Australian distributor Madman Entertainment celebrated the30th-anniversary of Akira last years with some new home video releases, which you can see detailed below if you missed it. The film has started to get some select streaming around the world and now AnimeLab has picked up the rights to streaming – but for just a limited time. They’ve got it slated for an eight-week run before it disappears, which is better than nothing.
Priced at $159.98 for the limited edition Blu-ray and $24.95 for a standard edition DVD, it arrived on November 1st, 2018 and included:
- Limited Edition Deluxe Packaging
- Akira Symphonic Suite Soundtrack (2xLP) by Geinoh Yamashirogumi
- Collectible Steelbook DVD/BD Combo Pack
- 32-page Production Book
- 52-page Akira Animation Archives Book
On disc special features:
- Original Trailers and Commercials
- Storyboards
- Akira Sound Clip
- Director Interview
- The Writing on the Wall
- Restoring Akira
- Glossary
- U.S. Trailer
Check out our review of the Otomo: A Global Tribute To The Mind Behind Akira Art Book or our review of the Blu-ray release.
Based on the manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, Otomo directed it and co-write the screenplay with Izo Hashimoto. Character designs were done by Takashi Nakamura with TMS overseeing the animation production. The Japanese cast includes Mami Koyama as Kei, Mitsuo Iwata as Shôtarô Kaneda, Nozomu Sasaki as Tetsuo Shima, Kazuhiro Kandô as Masaru (No. 27), Masaaki Ohkura as Yamagata, Mizuho Suzuki as Doctor Ônishi, Sachie Itô as Kiyoko (No. 25), Takeshi Kusao as Kai, Tarô Ishida as Colonel Shikishima, Tatsuhiko Nakamura as Takashi (No. 26), Tesshō Genda as Ryûsaku and Yuriko Fuchizaki as Kaori.
Plot concept: 1988: It is World War III. Tokyo is decimated by a mysterious black explosion, unmatched in magnitude.
2019: Fast forward 31 years. Neo-Tokyo, hastily built on the ruins of old Tokyo, is a sprawling cityscape of neon extravaganza. It is a fusion of towering skyscrapers and cutting-edge technology that is permeated through and through with an explosive, hyper-violent cocktail of biker gangs, poverty, and revolutionaries. In this derelict metropolis live Tetsuo Shima and Shoutarou Kaneda, two bikers who are the best of friends and the fiercest of rivals, despite being affiliated with the same gang. Desperate to prove himself as Kaneda’s equal, Tetsuo unwittingly pulls a stunt that culminates in the awakening of a cryptic existence that threatens to change both the face of Neo Tokyo and the lives of those who call the city their home—the awakening of a government secret simply known as Akira.
