After the year 2020 has been so far, I legit would not be surprised if a giant miscoloured blob of screaming flesh grew beyond its ability to control its power and threatened the very existence of the world.
@@firsttimer2254 Yeah. It's neat to consider the creators when paying close attention to their work. I'm conditioned to recognize the Wilhelm and Howie Screams. I smile every time I hear them
I am Japanese. when i was 11 years old kid, I found that Akira had being played in the movie theater through the documentary of making of Akira. I remember that I feel something special of Akira, so I asked my mom i wanna go and watch this movie. that was shocker!! i was kid then, I don't understand this movie at all, but music, graphics, slangs, charactors and incidents in the movie was just so so cool. it's been 30 years since then, this movie is still my best one.
AKIRA changed my life. Funny story, I spent 30 years trying to find a song from the soundtrack. It was the song that played when the boys were hanging out in the mall with the girls talking about Tetsuo and Kay and her crew set off the bomb. It was the only song missing from the soundtrack. Anyway just over a year ago and maybe my 5th trip to Tokyo I met a girl. Her English wasn’t great and I don’t speak much Japanese but we went on a date in Shinjuku. I fell in love with this girl and as we are having a beer and some izakaya style food I asked the universe for a sign. Was she the one? Should I do something about this... that song played. I grabbed my phone and Shazamed it. I got the song! And that was the sign. We are now engaged. Anyway if you made it this far I hope you enjoyed the tale. I love love love AKIRA
Along with Ghost in the Shell, Perfect Blue, Princess Mononoke.....Akira is and always will be one of the greatest archives in animation PERIOD, I fucking adore every frame of this movie.
Those titles are definitely accessible as well as popular overseas! Add maybe a dozen more, and you have the majority of my intake and the extent of my fandom.
My dad made me watch this when I was 6 and my mom freaked out about it. But this movie literally changed my life. I hold it close and dear to my heart to this day. This film is an essential for musicians, filmmakers and visual artists. And few movies this influential exist. It can’t be stressed enough how important it is for people to watch this in their lifetime. Great video. Keep it the quality work man Edit: 2 years later I’m just now seeing all the replies, everyone who did seems super cool. Thank you all for the likes
Haha. Amazing. my dad made me watch it when i was 8 as well and it blew my mind even back then and even though i had no idea what was going on half the time i was captivated by the animation and has stayed close to my heart too. its become a bit of an obsession.
Makes me feel better for edumacating my kids by showing them Metropolis (the Fritz Lang version) at about the same ages, maybe a bit older (but before 10, anyway). They still remind me of it, 25 years later, so I think it worked, I still remember seeing clips from Metropolis at the same age; it's become a family tradition.
Otomo was only in his early 30's when making this masterpiece. He's made some brilliant work since Akira - "Cannon Fodder" comes to mind as one of the most visually unique animations I've seen, and one of the most effective depictions of totalitarianism since Orwell's 1984. But I can't help wondering how making one's masterpiece so young would effect him later on. I remember reading in an interview that Otomo felt living in the shadow of Akira hasn't been good for him mentally, and while he's grateful for the success Akira achieved, he has little interest in returning to the world of Neo-Tokyo.
Definitely, understandable that he might not want to return to the grind of being a manga-ka, but still kind of baffling that someone so visionary never really had a proper follow up to AKIRA (I remember Steamboy just being kinda boring).
as someone who readily indulges in Otomo's other works i can see how living in the shadow of Akira takes a toll on him. he's incredibly talented, but his talent is constantly overshadowed by his own work which is over 30 years old now. he is not known that well outside of japan, and even there he is still kind of underground.
@@KhayJayArt Yes, they are!.. The degradation in body and mind expected in senility are still a long ways away, and many retain much of the strength and energy of years gone by. By someone's thirties they should have benefitted from having had more experience than someone in their teens or twenties, as well. The period may be thought of as a 'peak': The immaturity of youth has been outgrown, and the effects of aging still to come. This will vary hugely, and is dependent on individual traits, circumstances, and lifestyle choices of course! For Mr. Otomo to have completed his masterpiece relatively early in his career, the OP argues, it casts a shadow on what remains to be done.
