It’s very hard to underestimate the global impact of Katsuhiro Otomo’s film adaptation of his own, epic manga Akira. It broke box office records when it opened in Japan, and along with Ghibli Oscar winner Spirited Away it is probably the anime film most western ‘non-fans’ have seen. For many of my generation it is a much treasured and personally important film and, without resorting to hyperbole, one that the first viewing of was a life-changing experience, akin to watching Star Wars, 2001 or Blade Runner for the first time.

It didn’t hit the UK until 1991, and I can still vividly remember trekking to a grimy arthouse cinema in East Oxford with a friend – both of us 17 years old at the time, not quite knowing what to expect, but spurred on by a clip we’d seen once on TV, that can have been barely two minutes long. Two minutes of motorbike chases, rioting and cyberpunk Japanese city-scapes. And equally I can remember us both stumbling out afterward into the cool night air, eyes-wide and speechless, Oxford’s crumbling, historic architecture fading into unimportance around us. Sure, we’d seen some snippets of anime before; British TV treating us to Battle of the Planets, Speed Racer and whatever Saturday morning shows it deemed suitable for children, but now our minds were open to the potential of animation to depict realistic worlds, mature narratives and action sequences that Hollywood could only dream of. Things would never be quite the same.

A few months later, I was queuing in my local HMV to buy the limited edition VHS double tape pack – one tape with the subbed version, the other the exclusive Akira Production Report – a precursor of the now ubiquitous DVD extra. Now, 18 years later, I’ve just bought the film for a third time, retiring the DVD to the shelf alongside that original, still treasured VHS boxset. Due to stock problems the Blu-ray still hasn’t surfaced here in the UK, so the question is: was importing it worth the cost of importing it from the US?

As soon as the film’s opening starts, one thing is clear – this is visually the best presentation of Akira you’ve ever seen. I’d go as far to say it even surpasses the cinema presentation that I originally saw in that seedy, run-down theater. Every subsequent viewing has always forced you to spot details you never saw before, but this is taken to a new level with the brilliant transfer to HD. Otomo’s emotive character designs shine, and the detailed background art looks even more exquisite than before. Much has been made of this release’s audio pushing the limits of the BR format, and even without the required cutting edge AV setup to playback the True-HD stream it sounds dazzling. Both Shoji Yamashiro‘s mesmerizing score and the audio effects demand you pump the volume as high as you dare. All said, this is a wonderful package, and a vital purchase not just for anime fans, but anyone wanting to show off the best of what the Blu-ray format can offer.

If i have any reservations at all, it’s about the lack of extras on the disc. The collection of Otomo’s storyboards is a brilliant bonus, granted, but you can’t help but feel it would be better enjoyed in a similar format to his fascinating Steamboy Storyboard Book. And that’s all there is, apparently due to a lack of space due to the enhanced audio. Plus Bandai’s recession-era decision to produce just one disc for all regions has lead to a multitude of language and subtitle tracks being crammed in, undoubtedly not helping the problem. Still, it’s a shame not to see the production report again, plus some new, retrospective featurettes and interviews would have rounded out the package nicely. I can’t shake the sneaking suspicion that another, inevitable two disc release will see the light of day before too long.

In preparation for sitting and watching it again, I recently finished re-reading the original, 2000+ page manga again. It’s always a slight shock when you realise how much of his intricately woven, action filled plot Otomo had to loose to bring the film in at just over two hours; Watchmen fans moaning about the cuts from the recent film adaptation would have a stroke if they saw what was done here. There is enough material to fuel a full 26 episode anime series – something I believe we may see yet, especially as recession facing industry turns to reliable franchises once again. Major, plot shaping characters from the manga – like Lady Miyako and Kaisuke – are reduced to simple, flitting cameos, while others like Chiyoko are never seen at all. But it is Otomo’s story and his adaptation, and he alone understands it’s nuances, and the themes he was originally trying to convey. As a result the film stands alone as a perfect story, captivating the audience for every second of it’s 130 minutes. It is truly, still, a masterpiece, and this new Blu-ray release – while not perfect – is an essential purchase. Whether you’re a die hard fan or a newcomer to anime, pick this up as soon as you can.

