New and Improved!
Fast forward ten years later. Pioneer has now released a $1 million restoration of Akira on DVD -- and it is truly a must-have for anyone seriously interested in animation. This is Akira as you haven't seen it -- or heard it -- before.

Akira creates a violent world of gangs and warfare coupled with telekinetic powers, mystery and secret military experiments.

Where do I begin? First I must recount, very briefly, the storyline. This is an adult science fiction story, set in the future, about members of a teenage motorcycle gang who get involved with a secret military experiment to contain a telekinetic force, the same force that destroyed Tokyo years before. When one of the gang becomes empowered with telekinetic powers all hell breaks loose.

Akira is loaded with spectacular images, beautiful art and animation, and an amazing musical score. Pioneer's new English dub is wonderful. The original "Streamline release" dub was flat and perfunctory -- now the character voices are alive with personality and good acting. For once the voices not only suit the characters, but they also match the mouth movements! And of course you have the option of watching the disc in Japanese with or without subtitles.

The picture is sharp, bright and colorful. The amount of details in the art -- the explosions, the buildings in the city and the effects animation, to name a few -- are crystal clear and perfect. As stated, I had seen Akira dozens of times, but watching this restored edition was like watching a new film... the original film! The film as Otomo intended!

Tetsuo at the end of a very hard, long day.

The picture is letterboxed in it's original theatrical 1:85 to 1 screen ratio. The THX stereo sound is crisp. And a special feature allows the viewer to translate instantly any Japanese writing that appears untranslated in the backgrounds and original art. This is the ultimate way to see a Japanese animated film.

The second disc provided is loaded with extra goodies including The Akira Production Report, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the film. Other extras include an interview with Otomo, the theatrical trailers and TV spots, interviews with the guys who restored the film, the voice over actors, as well as musical selections and a plethora of production materials like storyboards, original (unused) background art, theatrical posters, comic books and merchandise -- damn near everything!

Everything in fact, except anything to do with the original dub or Streamline's efforts to promote the film in 1990-1. Oh well, perhaps that's as it should be. This is the definitive edition of Akira, and I'm certain it looks better here than it ever did in a theater, in the U.S. or Japan.