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Summary: After years of waiting for Akira DVD ...
Review: After years of waiting for Akira DVD we got this cool special edition. In this pack we got two gold DVD - one with movie, and one with special bonus. Movie - I think it's greate, and I'm not talking only about contents but also about copy. Menus are great (but I think sounds of bike are cuting sometimes) and movie looks so good. On secound DVD we've got lots of stuff, but I think the most interested is movie about how they made it. And I think that's all and don't forget about special tin box.( sorr for my english, I'm still learning ;-)
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Summary: About the 2-disc DVD set
Review: The 2-disc DVD set of AKIRA surpasses in many ways even the excellent Criterion's laserdisc edition from 1992. The brand-new video transfer is noticeably better: colors, especially the primary reds and greens, look more brilliant, flesh tones are more realistic, and there is a bit MORE picture at the bottom (in particular, the shot at time 1:16:23 reveals part of Kaneda's crouching body that was not seen on old transfers). The 5.1 English track, though not state of the art, is highly active and satisfying. The new English dub and subtitles are better written and spoken, making the characterizations more real and the story more comprehensible. In the scene where the colonel meets the senator (Chapter 8), the old English dub had the senator sounding concerned and supportive. On the new dub, he sounds cold and indifferent, in keeping with his subsequent body gesture of fiddling with his plants. The new dub also has characters speaking in correct pitches -- Kei's voice is now lower, and Masaru no longer sounds like an old man, but like a child, just like on the Japanese track. Also welcomed are the correct pronunciations of Japanese names: AH-kee-ra, KAH-nee-dah, KAH-oh-ri. Last but not least, the new dub makes more frequent uses of strong language to enhance reality. The DVD supplements include interviews of the voice actors for the new dub, who certainly deserve to be mentioned. Here is one thing that this DVD pales in comparison to the Criterion LD. The LD included still-frames of the entire first issue of the original Akira comic novel. It is a shame that this DVD does not include even one screen shot of the actual comic strips that inspired this movie (it does include shots of the COVERS of the comic novels) just to benefit those who have never seen them or do not own the LD. Other DVD supplements include an excellent 48-minute making-of documentary (the Criterion LD had excerpts of it). It has plenty of behind-the-scenes footage: artists drawing pencil tests, actors recording their lines, musicians composing a score with wood xylophones, photographers taking shots of finished "cels". We are told that it was not the norm in Japanese animation films to record the dialogs before drawing the pictures, as it was done for AKIRA. The youthful director Katsuhiro Otomo appears in his own 30-minute interview segment (not on the LD), where he recalls various processes of making the Akira comics and the Akira movie, and speculates on what he will do next. Yet another half-hour segment, "Akira Sound Clips", explains how the movie's score was conceptualized and recorded. The most prized supplement on the DVD is perhaps the mammoth collection of the film's storyboards, character designs, and background designs. The storyboards, done by Otomo himself, are the most meticulously designed ones I've ever seen; each of them is denoted with Scene/Cut number (under "S" and "C" on the left), notes, dialogs, and time of duration of the shot. To help locating a storyboard among the 4500 of them, the printed chapter index is cross-referenced with Scene/Cut numbers of its corresponding storyboards. Rather disappointing is a short featurette that tersely describes the new video transfer of the DVD with only interviews of 3 technicians and no demonstration of the restoration by way of before-and-after comparisons. There is also an interesting feature called "capsule option". When it is enabled, a capsule icon pops up on the screen from time to time while the movie is playing, and when you activate the icon, the screen pauses and shows you English text translation of the Japanese words on the screen -- traffic signs, graffitis, postings, etc.
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Summary: The Best DVD Ever! Five Stars is not Enough!
Review: I just got my Limited Edition Tin and I have to say that it it the most awesome DVD I have ever even seen. The tin case has a good gauge and is solidly built, the graphic is textured and has an awesome finnish. In addition, there is some cool stuff inside as well as a high quality menu and both DVD's are set in there own side of the tin and are attractive as well. I haven't listened to the English version yet so I don't know how good the new English dialog is, but I have to tell you that there is an interesting special feature on this DVD that will impress you and makes this movie even more interesting. If you love Akira, you must own this!
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Summary: Multiple Viewings Required
Review: AKIRA requires multiple viewings so it's a good idea to buy the DVD. It's one of the most visually and mentally demanding films I've ever experienced...it's absolutely multi-layered. TETSUO continues to echo in my mind and it will in yours. I first saw AKIRA when it first came out more than a decade ago and I still feel excited to see it again...there are many, many, many images that still linger in my subconsciousness... the ending is jaw-dropping and haunting...Unquestionably beautiful.
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Summary: AKIRA! Need I say more?
