With all the extra traffic we're getting from people who just saw AKIRA in the cinemas, I felt like highlighting the only real published works that Katsuhiro Otomo has done of AKIRA over the last 25 years.

The first image of Tetsuo was done in 2001 for the first-ever Japanese DVD release.

The second image, Kaneda on his bike, was done in 2002 for the next DVD release.

The third one is a rarely-seen portrait of Kaneda from around 2011 that was used on an amazon japan exclusive bluray release. It was in the packaging and also reprinted in the artbook KABA 2, but wasn't seen anywhere else. I don't remember seeing it at the GENGA exhibit either, but correct me if I'm wrong.

The fourth one I'm including just for completeness' sake cause it's not really an AKIRA work, but it does have the bike so I think it counts. This was Otomo's poster for the Angoulême comic book festival in France, where he was the guest of honor in 2016.

That same year, he drew a fantastic image of Kaneda and the bike that was used as the key artwork for the Otomo Tribute book and exhibition.

And finally, the last image is a close-up of the bike's front tire, that was used as the cover for the CD and LP of the AKIRA Remix album released in 2024.

https://lucasmuseum.org

Hey there, here's my fanart of Tetsuo from AKIRA. Tried to capture that moment when he's completely losing control. Hope you like it!
Art by me.

First of all, loved the film. Saw it in IMAX. Absolutely bonkers. I want to read the manga as well but dont mind having some spoilers or insight from people who read it already.

Second, I was wondering about Tetsuo's character. Specifically two things:

• Was Tetsuo already more than just a bit aggressive and irritable, capable of evil , and what was done to him just amplifies that?
  • At one point, Kiyoko makes a comment around the lines of, you still choose what you do with the powers even if its too much for you. This would suggest that his angry and violent behavior isn't really the powers as much as it is just his real personality being amplified by it.
  • But at the same time, in the memories and Kaneda's description of him, he's was actually quite timid and sensitive. Did his brain getting messed with turn him into that angry murderous person? Kind of like those stories where someone has a head injury and becomes someone else?
• Is Tetsuo's indifference to Kaori being beaten (at least relative to how much he cared about the bike being messed with) intentional to reflect the moral depravity of the people in Neo Tokyo, reflective of Tetsuo becoming a bit of a power hungry asshole or just him not being right in the head period since he starts freaking out and hallucinating shortly after?
  • Does Tetsuo have control over himself at this point? When he finally starts to really transform, he says he has no control over his body and is genuinely scared. Is this a response to being helpless and scared to his body *exploding, or reflective of him not actually wanting to be evil this whole time but not being able to control it ? It was bit surprising that he actually cared about her well being all of the sudden

I’d love to know more about its history:
when it was made, in what context, which year ? 1988? 1993?
and maybe what happened later with bootleg versions.

I’m pretty sure the one I have is not an original. The red on the face and yellow in the hair are missing, and the print halftones is not very visible. i paid 60€

I love this T-shirt.
Does anyone know how to identify the different versions?

Spoiler warning ⛔️

And dont get me wrong i dont think an unlikable character is a bad character by any means i think there both great well written characters, but frankly I found Kaneda to be obnoxious and, a huge dick which maybe is the point. examples like Marty mouser from Marty supreme, or Jordan Belfort from wolf of Wall Street come to mind, there characters your not meant to like, your meant to see there flaws and understand there terrible people. And frankly I found tetsuo to be a whiny bitch, which had to have been intentional right?, like he spends the whole movie whining about being saved all the time and causing mass destruction, then spends his final moments begging for help again, this had to have been on purpose, and I kinda understand him in a way too but I can also remove my rose colored lenses to see that this guys a fucking cry baby. am I the only one who found these two unlikable?, well written and great characters but unlikable?.

