Akira - Collector's Edition Steelbook [Blu-ray + DVD] [1988]

The first Anime movie that left us with our jaws on the floor, our eyes melting and looking for more. Sure, we had G Force and the Japanese/French Animated Cities of Gold, not to mention Dogtanion. But, aside from looking a bit alike and being strangely appealing, a connection to a wider market was mostly never made. When Akira came out I was in my teens and drifting away from "cartoons", but when I got taken along to my local arthouse to see Akira for the first time I abandonded "cartoons" completely and my love for Anime began - I owe it all to Akira.

Firstly, the steelbook is gorgeous and only 10,000 made. Inside we have the movie on Bluray and DVD, coupled with a 32 page collectors booklet. The booklet goes in depth on the sound of Akira, its impact, expression and so on. For a mere 32 pages make no mistake, it isn't a light read but rather something you can get your teeth into.

I have to mention that nobody involved in Akira's making thought it would be a success, as a result most of the original prints were destroyed, or ended up in the hands of overseas collectors. The last time I saw Akira in the cinema (many moons ago) it was an absolute mess and falling to bits. Which makes the work done here all the more impressive. There is a bit of debris over the print, the usual black and white flecks but nothing too distracting from your sofa. The colours reflect the original print and are nice and clear. The animation also holds up well with no jagged edges or wavering. By and large blacks are handled well also. To be honest from a picture point of view I think it's a triumph, it has its flaws but many of them will be inherent from the source and the era in which it was made.

Sound quality (True HD 5.1) is very good and captures the Akira soundtrack superbly. This release still has the new revised Akira dub that they added years ago. It may be more accurate but to be honest I did prefer the original cast, and it would have been nice to have both English audio tracks, even if the latter was just in 2.0. Japanese Dub is present and correct and as energetic as ever. Finally we have the subtitles, which are Japanese and English: closed captioned, or dubtitles if you will. I know some will be bothered by the latter and others wont. I'm not fussed personally but some people will be and it deserves a mention.

Final verdict: The movie gets 5 stars, but the bluray overall can perhaps just scrape a 4 at best. Picture quality and sound ive no problems with, I mean it's not Pixar/Ghibli quality but given the problems I mentioned above it was never going to be. But this - its original theatrical run aside - is easily the best Akira has ever looked and sounded, so its worth the purchase for that alone. The only downside is every other area (bar packaging of course), it's presented as a 'Collectors Edition' yet it is missing so much, even old extras from the R1 Ultimate edition would have been welcome. And I personally would have found an in depth featurette on the remastering process essential viewing, but alas it's just a few trailers (On the Bluray) and the Akira Production report (coupled onto the DVD) that we all saw years ago.

4 stars overall then I think is fair, It isn't an awful Bluray by any means, it just seems like a missed opportunity to provide us with the definitive edition a film of this quality deserves.

Nobody does post-apocalyptic like the Japanese, it's ingrained in their culture. Always aware of their fragility through a long history of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, along with being the victim of both atomic bombs - it has influenced their cinematic output for decades. Akira is inseparably Japanese which is why I feel like tearing my retinas out when I read about the American film version, anyway...

Currently the introduction to animated Japanese film is likely to be through a (rather sublime) Studio Ghibli title such as Spirited Away or the upcoming Arrietty, but for those of my generation chances are such exposure was though Akira - the cyberpunk classic based on the epic manga of the same name. The film starts with an awe-inspiring sequence; the vast metropolis of Tokyo is seen from above and then an explosive force expands to engulf the city, the shockwave destroying everything it touches, the cataclysmic scale enhanced by the absolute silence. The film picks up 31 years after World War Three, in Neo Tokyo.

The first time I watched Akira I was about 11 years old and it blew me away, up until then the animation I had seen had always been for kids, in Japan animation is a medium which isn't limited to younger audiences and doesn't suffer the prejudices of western culture where it is often dismissed as something just for children. Akira tells the story of a gang leader who tries to understand what has happened to his friend who appears to have been contaminated by some force and is growing in strength and power. This isn't a superhero film though and we come to learn of the Godlike Akira who may (or may not) have been a primary trigger of World War Three. This is a complex film covering mature themes, containing breath-taking imagery with beautiful cityscapes which capture the grime and crime of any city alongside the sumptuous electric glow of urban lights. Having read the original manga before watching the film this time, I was able to appreciate the story more, the film compacts a pretty hefty series of books into a two hour film and there are obviously some parts which have been cut but the central elements are there. The books have a more epic feel to them but Akira author and artist Katsuhiro Otomo also directed this film so the original vision is preserved, the differences between the two however mean that those who enjoy the film can then pick up the manga to experience an expanded version of the story. Akira plays on public fears about uncontrollable powers hanging over our lives, never knowing if our safety will be compromised by a force we don't fully understand - something which always resonates as relevant, especially in the current political climate where public paranoia is used as a tool by politicians and media alike.

This Blu-Ray release may surprise some as the picture isn't as clean as you might expect. Scratches and specks are often present but as far as I can recall these have been present on the DVD releases I've seen. If these are on the original source material then I'd rather they remain than have aggressive digital cleaning smear away any detail, such marks are obvious on darker areas of the screen but they don't distract from the main picture. There are also inconsistencies with a few scenes which are less sharp than others - again it doesn't detract from the overall film and I'm only mentioning them because with Blu-Ray we often assume we are going to see a blemish free picture, but the film wasn't made with Blu-Ray in mind. This is definitely a significant improvement over the DVD though, the colours in Akira have always been vibrant but on this release they are particularly bright with reds and the electric lights I always associate with the film bringing an energy to the screen. In Akira there are no quickly drawn backgrounds, the level of detail is incredible with buildings and vehicles looking more like the pages of the books than ever before, being able to see all the extra hand drawn features which weren't visible in previous releases is reason enough to purchase this on Blu-Ray. The extras aren't as impressive as I'd have hoped, they are certainly less extensive than the special edition DVD I used to have (that even came with stickers!) so completists may want to keep hold of their DVDs.

In a nutshell: Anime could be crudely divided into two eras - Pre and Post Akira; it was responsible anime being taken seriously in the West, and introduced new levels of artistic quality which remain a strong influence today. For those new to Akira then the ambitious scope could be overwhelming as so much is condensed into 2 hours - but it is never guilty of dumbing down the story or giving clumsy exposition. The film easily deserves 5 stars, if I could dock half a star for the bonus features then I would - but it's not an option. This is a seminal piece of cinema which I'm relieved to say is as impressive to me now in my thirties as it was when I was eleven.

This film, created in 1988, set the genre of of animated sci-fi cyber punk on it's upward rise to the films that are manga-maniacs joys of today.
It's set in Tokyo or rather Neo-Tokyo in 2019 (not so far off now) and follows the events concerning Tetsuo Shima, a member of a biker gang involved in intergang warfare.
To quote from wiki " While most of the character designs and basic settings were adapted from the original 2182-page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the manga. The film became a hugely popular cult film and is widely considered to be a landmark in Japanese animation and film making in general."
The plot would take almost as long to try to condense and type out as it would to watch the film: a film that is disturbing in it's bleakness and dark depths in a way that only animation can often be.
If you are not an aficionado of animation then this is probably not for you. Likewise if you don't go much on sci-fi but if you like both these as well as Japanese manga comics then this film really is one you should watch. It's a couple of hours long but I found that no problem when I first ever saw it some years back. I still liked it some 20 years on.