Review: Akira! The very name shapes the foundation of all anime to come. Akira was probably the first anime movie I ever saw, so of course the title holds fond memories. Now, much like another great animated movie (Heavy Metal) you can own the factory-new release DVD! I highly recommend the tin set, if you can get it ( I heard it was sold-out in most stores). For true fans and even for those still wondering "What do they see in those cartoons?" ... You owe it to yourself to see this new edition of a classic anime. A new clean print, digitally cleaned, and a new dub w/ a more accurate translation from the original Japanese are all features added to this new edition. For the non-fan, we have just the movie, also highly recommended. For the otaku (mega-fan, like myself ^_-) the limited edition DVD w/ supplemental disc and really neat tin case (only one I've ever seen , and I have a lot of special edition DVD sets). Buy one today and immerse yourself (or re-immerse) in what can only be called a anime legend!
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Summary: Fascinating!!!
Review: One of the best animation I have even seen. Even I haven't saw Fianl Fantasy: The Spirits Within, I think they are of equal stadard. Best of the Bests.
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Summary: What is this thing called akira!!!
Review: I doubt that anyone will read this review considering that if you are interested in buying this movie, you obviously have seen it already. However, people who haven't seen it should read on. Akira takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, Bike gangs rule the streets and Incompetent committee members run everything else. After a motorcycle accident, a 16-year-old gang member named Tetsuo discovers his hidden powers. As the movie goes on, we find out what happens when the wrong person gets pushed around too much. All hell breaks loose, and the only person who can stop it is Tetsuo's best friend, Kaneda. All in all, this movie is almost too good to be true, however, you might want to keep younger children away from this movie for a while, it is extremely violent and has one scene of brief nudity. This ain't pokemon.
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Summary: Shut up scenester dregs
Review: I'd simply like to ask all of those who have chosen to flaunt their magnificent ignorance by claiming how horribly the new translation of this film has "ruined the characters" or whatever if they speak a single word of Japanese, or if they have ever read any of the original comic/manga series. Streamline's original translation that you "grew up on" is what "ruined the characters." It was positively horrid, and told an almost completely unrelated story. The new translation is by no means perfect, indeed, it fails to capture a great deal of the underlying gruffness of the original Japanese, but it is basically accurate for all practical intents and purposes. And hey! They even pronounced the names of the characters correctly! Oh, my god! They've ruined the film! .... It's not my problem if you were raised on garbage. That being said, this is a good disc of a great film, but the pa ckaging left me sorely disappointed. Pioneer went around calling it a "collectors tin" and all the advance photos I saw seemed to show a hinged metal box. Unfortunately, the special edition comes in a really, really [substandard] silverish-grey plastic snap case with spindles that just don't want you to ever take the discs out. On top of that, the photos used for the skimpy little booklet inside look like they were shot from a TV screen. C'mon Pioneer. You've got the bloody film right there. Is it really that hard to make an actual print of the frame you want? Adding insult to injury, Disc 2 won't playback on any computer-based DVD player I've tried it in. Granted, a trivial problem at best, but still shows a lack of attention to detail on the part of whoever mastered the disc. It's an excellent film, and I cannot recommend it highly enough, but somebody in marketing really dropped the ball on the package job, thusly rendering it an overall substandard product in my mind.
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Summary: The movie is amazing but ........
Review: O.k. here goes nothing.I've seen Akira about eight years ago actually i bought it on VHS and as you know the quality gets degrated through time so i've prayed and prayed for it to come out on DVD...fast forward to somewhere around 6.?.01 i thought i was gona explode with joy when i heard that my prayers have been anwsered. Ofcourse i bought the special edition tin can(being a fanatic isn't easy.) Everything is awsom they totally went all out on restoring the movie to its original state. But here is where my fanatic mind has uncovered something strange. On the 2nd disc with all the special features there is a feature about the restoration process, they talk about removing dirt and these white spots which occur with time?(im not fully sure), well anyways they go on saying how they have removed all those white specks and dirt so that the movie is nice and smooth...WRONG!!!!!!!!! They missed some of those spots which kinda sucks because here i am dishing out cash for something that was supposed to be well perfected.b.s. i HOPE i'M not the only one who noticed this...the spots occur towards the end of chapter 17 right when they enter the sewers and also towards the end of the movie.please e-mail me if you see it or not.I will try and contact pioneer about this maybe i got the fluke dvd or something. Still a four out of five stars movie.( because of those damned spots)arggghhh...dammit.
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Summary: I think this edition kicks much booty.
Review: So Akira on DVD is finally here. And wow. Pioneer? kudos to you guys for an excellent restoration job, as well as alla round nice package for this SE. I love the tin, and the extras are very cool, although I had seen most of it before. However the movie is fantastic. Buy this and watch this excellent movie that flabergasted audiences 10 years ago and is back to show just how good the best really was. The story is a bit complicated at times, but dont despair, watch it again and then maybe if your still in doubt, you can look fro some info online to help mesh out the manga based story that is a bit much for only a 2 hour movie. Anyway, if that mae sense to you, buy this DVD. Enjoy it and just think about 10 years from now you'll be able to play it again and again without worrying about holes like those of us who bought the VHS when it first came out.
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