Advice From a Fanboy: Akira

[Casual Shinji]

It's deemed a masterpiece mostly because of how spectacular it was animated. On a technical (hand drawn) level it has very few equals, and seeing as hand drawn animation is all but dead this is unlikely to ever change.

Ironically, it's noteworthy in Japan because Akira is one of the few anime to be done in the standard American fashion: they recorded the dialogue first and then rendered the animation. For most anime the animation is done first and the voice actors try to synch their lines to their characters' mouth flapping. It's the main reason the lip-synching (in Japanese, at least) and body language in Akira are so good compared to almost any other anime. Judging by Otomo's other work, he stuck with this method.

I still don't understand why Japanese animation studios operate like that. If it's that much more expensive or time consuming I can understand why TV series don't work like this, but most feature films do the animation before voice recording, too.

However, eventhough Akira is definately Otomo's baby, I think the animation director Koji Morimoto doesn't nearly get enough credit for his work on the film. When you compare the movie and the comic you can tell that the movie has way more oddity to it, like the weird delusional nightmare sequences. And if you've ever seen other work by Morimoto such as the music video to Ken Ishii's Extra, it's not too hard to imagine he was the driving force behind Akira's twisted moments.

 

[zombi2989]

I agree completely. Take that 100 million dollars and buy 10 million people dinner.

 

[Zeitgeist1983]

Spoiler

"No, just.. just hang on a sec. Okay, so Adam is John's best friend. He's a little guy. He gets kidnapped by the government because he shows psychic potential"

You mistake...

Spoiler

...Akira for Tetsuo... Akira himself doesn´t even have that much time in his own movie...

Funnily, back in school, the guy sitting next to me was a Japanese and called Akira.

Edit:

Akira, Battle Angel Alita and Ghost in the Shell as liveaction-films in development hell... That is very funny.

 

[Hungry Donner]

If I had a spare $100 million I'd be tempted to troll the internet too

I have the same problem with the famed "Ghost in the Shell" film by Mamoru Oshii. It was the first to give anime films real exposure, but on the whole it seems to really be missing the point of the original manga and seems to want to opt-in for having "depressed robots talk about life while our main character gets naked for the 8th time".

I'm a big fan of the series, with the original mangas, tv series, books, and recently released newer manga adaptations, but I outright dislike the films.

I was thinking of Ghost in the Shell too when I read the beginning of this article. It had good animation, but overall the movie was awkward and it was clearly trying to fit too big a world into too short a film. I could have forgiven this if it was created as a pilot, but it wasn't.

I don't have much experience with manga or anime, but Nausicaa strikes me as a good lesson in translating from one to the other. While the movie lacks the eventual scope and depth of the manga it's still a complete package. Granted the manga was in its infancy at the time, so it rather forced the situation, but I'd wish studios would take a close look at what happened with some thoughts on repeating it.

 

[TheBrett]

I actually don't mind the idea of calling the film "Akira". If you made the replacements for Tetsuo and Kaneda minority youths in a possibly mixed-race gang (and don't call them "Tetsuo" and "Kaneda" - I agree with Bob there), then having Akira named "Akira" wouldn't be a big deal.

In fact, if you did this right, you could go for an interesting visual look. The future America is going to be even more multi-racial than it is right now, so you could create a new film aesthetic the same way it was done with Blade Runner.

 

[midpipps]

Good points Bob, but I disagree with you on one key point.

You say that there is nothing fundamental to the story that couldn't be transplanted to another setting if done properly. I personally don't think so. For me, part of what makes the film so unique is that the story is entire focused on the idea of Japanese identity.

Look at the opening scene: gets wiped out in mere seconds by a huge explosion. That right there should remind you of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Those two bombing are events that, if you'll pardon the wording, are seared into the Japanese cultural psyche. Being the only country to have ever been nuked during a war, you can be damn sure it's an event that weighs heavy in their culture. Indeed, the crux of Akira's plot focuses on the government trying (and failing) to control a weapon so powerful it can level entire cities in an instant. The symbolism and imagery used in Akira is supposed to bring associations with nuclear weaponry, and Japan is arguably the only country in the world were this sort of thing would make sense.

Not only that, but Japanese society itself plays a key role in the story. Part of the conflict in the film comes from the divide between the strict, structured Japanese culture of the past, and the chaotic mess that the country has fallen into. The General himself is on a crusade to restore Japan back to its values and traditions. Looked at very simply, it's an obvious example of East vs West (in this case, liberalism against traditionalism), but there's more to it than that. Traditional Japanese society is far, far stricter than we are used to in the West, and based on a large number of customs, rituals and traditions. Akira is in many ways an examination of how all those rules, rituals and traditions lose their relevance and are cast aside when society has had to recover from a devastating attack. In short, Akira is a reflection (in many ways) of post-WWII Japan. The dystopian, lawless society presented in the film isn't just a simple Clockwork Orange pastiche, it's a representation of how the Japanese people were almost forced to challenge their own ideas and beliefs about Japan after so humbling and complete a defeat.

In short, it's a Japanese film about Japan. As such, you simply can't transplant the story to somewhere else and hope for it to have anywhere near the same effect.

