Akira 35th Anniversary Box Set

Product Information

A handsome, suave Toshiro Mifune lights up the screen as painter Ichiro, whose circumstantial meeting with a famous singer (Yoshiko Yamaguchi) is twisted by the tabloid press into a torrid affair. Ichiro files a lawsuit against the seedy gossip magazine, but his lawyer, Hiruta (Kurosawa stalwart Takashi Shimura), is playing both sides. A portrait of cultural moral decline, Scandal is also a compelling courtroom drama and a moving tale of human redemption.

Published just over 40 years ago, it’s nothing short of a masterpiece. I can only think of a handful of manga and anime that have influenced pop culture the same way Akira has. It’s a sprawling sci-fi epic, a watershed moment for the cyberpunk genre and was a pivotal influence in introducing manga to wider Western audiences. There are plenty of elements in the manga that stand out to me, and it has to do with how much we get to know the characters from the movie on a whole new level. Of course, I wouldn’t have minded if the movie had an extra half hour of material, but I also wouldn’t have minded an extra 2 hours. I’m actually glad we get cut off at 2 hours. What I will argue is that the manga and the movie are the same stories taking place in different universes. They intersect in some areas but are wildly different in others. I love the movie with every fiber of my being, but the manga makes us care about these characters even more and we understand their drive in this story much better. Kei and Lady Miyako are central characters here (maybe more than Kaneda) and only serve to add richness to the conflict with Tetsuo. And that’s just scratching the surface. The stakes are just as high here, but there’s more humanity to the story. The character of Akira itself is much more tragic, even though, again, its not quite clear what Akira is, what the capsules are or what they’re supposed to be doing, how Tetsuo fits into all this, or what even happens when these raptures occur. But that doesn’t matter because the rest of the story is pretty grounded in the sense that everyone is frustrated that they don’t understand what’s going on but that there’s one thing that needs to be done. We’re on board for this madness.An all-new, complete 35th anniversary hardcover box set of one of the most acclaimed and influential comics of all time, with the original Japanese art and right-to-left reading format for the first time! The science fiction epic that changed anime and manga forever is presented in six beautiful hardcover volumes, plus the hardcover Akira Club art book and an exclusive patch with the iconic pill design. A testament to the goodness of humankind, Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard ( Akahige) chronicles the tumultuous relationship between an arrogant young doctor and a compassionate clinic director. Toshiro Mifune, in his last role for Kurosawa, gives a powerhouse performance as the dignified yet empathic director who guides his pupil to maturity, teaching the embittered intern to appreciate the lives of his destitute patients. Perfectly capturing the look and feel of 19th-century Japan, Kurosawa weaves a fascinating tapestry of time, place, and emotion.

What I found out, ironically enough, is that the film adaptation and the source books are vastly different stories. The manga series is rather large, so one would obviously think that many subplots and miniature story arcs would need to be condensed or altogether scrapped, like many films need to do. But no, this is an entirely different story. Same beginning, similar climax, but virtually every plot beat that happens in the book is completely different than the film. Where the film "ends" is approximately 40% of the way through the story, but it uses the same climax that the series has. Odd. The families of the victims are baffled. The police investigating the deaths don't know what to make of it all, but as they follow the bizarre trail of clues, they get closer to a killer they're incapable of stopping. But when a little girl moves in with her family, the old man is suddenly confronted by someone determined to stop his malevolent games, a child with powers that might exceed his own. The town-sized apartment complex becomes a battlefield between two psychic juggernauts, and the old man's malicious games unleash a storm of telekinetic fury that threatens to kill hundreds of innocent people. For his final film, Akira Kurosawa paid tribute to the immensely popular writer and educator Hyakken Uchida, here played by Tatsuo Matsumura. Madadayo is composed of distinct episodes based on Uchida's writings that illustrate the affection and loyalty felt between Uchida and his students. Poignant and elegant, this is an unforgettable farewell from one of the greatest artists the cinema has ever known.Each volume is now housed in a sturdy hardcover and, unlike previous English printings, now reads in the traditional right-to-left. The manga also retains the original hand-drawn sound effects and is printed on high-quality paper, so Otomo’s detailed art is incredibly crisp. Akirahas never looked better. J'imagine sans problème comment le film a pour devenir un chef d'oeuvre en ne gardant que l'essentiel. (On m'a dit par exemple que le personnage d'Akira lui-même n'est pas dans le film. Ça m'amuse d'imaginer le personnage éponyme absent, mais je comprends parfaitement le choix : Akira est inutile.)

Malgré cela, j'ai trouvé le manga visuellement magnifique. Je vois sans peine content cela a pu être une oeuvre fondatrice de l'esthétique cyberpunk.

The story decides to focus a bit too much on too many characters, making the important moments for the ones who really matter hit way less. The positive and weirdly nationalist ending is also very hard to believe and take serious. This portrait of female volunteer workers at an optics plant during World War II, shot on location at the Nippon Kogaku factory, was created with a patriotic agenda. Yet thanks to Akira Kurosawa’s groundbreaking semidocumentary approach, The Most Beautiful is a revealing look at Japanese women of the era and anticipates the aesthetics of Japanese cinema’s postwar social realism. Marvel at the beauty that is Akira. There’s really not much I can say about the series that hasn’t already been said before, but what I will add is that, if you’re a fan of the movie and want to dive deeper into this world, then the manga is a must. Notice I didn’t say that the manga will help you understand what’s going on in this story, because it’s still pretty confusing, but there’s something to be said about a story that barely explains itself, but still manages to engage the reader to such a degree.