'Leviathan' Teaser Shows Space Whalers Taming A Demon Of The Skies

The spec-trailer for Ruairi Robinson's sci-fi feature Leviathan has fast been making the rounds across the blogo-sphere since it was first posted on Vimeo late yesterday afternoon. And for good reason, it looks spectacular! Within four painfully short minutes Robinson has already sold me on the idea of space whalers on hover-boats hunting flying behemoths in order to embryos for starship fuel, and that in no small part owed to the funding and support of the Irish Film Board.

It feels trite to try and describe this as "Moby Dick in space" off the impression of one trailer alone, and especially a teaser at that. If anything, the titular beast looks like a cross between the Sarlac from Star Wars and Sin from Final Fantasy X. Still, I'm looking forward to some nihilistic brooding accompanied by death-defying monster hunting action when the final film is released.

Originally one of the many rotating cast of directors attached to steer the live-action Akira adaptation to completion, Robinson left the project, presumably owed to creative differences and funding between Warner Bros.', Appian Way and himself. If curiosity has been peaked and you're looking to learn more about this mysterious director, check out his 2013 film Last Days on Mars and his award-winning sci-fi horror short Blinky. We'll be following Robinson for more news about Leviathan here on out.

"Bartkira" - Volume 1 Has Landed!

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Finally! After an entire year of organizing and production the first chapter of the crowd sourced Simpsons/Akira mashup comic is now live. The quality of the illustrations vary, but it's to be expected with a collaborative project of this magnitude. We can thank the existence of this project to 'Neo-Britain' resident Ryan Humphrey and Harvey James, who initiated this bizarre, amazing mashup.

At it's peak, the project had over 700 artists collaborating to execute the full recreation of the 2,000 page, 6 volume manga. Due to the obvious legal ramifications, the book will never be on sale in it's entirety, and instead released online for free. However, you can purchase a highlight book, featuring some of the best work produced from the 6 volumes from Floating World Comics for $15.

That aside, I really hope you guys have a lot of free time on your hands, because the first 350 page Volume is now available online for you to read over here. Check out our other Bartkira article over here, featuring a few of our favorite pages from the WIP project at the time.

Concept Art From The Canceled Live Action "Akira" Movie Surfaces

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Interesting. In a strange turn of events, it seems like fledgling director Ruari Robinson, best known for 2013's Last Days On Mars and the amazing Blinky™ short was set to direct an adaptation of Akira that unfortunately never made it into production. Originally intended to be produced by Leonardo Di Caprio's Appian Way and Warner Brothers as a two feature project (Perhaps meaning that it would draw from the manga source material as well), the feature ran into development hell with rumors of script problems, incredibly tight budget restrictions and other problems.



Following some creative differences with Warner brothers Ruari decided to depart the project, leaving us to speculate what caused the departure. After looking through the work that Ruari oversaw for the Akira adaptation though, it seemed like he was planning a surprisingly loyal take on Otomo's groundbreaking manga/feature. Concept art seemed to indicate that Chris Evans would take on the role of Kaneda with Joseph Gordon Levitt playing the tortured Tetsuo. That aside the designs stuck pretty close to the originals including Kaneda's iconic light bike, which I'd like to think would be hailed as 'f***ing genius' by ad placement executives on the project.

While we're left to speculate what could have caused the project to die on the vine I'm guessing it probably had to do with deviating too far away from the source material, which seems to be a common predicament with adapted films. Do people really want to see a live action adaptation of Akira? While the initial reaction would probably be a hell yes, the reality is that a botched adaptation would be most likely in the hands of Hollywood 'idea men,' who seem to always see it fit to deviate from something that was never broken to begin with. If you're craving your Akira live action movie just watch Chronicle instead, an underrated gem featuring the same archetypes present in Otomo's classic.

