One thing that I kinda always want to remember about Akira, was how the fact that it was so ambitious, that the first airing of the movie was severly unfinished, going as far as having 200 shots re-touched in the home release, going from slight photographic fixes, to adding several background pieces to scenes that simply...only had a white or black background before, fixing off-model drawings, and even finishing a couple of incredibly hard to do scenes, like the water boat one, that had several cuts added in the BDs. Definitely a rocky start, but all in the name and sake of art itself, and to make something truly visionary!
Yeah it seemed it initially didn't sit well with Otomo going as far as to say he thought the film would be a failure after seeing the animation in the 2nd half
What is your source for that info? There has only ever been a single version of AKIRA and any fixes to it are purely post-production related like color correction and stabilization for Blu Ray and UHD
@@KazuyaMithra There is literaly snapshots of the original movie freely on the internet where it' s shown that there were numerous errors, like missing backgrounds and the unfinished scene.
I appreciate the natural progression of your RUclips channel in terms of the anime/animation community. You went from talking about DBZ (which is one of the most easily recognized anime) to branching out to other anime's. As aspiring animator/director such as my self really appreciate the information your publishing. Keep up the great work , teach the word and show the world more about animation!
The fact that RUclips rarely seems to push out your videos to a wider audience is honestly criminal. You make some of the best analysis videos on the platform and you deserve way more views than you currently get. Keep up the great work man, I have hope that one day you and your channel will get the recognition you honestly deserve.
Really fascinating to hear about these other key animators involved with Akira! Of course Otomo gets much deserved credit and recognition, but I only recently learned that legends like Koji Morimoto and Takashi Nakamura were heavily involved. It's interesting how Akira was a team effort by the animation industry of Japan itself. Makes one wonder how epic of a film could be made today if the top studios collaborated on a single project.
The film was amazing and maybe the best animation ever to be made , they have been working on a full anime series since 2019 I hope they nailed it again
This is something I've loved about 80s and 90s animation, the way animation was done. It's so clear to see how they were influenced by disney and it shows so much during this era and I love it
Not quite, it was way more influenced by Disney during the 40s, 50s, and 60s, around 1972 that influence had basically faded. All the influences at that time became much more from japanese folk lore, devilman, violence jack, black jack was even just based on tezukas own experience being a doctor before an animator.
Otomo was heavily influenced by films as well, you can use a lot of cinema language in the shot design and camera movement; something lacking in western animations
I don’t know why, but for almost everyone of your video I can easily invest myself in the topic and come out with some new or interesting information. Their length also makes them even more impressive. Great work, keep it up.
this video is a treat. im always watching akira scenes over and over again because of how good it looks, so it was pretty crazy to see harmagedon here. i never knew there was actually another anime that looked like akira, before akira! what really makes akira look special, i think, was the writing and directing. the clean and natural animation style was combined with a detailed world and hectic series of events, so the flashy visual spectacle was more of an "end result" than if the animators intentionally went for spectacle, through unnaturally exagerated poses and fast camera work. a very strong sense of teamwork that most productions just dont get the chance to reach.
Great video, although I kinda wished you mentioned Hiroyuki Okiura who not only worked on the film but later became the animator who took realism in the anime industry to a whole new level; and ofcourse bcame the top realist animator in Japan.
At least the nuclear explosion scene was used a lot of times in Hollywood movies in the 2000. Akira, Ninja Scroll & Ghost in the Shell ♡ the perfect trio
Hey, I really like your channel, and I loved your analysis of the gon vs hisoka fight! I would love to see an analysis of the naruto vs pain fight, which has some of the best animation I have ever seen.
The mouth synchronization of Akira blows my mind every time I see it. You'd swear it was rotoscoped, but it feels like it has something a bit more than that.
damnnn i really love your videos!! please keep it up with the breakdown!! jst found out your channel today and im pretty sure you will hit atleast 100k subscribers by the end of the year!
Like any animation fan, I've always asked the fidelity of Akira's animation, so thanks for introducing us to the realism movement in anime in general. I've only heard of like one of the mentioned titles, so I'm glad to have a few more important pieces of animation at to my list. Do you plan on making any videos about other movements in anime?
