Akira (1988 film)

Lore & Background

The film's plot begins 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, Kaneda leads his biker gang, the Capsules, against the rival Clown gang. His best friend Tetsuo crashes his motorcycle into Takashi, an esper who escaped from a government laboratory. Colonel Shikishima recaptures Takashi and has Tetsuo hospitalized. Tetsuo develops powerful psychic abilities similar to Akira, the esper responsible for Tokyo's 1988 destruction. The espers try to stop Tetsuo, but he escapes, kills orderlies and militiamen, and searches for Akira, who is in cryonic storage beneath the Olympic Stadium. Tetsuo exhumed Akira only to find his remains in jars. Kaneda fights Tetsuo with a laser rifle, and Shikishima fires an orbital weapon at him, destroying his arm. Tetsuo mutates into a gigantic mass of flesh, consuming the stadium. The espers revive Akira, who creates a singularity, drawing Tetsuo and Kaneda into another dimension. The singularity destroys Neo-Tokyo, and the espers return Kaneda, informing him that Akira will take Tetsuo to safety. In an unspecified plane of reality, Tetsuo triggers the creation of a universe.

Reader's Guide

Akira is a landmark in Japanese animation, 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. It garnered an international cult following after various theatrical and VHS releases, eventually earning over $80 million worldwide in home video sales. The soundtrack, which draws heavily from traditional Indonesian gamelan and Japanese noh music, was composed by Shōji Yamashiro and performed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi. The film's production budget was ¥700 million ($5.5 million), with the combined production and advertising budget believed to be reaching ¥1.1 billion ($9 million). 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 film used pre-scored dialogue, a first for an anime production, and computer-generated imagery for certain effects.

Did You Know?

• The film's soundtrack draws heavily from traditional Indonesian gamelan and Japanese noh music.
• Akira had pre-scored dialogue, a first for an anime production, where dialogue is recorded before animation begins.
• The film used over 160,000 animation cels and computer-generated imagery for certain effects.
• The manga continued publication for two years after the film's release, and the film's plot differs considerably from the latter half of the manga.