The Akira Project - An Incredible Fanmade Tribute

The Akira Project was first born back in July 2012 as an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for a fan trailer, in response to various reports that the Hollywood film adaptation was stuck in development hell. Rumors swirled of versions of the feature that sounded nothing like Otomo's original vision, and many feared that another iconic franchise would simply be, well..Lost in translation.

In an act of fan solidarity made possible by the power of crowdsourcing, the Indiegogo campaign never reached it's full funding goal, but succeeded in attracting swathes of artists from around the world that had their lives changed by Akira at some point or the other. While the initial concept was to simply show Kaneda riding his bike around Neo-Tokyo, the power of 40 artists from around the world allowed the vision of the fan trailer to expand significantly. Following 3 days of filming in Quebec back in late 2012, the project went quiet due to a lengthy post production period.



A year and a half later we finally have the final product, and as many fans probably feel - It's kind of what we wish any adaptation of beloved franchises would be in this day and age. I think this global initiative successfully expresses a frustration with studios typical handling of source material, and we hope that Akira will get a proper adaptation that lives up to Otomo's timeless creation someday.

The Akira Project is a crowd-sourced, non-profit project meant to create a live action fan trailer of AKIRA, the renowned manga-turned-anime film from the late 1980′s; a stunning example of both mediums as art forms. While Hollywood has been working on a live-action Akira movie for a few years now, we, as fans, wanted to take a shot at making our own adaptation. A chance to stick as close to the source material as possible. A chance to do Akira Justice.

After a year and a half in post-production, we are proud to present the project to Akira fans the world over. We hope to have done justice to the timeless work of Katsuhiro Otomo and look forward to, someday, seeing the full scope of the Akira story translated to the big screen as a live-action. 

Doraemon Meets Akira at the 2020 Neo-Tokyo Olympic Games

Did you know? Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira manga correctly predicted that the Tokyo summer Olympics would occur in the year 2020. Following the successful bid for the summer slot, Tokyo appointed Fujiko F. Fujio's famous Doraemon character to serve as a special ambassador/mascot for the upcoming games.

When animator Alex Pitarch put one and together, he felt an irresistible urge to mash these two revelations into an absolutely awesome mashup, starring Doraemon as Tetsuo in that infamous scene that scarred many minds across the world. Pitarch did an amazing job bringing this very strange animation to life, making it feel like it could have actually been part of the original landmark 1988 anime feature.

Orlando Arocena's Awesome "Akira" Vector Tribute Series

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New York based illustrator Orlando Arocena set out to pay tribute to Katsuhiro Otomo's groundbreaking Akira anime, and that he did with this amazing vector series-featuring the most iconic cast members (And that unforgettable bike) from the 1988 feature.

I've alway have been a fan of Katsuhiro Otomo's creativity. His elaborate characters and profund interpretation of society, often reflect a familiar impression about the philosophy of relationships.
The 1988  movie adaptation of Otomo's story depicted a cyber-punk japan in the year 2019 ( only 5 years from now...) and had an incredible influence upon me- a city boy from the Bronx-ready to embark on pursuing a curriculum of art at Pratt Instiute. It's with the utmost respect, that I pay tribute to him and his story of AKIRA with this vector tribute.

A cool thing to note was Orlando's addition of a making of section, showing off just how incredibly complex his illustrator files were for the project. All the pieces were created without any use of gradients, tracing (A common trend with vector folks) and no filters, which for anyone with some knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, that's pretty damn impressive. Check out the rest of the Akira vector tribute series after the break, featuring everyone from Kaneda to Colonel Aramaki after the break.

Bartkira Is Out Of Control (In The Best Way Possible)

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I can't make this stuff up. I'm in awe of what the internet has enabled us to do..No scratch that, the entire internet has lead up to this moment right here: A Simpsons flavored recreation of the entire Akira saga that Otomo masterfully crafted decades ago. The original comic/anime was for many their first taste of the mind blowing fruits that the Japanese anime industry had to offer, myself included. The Simpsons offered pop culture a more grown up taste of what syndicated Western cartoons could provide, with protagonists that were anything but role model quality. And in 20XX/2013? These two cultural juggernauts have collided in an absolutely incredible display of collective awesomeness, as marked by the incredibly active Bartkira blog.