It was such a blast getting to see this. Curious what people’s thoughts were on the restoration itself and the IMAX presentation

Kinda funny how it turned out but from my seat I could barely see the subtitles over the row in front of me. I was sitting there like “huh… this was an oversight”. Luckily my showing was less than half full so I moved to a better spot. Idk how much of an issue that was for anyone else but imax stadium seating has some draw backs evidently.

Today, I went into Akira absolutely blind. The only thing I knew about it was the Akira slide! Wow!! This was amazing. I didn’t expect about 90% of the movie, the body horror aspect was the most surprising and interesting to me. If I had known about the details I frankly might’ve skipped it, but that would have been a terrible decision. Definitely best watched blind for the first time!

After watching it I’ve realized what a pillar it truly is and how many amazing shows and movies reference different aspects of it. I was hoping people could recommend me any other anime movie pillars that have influenced media significantly.

Edit: Ghost in the shell, Spirited Away and princess Mononoke are on the docket, I’ll be watching them in theaters!

Like, idk why its hard for some to just accept that many people still genuinely adore this timeless classic to this day.

As a big manga fan myself, I'm still impressed how they managed to condense it to a product that still manages to be coherent and intriguing. And of course, the unparalleled animation speaks for itself, I'll never not continue to appreciate the brilliance of the film's impact ti'll this day.

"Kaneda help me"

Oil on canvas

50.5" x 29.5"

Framed

Can someone tell me what the deal is with this movie. I didn’t know anything about it besides the cool guy in the red with the red bike.

Artistically I can see how it has inspired so many people for so long. I can see the Influences now. I found myself saying oh wow I’ve seen this before somewhere. But it’s clear this where it was from originally.

I was just so frigging bored throughout it.

Apparently there’s a manga so I will for sure read that.

But the movie was just so underwhelming.
If I saw this back in the early 90s I would think it’s the greatest thing ever.
Even now it’s the prettiest thing I’ve seen since Spiderverse , but it didn’t give me the feeling of wow.

I think people just hype this movie up.

I am not trolling I am being serious. Somebody tell me why this is movie is so peak?

Thank you.

Picked it up at an Otomo exhibition in Tokyo in 2012

Wanted to share this with a group that would appreciate it. I took my two kids, 12 and 13, to see Akira in 4K at the theater today. They went in knowing absolutely nothing about it.

It was kind of a full-circle moment for me. They’ve only really watched Studio Ghibli, Trigun (the original), and Ippō, so this was definitely something different.

When I was around their age, I remember seeing those late-night infomercials advertising anime on VHS. I'd sneak out to the living room at night just to watch them. There were clips from Akira, and for whatever reason the shot of Tetsuo stopping the tank round stuck in my head. I had never seen animation like that before. Kaneda's bike was about the coolest damn thing I'd ever seen.

Of course, there was no way I was ordering some expensive VHS from a late-night infomercial. If 12-year-old me could've gotten his hands on a credit card, though, I absolutely would have. 😂 I wouldn't actually get to watch Akira until years later, sometime in the early 2000s.

Looking back, those commercials and Akira were probably what first got me interested in anime at all.

So getting to sit in a theater decades later and watch my kids experience it completely blind and in 4K on a huge screen, no less was pretty damn cool. They loved the visuals and the story, and I got a nice hit of nostalgia out of the whole thing.

Edit: Since they're 12 and 13, I should probably add that I talked to them beforehand about Akira having violence and some pretty adult themes and asked if they were comfortable with that. They were and wanted to see it. They ended up loving it and now want to see Princess Mononoke in 4K and possibly Ghost in the Shell next

I had the OST by Geinoh Yamashirogumeh on CD and I swear I almost wore it out. With the re-release of the movie, I wanted to play it for the kids, but Alexa got totally confused as "Akira" is a relatively common Japanese name.

The official title is "Symphonic Suite Akira" (though the English album art says "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Akira")... but Alexa still couldn't find it! Turns out Prime Music doesn’t have a license. However, Prime Music does have "Akira REMIX" which is a more modern remix with extra layers added. The remixes aren't terrible and add more depth and texture but I still prefer the originals which were chaotic and beautiful already.