It looks like Bandai have put a lot of time in and money into the imminent Akira Blu-ray, hopefully putting to rest the fears of fans worldwide that it might be yet another quick transfer. According to Blu-ray.com, although the film had a full restoration for it’s 2001 DVD release, no punches have been pulled for it’s 20th anniversary, with the focus being moved onto remastering the score and soundtrack:

It was in the planning stages for bringing AKIRA to Blu-ray, that composer Shoji Yamashiro proposed taking the format to its limits by including a 192khz/24-bit audio track that would allow viewers to experience the full warmth and detail of the original recordings. After much debate, the decision was made to move forward.

Unfortunately, there were no available studios with the ability to master at this level of fidelity, and many of their sound systems could not reliably reproduce the dynamic range of sound that Shoji Yamashiro wanted to bring to the front during the re mastering process. As a result, the soundtrack’s re-mastering was done at Mr. Yamashiro’s own studio, equipped with the best equipment available, and the original analog master tapes were brought out from storage.

Even though AKIRA had major restoration work done for the 2001 DVD release, including a 1080p theatrical quality master, advances in digital restoration and film transfer technologies have increased to the point where a brand new transfer was warranted. As with the audio, a new inter-positive was struck from the original film negative for a new scan into a digital intermediate (DI); the master computer file upon which all of the remastering work was performed.

In fact, the transfer is of such quality that apparently it pushes the BR format to some of it’s technical and storage limits:

Even at a running time of only 124 minutes, AKIRA pushes the boundaries of what can be compressed to a Blu-ray Disc. The root of this challenge lies in the 192khz/24-bit 5.1 track. Uncompressed linear PCM at this resolution needs an astonishing 28 megabits per second (mbps) of transfer rate. To give a point of reference, this is 30% greater than the video bitrate on the well- regarded Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest Blu-ray, and 8mbps over the maximum allowable combined audio bitrate in the Blu-ray spec. This of course, doesn’t even account for the original Dolby Surround mix (linear PCM), the English Dub (48khz/16-bit Dolby TrueHD), or the Japanese Dolby Digital tracks. For help, Bandai turned to Dolby, whose TrueHD codec is standard for their releases. The two companies worked together closely to balance the available space on a BD-50 with the needs of both the audio and video tracks. In the end, the combined load of all four audio tracks bump their head against that 20mbps ceiling, never breaking through, while still leaving plenty of room for a high quality video presentation.

Interesting and exciting news. Although worryingly I can’t seem to find a UK website right now that’s taking pre-orders – worrying because the February 24th launch date is just ten days away. In the worse-case-scenario, and a euro release is substantially delayed again, then at lease the US disc is being reported to be region-free. Either way, expect a full report when I get my hands on it.

Special thanks to my good friend Jeb for the tip-off on this one.

(Note: This is the second part of a review of Freedom. The first part can be read here.)

After a release schedule spanning nearly two years, Sunrise and Nissin Cup Noodle’s Freedom Project OVA finally wrapped up in May of last year. Unusually for an anime series, a Blu-ray box-set was released worldwide on 11th November 2008 – coincidentally while I happened to be in Tokyo. Thinking it would be cool to pick one up on launch day in Akihabara, I was pretty shocked when I saw the price – ￥15520, or about $174. Ouch. At first it seems like a perplexing amount for a 7 episode anime box-set, but this is an OVA, where fans had been paying up to ￥ 3162 ($35) for each individual episode. The amount Japanese otaku are often willing to pay for their anime and manga is one of the main cultural differences that separates them from their western counterparts, and it’s a commitment that the industry often depends on in order to produce large scale, high budget projects such as Freedom.