Initiated by artist Ryan Humphrey, the project has grown to have over 700 active artists contributing to recreate the entire series in the ultimate collective project we've seen yet. The Tumblr blog is filled to the brim with samples of what's to come, including 'Bartkira'd' promotional materials, covers, sample pages and more. Check out just a few images from the incredible blog after the break starring Milhouse's dark decline, and praise the moment in time in which such a bizarre, yet wonderful idea came to be.

The Sketchy Art Of JP Valderrama

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If there was one thing to capture my attention with artists, it's Akira fan art, which is what immediately drew me into the work of JP Valderrama. JP has an incredibly distinct style, using a sketchy look and filled in with some amazing color work. The results as you would expect are amazing. Using his distinct style JP's work covers a multitude of pop-culture references from comics, cartoons, to movies and they all end up looking amazing.

After the jump are a few more pieces, check them out!

Akira Creator Katsuhiro Otomo and Suda51's Short Peace Game Gets First Trailer

Last week news broke for an ultimate Japanese collaboration between Katsuhiro Otomo, Suda 51, and Tokyo Jungle developer Crispy's. Unsurprisingly, I messed my pants in excitement without even seeing a glimpse of gameplay, and now we even have an initial teaser to boot, with a few hints of what the game will be about. The trailer, which features only a few small glimpses of gameplay, hints at something insane. The amount of action on screen makes this sidescroller look closer to a SHMUP than an action adventure game.

The Short Peace game, officially titled as Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day, will release later this year as a PS3 exclusive in Japan. Currently there have been no announcements for localization, although it's a bit too early for worries. Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day will be a continuation of Otomo's film Short Peace (releasing later this month) as the fifth piece on the story.

Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day

Ash Thorp's Amazing Akira Tribute Pieces

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Ash Thorp is a little of everything, a veritable visual jack of all trades: An illustrator, art director, concept artist, motion designer, interface artist, graphic artist - The result of working in the highly competitive field of cinematic visual design, where versatility amounts to steady employment. Initially getting his foot in the door as a motion designer, the knowledge gleaned there helped him build a career in film, contributing to high profile projects like Xmen: First Class, Thor, Iron Man, Total Recall and more.



However, Thorp recently turned his attention to paying tribute to the anime that began a revolution when it came out; Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, a movie that introduced millions of people to the cultural phenomenon of anime with it's hyperviolent, beautifully animated visuals. Down to the lineart, colors and presentation style, he absolutely nailed it with his take on Tetsuo and the light cycle driving renegade, Kaneda (After the break). Following the release of the illustrations, Thorp also collaborated with the Wisconson based motion designer John Fischer to create a sample motion comic of one of his earlier sketches.

With plans to render out more of the cast in this manner (With a Clown Biker in progress), I'm simply hoping that these illustrations will eventually come out in print form. Check out his take on Kaneda after the break!

Flying Lotus - Tiny Tortures Ft. Elijah Wood

A one armed Elijah Wood broods about the strange psychic powers he possesses in this well directed, dark music video by David Lewandowsky, who was the lead graphics animator on 2011's Tron Legacy. I can't help but draw some comparisons to Akira here, with Elijah's assembling of a bio mechanical arm to help him replace what he lost, mixed with a little Enter The Void-esque drug trip visuals towards the end.

The comparisons aren't accidental, as the music video was inspired due to Lewandowski's experiences with a failed live action version of Akira (One of many) by Jaume Collet-Sera, and his exposure to the plight of Tetsuo. Check out the making of after the break.

More Stunning Akira Live-Action Art Surfaces

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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!