Also, as has been mentioned above, Akira is one of the unquestioned landmarks of animation. Purely as a technical achievement, the film broke new ground, and still stands as one of the most impressive feats of animation ever. Such landmarks are best left alone.

This pretty much covers what I was thinking.

The movie is still a good movie if you don't think about this but if you leave this in the back of your mind when watching the movie it becomes a masterpiece. Otherwise it is basically just a good action flick.

The first time I watched the movie I liked it but did not see that much special with it. When I went back and watched it after learning a little more about anime in general and Akira specifically it became the aforementioned masterpiece (to me at least your experience may vary). Also the manga helps too.

 

[Draconalis]

How's the pitch for that go again?

Spoiler

"Okay, the movie is called 'Adam' it's about these Latino street kids who are in a gang lead by John."

"Adam, you mean."

"What? Oh. No. Adam's a different kid."

"Well why are we calling the movie Adam then? We should call it John."

"No, just.. just hang on a sec. Okay, so Adam is John's best friend. He's a little guy. He gets kidnapped by the government because he shows psychic potential"

"Wait.. you got a mexican psychic kid? Is there a voodoo tie-in here, because we could probably get Tony Todd. You know, Candyman. Guy'd make a helluva voodoo doctor."

"A voodoo t... no, no, no voodoo going on."

"You sure? I mean I don't think he's been in much lately, so we could probably get him fairly cheap, and he'd add some name appeal."

"No. Seriously. No voodoo. Could you just hold on and listen.. Okay, so this Adam kid gets kidnapped by the government who wants to run experiments on him and boost his psychic potential. They want to use him for a weapon. And so John and his crew try to go up against the government to free him."

"So kind of a Warriors vibe then?"

"Warriors?"

"You know.. Warriors.. come out to play-ay.. Warriors.. come out to play-ay. That whole thing with the small gang being the underdogs against the bigger system."

"Uh. Yeah, sure. But you see here's the twist, they pump up Adam and it works too well, he becomes like a God."

"How's that work? I mean, if he's a God, can't he just walk out?"

"Well yeah, but it gets out of his control too.. driving him crazy and making him grow huge, threatening destruction of the whole city."

"So it's Warriors meet Godzilla? Hm. Okay. I can get behind this. But tell me, what does this all have to do with this Akira thing we have the rights to?"

"Do you have a gun? I think I'd like to shoot one of us now.."

"Adam" would actually not be the best friend of anyone. "Adam" would be the kid that they dissected in order to learn more about the ... whatever the hell we are going to call the "espers" in this version... I got it! How about "Daaaa Bears".

So "Adam" is the first of "Daaaa Bears" which starts this whole project off.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

Meh. I never felt Akira was so great as to warrant uncharacteristic mercy from the Hollywood milking machine. Go nuts, I say. Hollywood already knows it will never be as good as the nostalgic fans think they remember the first one being.

 

[The Random One]

Hmm, I'd actually watch an Akira remake if it was made to be about disenfranchised black kids in a filthy US neighborhood. Well done, Bob.

The reason there aren't many black sci-fi characters is that moviemakers think black people don't like sci-fi, and also think white people don't like watching anyone who isn't white in their movies (durr durr durr). I remember reading an interview with Neil Gaiman about whether a film verson of Anansi Boys (a fantasy novel with an almost entirely black cast) was coming out, and he mention that every time he had been approached by a producer they mentioned something to the tune of 'oh and we'll make the characters white because black people don't like fantasy' and then they get surprised when Gaiman doesn't want to sell them the rights to the book any more.

 

[aashell13]

huh. and until today I thought "Akira" was a class of starships from star trek's TNG era.

A quick trip to memory-alpha later and I've learned the ship is named after the show.

learn something new every day...

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

They should just ignore it entirely. It'd be destined for mediocrity

 

[Penguin_Factory]

All good advice, except maybe the last point- I tend to be optimistic to the point of foolishness about these projects, and take a "might as well try it just in case we get a masterpiece" attitude.

I particularly like the suggestion of using black or latino actors. My problem with the "white-washing" doesn't stem from the fact that the characters probably won't be Japanese- it's not set in Japan, there's no reason they have to be- it stems from the fact that in many people's mind, American = white.

No, really. When the controversy over this started I saw entire comment threads filled with posts like "Well it's set in America, obviously the characters are going to be white". The complete lack of awareness on display was stunning.

 

[SandroTheMaster]

I was with you until you say Akira's name should be Adam, so that it doesn't bring any exotic or special connotation.

Really? Adam? THAT is the name that came to your head when you thought "nondescript"? I mean, the name Adam is the most ham-fisted attempt writers have to say "this character is important" than any other, ever. Jesus, Budha and others could count, if it wasn't for the fact no writer is dumb enough to think they can get away with naming a character such, so they go with Adam.

I'm just baffled. There are literally hundreds of other ordinary names with absolutely no special meanings, and you had to pick Adam. Though it probably will be hilarious if people go on crying for Dave, their savior.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You realize Bob that fanboys are the last people you want to take advice from. Two groups you never want to take advice from when planning an adaption of something, doesn't matter what it is, two groups never to take advice from: fanboys/girls and haters.

