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The 'Akira' film is celebrating its 30th anniversary this week

signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,219
nH2cxFw.jpg


Forever unsurpassed and influential, the film was released July 16th in 1988, so please find time to re-watch it on or around that date. In addition, please spam this thread with footage and images and merchandise and etc.
(edit: just noticed today's date so technically it's next week, oops. Oh well, thread title will be correct in the future.)

Some misc. links:
- A short radio program on NTS featuring the film's musical influences.
- Speak Japanese like a biker punk from the future with 'Akira'
- That Super Eyepatch Wolf video about the influence of Akira since someone will post it


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BetterWorldz

BetterWorldz

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Oct 27, 2017
318
A true masterpiece, top to bottom. It's amazing what they were able to achieve with this movie in '88.
 

Deleted member 14377

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Oct 27, 2017
13,520
Amazing film, especially given the scale of what it was attempting to adapt. If you love the movie and haven't read the manga, totally get on it.
 
SoundCheck

SoundCheck

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
2,489
Watched again recently and still amazing. The animation alone is better than many recent animes.
 
Ogami Itto

Ogami Itto

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,612
One of the best movies ever made. I was able to watch it on the big screen last year but the print wasn't that great, I wish they would one day release it in Dolby theaters or imax.

Still have my JVC soundtrack cd as well.
 
ryseing

ryseing

Bought courtside tickets just to read a book.
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Oct 25, 2017
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For lovers
I've owned the BR forever and never watched it. Guess there's no time like the present, and by the present I mean tomorrow.
 

Bob_Coffee

Member
Oct 25, 2017
682
akira's animation is still unsurpassed even today. a true masterpiece. didn't like pretty much the entire anime industry of the time work on it in some part?
 
Jarrod38

Jarrod38

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Oct 25, 2017
12,686
I don't know if it was the manga or what but I cant even remember how I came across this film.
 
TheWraith

TheWraith

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Oct 28, 2017
1,056
Great anime, but man the manga is so much better, it makes the animated movie seem like a trailer for the real thing!
 
entremet

entremet

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Oct 26, 2017
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BetterWorldz said:
A true masterpiece, top to bottom. It's amazing what they were able to achieve with this movie in '88.
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THey threw tons of money at it. Money takes care of a lot things animation wise. Incidentally, it was produced at the height of the Bubble Economy. Lots of money to burn.
 

Jiggy

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Oct 25, 2017
9,292
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30 years later and the animation is still utterly unbelievable. You'd have to go back to Sleeping Beauty from 1959 to find an animated movie that matches up to Akira.
 
hateradio

hateradio

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Oct 28, 2017
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TheWraith said:
Great anime, but man the manga is so much better, it makes the animated movie seem like a trailer for the real thing!
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I've been reading the manga recently; I'm on volume five. However, I actually like that the movie went a slightly different direction so far.

The stuff with the two factions and the navy ship have been really uninteresting and unnecessary.
 
OP
OP
signal

signal

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Oct 28, 2017
40,219
nachum00 said:
Ehh I think they both have their strengths and weaknesses, but both are still masterpieces
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hateradio said:
I've been reading the manga recently; I'm on volume five. However, I actually like that the movie went a slightly different direction so far.
The stuff with the two factions and the navy ship have been really uninteresting and unnecessary.
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You could probably say some aspects are better but when you have a film like Akira that puts manga pages into motion as well as it does, it's hard to say it's "worse" than the manga.

Shy said:
Also voiced by the original actor.

And i forget which other character is voiced by Kaneda. But if you choose his character and Tetsuo's against each other. They say the thing. (i forget which KOF it's in though)
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Forget the law they need to bring him back.
 
Dali

Dali

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Oct 27, 2017
6,184
Crazy to think how a 30 year old movie has rarely if never been surpassed in its technical prowess in displaying the art of 2d animation.
 
Vulcano's Assistant

Vulcano's Assistant

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Oct 29, 2017
13,536
Dali said:
Crazy to think how a 30 year old movie has rarely if never been surpassed in its technical prowess in displaying the art of 2d animation.
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Newer anime films weren't going to look better just because they are newer. Pinocchio is 78 years old and one could argue there are some visual areas where neither Disney nor anyone else ever topped it.
 
imbarkus

imbarkus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,645
My first anime. Bought it at a StarCon or a StarFest sometime in the early 90's. We were there for Doctor Who.
It was a crappy bootleg recorded in SP, the English dub, but with a color copy of the Japanese VHS cover in the insert.
I used to have to constantly adjust the tracking throughout the movie to get it to play clearly and without audio buzzing. VHS jockies know what I'm talkin' bout.
I think I still have it somewhere. Good times.
 
