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Otomo Akira.jpg

Wait, We're Getting an 'Akira' Movie AND an Anime?!

By Kayleigh Donaldson | TV | July 5, 2019 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | TV | July 5, 2019 |


Otomo Akira.jpg

So you know how all us anime fans are a wee bit worried right now because that long-awaited Hollywood live-action adaptation of Akira is finally ready for production and we’re all convinced they’re gonna f*ck it up? Yeah, panic in the streets of Neo-Tokyo and all that, but guess what? We’re also getting an Akira anime series! And it’ll be by the original creator, Katsuhiro Otomo! Truly, our cup runneth over.




Otomo made the announcement during a panel at the Los Angeles Anime Expo. Few details were announced beyond its existence, that it will be produced by Bandai Namco’s Sunrise, and that the show will not be a sequel of the story. Bless The Hollywood Reporter for calling Akira a ‘steampunk classic.’ He also revealed that he will be directing his third anime feature, Orbital Era, a near future sci-fi set on a lunar colony.




A 4K remaster of Akira will also be released in Japan in April 2020, just in time for the country’s hosting of the Summer Olympics. I’m telling you, if that opening ceremony doesn’t feature some sort of motorcycle chase while warring choirs scream TETSUOOOOOOO and KANEDAAAAAA at one another, this whole Olympics lark will be for nothing.

Akira is a stone-cold classic of anime but it’s also incomplete because Otoro hadn’t even finished writing the manga when he made the movie. The film encompasses such a tiny sliver of his vast story, so there has always been potential to make something amazing from a new anime or live-action film. Of course, there’s a reason we’re all so hesitant to let Hollywood do it. Although we do have Taika Waititi in the director’s chair and he has said there will be no whitewashing, so we can have a wee bit of hope? Just a wee bit?

At least we shall always have Evangelion to fight over. Anyone watching it on Netflix? Ah, a whole new generation gets to be scarred by The Discourse. I’m so happy.



Header Image Source: Toho