Akira

This Funmation disc is true 4K. I recieved today, 05/30/2023. This is just in case some are worried about older reviews that slammed the sub of a Blu ray instead of the advertised 4K. Older issue, yes. So just offered FWIW. Quality is excellent allowing for the date of production of the original film.

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.

what a waste of time not a UHD disc at all, only SDR "NO HDR" and the 4K SDR looks bad, not much better than the 1080p blu-ray. Just a complete waste of time and money on a very lackluster release.

原作が完結する前に観た時は「物語を2時間に収めるのは無理じゃ・・・」と個人的には観賞後、やや消化不良気味でした。原作が完結して、そして30年近く経ち、ふと久しぶりに観たくなって購入。改めて観るとスピーディーで破綻のない演出。大友氏の思い描いていたアキラの世界が最小限に凝縮されていた。当時は原作と比べてしまって勝手に過小評価していた自分が今では恥ずかしい。サイバーパンクというジャンルはこの作品後、急速に衰退していった記憶がある。ひとつの時代の掉尾を飾ったアキラ。改めて観るとしっかり「ダイジェスト」している。大友氏のこだわり、熱意が伝わってくる。年をとったせいかラストのカタストロフィー後の金田の「行っちまった...」にホロリ; ; 原作はドライでなかなかキャラクターの喜怒哀楽が伝わってこなかったけれどアニメとしてキャラが動き、声が入ると金田や鉄雄、かおり、大佐の感情がそれなりに顕されており感情移入出来る。むしろ「よくここまでまとめたなぁ」と感じました。アキラを知らない沢山の若い方々にも観て欲しいな。

Ich habe diese Edition nicht nur wegen der 4K-Version gekauft, sondern insbesondere wegen des zusätzlichen Materials. Ich war beim Öffnen des Pakets allerdings sehr überrascht nur die 4K-Version/Blu-Ray vorzufinden. Keine extra Blu-Ray-Disc mit „Special Features“ und kein Booklet. Nichts. Was soll das bitte für eine Limited Edition sein?Hier unter die Beschreibung von der britischen/japanischen Ausgabe:AKIRA 4K LIMITED EDITION INCLUDES:1x 4K UHD Blu-ray1x Standard Blu-ray (Feature Film)1x Standard Blu-ray (Special Features)1x 40 page booklet featuring: The Energy Of Akira Stimulates The Human Mind by Ryusuke Hikawa, The Music of Akira Continues to Evolve by Reiji Asakura, a round table interview with the Japanese cast and sound director, and Timeline of Events in AkiraDas Geld kann man sich sparen und entweder die britische Ausgabe kaufen, oder warten, bis in Deutschland eine echte Limited Edition veröffentlich wird.