I still remember seeing this at a friend's house when I was probably about 10 years old. I had already been a big Dragon Ball fan at that time but Akira just absolutely blew me away with the amazing grandeur of the Neo-Tokyo setting. I still watch it about every 3 to 5 years and it still gives me chills.
Once again, aces. However, for the first time in my entire history of watching RU-vid videos, I wish your film was longer! Whilst many others ceaselessly blather on, you practice a measured and deliberate economy of words here that informs the audience yet at the same time invites them to go and see for themselves. This very well could have been turned into an utterly enjoyable long form documentary, but instead you gave us a masterfully crafted peek inside to anime's watershed moment in reaching a global audience. As always, I look forward to everything you release. Cheers!
I hope he does more on Akira. Robotech/Macross was my first glimpse into anime as a kid, but Akira and Ghost in the Shell made me understand what the medium could do
Pairing AKIRA and Berserk is like pairing ice cream and pie. Their very philosophical statements acting are a perfect pair. Each of them a testament to the fact that manga is a compelling an art style as common literature.
-yo the editing for that intro was actually awesome...- actually all the editing for this video was awesome... not that ur other videos are bad but this video just looked... better...
@@SHIRO3301 Humanity's future will either be a degrading sycle of war on this one planet Or Become a zero waste society and take to the stars. (Wtf? Sycle? ... cycle)
Having shown Akira to lot's of people who don't watch anime or even cartoons, I can say that it still holds up. The response I get almost unilaterally consists of amazement that "cartoons" can look so good and surprise that they can be so adult in their storytelling content.
Amazing how they did true 24 fps with an animation. I always loved the "feel" of the movie as a kid, but couldn't put my finger on it until now. The smoothness and detail, its amazing. Sad how 2d animation rarely met that level after the movie.
Akira is a particular case, it costed a fortune at the time(it was in fact the most expensive animation movie ever made in Japan), they gave a lot of freedom to Otomo and kinda flopped in his home country(like another animation masterpiece of that time, Angel's Egg). Since then, with few exceptions, no one has produced a 2 hour long movie that used 24fps that much, nowadays the approach is to use 24fps animation only when is really required(action scenes, particular important scenes, scenes in which the suddle change of expressions is essential) and go as low as 7-6 fps for the scenes that feature simple talking or non-important movements. Which is smart imo, keeps costs lower and reduces the burden on key animators and in-betweeners.
Lots and lots of references, model designs both 2D parallel views and 3D mock ups on scale, photos, Perspective grids, etc.. This is the same material that goes through the making of certain comics/manga. Computer graphics where used in the making of this film for some scenes backgrounds and effects too.
My anime class collectively voted to watch Akira as our movie of choice. I was thinking it would be just a boring movie about a thug kid, and wondered why the whole class was getting hyped over an 80s animation like this. I couldn't have been more misled! It was so good. It left me feeling so empty when I finished it. It's truly something I didn't expect at all and everything in it just leaves you feeling something super cathartic yet questioning the future with a sense of uneasiness, if that makes sense. Plus, the animation wasn't choppy at all like I was thinking it would be. The fact that it was all done by hand just makes me appreciate the work so much more. Katsuhiro Otomo is a mad genius!
I was happily surprised when I walked past a construction site in Sibuya a year ago and saw that they had printed Kaneda on his bike on the wall to the site. This spring they had printed more frames from the manga there. You can see it on google maps.
