1988, Dir. Katsuhiro Otomo
With Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki and Mami Koyama
121 min, 35mm Projection
(English dubbed version)
A landmark of Japanese animation, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira revolutionized genre cinema, forever altering the depiction of dystopian futures on the silver screen. Based on the manga, also written by director Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira follows two motorcycle gang members who stumble across a secret military project in Neo-Tokyo, 2019. As the gang members are drawn into a shadowy world of the government and its ESPers, those with psychic abilities, they start a sequence of events that will change Neo-Toyko, quite possibly releasing a power worse than the atomic bomb, a force that could herald the end of the world.
Note: this is an original theatrical release print dubbed in English. Print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