Akira Live-Action Storyboards

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We've talked about Akira a number of times on this site because we are huge fans of the original Anime movie (and the manga that it was based off). When Akira was released in 1988 it started a massive phenomenon of Japanese culture in the United States that only grew in size over the years. Before Naruto became the loudest ninja in existence Japanese animation wasn't popular or as well known as it is now, until we watched a movie about a dystopian Tokyo with bike gangs, psychic powers and some of the most mind blowing effects we had ever seen. Akira was a landmark in Japanese animation and animation in general. So, of course, America wanted to take the idea and ruin it by turning it into a live action film, but "American-ised".

Artist Jeffrey Errico (Crank, Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil) has posted eight pages of storyboards from what would've been the opening title sequence for an early version of the film, which see Kaneda, one of the lead characters of the film, cruise to the outskirts of a crater that was once Neo-Manhattan on his iconic motorcycle. The opening sequence actually works pretty well until Neo-Manhattan rears it's ugly head. Take a look after the jump but if you haven't seen the original, watch the film as you may understand the passion we have against the project.

Kaneda's Bike In The Flesh

Street legal (Via)

As part of a promo for Katsuhiro Otomo's upcoming Gengaten exhibit, a series of videos featuring a legit working version of Kaneda's bike have been trickling onto the internet recently. The April 9 exhibit will serve as a showcase of all his artistic accomplishments and milestones in the field of animation and comic books, and will probably provide great publicity for his upcoming, historical long form manga (As of yet untitled) which will supposedly take place in the Meiji era. It's pretty exciting to see him return like this, because its been over 20 years since he's tackled a serialized manga. Check out more videos from the bike promo after the break!

 

The New Live-Action Akira?

The American live-action version of Akira has been put on hold way too many times now. This film just really needs to get made, like, yesterday. Well, it looks like our wishes have been granted. The new live-action version was just made, on a budget of $800. And can you believe it, they didn't even need to spend a dime of that $800! This touching hipster-esque film looks like it will be incredibly moving. We can't wait.

Akira Teaser By Fabien Dubois

Despite WB having put yet another hold on the Akira movie to trim the budget even further, down from the already cut $90,000,000 budget approved in October 2011, it sure hasn't stopped some fans from concepting what a movie like this might look like. This teaser by Fabien Dubois has all the elements I'd expect from a westernized adaptation of Otomo's classic post apocalyptic tale. Take it as you will, but I've chosen not get my hopes up for what this movie is going to turn out like.

On that note, I'd definitely recommend checking out Chronicle if you haven't had a chance to. I think just about everyone here agreed that its the closest thing to Akira on Western shores, including an unlikely villian so reminiscent of Tetsuo that it kind of blew our minds. It was a surprisingly good movie despite being released during the typically awful movie months of Jan-March.

Akira's Dystopian Future Has Become That Much More Of A Reality

Amoebas don't make motorcycles and expensive collector jackets! (Via)

Yes, this is real. This is the jacket that will greet you in heaven.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Katsuhiro Otomo's classic science-fiction manga Akira, Bandai are selling a replica of the signature, iconic red jacket of the main character Kaneda. If you have 69,800 yen (about US$910).

Bandai is also offering a separate 30th anniversary Akira jacket in black for the same price. This jacket is based on Kaneda's jacket, but it replaces the capsule logo with a "2019 A.D. 28 Neo Tokyo" logo. (I believe 28 is the research test number of the story's title character.)

Pre-orders began on Friday, and the jackets will ship in late January of next year. People who order either jacket from Lalabit Market will receive three of 12 different pin badges. I guess that's a good deal when you are paying over $900 for a jacket.

Akira Bluray Finally Available In The Uk

Only took 2 f***ing years, but the UK is FINALLY getting a PAL release on Bluray. If you didn't import the region free American release, or get it through less than....legal means then it's certainly worth picking it up. I personally couldn't pick it up because it had sold out at every store I had been to! Either means limited supplies were ordered or these bad boys are being enjoyed by people as awesome as me.