OP
OP
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,219
imbarkus said:
My first anime. Bought it at a StarCon or a StarFest sometime in the early 90's. We were there for Doctor Who.
It was a crappy bootleg recorded in SP, the English dub, but with a color copy of the Japanese VHS cover in the insert.
I used to have to constantly adjust the tracking throughout the movie to get it to play clearly and without audio buzzing. VHS jockies know what I'm talkin' bout.
I think I still have it somewhere. Good times.
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Saw this in store some years ago. Didn't buy :(

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Char

Char

Member
Dec 9, 2017
193
I'm surprised that there hasn't been a UHD release announced for this year. Meanwhile, Ghost in the Shell (1997 version, not that horrid 2.0 nonsense) 1 & 2 just had their UHD releases in Japan a short while ago.
 
Blader

Blader

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,628
I've only seen this once, years ago, and thought it was really weird and didn't get all the hype. That said, it is pretty stunning to look at at times. This is a good reason to try it again this weekend though!
 

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Dali said:
Crazy to think how a 30 year old movie has rarely if never been surpassed in its technical prowess in displaying the art of 2d animation.
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On the other hand, 3D art/animation is on the rise.

While so far no 3D work comes even remotely close to the quality of Akira or Ghost in The Shell, hope we get to a point where 3D art competes and even surpasses 2D with stylization and fidelity.
 

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Jiggy said:
30 years later and the animation is still utterly unbelievable. You'd have to go back to Sleeping Beauty from 1959 to find an animated movie that matches up to Akira.
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Rotoscoped to hell and back with barely any outlandish scenes... Most early Disney movies' animation looks smooth but in reality they're just rotoscoping that shit.

Is nowhere near what we see in Akira and other Japanese animations that just go batshit insane with the liberties they take in animation.
 
Wolfgunblood

Wolfgunblood

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Dec 1, 2017
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The Land
When this came out... man it was so mind blowing. It made the rounds in art house theaters in the US and I saw it in a triple bill with Vampire Hunter D and Fist of the North Star. Akira was the closer for the night. I'll never forget it. Nothing that cool has happened since in pop culture, which is kind of a weird thing to think about.
 
nib95

nib95

Contains No Misinformation on Philly Cheesesteaks
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Oct 28, 2017
18,498
Honestly one of the best anime or animation movies of all time. Every time the credits roll I get goosebumps. The imagery, visuals, framing, art, soundtrack, story, characters etc, just sublime, rich and unbelievably atmospheric. It's weird and confusing as hell, but that also gives it its own sort of quality. A true masterpiece.

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Chris McQueen

Chris McQueen

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Oct 27, 2017
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I watched this for the first time on blu-ray a couple of years ago. I thought this movie would be about some biker gang with a leader named Akira who go around causing trouble.

No idea it was some fucked up sci-fi shit. Hopefully I'll get the urge to watch it again, as the first impression wasn't the best.
 
spookyduzt

spookyduzt

Drive-In Mutant
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
10,858
Just rewatched this on a whim last night. Still mind blowing, outrageously cool, and mesmerizing. One of the best films ever made.

It doesn't matter if the live action adaptation sucks or not, it'll never be as good as this regardless. But maybe it'll get more people interested in checking out this masterpiece.
 
Ginger Hail

Ginger Hail

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Oct 25, 2017
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Still one of the most beautiful pieces of animation out there. Might give it a rewatch for old time's sake.
 
HStallion

HStallion

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Punished Snaku said:
Just rewatched this on a whim last night. Still mind blowing, outrageously cool, and mesmerizing. One of the best films ever made.

It doesn't matter if the live action adaptation sucks or not, it'll never be as good as this regardless. But maybe it'll get more people interested in checking out this masterpiece.
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If they make a live action version and westernize it I hope they just call it Steve or John.
 

Jiggy

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Continuum said:
Rotoscoped to hell and back with barely any outlandish scenes... Most early Disney movies' animation looks smooth but in reality they're just rotoscoping that shit.
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They used rotoscoping for key scenes but... why exactly is that an issue? Every frame is hand-inked regardless and it looks amazing to this day
 
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