What Comes After Neo-Tokyo?
February 24, 2016 8:40 AM Subscribe
Whatever happened to the animators who worked on Akira? (NSFW) Find out with over 30 minutes of clips that start with a scene from 1988's masterpiece of Japanese animation, Akira, and follow each animator's career across the decades.
If you enjoy seeing how one animator's style shows through across different genres and projects, you can get lost down the rabbit hole of Sakugabooru [previously], a database of Japanese animation clips that you can search by project or artist.
If you enjoy seeing how one animator's style shows through across different genres and projects, you can get lost down the rabbit hole of Sakugabooru [previously], a database of Japanese animation clips that you can search by project or artist.
Fetus? At worst, Tetsuo was a man-baby.
posted by maxsparber at 9:21 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by maxsparber at 9:21 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
Spoiler: animated boobs.
posted by GameDesignerBen at 9:39 AM on February 24, 2016
posted by GameDesignerBen at 9:39 AM on February 24, 2016
I hear many of them are working in Canada.
posted by nom de poop at 10:09 AM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by nom de poop at 10:09 AM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
This was my first introduction into the world of anime. It was simultaneously the right and wrong movie to introduce me to the genre. I will never forget that opening motorcycle chase through the streets of Neo-Tokyo.
posted by Fizz at 10:38 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 10:38 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
I saw this movie when I was fourteen and it pretty much spoiled anime for me. Nothing I've seen since has come close.
That soundtrack tho.
posted by echocollate at 10:55 AM on February 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
That soundtrack tho.
posted by echocollate at 10:55 AM on February 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
The soundtrack is probably my #1 dealbreaker for making a Westernized version of Akira, which you just know would be scored with some kind of Hans Zimmer buzzing leaky-refrigerator nonsense.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sometimes when I'm driving at night I just start going UTT DAA EEE HAA UTT DAA EEE HAA EEE HAA and it's so good and hey look I just made the score play again because you can't think about it and not want to listen to it immediately.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:27 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 11:27 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
When vaporwave/noise artist Oneohtrix Point Never did a live score for Otomo's Magnetic Rose, I realized he would be the perfect artist for a western Akira remake soundtrack. They'll never pick him though.
posted by sleeping bear at 11:29 AM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by sleeping bear at 11:29 AM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Akira soundtrack is available at archive.org, by the way.
posted by rifflesby at 11:58 AM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by rifflesby at 11:58 AM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
Wait, is the Akira soundtrack public domain now? AFAIK, composer Shoji Yamashiro is still alive and the film rights still reside with Bandai. Figuring out the real rights situation with anime soundtracks is extra-challenging because western CD bootleggers more or less ran off with the market back in the '80s/'90s, when anime was even more of a niche fan curiosity and the Japanese studios were content to look the other way.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:10 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:10 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've met a couple of Japanese people who are into anime. None of them know about Akira. Is that weird or is it other peoples' experience too?
posted by 1adam12 at 1:36 PM on February 24, 2016
posted by 1adam12 at 1:36 PM on February 24, 2016
Doesn't seem that surprising to me. In Japan, Akira was one of dozens of anime films that were released in 1988, a film that found its audience, made its money and was then supplanted in the consciousness by other, newer things. Whereas in North America, Akira became an indispensible cult film purely because of the stark differences between it and the standard western animated fare, which led to it getting lumped in with the existing American underground animation scene. In short, Japan regarded Akira as pop, but America received it as punk.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:47 PM on February 24, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:47 PM on February 24, 2016 [10 favorites]
Sleeping bear, why wouldn't they pick OPN? He's done film work before (The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola) and fulfills commissions for fashion, galleries, etc., frequently. I think he's probably in the top-ten list of potential composers, at any rate.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 2:03 PM on February 24, 2016
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 2:03 PM on February 24, 2016
Holy Guacamole, what a nerd-gasm! Just to have the animator's name up in the corner of each of their shots from Akira was a great treat for me. I think I'd like to always have that option!
Oh, and Thanks rifflesby for the soundtrack link!
posted by cleroy at 5:54 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, and Thanks rifflesby for the soundtrack link!
posted by cleroy at 5:54 PM on February 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
1adam12: "I've met a couple of Japanese people who are into anime. None of them know about Akira. Is that weird or is it other peoples' experience too?"
Depending on their age, that may or may not be weird. I just double-checked with my wife (who is not into anime), and she said for folks our age (late 30s/early 40s) everyone would know it. Her exact phrasing was "If someone would know Gundam, they would know Akira." Now, that's not to necessarily say they would have watched it, but they'd know it.
However, it has completely fallen off the pop-culture map here in Japan, so I'm sure younger folks would have no idea. It's not like Gundam or Galaxy Express 999 or Grave of the Fireflies or countless other anime which get talked about on TV today. I think that basically comes from the fact that it was a non-Miyazaki single movie. The anime from the 1980s that are still well-known in Japan are either TV series (Gundam, etc.) or Miyazaki movies (I would say Ghibli, but Castle of Cagliostro and Nausicaa are both famous, and they both predate Ghibli).
posted by Bugbread at 8:28 PM on February 24, 2016
Depending on their age, that may or may not be weird. I just double-checked with my wife (who is not into anime), and she said for folks our age (late 30s/early 40s) everyone would know it. Her exact phrasing was "If someone would know Gundam, they would know Akira." Now, that's not to necessarily say they would have watched it, but they'd know it.
However, it has completely fallen off the pop-culture map here in Japan, so I'm sure younger folks would have no idea. It's not like Gundam or Galaxy Express 999 or Grave of the Fireflies or countless other anime which get talked about on TV today. I think that basically comes from the fact that it was a non-Miyazaki single movie. The anime from the 1980s that are still well-known in Japan are either TV series (Gundam, etc.) or Miyazaki movies (I would say Ghibli, but Castle of Cagliostro and Nausicaa are both famous, and they both predate Ghibli).
posted by Bugbread at 8:28 PM on February 24, 2016
When I was about 16, my parents were out of town and a boy who I suspect Liked me suggested we rent a movie and watch it* at my place. I chose Akira.
...2 hours later, we sat in silence as the credits rolled. He got up from the couch, said good night, and left. He must've really liked me though, because he still tried to date me a couple more times after that before giving up, because I was, and remain, as oblivious as a brick.
*it wasn't until 3 or 4 years later, sitting in my university dorm room, that I realized that "watching a movie" sometimes didn't mean actually watching a movie
posted by btfreek at 9:42 PM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
...2 hours later, we sat in silence as the credits rolled. He got up from the couch, said good night, and left. He must've really liked me though, because he still tried to date me a couple more times after that before giving up, because I was, and remain, as oblivious as a brick.
*it wasn't until 3 or 4 years later, sitting in my university dorm room, that I realized that "watching a movie" sometimes didn't mean actually watching a movie
posted by btfreek at 9:42 PM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
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The (NSFW) makes me worried for their safety. I sure hope they didn't get mashed underfoot by a giant mutated fetus.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:14 AM on February 24, 2016 [8 favorites]