Photos of it here for anyone who wants to see -> facebook.com/dedo.officiel/photos/pcb.10156676693896773/10156676693576773/?type=3&theater and beckyjewellart.com/blog/tag/tetsuo
Your first 50 seconds of this video summarizes exactly how I felt as a kid watching Akira. Up to that point it had all been saturday morning cartoons, GI Joe and Transformers. Akira totally blew me away. As you said, it was on a VHS bootleg copy one of my elementary school friends had :)
Akira was the second anime movie i watched, after Spirited Away, i grew up loving art, and am currently majoring in illustration/sequential art, my parents knew i loved this shit so they got me Akira and i'd watch it in the car as a wee lad but i never really payed attention because i was always distracted by my game-boy and what-not, I've re-watched the film now dozens of times, and read the manga through. This, Cowboy Bebop, and Ghost in the Shell are my biggest inspirations, i know it's really far fetched, but i hope to create something similar one day, to at least hear the phrase "this kind of reminds me of Akira!" my life will pretty much be complete lol. Amazing video and amazing editing! Liked and subbed
wow!!!!! this was probably the most noticeably well edited video i've seen! the spinning akira transparency layover thing? the separate layers of the incredible detail in the manga popping up? pairing the timing of the music with the images onscreen with an unobtrusive voiceover?? amazing. really great work! i look forward to seeing more of your work!
I"m just 21 yo and AKIRA is my very first manga I read but I was a child and the books belonged to my uncle. Far as I can remember I always loved the story even if I understood it after few readings. I watched the anime 2 years ago and it was amazing, I prefer this type of graphics than those of today.
I never thought things could ever get any better until I came upon the bike slide scene... you got us nostalgic for a minute there friend, and for that you earned a slow clap, a like, a share and a minute stand out of respect to your work and the legendary AKIRA that changed the world of anime forever indeed.
Akira is the movie that turned me on to anime. I had only a few bucks for a weekends entertainment so down to the local blockbuster I went. When the latest release I wanted to see was all checked out, I started perusing the aisle and I came to the foreign film section and there was Akira with a must see recommendation by Siskel and Ebert. Good times.
Ash Thorp's Akira tribute is one of the best fan recreations ever made. So short, but so perfectly and meticulously capturing the feeling that Akira creates.
One other factor that drove anime into the mainstream, was when Streamline Pictures (one of my friends, Fred Patten, now deceased, formed it with Robotech's Carl Macek) released Akira in theaters. They were one of the earliest anime import and dub companies that really pulled it in. Fred Patten formerly ran the C/FO (Cartoon/Fantasy Organization), a multi state/multi city anime club, back in the 1980s, that also attracted early anime fandom, with bootleg copies of anime, we'd all sit around and just soak in that old school anime goodness. As such, that's where I first caught Akira.
Bloody hell this editing was a pleasure to watch! From the scenes timed to the beat @1:57 to the bike slide homages. I tip my hat to you good sir. That was an easy subscribe.
it's not the essay we deserve, but it's the essay akira deserves. thank you for that masterpiece of a youtube essay, wonderful intro and bridges, which also let the viewer >feel< the imagedriven narrative of otomo. i didn't know he painted 25 frames, i wasn't even aware of disneys number. how many pictures are the ghibli ones? i appreciate your content very much. thanks for all your work, and thanks all of your supporters and friends.
There is only one motorcycle produced to mimic the style.. check out honda's NM4. Hella sweet looking, but it's automatic. A cool thing about the bike's dash lights can change colors depending on the riding mode your in, ie. sport-red, other riding modes=different colors. Some fabrication work and I'm sure you can get it really close. there is another one called the "stingray" made by a small company in japan. can't really find much information about it tho.
jesus u deserve so much more subscribers and merits than that ... The work you put into your vids is so crazy... I'm rly enjoying all of your work, we need more people like you ! :D Keep it up ! Love
OMG, dude, thank you so much for your music compilation at the end. Your videos are great and you have masterful editing skills, but I really appreciate you going the distance and promoting the music, because I was wanting every single track as I was listening on.
I love this movie and have owned it in various formats over the years (now inc. bluray). It sparked my love of Anime which continues to this day. An early OAV worth a mention is Cyber City ~ Oedo 808 (1990~91). Worth checking out if you haven't seen this trilogy of Sci-fi Anime Gold.
It's nice to meet another fan of Yoshiaki Kawajiri's work. I like Cyber City Oedo 808 as well, but I'm sad that there was never an official conclusion to the franchise.
As you say it's a shame it was never completed, but I've seen it's ideas included in many Anime films and series since. Another favourite from that time is Roujin Z OAV (1991). Very funny and futuristic for its time.
