| AKIRA: LIMITED 2 DISC EDITION |
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| Year: 1988 Starring: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama Region: 1 Price: �24.99 - �29.99 Director: Katsuhiro Otomo Certificate: 15 Running Time: 140 minutes Chapters: 32 Notes: Disc pictured is Region 2 edition. Region 1 Limited edition now sold out, although still available in regular packaging. |
| The classic 1988 Anime classic that started the Western invasion of the animation style began here with Katsuhiro Otomo's stylish futuristic biker gang movie. The story is that in Neo Tokyo some thirty years in the future (after WW3), biker gangs are warring all over the city. It is a battle between two of these rival gangs that leads to gang member Tetsuo being taken away by shady government types after a run in with a strange, aged boy with blue skin. Numerous tests are performed on him, whilst his friends try to break him out of the hospital where he is being kept. It is uncovered that Tetsuo has gained super psychological skills, such as telekinesis and the ability to fly, but that the skills he has gained could overrun him and eventually destroy him. The film looks very vibrant, with lots of colour the whole way through. Even more impressive is the fact that it was all hand painted. The ending does seem a trifle confusing, with there being some kind of rebirth plot line occuring. If Japanese animation is your thing, then you'd be able to do a lot worse than pick up a copy of this amazing piece of work, that is still as strong today as when it was released in comic book form (all 2000 pages of it!) |
| EXTRA FEATURES Disc one carries the film with both the original Japanese language track (with subtitles) and a slightly more embarrasing, badly actred English version. The real stuff lies on disc two, where there is a near 50 minute production report, featuring behind the scenes peeks at how the movie came to fruition and was all hand drawn, plus interviews with the people concerned with making it. There is a 30 minute Japanese language interview with the director, as well as a monstrous number of stills (over 4000) with sketches from the animation process. Three featurettes adding up to around 14 minutes show how the film was remastered for the DVD, and also how the voices were recorded for the English language cut. Finally there is a good music documentary focusing on the band who made all the original music for the film, plus some trailers and TV spots. This limited edition set comes in a flashy tin case with embossed lettering, and a free temporary Akira tattoo doubtless of interest to collectors and fans alike. Those less urgent to buy the DVD will get the same extras in a regular slipcase. |
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