How the iconic 1988 cartoon Akira was created

Akira is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest animation and science fiction works of all time, as well as a milestone in the history of Japanese animation. Director Katsuhiro Otomo and his team did a tremendous job. They hand-drew every scene, paying attention to every little detail. This is what “handmade” truly means.

The cartoon has become a true classic, making a huge contribution to pop culture. Perhaps today there are no projects in the genre of “dark futurism” and “cyberpunk” that would not be inspired by “Akira”. For 1988, the anime was truly amazing in scale: cool special effects, a deep plot, smooth animation of 24 frames per second (which was very cool for those years) and, most importantly, an impressive budget. In the late 80s, $5.5 million to create an anime was considered a huge sum. But the effort was worth it, as Akira grossed $80 million at the worldwide box office.

By the way, have you watched Akira?