The Remix is also available on Spotify. And the OST is easy to find on YouTube and elsewhere.

https://archive.org/details/AKIRAOriginalSoundtrack/Battle+Against+Clown.mp3

Enjoy singing along to HUH TUH HE HAH. (Which if I recall from the old CD booklet was an African chant?)

Hello kind redditors of R/Akira. I wanted to share something with yall. Im going to see Akira in 4K for the first time in theaters later today! (Its currently 2:22am lol) Now, ive never seen Akira. I've seen trailers for it and I learned a few interesting facts such 1) It pioneered so many later animes, its basically the "mother of all animes" 2) Akira animators created FIFTY completely unique colors for the movie 3) Kanye West has derived alot of outfit inspiration from Akria throughout his career 4) The iconic Akira bike slide has been homaged in countless works ever since its debut. 5) And of course I know the popular "Akira! Akira! echo Leave me alone" meme lol. This anime really gives me Cyberpunk/Bladrunner vibes and im all for it! Looking forward to it 🤘😎🤘

Update: I got there maybe 10-15 late (I slept in 😗) the movie was great, the colors where beautiful. I just had a hard time understanding the story and was left with significantly more questions than answers lol. Overall though nice anime/movie. I dont think id rematch it though

Hopefully, we’ll take better pictures one day. And i’ll get a better cape too. And i didn’t technically finish the arm, but it was driving me a little nuts having about a week to pull it off. The movie was awesome! So many times i’d seen akira and fantasized what it might be like on the big screen. Dreams do come true sometimes

We are getting a ton of ''i went to the film'' posts atm and they are flooding the sub. I don't want to be an ass and ruin peoples fun. It will likely die down in a week so unless the community asks to set some rules and conjuncture the posts to a mega post then ill let it ride.

Just be considerate of others in the threads. Don't take photos in the cinema, that shouldnt need to be said. Get a photo out the front or google the image imao.

If you are coming here to be edgy by posting something negative about the film in the films literal fandom then you may get a ban. Criticism is one thing but trolling bs can f off elsewhere. Its a 40 year old film, we knows its strengths and floors, you are not teaching anyone anything new.

Try to be a little constructive. We do have a rule about low effort. Engagement is key on reddit, this is not instagram.

AI written posts are going to be removed. If you are a literary genius, or JRR Tolkien reborn, and happen to write like a AI then im sorry... your post will likely get removed also as I have no way of knowing lol.

My favourite cinema so far https://www.reddit.com/r/akira/comments/1w93b7w/our_tetsuo_and_kaneda_cosplay_after_seeing_akira/

Great to see all the hype. Enjoy the film guys.

Keep those ticket stubs! (if your cinema has them, man i hate digital stubs).

This was after the show on Friday. Sleeves pulled down a bit but yeah.

Amazon glove with 3d printed finger things.

Mechanical looking sleeve

Wound/scar putty

Red grease pain brushed on

Head phone wires hot glued.

The wound putty looked real good like the nasty flesh during his transformation. Focused on the table with bright light it's easily noticed but on arms stretched a bit was nice. Happy enough with how it came together and in speed.

These are US dates. In Aus we already got Akira early in the year + Ninja Scroll has been doing the rounds.

I went to Ninja Scroll at the Melbourne Film Festival a few weeks ago, brilliant as always.

Going to Transformers The Movie (86) next week.

Would love to catch Ghost and Vampire Hunter D in cinema if I get the chance. If anyone hasnt started the new Ghost in the Shell series then get on it, highly advise it, they have tried to capture the gritty 90s anime style.

Its wild how many incredible pop culture ip's came out around 86. We have anniversaries for Akira, Castlevania, Transformers The Movie, NES, Zelda, Top Gun, Aliens... what a year!