Manga artist turned filmmaker Katsuhiro Otomo arguably was the first one to bridge the gap between East Asia and the Western United States with his groundbreaking Japanese animated feature film Akira. Based upon the director’s own celebrated manga series of the same name, the 1988 anime epic was the longest running animated feature passing the two hour mark and among the most expensive to produce. Widely regarded as the film which introduced audiences around the world to anime, Otomo’s futuristic, ultraviolent epic spoken of the same breath as Metropolis or Blade Runner is equally revered by fans of the film for its technical bravura and derided by purists who felt it was an abbreviation of the original manga series.
Last
Thursday at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California, shortly after word
surfaced Thor: Ragnarok director
Taika Waititi would be helming the long-awaited live action adaptation of Akira, Mr. Otomo himself dropped some
news that will undoubtedly cause fans of the animated film and the manga to
rejoice. Firstly, Otomo announced he would
be overseeing a brand new series production set to encompass the entirety of
the original manga Akira, finally
putting to bed complaints about the film only presenting a Cliffnotes version
of the story. Secondly, a trailer with a
date set for April 24th, 2020 announced a new 4K restoration sourced
from the original 35mm negative and will be returning to theaters before coming
to UHD in a limited collector’s edition to be released in Japan. Lastly, Otomo announced he will begin
production on a new feature film project as well entitled Orbital Era.
With
Akira having recently reached its 30th
Anniversary, the news arrives on the heels of the news of Taika Waititi’s
involvement with the live action project and represents a major development for
both Akira and 4K UHD fans. Still an arresting and gorgeous looking and
sounding piece of motion picture art, Akira
remains an important chapter in cinema history and this forthcoming digital
restoration offers longtime fans and newcomers to experience Katsuhiro Otomo’s
grandiose epic as they never have before!
- Andrew Kotwicki