More Stunning Akira Live-Action Art Surfaces

(Via)

A couple of days ago, we posted the first-look at the in-production-hell American adaptation of Akira, the anime movie that introduced Japan animation to the world. Honestly? They looked fairly pretty but didn't give us much insight into anything but the opening sequence. Well, much like the Kevin Smith Superman film, everything has started to come out, though unlike those images the newest Akira art may prove that we may have jumped the gun with our hate.

Chris Weston (2000 AD, The Invisibles, The Twelve) has released a photo-realistic storyboard of a few sequences and they look stunning. While I can't say anything about the overall project, these storyboards seem to capture the feel and look of Akira. According to Weston, the plot of the Hughes version was meant to be even closer to the Akira manga than the animated feature. In his own words:

"Hopefully they reveal just how much love we had for the source material and how faithful we were going to be to it."

The photo-realistic style really did blow me away, but how well would these have appeared in a live action film? Maybe I'm still skeptical, but I doubt the art would have transferred well onto film, but I've seen what Hollywood has done to a number of franchises over the last few years.

More after the break!