Patiently, I waited. Not only, it turned out, until I got back to the UK (where the box-set is available at a far more reasonable price) but also until Christmas morning, when through the generosity of my partner I finally got my hands on it. The question was, did the final parts live up to the first four I’d reviewed last year?

The second half of Freedom makes a significant shift in focus, not just in the setting, but also subsequently in the shows art style and character development. With Takeru and Biz now stranded on the newly re-discovered Earth the futuristic, artificial environments of Eden give way to the rolling, open planes of America, as the pair make their way to Florida to find the senders of the message Takeru received in the very first episode. As well as allowing the artists to shift to a warmer, more organic palette, it also gives the writers a chance to explore a different side of the characters.

If I had one concern from the first few episodes, it was that the main protagonists seemed to be little more than Akira style archetypes, interested in little more than bikes and girls. But when Takeru and Biz finally reach the remains of Cape Canaveral, the story changes, becoming a coming-of age tale as the two become part of the survivors community, gain new values and fall in love. Together with their new friends they spend a couple of years working in NASA’s Apollo scrapyard to build a rocket that can take them back to the Moon – not just so they can get home, but so they can show Eden that Earth still lives, bring back to Earth vital supplies to stop their new community from starving, and most importantly confront the Lunar authorities that have suppressed the truth from their people for so long. While the ‘teenager becoming an adult’ theme is hardly original in anime, it’s seldom done as well as it is in Freedom, with a witty and punchy script that makes you believe in the enthusiasm and drive of it’s main characters.

Without straying too much into spoiler territory, it’s safe to say that the story doesn’t stay Earth bound for too long. The series’ hour-long finale takes the action back to the moon, giving fans another hit of Otomo’s fantastic mechanical and character designs, as the bike riding teenagers take the battle to Eden’s oppressive leaders. Of particular note are the ‘Octopus’ mecha, immediately reminiscent to hardcore Akira fans of the ‘Care Taker’ robots from the original manga.

Put simply, Freedom Project is excellent. It manages to carry the pace and excitement generated in the first episodes despite the huge shift in setting, while simultaneously adding depth to it’s characters and back-story. With animation and CGI that seems to improve in quality towards the end, it’s hard to not recommend it to a wider audience than the Otomo fanatic to home it initially appealed. The BR box-set is a great buy – nicely put together and presented, with a short manga booklet and some great extras – the highlights of which are the informal, light-hearted interviews with Shuhei Morita (director) Dai Sato (screenwriter/planner). It might seem a little expensive at first, but it’s worth it – and at least you’re not paying those Japanese prices.

(Note: This is the second part of a review of Freedom. The first part can be read here.)

Some of the coolest things I picked up in Tokyo were a trio of Katsuhiro Otomo art books – although sadly they weren’t for me, intended instead for my favourite Otomo-san obsessive Al T. Shame, as I would have liked to have spent some quality time with these beauties. Luckily though, I was able to grab a few shots before I let him get his grubby paws all over them.

First off is the hard to find Akira Animation Archive – tricky to get hold of in the UK, and pretty elusive in Tokyo too, it turns out. But on the big man’s request I hunted high and low from Shinjuku to Akihabara, finally bagging a second hand copy in Mandarake Shibuya.

It’s a nice looking book, packed with lots of images, storyboards, sketches and concept designs from the classic film.

Next up is a hefty tone – one I had to think twice before buying just as the weight of the thing threatened to crush my luggage restrictions. Steamboy – The Storyboard Book does exactly what it says on the cover, presenting the films entire board set in a stylish hardcover volume.

As you can see, the hand drawn storyboards – all by Otomo himself, apparently – look great in this format, and the book looks like one you’d want to spend hours with.

Finally I also grabbed him this Robot Carnival art book. I have never seen the movie, sadly, but seeing as it’s an anthology of different directors’ works, there’s obviously a lot of stuff in here that isn’t Otomo produced. From the quick flick I had, there’s a lot of interesting stuff, especially if you’re into that slightly retro looking ‘80s anime vibe.

