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Additional Features
Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira is often described as the movie that created a mass audience for Japanese animation in America. Akira looks better now in this remastered DVD than it did on its original release: dust, dirt, and scratches have been digitally removed and the color has been rebalanced. It also makes more sense in a new translation. The ending still leaves many questions unanswered (which is not unusual in anime), but the convoluted plot is easier to follow than it was in the initial English version. Pioneer has included numerous special features in this two-disc set, some more special than others. "Capsule mode" offers brief explanations of some details and translations of signs in Japanese during the feature. "The Akira Production Report," an old Japanese making-of film, comprises interviews with staff members who explain the basic animation process (the footage of artists inking and painting cels by hand looks almost comically dated). "Restoration" provides a behind-the-scenes look at the people who prepared the remastered version, but it's pretty superficial. "Production Materials" contains more than 4,500 still images: storyboards, early character designs, background art, etc. There's also an interview with Otomo and an assortment of trailers. This Akira is the definitive version of a landmark film in the history of Japanese animation and anime fandom: it's a must-have not just for otaku, but for anyone interested in the medium. --Charles Solomon

Amazon.com Essential Video
Artist-writer Katsuhiro Ôtomo began telling the story of Akira as a comic book series in 1982 but took a break from 1986 to 1988 to write, direct, supervise, and design this animated film version. Set in 2019, the film richly imagines the new metropolis of Neo-Tokyo, which is designed from huge buildings down to the smallest details of passing vehicles or police uniforms. Two disaffected orphan teenagers--slight, resentful Tetsuo and confident, breezy Kanada--run with a biker gang, but trouble grows when Tetsuo start to resent the way Kanada always has to rescue him. Meanwhile, a group of scientists, military men, and politicians wonder what to do with a collection of withered children who possess enormous psychic powers, especially the mysterious, rarely seen Akira, whose awakening might well have caused the end of the old world. Tetsuo is visited by the children, who trigger the growth of psychic and physical powers that might make him a superman or a supermonster. As befits a distillation of 1,318 pages of the story so far, Akira is overstuffed with character, incident, and detail. However, it piles up astonishing set pieces: the chases and shootouts (amazingly kinetic, amazingly bloody) benefit from minute cartoon detail that extends to the surprised or shocked faces of the tiniest extra; the Tetsuo monster alternately looks like a billion-gallon scrotal sac or a Tex Avery mutation of the monster from The Quatermass Experiment; and the finale--which combines flashbacks to more innocent days with a destruction of Neo City and the creation of a new universe--is one of the most mind-bending in all sci-fi cinema. --Kim Newman

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378 Reviews 5 star:  (227) 4 star:  (64) 3 star:  (30) 2 star:  (22) 1 star:  (35)           Average Customer Review (378 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews   6 of 8 people found the following review helpful: It's not about big hair, Mar 19 2006 By  Meggs (Fort St. John, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews This review is from: Akira (Signature Series) (DVD) Fisrt of all, this movie will not likely appeal to those who only watch anime for the big hair and eyes that are the current style. The animation is realistic and graphic, closer to Miyazaki or Venus Wars than more stylistic films like Ninja Scroll. The soundtrack is deffinately distinct and can take some getting used to, using mostly voices and a few instruments. The movie is hard to describe. Apart from the mixing surface plots involving the biker gangs and "blue kids," there's plenty of material to play with for the philosophically inclined. Themes like existance and the nature of humanity show up beneath the main storyline. I gave the movie 4 stars because I feel it deserves it from a story and intellectual stand point. The animation, although plain by current standards, is smooth and detailed. The storyline can be confusing and most people I know needed to watch it through a couple times but for me the big shortcoming of this edition was the new dialogue. I felt that the original recording was sharper and fit the movie better. It feels like they dumbed it down for the new one. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: Free at Last!, Mar 27 2004 By  Danny Kim (Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews This review is from: Akira: The Special Edition (DVD) As the owner of the Criterion Collection Akira laserdisc, which was the definitive edition for many years, the only area where I felt needed an upgrade was the color separation and contrast of DVD. With the Special Edition metal tin, my heart was racing with excitement that Pioneer had delivered me into the next generation of quality for Akira. Then I caught the great film on a digital projector in Burbank. I can't describe the anguish that I was feeling. The English dub from the theatrical release was displaced with a second rate production devoid of passion. Probably the most heinous omissions from the film: "Oh no, not that way!" when one of the Clowns takes an off-ramp and blows up moments later, "Scumbag!" as a riot policeman drills a rioter with a tear gas can, "Do it now!" the Colonel growls to gain passage into Akira's subzero chamber. Replaced with absolutely nothing, no dialogue whatsoever. I found myself screaming at the screen. What some people don't understand is that the original English dub has become a part of entertainment history. Samples have been used in many songs and to replace it entirely is tantamount to blasphemy. I'm sure some Japanese purists feel the same way, but they should not have released Akira with an English dub if they felt so strongly. "You neanderthal pile of crap!" "Cretan scumbag!" Such choice dialogue cannot be easily replaced. Being in the post production business myself, I undertook a project to extract the original dub from the two laserdiscs and then encode the audio into AC-3 tracks over the admittedly good quality of the remastered video. There were complications, but in the end with the help of a fellow engineer, I prevailed. It was like magic...DVD remastered video married to the original English dub. Free at last! Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: Where's the original dub???, Aug 1 2001 By A Customer This review is from: Akira: Special Edition (Widescreen) (DVD) This would have been the perfect release except for the horrible voice-acting. What were they thinking when they hired these people. I love the new translation but much of the high charged emotion in the original dub is gone. I remember how much people complained about the original, not because the voice acting was bad but because the translation was poor. Seems Pioneer only got half of it right. Be careful what you wish for. I emailed Pioneer why the original dub wasn't included and they said it was a money issue. Huh? Sounds like a cop out to me. They did say if there was enough demand they would release a version of Akira with the original dub so here's your chance. Email them at peaproducts@pioneer-usa.com and let them know you want the original dub back! Do it!!! I also noticed they did a poor job at removing dirt on the print. Oh well, it's still the best anime movie even with the lousy actors. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers:  ›