"the animation looks great for its time" I often see this comment on Akira(and older works) videos and it always makes me laugh. The actual art of 2D animation hasn't changed or "improved" since then, it's the same. Whether drawn on paper or on a tablet, the principals that governed amazing animation then are the same ones that do now. More digital techniques(and cgi) have been introduced for but their impact has been more so felt on the color/compositing side of things. Some of the best animation to ever be drawn can be found in Disney's movies from the 1940s and 50s.
Yeah there's the one side that talks as if animation these days is magically made with the click of a button while the newer generation talks as if animators in the 80s hand-carved pictures out on rocks.
And people act like we have a more consistent animation nowadays, but even now most anime has still frames just like the old days. Animation hasn’t really changed much. I think that what people are referring to is that nowadays the art looks cleaner and polished, arguably too polished.
When most people say "for its time" when talking about AKIRA I don't think they mean it pejoratively. But rather that its impressive that AKIRA was achieved in a time when it may have seemed impossible compared to computer assisted compositing and such. It's undeniable that AKIRA remains a masterpiece of animation. AKIRA outshines most animated movies not by Ghibli these days for sheer imagination alone, not just on a technical level. AKIRA is a pillar of analog cel animation in the same way Blade Runner is for practical effects. It will never age or be outdated because its so universal and well crafted, which is why we still talk about it almost 40 years later.
While the movie definitely has some great animation I also found the Manga to be great as well. There is so much detail in the drawings and so much care is put into the small stuff. Just compare the Akira manga to anything before 1982 and you can definitely see how it stood out. Even a lot of manga today fall short of matching how well drawn and dynamic the scenes are in that manga. The artist obviously had plenty of knowledge in how to lay out scenes and tackle perspective well. A lot of newer manga artists fail hard when it comes to the basics and resort to a lot to copying and pasting while not having much range. If you ever had to take years of art school and memorize the basics you can notice which manga/anime artists have had to do the same because even the ones whose work is exaggerated will still have their roots in those very same basics.
Akira goes up there with some of the best 2D animation seen in film like anything 2D Disney has done (especially Gold and Silver age Disney), Prince of Egypt, anything Ghibli, Redline, and a few other movies I can't think of off the top of my head. I love that Akira actually had lip-sync the entire way through, something still virtually never done in anime to this day
This video is almost certainly taken from the realism article on Animetudes blog... It's okay to paraphrase or reiterate what he says but at least credit his work.
Thank God for the sublime animation and music, because the story is a mess. Especially in the mid section. There's no way Otomo could fit a gigantic manga series into a two hour movie, and it shows. And that's how I see Akira: a technical landmark for anyone who loves to see awesome animation, regardless of what it is. Subtitles/dub not needed, you're in just for the eye candy.
Your channel is criminally underrated you’re breakdowns are amazing keep doing what you do
cheers dude :)
One thing that I kinda always want to remember about Akira, was how the fact that it was so ambitious, that the first airing of the movie was severly unfinished, going as far as having 200 shots re-touched in the home release, going from slight photographic fixes, to adding several background pieces to scenes that simply...only had a white or black background before, fixing off-model drawings, and even finishing a couple of incredibly hard to do scenes, like the water boat one, that had several cuts added in the BDs.
Definitely a rocky start, but all in the name and sake of art itself, and to make something truly visionary!
Yeah it seemed it initially didn't sit well with Otomo going as far as to say he thought the film would be a failure after seeing the animation in the 2nd half
@@forgottenrelics1197 Artists sometimes see the hardest on themself!
Is there a way to watch this version now?
What is your source for that info?
There has only ever been a single version of AKIRA and any fixes to it are purely post-production related like color correction and stabilization for Blu Ray and UHD
@@KazuyaMithra There is literaly snapshots of the original movie freely on the internet where it' s shown that there were numerous errors, like missing backgrounds and the unfinished scene.
Akira is a cinema masterpiece. Sound, music, cinematography, production design, directing, visual effects.
I appreciate the natural progression of your RUclips channel in terms of the anime/animation community. You went from talking about DBZ (which is one of the most easily recognized anime) to branching out to other anime's. As aspiring animator/director such as my self really appreciate the information your publishing. Keep up the great work , teach the word and show the world more about animation!
The fact that RUclips rarely seems to push out your videos to a wider audience is honestly criminal. You make some of the best analysis videos on the platform and you deserve way more views than you currently get. Keep up the great work man, I have hope that one day you and your channel will get the recognition you honestly deserve.
