news culture Netflix: A cult science fiction anime arrives on the SVOD service
Netflix viewers can now (re)discover Akira, the legendary Japanese animation film of the 80s. Adapted from the eponymous manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira remains one of the most famous works of the Japanese animation history, almost 35 years after its release.
A daunting project
Akira is originally a manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, published from 1982 to 1990. From the first years of its release, the work was immediately positioned as a critical and public success, greatly exceeding its sales estimates. Best-Seller in Japan, the first volumes are published in the United States from 1988. It will be necessary to wait until 1991 to see the manga land in France. Both countries also experienced the explosion of manga at this time, popularized in large part thanks to Akira.
It was 1984 that Katsuhiro Otomo was offered the adaptation of his manga into an animated film. Having discovered this profession a few years earlier while working on Armageddon: Genma Wars, Katsuhiro Otomo then decided to try the adventure. Having become a director, the mangaka has great ambitions for his new project and quickly hires a large number of people. He founded his studio, Mash Roomand brings together the fine flower of japanimation of the time to form the Akira Committee. Katsuhiro Otomo is thinking big for his film. Wanting above all to make a high quality animated film, he collaborates with more than 70 animators who, for some, have carte blanche.
The director chose to use many techniques that were rare at the time for an animated film, such as pre-recording voices and shooting in 70mm. Wishing to supervise as many elements as possible, he signs the chara-design as well as the screenplay alongside Izo Hashimoto. For nearly four years, the different teams will work hard to make the “best animated film of the time”. In total, Akira will have cost nearly 7 million euros, thus becoming the most expensive animated film in the history of Japan at the time.
A major work of Japanese animation, now on Netflix
If Akira is so legendary today, it is undoubtedly largely due to the many themes that the work brews, as well as to the avant-garde vision tinged with ultraviolence and realism of Katsuhiro Otomo. Particularly realistic, both the manga and the film depict a futuristic cyberpunk society in which biker wars rage on high-speed roads.
Akira mainly tells the story of Kaneda and Tetsuo, two adrenaline-crazed handlebar freaks who criss-cross the city of Neo-Tokyo and its outskirts. One evening, Tetsuo loses control of his vehicle while trying to dodge a mysterious old-looking child. he ends up captured by the army, who will perform a series of experimental tests on him. In parallel with this story, many political tensions are beginning to arise in the city, thehe popular insurgency begins to mount as a name begins to resonate in the mouths of the inhabitants: Akira.
Akira is undoubtedly a major work of japanimation which will have greatly impacted a whole generation of readers and spectators. The good news of the day concerns the return of the film on Netflix. Available since June 1, Akira should remain on the platform for a limited time. For those who have not yet seen Akira, we strongly recommend that you view this iconic work now.