I saw AKIRA shortly after it was released, my friend having rented it from the local Japanese video store. Even with no subtitles, I was enthralled by the animation, the music by Geinoh Yamashirogumi and the epic nature of the story. It sparked an interest in Japan that eventually led me to living there for almost 15 years, and I plan to retire there.
In truth many shots in Akira feature a very clever combination of frame rates, often based on where the eye will first be drawn. You'll have your main subject in 24fps (but also often in 12fps) then with less central elements in the plate running at sometimes as little as 6 or 4fps, depending on the complexity of their motion. Helping to smooth all this out however, all optical camera moves and mechanical motion of both animated elements and still plates across the frame are always performed in 24fps, adding to the terrific illusion of fluid motion throughout. Think of it as optimisation of resources, similar to what a video game chooses to render in high or low detail based on where the player is and what's in their field of view.
This is the only animated Japanese film where the backgrounds blend so well and feel part of it, as nice as the backgrounds are in Ghibli stuff, it is so apparent they are water colour backdrops, in Akira it's the most homogeneous presentation ever. In that respect, nothing beats this film, and I don't believe anything will.
I was left speechless after watching this video, as I usually am after watching any video analysis of Akira. it's such an awesome anime that any perspective from any person regarding Katsuhiro's masterpiece of a story is always amazing. a lot of the clips from the movie you used actually emphasized on the animation of light, and that's pretty important to right? since the name of the manga literally means "of light". Nerdwriter made a phenomenal video about how light was animated in the movie Akira and how it discretely plays a major role in the story.
umm, no, Castle in the sky is a great film for what it is. My personal ghibli favorite, others may be "better" but that film has so much charm. Iconic ghibli adventure film.
I loved the film growing up, but the last few times it's been hard to rewatch it. And the reason is its way of handling its fractured story structure. It's composed of 5-10 minutes of superbly put together sequences strung together with dips to black. And while I know there are plenty of anime films that are heavily abridged versions of their sources, Akira feels too much like the dreaded recap episodes that tv anime insert to gain some time to work on future episodes. Don't get me wrong. Those snippets are jawdroppingly awesome. But it's still structured like a clip show. It almost is as if they made it to be released as a RU-vid series back when the runtime of youtube was limited to 10 minutes. And then they just strung these episodes together using fade to black between them. Akira, the cipshow episode of the most awesomest of tv anime we never got to see... Also... The soundtrack is just friggin mindblowing... On that note I cannot fault it at all.
@@tdugong The manga wasn't even finished during the production of the movie, so most of what you see in the second half, it's entirely original to the movie and not a condensed version of the manga. Otomo had a lot of problems in deciding how to conclude the movie and then on how to make the manga different from the movie's ending, I remember reading an old interview in which he explained that he talked with a lot of fellow artists about that, including many western ones that were heavily into the delirious Sci-fi of the time, like Jodorowsky.
Jesus man this video is insanely well made. This video essay is on an entirely new level. Akira is one of my favorite animated films of all time and your insight on it's cultural impacts heighten my appreciation for it. Also, your voice is incredible, please keep creating.
BRO Im a huge AKIRA fan and let me tell you this is the best video ESSAY I have watch about akira because of the soundtrack and the coherent structure of your arguments really a master piece. Thanks for this bro.
Disney ABSOLUTELY did 24 frames per second animation! They - like the animators in Akira - occasional "held" a drawing on screen for two frames worth of time rather than one, but this is a valid technique used for slower movements that actually benefit from having fewer drawings. It was hardly a consistent FPS the way you're thinking of the way videogames run or something. These guys were artists, deciding exactly the right amount of drawings needed to convey particular movement - pop in Fantasia and you'll see exactly the same fluidity. Great video otherwise.
Was wondering if anyone else would point this out! Well said. Saying that Akira was probably among the first ANIME to have such high number of drawing per sec. That combined with the sheer complexity of the drawings still make it an incredible feet. I also seem to remember this was the first anime to do actual lip sync to pre recorded dialogue rather than just adding the vo to 'flapping' mouths as had been done before.
A fantastic soundtrack to a fantastically edited essay. Could you please tell me which track is used between 1:00 and 1:30 with the voice samples please?