Anyway, I won’t say anymore, I’ll just wait for the man himself to let you know what he thinks…

To the uninitiated, the Japanese anime industry and the culture that surrounds it can seem perplexing at times, to say the least. In the west, when a film or TV show is released directly to video or DVD, its usually a sign of inferior quality or very limited market appeal. Or, in other words, it’s too shit to be shown at the cinema. Plus usually we’re talking about the sort of unoriginal, opportunist, unnecessary sequels that Disney were famous for churning out a few years ago. Jungle Book Two, anyone? God help us.

But in Japan, things are different. The market for anime is so strong, and anime fans so loyal and rabid in their spending that direct to video OVA (Original Video Animations) can make enough money to justify high budgets and risk taking concepts. It also frees the studios of other restrictions placed on them by TV broadcasters and film distributors – such as, in the case of Freedom, corporate sponsorship. Co-funded by Nissin Cup Noodles to celebrate their 35th anniversary, the show features explicit product-placement throughout, as well as apparently featuring heavily in real-world marketing for the company’s products in Japan.

So then…a direct to video anime series, sponsored and heavily branded by an instant noodles company. Doesn’t sound great on paper, to be honest. But, like I just said, in Japan things are different, and Freedom has a couple of very good reasons to grab your interest. Firstly, it boasts character and vehicle designs by legendary Akira and Steamboy creator Katsuhiro Otomo, which in itself is enough to get most anime fans all kinds of excited. And, secondly, it’s actually really rather good.

I can’t get too much into plot details without entering spoilers territory, so I’ll keep things simple. It’s the 23rd century, and Earth has been left inhospitable by a major ecological disaster. The only remnants of the human race are crammed into a single domed city on the far side of the moon, named Eden. The story of the OAV, originally to be told over 6 (although now apparently extended to 7) 25min episodes, focuses on three teenagers; Takeru, Kazuma and Bismark, who spend their free time building and racing futuristic motorbikes in semi-legal races in the pipes beneath Eden. After an accident at a race, Takeru is sent outside to check for leaks as a punishment, he finds something to suggest that the inhabitants of Eden may not be so alone…

And from there I can’t tell you much more, without risking spoiling it for you, but the story is pretty well paced and the characters, whilst never too deep or challenging, seem to develop quite nicely. Visually it is stunning at times, especially during the first episode, which concentrates on introducing the main characters and their activities, and immediately you can see where Otomo’s time and skill has been put to use. Scruffy teenagers and futuristic motorbikes…the influence of Akira is instantly recognisable. If you were feeling cynical you could say his involvement was merely a marketing one – getting his name and designs featured in this corporate sponsored project is quite a scoop, especially as the bikes aren’t hugely integral to the plot as far as I’ve seen – and there would be a certain amount of truth to that. But when it looks as fantastic and stylish as Freedom often does, it’s hard to care. There are some lovely touches, like bike-obsessed Bismark’s Quadrophenia era Mod influenced Parka outfit. And as to the Noodles product placement, it’s blatant, but only about once or twice an episode, and by the third one the writers are having a genuine, knowing laugh with it.

Like I said at the top, there’s a lot of things that are perplexing about Japanese TV and anime. The one that gets me the most is how strong the demand for quality science fiction television must still be in Japan. While it might not, as yet, quite rank alongside Planetes and Cowboy Bebop in terms of SF storytelling, it’s still light years ahead of the kind of turgid, garish, childish crap like Doctor Who or the numerous dead-from-the-neck-down Star Trek spin-offs we only seem able to produce in the west.

I’ve only seen the first 4 episodes, so it’s still early days yet. If there is one thing that annoys, it’s the bizarre release schedule – one episode on each disc, with each disc being released a few months apart, meaning that although the first one was released in November 2006 we’ll have to wait until early summer 2008 for the conclusion. But it’s certainly a series I’ll be keeping an eye on, and as soon as I’ve seen more I’ll be letting you know what I think.

Read the second part of this review here.