Japan on July 16, 1988, by Toho; it was released the following year in the United States by Streamline Pictures. It garnered an international cult following after various theatrical and VHS releases, eventually earning over $80million worldwide in home video sales. A landmark in Japanese animation, the film is widely cited as an influential work in the development of anime, adult animation, and Japanese cyberpunk. The film had a massive impact on popular culture worldwide, paving the way for the growth of anime and Japanese popular culture in the Western world, as well as influencing numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television, and video games.
Plot
In 2019, following a world war triggered by the sudden destruction of Tokyo on July 16, 1988, Neo-Tokyo is plagued by corruption, anti-government protests, terrorism, and gang violence. During a violent rally, the hot-headed Shōtarō Kaneda leads his vigilante bōsōzoku gang, the Capsules, against the rival Clown gang. Kaneda's best friend, Tetsuo Shima, inadvertently crashes his motorcycle into Takashi, an esper who escaped from a government laboratory with the aid of a resistance organization. Assisted by fellow esper Masaru, Japan Self-Defense Forces Colonel Shikishima recaptures Takashi, has Tetsuo hospitalized, and arrests the Capsules. While being interrogated by the police, Kaneda meets Kei, an activist within the resistance movement, and tricks the authorities into releasing her with his gang.
At a secret government facility, Shikishima and his head of research, Doctor Ōnishi, discover that Tetsuo possesses powerful psychic abilities similar to Akira, the esper responsible for Tokyo's 1988 destruction. Esper Kiyoko forewarns Shikishima of Neo-Tokyo's impending destruction, but the city's parliament dismisses Shikishima's concerns, leading him to consider killing Tetsuo to prevent another cataclysm. Meanwhile, Tetsuo escapes from the hospital, steals Kaneda's motorcycle, and tries to flee Neo-Tokyo with his girlfriend Kaori, but the Clowns ambush them. The Capsules rescue Tetsuo and Kaori, but Tetsuo suffers intense headaches and hallucinations and is re-hospitalized.
Overhearing their plan to rescue Tetsuo and the other espers, Kaneda joins Kei's resistance cell. At the hospital, the espers try killing Tetsuo via hallucinations, but the attempt is thwarted. A frustrated Tetsuo searches for them, killing any orderlies and militiamen blocking his path. The resistance group infiltrates the hospital, and Kiyoko draws Kei and Kaneda into Shikishima's and the espers' futile attempts to stop Tetsuo. Kiyoko tells Tetsuo that Akira, located in cryonic storage beneath the Olympic Stadium's construction site, could help Tetsuo with his powers. After betraying everyone around him, including Kaneda, Tetsuo flees the hospital to hunt for Akira.
Using Kei as a medium to stop Tetsuo, Kiyoko breaks her and Kaneda out of military custody. Shikishima stages a coup d'état against Neo-Tokyo's government and directs its military forces to destroy Tetsuo at any cost. At the Capsules' former hangout, Harukiya Bar, Tetsuo confronts gangmates Yamagata and Kai over Kaneda's bike and kills Yamagata after his protest. Kai relays the news to Kaneda, who vows to avenge his friend, while Takashi brings Kei away. Mistaken for Akira by cultists, Tetsuo rampages through Neo-Tokyo, arriving at Akira's cryogenic storage dewar under the stadium. Kei fights Tetsuo, but he defeats her and exhumes Akira, only to find that Akira is dead and his remains were sealed in jars for scientific research.
Kaneda fights Tetsuo with a laser rifle, and Shikishima fires an orbital weapon at him. While the latter destroys his arm, neither can stop him. Shikishima and Kaori approach the stadium, where Tetsuo, now with a robotic arm, is in great pain and losing control over his powers. Kaori tries restraining Tetsuo while Shikishima unsuccessfully offers to heal his injuries and help control his abilities. Kaneda again fights Tetsuo, who weakened from his missing arm, mutates into a gigantic mass of flesh, consuming the stadium, Kaneda, and Kaori, who is killed. The espers revive Akira to stop the growing mass. Reuniting with his friends, Akira creates a singularity, drawing Tetsuo and Kaneda into another dimension. The espers teleport Shikishima to a safe distance as the singularity destroys Neo-Tokyo in a mirror of Tokyo's previous destruction, and they agree to rescue Kaneda, knowing they will not return to this dimension as a result.
In the singularity, Kaneda experiences Tetsuo's and the espers' childhoods, including his and Tetsuo's friendship and the espers' psychic training before Tokyo's destruction. The espers return Kaneda to Neo-Tokyo, informing him that Akira will take Tetsuo to safety and that Kei is developing psychic powers. After consuming much of Neo-Tokyo, the singularity collapses, leaving a flooded crater. Mourning Tetsuo's loss, Kaneda discovers that Kei and Kai have survived and reunites with them, and they ride off into the ruins while Shikishima observes the aftermath and watches the sunrise. In an unspecified plane of reality, Tetsuo introduces himself and triggers the creation of a universe, finally transcending the limitations of human existence.