I am admittedly not a fan of anime and find a lot of it to be quite cringe worthy. However, there is something about Akira that I have always found fascinating. When I saw the bluray disc was sitting at £4.99, I decided to jump on it. Not only to refresh my memory but to show my kids that anime can be something other than mindless dumb cartoons like Attack on Titan (Yeah, I went there!).For those who don't know, Akira is an animated film from 1988. The story takes place in a dystopian 2019 in Neo Tokyo, a city built out of the ruins of Tokyo. A city decimated in the '80s after a huge blast engulfed the a vast majority of the area. We follow a group of teenagers from the violent streets through secret military bases and even into an Olympic stadium as they try to uncover and foil a government plot. A plot that involves creating telekinetic humans and one's inability to control their power. The film was written by Izo Hashimoto and director Katsuhiro Otomo. The production was handled by Ryohei Suzuki and Shunzo Kato.As a film, I found my latest viewing (the first in many years) to be utterly fascinating. It's the first time I have seen the movie since the VHS days and seeing it on bluray was just incredible. The illustrations and animation in the film is second to none. It's virtually impossible to deny the artists involved because the detail in the huge cityscapes, underground lairs and throughout all the action sequences is absolutely incredible. The use of cyberpunk styles was very tastefully done. I loved the use of neon and bright colours, it really makes the film image pop.The story isn't necessarily difficult to follow. It does start off a bit disjointed and a bit hard to differentiate certain characters. But after a good half hour, you sink into the excellent atmosphere of the film and that becomes less of an issue. I loved the fact that the script kept some of the plot points very vague. It doesn't outright explain to you what is going on, something that puts me off a lot of modern films. This means that they drip feed you a piece of plot every now and again, but it's up to you to piece it all together. They don't even explain the end with any great detail and I loved that. This major climax happens and it leaves you just sitting there thinking, "What in God's name did I just witness?" It's sort of similar to the space classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey in some regards. You see a particularly stunning and impressive set piece, but you're not entirely sure what it is going on. This might put off a lot of people who like their plot explained to them but it's works well for me.The music in the Akira is something that really stood out to me. It wasn't the usual over dramatic stuff we usually hear in this kind of film. Instead we had some form of chants and rhythmic beats that set quite an unsettling tone to the film. It's definitely one of the most underappreciated scores in film if you ask me. Every scene that used music, used it sparingly. But the music they used fit the scene perfectly. Looking it up on the internet, the music was composed and conducted by Shoji Yamashiro and was performed by the Geinoh Yamashirogumi collective. The style of music in the film is apparently a mix of traditional Indonesian gamelan music and elements of Japanese Noh music. I'm not familiar with these styles of music and that's probably what made it for me. It was different, it was unique and you don't hear that sort of thing in these sci-fi films. I loved it.I would assume that because I don't really like much in the way of modern anime, that my opinion on this film won't mean much to some. But for those out there who are like me and are quite the hit or miss with the style, I recommend checking this out. It's not only a gorgeous looking film, but the music is beautiful and the plot is quite unique. This by definition is a classic film and it's worth every penny. I wish I had bought it sooner.

映像は勿論のこと、音響面にも力を入れたリマスターだけあって、サウンドのキレ、レンジの広がりなど総てに於いて、これまで発売されたソフトと段違いの音。サラウンドヘッドフォンで聴くと、芸能山城組のサウンドトラック（特にパーカッション）が心地よく脳内にポコポコと響きます。映画の内容に関してはもう今更ですので、特典ディスクの中身について少々（メニュー画面を添付します）。■AKIRA SOUND MAKING 2019（約40分）……20年3月28日にテレビ放送された30分特番の全長版。岩田光央のナレーションで『AKIRA』の歴史に軽く触れた上で、前半は山城祥二＆麻倉怜士＆名倉 泰の3名による音に関する鼎談。後半は音響監督の明田川進とキャスト4人による回顧録。■AKIRA SOUND CLIP BY 芸能山城組（約19分）…… 1988年当時のレーザーディスク商品の再録のため、画角は4:3のまま。元素材の都合で高鮮明とはいかないが、音質は向上しています。資料的価値からの収録でしょう。■エンドクレジット1988年公開版（約4分）……「ボクは…鉄雄…」のモノローグ部分から切り出して88年公開当時の日本語クレジットを復元。フィルムの傷やパラも見えるけど、英語クレジットに差し替えられたソフトを見慣れた目には資料的価値が高い。ロール最後にバイクの走行音のS.E.が入るんですよね、これ。■絵コンテ集・静止画……画面に左右2枚ずつ、大友克洋によるコンテ115頁を静止画で。本編ディスクの場面チャプターと同じ所で区切った36か所のインデックス機能があり、観たいシーンにすぐアクセスできます。■特報・予告編集……現存する予告用素材をHD画質で4種とCMを1種。15秒のテレビスポットは画角4:3ではなく、元素材までさかのぼっているので、ちゃんとビスタサイズです。特典Blu-rayにも、本編ディスク同様に日本語と英語の字幕表示を選択できるので、海外ユーザーにも優しい仕様。★封入のブックレットに関して。オールカラー32ページ（表１・表４込み）で、氷川竜介による作品解説が８ページ、麻倉怜士による音楽解説が４ページ。明田川音響監督＆キャスト４人の座談会が16ページ。『AKIRA』の時系列年表とスタッフクレジットが各１ページ、という内容です。このソフトを観て、聴いてしまったら、もう既発売盤のBlu-rayに戻れないというぐらいの圧倒的な差を感じました。2020年春の段階で入手できる『AKIRA』映像ソフトの中で、間違いなくトップクラスでしょう。バンダイビジュアルの既発売品を持っている人も、買い替える価値は充分あります。