Tonight I took a break from Wonder Woman and watched a classic in the Japanese animation genre, Akira. Akira has just been released on Blu-ray (again) in time for it's 25th anniversary. I haven't watched this movie for a while, so it was nice to watch it again. It also helps that I'm watching it on my 47" TV in hi def.
As I said I haven't seen Akira in a long time, but on Blu-ray it certainly looks really pretty. It's not perfect, it's 25 years old and I'm not sure if it's going to look any better. In addition to the upgraded video the audio hasn't been redone, but ported over from various releases. There is a TrueHD English 5.1 track that is the same as the one on the 2001 Pioneer special edition. There is also another TrueHD 2.0 English dub which is the Streamline dub done 1988 and the one we are familiar with as it was how we all experienced Akira the first time. Lastly, there is a Japanese TrueHD 5.1 track from the 2009 Bandai Blu-ray release. I watched it in Japanese.
The special features are a little disappointing as this being the 25th anniversary there isn't much new material, most of it ported over from the Pioneer special edition of 2001. They didn't port over all the materials, just some of them, so don't be throwing out your old special editions just yet! I guess they are holding out until the 30th anniversary to make some new stuff.
Some people complain that Akira might be "weird" or "confusing" or "doesn't make sense" and they just "don't get it", but I say "so what?" It doesn't have to make perfect sense, and why should it? Just roll with it. Besides with Akira the story is almost secondary to the imagery on display.
As I said I haven't seen Akira in a long time, but on Blu-ray it certainly looks really pretty. It's not perfect, it's 25 years old and I'm not sure if it's going to look any better. In addition to the upgraded video the audio hasn't been redone, but ported over from various releases. There is a TrueHD English 5.1 track that is the same as the one on the 2001 Pioneer special edition. There is also another TrueHD 2.0 English dub which is the Streamline dub done 1988 and the one we are familiar with as it was how we all experienced Akira the first time. Lastly, there is a Japanese TrueHD 5.1 track from the 2009 Bandai Blu-ray release. I watched it in Japanese.
The special features are a little disappointing as this being the 25th anniversary there isn't much new material, most of it ported over from the Pioneer special edition of 2001. They didn't port over all the materials, just some of them, so don't be throwing out your old special editions just yet! I guess they are holding out until the 30th anniversary to make some new stuff.
Some people complain that Akira might be "weird" or "confusing" or "doesn't make sense" and they just "don't get it", but I say "so what?" It doesn't have to make perfect sense, and why should it? Just roll with it. Besides with Akira the story is almost secondary to the imagery on display.
1 comment:
Keef, you should've drank the chocolate pop THEN watched Akira, it would've made more sense then..
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