Really fascinating to hear about these other key animators involved with Akira! Of course Otomo gets much deserved credit and recognition, but I only recently learned that legends like Koji Morimoto and Takashi Nakamura were heavily involved. It's interesting how Akira was a team effort by the animation industry of Japan itself. Makes one wonder how epic of a film could be made today if the top studios collaborated on a single project.
The film was amazing and maybe the best animation ever to be made , they have been working on a full anime series since 2019 I hope they nailed it again
I hope so too! I heard about this
Like an anime for Akira? or a completely new story in the same universe or something?
@@RED_XLR i think just an actual anime considering the movie only adpated the start and the end
@@Alelander what's it's name
This is something I've loved about 80s and 90s animation, the way animation was done. It's so clear to see how they were influenced by disney and it shows so much during this era and I love it
Not quite, it was way more influenced by Disney during the 40s, 50s, and 60s, around 1972 that influence had basically faded. All the influences at that time became much more from japanese folk lore, devilman, violence jack, black jack was even just based on tezukas own experience being a doctor before an animator.
Otomo was heavily influenced by films as well, you can use a lot of cinema language in the shot design and camera movement; something lacking in western animations
The amount of work and effort to make Akira look the way it did should be commended. This movie influence the anime medium.
I don’t know why, but for almost everyone of your video I can easily invest myself in the topic and come out with some new or interesting information. Their length also makes them even more impressive. Great work, keep it up.
I fucking love Akira. Thanks for a legendary breakdown once again. This channel is one of a kind.
this video is a treat. im always watching akira scenes over and over again because of how good it looks, so it was pretty crazy to see harmagedon here. i never knew there was actually another anime that looked like akira, before akira!
what really makes akira look special, i think, was the writing and directing. the clean and natural animation style was combined with a detailed world and hectic series of events, so the flashy visual spectacle was more of an "end result" than if the animators intentionally went for spectacle, through unnaturally exagerated poses and fast camera work. a very strong sense of teamwork that most productions just dont get the chance to reach.
Your work is essential. This is very helpful to the animation industry! Great research my man
Great video, although I kinda wished you mentioned Hiroyuki Okiura who not only worked on the film but later became the animator who took realism in the anime industry to a whole new level; and ofcourse bcame the top realist animator in Japan.
The funny thing is is that I’m watching akira the moment this video came out perfect timing
At least the nuclear explosion scene was used a lot of times in Hollywood movies in the 2000.
Akira, Ninja Scroll & Ghost in the Shell ♡ the perfect trio
Hey, I really like your channel, and I loved your analysis of the gon vs hisoka fight! I would love to see an analysis of the naruto vs pain fight, which has some of the best animation I have ever seen.
The mouth synchronization of Akira blows my mind every time I see it.
You'd swear it was rotoscoped, but it feels like it has something a bit more than that.
Great video. I didn't know much about his previous films, and this was really interesting.
so glad youtube recommended this gem to me, your editing is very intriguing
Lol, 3:45 🤣 also AMAZING VIDEO, I love your channel and I usually put it on in the background when I'm drawing :) amazing stuff
Absurdly important. The greatest inspiration for the greatest artist of all time.
You are so underrated. Your videos are amazing.
damnnn i really love your videos!! please keep it up with the breakdown!! jst found out your channel today and im pretty sure you will hit atleast 100k subscribers by the end of the year!
Like any animation fan, I've always asked the fidelity of Akira's animation, so thanks for introducing us to the realism movement in anime in general. I've only heard of like one of the mentioned titles, so I'm glad to have a few more important pieces of animation at to my list. Do you plan on making any videos about other movements in anime?
Never realized how animated akira mouths were...it just felt natural. 100% immersion
"the animation looks great for its time"
I often see this comment on Akira(and older works) videos and it always makes me laugh. The actual art of 2D animation hasn't changed or "improved" since then, it's the same. Whether drawn on paper or on a tablet, the principals that governed amazing animation then are the same ones that do now. More digital techniques(and cgi) have been introduced for but their impact has been more so felt on the color/compositing side of things.
Some of the best animation to ever be drawn can be found in Disney's movies from the 1940s and 50s.
Yeah there's the one side that talks as if animation these days is magically made with the click of a button while the newer generation talks as if animators in the 80s hand-carved pictures out on rocks.
