Akira - 4K & Blu-ray

The 2-disc DVD set of AKIRA surpasses in many ways even the excellent Criterion's laserdisc edition from 1992. The brand-new video transfer is noticeably better: colors, especially the primary reds and greens, look more brilliant, flesh tones are more realistic, and there is a bit MORE picture at the bottom (in particular, the shot at time 1:16:23 reveals part of Kaneda's crouching body that was not seen on old transfers). The 5.1 English track, though not state of the art, is highly active and satisfying. The new English dub and subtitles are better written and spoken, making the characterizations more real and the story more comprehensible. In the scene where the colonel meets the senator (Chapter 8), the old English dub had the senator sounding concerned and supportive. On the new dub, he sounds cold and indifferent, in keeping with his subsequent body gesture of fiddling with his plants. The new dub also has characters speaking in correct pitches -- Kei's voice is now lower, and Masaru no longer sounds like an old man, but like a child, just like on the Japanese track. Also welcomed are the correct pronunciations of Japanese names: AH-kee-ra, KAH-nee-dah, KAH-oh-ri. Last but not least, the new dub makes more frequent uses of strong language to enhance reality. The DVD supplements include interviews of the voice actors for the new dub, who certainly deserve to be mentioned. Here is one thing that this DVD pales in comparison to the Criterion LD. The LD included still-frames of the entire first issue of the original Akira comic novel. It is a shame that this DVD does not include even one screen shot of the actual comic strips that inspired this movie (it does include shots of the COVERS of the comic novels) just to benefit those who have never seen them or do not own the LD. Other DVD supplements include an excellent 48-minute making-of documentary (the Criterion LD had excerpts of it). It has plenty of behind-the-scenes footage: artists drawing pencil tests, actors recording their lines, musicians composing a score with wood xylophones, photographers taking shots of finished "cels". We are told that it was not the norm in Japanese animation films to record the dialogs before drawing the pictures, as it was done for AKIRA. The youthful director Katsuhiro Otomo appears in his own 30-minute interview segment (not on the LD), where he recalls various processes of making the Akira comics and the Akira movie, and speculates on what he will do next. Yet another half-hour segment, "Akira Sound Clips", explains how the movie's score was conceptualized and recorded. The most prized supplement on the DVD is perhaps the mammoth collection of the film's storyboards, character designs, and background designs. The storyboards, done by Otomo himself, are the most meticulously designed ones I've ever seen; each of them is denoted with Scene/Cut number (under "S" and "C" on the left), notes, dialogs, and time of duration of the shot. To help locating a storyboard among the 4500 of them, the printed chapter index is cross-referenced with Scene/Cut numbers of its corresponding storyboards. Rather disappointing is a short featurette that tersely describes the new video transfer of the DVD with only interviews of 3 technicians and no demonstration of the restoration by way of before-and-after comparisons. There is also an interesting feature called "capsule option". When it is enabled, a capsule icon pops up on the screen from time to time while the movie is playing, and when you activate the icon, the screen pauses and shows you English text translation of the Japanese words on the screen -- traffic signs, graffitis, postings, etc.

The Good Things *Loads of fantastic action. *Fair (but notable) amounts of bloody violence. *Despite the age, the animation quality is good. Backgrounds are extremely detailed and artistic. Video remastery has made the colors very vivid. *Art design is great. Even though the characters look a little weird, they are memorable. Above all, the city stands out and the bikes are cool. *Interesting story. It's actually very thick with politics and far-out ideas, and may come across as convoluted at first. It's good, because it keeps you thinking (could be bad too, because it may be confusing). *Some deep themes to think about (about society and humanity, for example). Lots of fascinating ideas. *Interesting cast of characters, which are fairly well-developed. *Although die-hard fans may prefer the original 1988 dubbing, I believe that the new English dubbing on this disc is great. The voices match the characters better (Kaneda no longer sounds like a sufer dude), it's not as goofy (the General no longer growls all the time), and some phrases sound better. *Bizzare (but good) music. The Bad Things *Even with the new English dubbing, some of the dialogue is goofy or corny. Some of it is laughable (could also be a good thing, because it's fun and memorable). *The two main characters like to scream at each other a lot ("Tetsuo!!!!!" "Kaneda!!!!!!!"). It's kind of funny. *As noted above, plotline can be confusing. *Storyline is shortened for the film format, and is therefore different from the manga (albiet the movie is a good adaptation anyway; both the comic and the film were made by the same man). It is easy to see why this film stands out as one of the most essential anime films ever made; it is to anime what "Star Wars" was to live-action movies. It is loaded with innovative action scenes; most of them still blow me away. It is fast, furious, and completely unrestricted. Above all, it has exceptional quality in all respects (art, story-telling, music, sound, etc). The story may be hard to follow in some spots, and the characters may not be as well-developed as in other films (like "The Ninja Scroll" or "Berserk"). Still, it is wildly entertaining and somewhat thought-provoking. I highly reccomend this film to anybody who is even remotely interested in anime (and doesn't mind seeing some blood). It is English dubbed (the new 2001 dubbing, not the old 1988 dubbing), but I am sure that it also includes the original Japanese dubbing with English subtitles. Disc one includes a cool subtitles track that translates background graffitti. Disc two includes shed-loads of still image galleries (something like 4,000 images!). It also has a few feauturettes and the trailer.

For many years I have had a Blu-ray editor and this UHD 4K transfer is magic to the senses. The colours pop along with the sleek hand crafted animations and luxurious painted backdrops. The audio offers three different dubs the original Japanese and two English ones - I chosecthe two latter and I did have a preference for the 2001 audio performances. Overall an decadent steel book design that perfectly captures the movies atmosphere.

Legendary movie from Japan. Was banned in the 90's because of the violence. This is a very good copy of the original. Sound and picture quality improved.

Very nice edition of one of the great movies of the 20th century. Animation at it's finest, great sound too. The extras are ok but could be a bit more complete

Amazing movie, really well done with the HDR Re master as usually it is difficult for an animated film... This is one of the best written films ever do check it out

I’m so happy I made the decision to buy the definitive 4k bluray release of this classic film! I have a high system here at home and the Hypersonic mix was just absolutely mind blowing. Total for me was $77 USD which is ¥11,700 I think it well worth the price and I bought it here from Japan through and sent to the United States. Just a Jaw dropping release. The filmmakers did this release with care.