Voice cast
CharacterJapaneseEnglish Shōtarō Kaneda Mitsuo Iwata Cam Clarke Johnny Yong Bosch Tetsuo Shima Nozomu Sasaki Jan Rabson Joshua SethKeiMami KoyamaKayWendee Lee Lara Cody Colonel Shikishima Tarō Ishida Tony Pope Jamieson Price Ryūsaku (Ryu) Tesshō Genda Roy Bob BuchholzSteve Kramer Doctor Ōnishi Mizuho Suzuki Lewis Arquette Simon Prescott Takashi (No. 26) Tatsuhiko Nakamura Barbara Goodson Cody MacKenzie Kiyoko (No. 25) Fukue Itō Melora Harte Sandy Fox Masaru (No. 27) Kazuhiro Shindō Bob Bergen Travis Weaver Kaori Yuriko Fuchizaki Barbara Goodson Michelle RuffYamagataMasaaki ŌkuraYamaMichael Lindsay Tony Pope Kai Takeshi Kusao Bob Bergen Anthony PulciniNezuHiroshi ŌtakeInsiderMike Reynolds Tony Pope Terrorist 1 Masato Hirano Lewis Arquette Steve Blum Terrorist 2 Yukimasa Kishino Wally Burr Michael McConnohie Shimazaki Yukimasa Kishino Tony Pope Robert Axelrod Colonel's Council Liaison Kōichi Kitamura Lewis Arquette Michael Forest Eiichi Watanabe Tarō Arakawa Bob Bergen Eddie Frierson Mitsuru Kuwata Yukimasa Kishino Tony Pope Skip Stellrecht Yūji Takeyama Masato Hirano Jan Rabson Ted Rae Groupies Kayoko FujiiMasami ToyoshimaYuka Ōno Lara CodyJulie PhelanBarbara Goodson Julie Ann TaylorPatricia Ja LeeDyanne DiRosario Lady Miyako Kōichi Kitamura Steve Kramer William Frederick Knight Inspector Michihiro Ikemizu Bob Bergen Steve Staley Army Kazumi Tanaka Steve Kramer Tony OliverMr. TakabaIssei FutamataCoachDaran Norris L. Michael Haller Harukiya Bartender Yōsuke Akimoto Tony Pope John Snyder Committee members Kōichi KitamuraYukimasa KishinoMasayuki KatōMasato HiranoTaro ArakawaMichihiro Ikemizu Cam ClarkeL. Michael HallerLewis ArquetteBarbara GoodsonSteve KramerJan RabsonBob Bergen Peter SpellosDan LorgeBob PapenbrookMichael SorichDoug StonePaul St. PeterChristopher Carroll
Production While working on the Akira manga, Katsuhiro Otomo did not intend to adapt the series; however, he became "very intrigued" when the offer to develop his work for the screen was put before him. He agreed to an anime film adaptation of the series on the condition that he retained creative control of the project – this insistence was based on his experiences working on Harmagedon. The Akira Committee was the name given to a partnership of several major Japanese entertainment companies brought together to realize production of an Akira film. The group's assembly was necessitated by the unconventionally high starting budget of around ¥500,000,000, intended to achieve the desired epic standard equal to Otomo's over 2,000-page manga tale. The committee consisted of Kodansha, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Bandai, Hakuhodo, Toho, LaserDisc Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation, who all forwarded money and promotion towards the film. The animation for the film was provided for by animation producers Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS Entertainment).
Akira had pre-scored dialogue (wherein the dialogue is recorded before the film starts production and the movements of the characters' lips are animated to match it; a first for an anime production and extremely unusual even today for an anime, although the voice actors did perform with the aid of animatics), and super-fluid motion as realized in the film's more than 160,000 animation cels.Production insights, Akira No. 3 (Epic Comics, 1988). Computer-generated imagery was also used in the film (produced by High-Tech Lab. Japan Inc. and the cooperative companies for computer graphics, Sumisho Electronic Systems, Inc. and Wavefront Technologies), primarily to animate the pattern indicator used by Doctor Ōnishi, but it was additionally used to plot the paths of falling objects, model parallax effects on backgrounds, and tweak lighting and lens flares. Unlike its live-action predecessors, Akira also had the budget to show a fully realized futuristic Tokyo.
The film's production budget was (), with the combined production and advertising budget believed to be reaching (). Some sources claim it to the most expensive anime film at the time of release, but this claim is disputed by Crunchyroll writer Daryl Harding.
The teaser trailer for Akira was released in 1987. The film's main production was completed in 1987, with sound recording and mixing performed in early 1988. It was released in 1988, two years before the manga officially ended in 1990. Otomo is claimed to have filled 2,000 pages of notebooks, containing various ideas and character designs for the film, but the final storyboard consisted of a trimmed-down 738 pages. He had great difficulty completing the manga; Otomo has stated that the inspiration for its conclusion arose from a conversation that he had with Alejandro Jodorowsky. He later recalled that the film project had to begin with the writing of an ending that would bring suitable closure to major characters, storylines, and themes without being extraordinarily lengthy, so that he could know in reverse order which manga elements would make the cut into the anime and thus suitably resolve the manga's various elements into a lean, two-hour story. Otomo has called making the film before finishing the manga "the worst possible idea". Although he came to like having two similar but different versions of the same story, he still felt too much of the original was cut out of the film.