The animation looks great -for its time- .
And people act like we have a more consistent animation nowadays, but even now most anime has still frames just like the old days. Animation hasn’t really changed much. I think that what people are referring to is that nowadays the art looks cleaner and polished, arguably too polished.
When most people say "for its time" when talking about AKIRA I don't think they mean it pejoratively. But rather that its impressive that AKIRA was achieved in a time when it may have seemed impossible compared to computer assisted compositing and such. It's undeniable that AKIRA remains a masterpiece of animation.
AKIRA outshines most animated movies not by Ghibli these days for sheer imagination alone, not just on a technical level.
AKIRA is a pillar of analog cel animation in the same way Blade Runner is for practical effects. It will never age or be outdated because its so universal and well crafted, which is why we still talk about it almost 40 years later.
Love your videos man still hoping for that collab one day 🙏🏿
Akira was amazing glad to see you talk about it. Maybe some point you can show why baki has good limited animation
Nice video like always dude
Your videos are so good and how you've been branching out from dbz
Excited to watch this!
Just started watching the film’s English dub on Hulu and oh my god this film is incredible.
While the movie definitely has some great animation I also found the Manga to be great as well. There is so much detail in the drawings and so much care is put into the small stuff. Just compare the Akira manga to anything before 1982 and you can definitely see how it stood out. Even a lot of manga today fall short of matching how well drawn and dynamic the scenes are in that manga. The artist obviously had plenty of knowledge in how to lay out scenes and tackle perspective well. A lot of newer manga artists fail hard when it comes to the basics and resort to a lot to copying and pasting while not having much range. If you ever had to take years of art school and memorize the basics you can notice which manga/anime artists have had to do the same because even the ones whose work is exaggerated will still have their roots in those very same basics.
Great video!
thank you :)
Still my favorite animated movie
Also one of the key animators brought on for Akira was Hiroyuki Okiura who is arguably the most “realistic” animator ever
Damn videos like these make me realize how animators dont really get nowhere close to the credit they should be getting i cant name one animator tbh
The manga is phenomenal, a most read after watching the anime
Bring Back Movies like Akira
Great video
i enjoy the content change
Kaneda and my birthday today 😱😱
happy bday
One of the best channels on this site and one of my favorites ever, thank you 🐐🐐
Video collab with animeajay when?
Golgo 13 The Professional was quite entertaining.
3:45 Amongus ⁉️⁉️
The Akira anime film has mant alot Frame animation and such many alot colors due to the character
My favorite movie ever!!
i heard they're doing a new anime for it... is that true?
i wanna do that
Just started reading the manga a few days ago these timings are a hitting a lil too different
Now watch this
Akira Tor-
- toise
how do you know all this
Akira goes up there with some of the best 2D animation seen in film like anything 2D Disney has done (especially Gold and Silver age Disney), Prince of Egypt, anything Ghibli, Redline, and a few other movies I can't think of off the top of my head. I love that Akira actually had lip-sync the entire way through, something still virtually never done in anime to this day
I'd add Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust to that list!
the sudden virgin walk pic and rip bell haha
Love the manga I wish Akira got a ahow
Apparently its getting one soon closer to the manga
They announced an anime in 2019 but still no new news
@@hellodigitalworld8224 fuck
This video is almost certainly taken from the realism article on Animetudes blog...
It's okay to paraphrase or reiterate what he says but at least credit his work.
fist or something like that
Thank God for the sublime animation and music, because the story is a mess. Especially in the mid section. There's no way Otomo could fit a gigantic manga series into a two hour movie, and it shows.
And that's how I see Akira: a technical landmark for anyone who loves to see awesome animation, regardless of what it is. Subtitles/dub not needed, you're in just for the eye candy.
Yeah the story certaintlyy left me a bit confused haha and Otomo definitely mentioned the struggle to fit everything in a single movie.
Last
based
@@ms.antithesis indeed
db is better
It is overrated and not a good movie.
Cool, keep acting as if being a contrarian makes you better than anyone.
You can still appreciate how good the movie's animation is. It still has some of the best animation to come out of Japan to this day.
@@carloscauan7967 u weebs really can't entertain the fact that people don't all like everything u like huh?
@@KhayJayArt he went onto a video praising Akira and didn't even just say he didn't like it, he said it wasn't good. What the hell do you expect?