 

[Gatx]

I was with you until you say Akira's name should be Adam, so that it doesn't bring any exotic or special connotation.

Really? Adam? THAT is the name that came to your head when you thought "nondescript"? I mean, the name Adam is the most ham-fisted attempt writers have to say "this character is important" than any other, ever. Jesus, Budha and others could count, if it wasn't for the fact no writer is dumb enough to think they can get away with naming a character such, so they go with Adam.

I'm just baffled. There are literally hundreds of other ordinary names with absolutely no special meanings, and you had to pick Adam. Though it probably will be hilarious if people go on crying for Dave, their savior.

He was just giving that as an example, geez. Probably because it started with an A so it still has an alliterative tie to the original name. You could've gone with John too for something even more normal.

Now that I think about it it'd be really weird to go see a movie called "John," or "Carl" or something. Can you imagine talking about that with your friends: "Hey, did you see 'Carl,' yet? I heard it was really good!" But I guess that's the effect that's intended?

 

[poleboy]

I can't possibly imagine how this could not become a complete disaster, even if they took your every suggestion to heart. The Akira anime is something like 20 manga condensed into a 2-hour movie. That in itself is harsh enough to the story, but if you changed the setting (as mentioned earlier, Akira is rooted in Japanese mentality, history and culture) I don't think you'd be left with anything but a mediocre sci-fi flick that most people wouldn't even understand, because it's been diluted too much.

 

[MightyLB]

American Akira? I think I've seen that already. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jafd97yJFOI]

Old YouTube vid, I know, but it addresses the kind of stuff that keeps happening in remakes, or what people are afraid is going to happen in remakes.

Also, it's not necessarily a bad thing to consult hardcore fans. Like any other sources of input, they are to be used wisely. Movies like the Lord Of the Rings trilogy wouldn't have turned out as well if Weta didn't consult the hardcore fans, or hire them as part of the crew. The Tolkien constructed language experts, the armorers, the artists, and so on are all very invested in the work for those films and the two-part The Hobbit still in production, and their expertise and enthusiasm greatly affect outcome of the final films.

Often, people stick "listening to fans" with "fan pandering" as part of the same "this is why hardcore fans don't help film adaptations" argument. Fan pandering often fills in the bits of bad film adaptations where the production team just wanted to get people to watch without actually doing the more difficult and time-consuming work of making sure the film was engaging on its own.

Case in point: I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with my family, but I was the only one who had not only read all of the Narnia books, but read them over and over again growing up. We all liked the movie for different reasons, but I was the only one to notice that the Professor's tobacco case on his desk was shaped like a silver apple [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician%27s_Nephew]. No pandering, just a small sign that said, "Yes, we did our research." When the nods to the fans get bigger than that, the other audience members are left wondering, "Why is this important?", just like they were on the car ride home when I was asking if "anyoneelsenoticedthesilverappleandwasn'tthatAWESOME" to be met by only confused looks.

Another example: I also saw Captain America: The First Avenger. MovieBob and I both liked the film, but being the far bigger fan, he noticed more things [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/9030-MovieBob-What-s-What-in-Captain-America] than I did.

Like MovieBob said, in the off, off chance that somebody in the movie business is actually looking at all this, I'd just like to say, "Yes, consult the fans, but don't consider their words sacrosanct. Make the movie good and reserve the hardcore fan stuff for garnish only."

 

[blackwlf]

"You're gonna piss away close to $100 million making a movie "

Actually, current estimates are around 140 million, I believe?

At least it's not going to have Keanu Reeves starring in it anymore.

 

[RDubayoo]

Wait, wait. Don't Americanize it, but don't call it Akira? What? And that bit about colonialism is just silly. I don't raise a fit over Turkish Superman or whatever, going all, "Yargh, the Turks are trying to colonize us with MOVIES!"

Also, you think that the presence of minority characters would mean that the movie's racist? What? Well, what if they didn't have them in there? Triple racism, no doubt.

Bob, I believe you when you say you aren't looking forward to the movie, but I think maybe it's for the wrong reasons.

 

[Zom-B]

#1, aside from the sacrifices the anime script had to make cramming all six volumes of the Akira manga into a 2hr+ movie, the anime is an absolute masterpiece of cell animation. Nothing the hacked story does can take away from that. It may have been many people's first exposure to anime, but I think that if it wasn't as good, visually, as it is, a lot less people would have sought out more anime. If the first thing people saw was something stupid like any of the millions or terrible animated movies or tv shows that come out of Japan, those people may have formed a different opinion of anime. That many of us saw Akira first and were blown away by the calibre of animation speaks volumes.

#2, if I agree with anything, and I agree with most of your points, I definitely think that calling it something other than Akira is the best way to go. It doesn't make any sense to set the movie in America with American actors and then call it Akira. Basicall, I think if Hollywood wants to see this movie be anything other than a disaster reviled by Akira fans, it'll have to be only based upon Akira, as you suggest.