Dave here, it took them a while to find it, for some reason UPS enjoys losing my packages, if only for a small while. That's over with now, and I'm FINALLY in possession of my Akira Special Edition DVD Tin. Sure, you've seen reviews of this at other places, but it deserves one here.
AKIRA, for those of you who know nothing of anime, is one of the last great works of the pre-digital animation era of anime. Probably the greatest. Stunningly dramatic and masterfully composed music, colorful and highly detailed animation, an intense, driving plot, cool characters, and great atmosphere make it one of the most accessible anime titles western audiences have ever seen.
This was the first anime that made me realize I was watching anime, not just a foreign cartoon. Of course, there were a lot of great titles before it, but for me, like lots of westerners, it was my first exposure to a refined example of the anime art form.
There are only a handful of titles in the same category as AKIRA, and it's hard to justify any other feature-length title taking the top spot away from it. I could watch it a million times, turn off the video and just enjoy the amazing music, or turn off the sound and just enjoy the beautiful and intense artwork.
I'm not going to run down the plot here, or post any spoilers, just based on the off chance that somehow, some of you haven't seen it yet. Here's the basic rundown, though, a kid, in a post-apocalyptic world, gets caught up in a government-run experiment...an experiment in psychic phenomena that begins to go out of control.
That's really all you need to know. That, and the fact that anime fans everywhere revere this title. They buy tons of T-Shirts, toys, posters, everything they can get their hands on. Because it's a top-tier title. These facts alone should be enough to get you interested in seeing it.
Obviously, then, it would be a crime to screw up the DVD release of this work. Like, say, Manga did when they re-released another anime masterpiece, The Wings of Honneamise (aka Royal Space Force). Somehow, THEY managed to get the video quality looking as bad as a mediocre videotape, and looking MUCH worse than the copy I have on laserdisc. Who knows how, but sometimes projects go awry.
Fortunately, the video looks amazing on this disc, and the sound is as clear as a bell...or rather, hundreds of bells and drums, and chorus voices. Magnificent on both fronts, making this look like a title that was just produced yesterday. Of course, that's the most important thing.
In addition, SOMEHOW, they managed to come up with one of the best dubbing jobs, in 5.1 Surround English, that I've ever heard. I'd go so far as to say that I can watch AKIRA in English and actually enjoy it, feeling no particularly strong feelings of rage. That's remarkable. Of course, I'd much rather watch the film in Japanese, and all of you should too, but if you HAVE TO, or if you have small children who can't read quickly, and whose minds you want to corrupt, then the English is quite acceptable. Huge surprise there, but a nice one. Pioneer deserves a LOT of credit for making the English dub as good as it is. GOOD JOB!
More than that, it's the details that make this a wonderful release. The menus are fabulous, showing a lot more care than most anime producers are putting out these days. I have to wonder, in an age with iDVD and DVD Studio Pro, I can put together menus on my Mac at home of higher quality than most of these guys...so what's their excuse? I don't know, but at least Pioneer isn't slacking off on this title. These are the kind of menus I like to see. Animated, with great audio, and really cool transitions. Easy to navigate, yet still stylish. GOOD JOB!
Did I mention how great this thing LOOKS? I still can't believe it when I watch it. It's stunning. You can see, in every frame, how hard these guys must have worked to get this thing looking perfect. It really is amazing.
Okay, there's another disc to talk about. The second disc, with a director's interview, trailers, information about the restoration, production materials, a glossary, "akira.sound.clip", and a production report.
The production report details the process of making the original work, the "akira.sound.clip" details the making of the soundtrack, the director's interview is...well, you know, the production materials contain numerous character designs, the trailers...you can figure that one out too, the restoration details the massive undertaking that was...restoring this amazing title, and the glossary fills you in on various terms used in the feature.
The extras on disc 2 constitute an ENORMOUS amount of material that westerners have (as far as I know) previously had little or no access to. I'm sure there was a lot of digging for this stuff, and it's all wonderful. It goes even further to show how much effort, care, and respect this title was treated with, and it gives even a fellow like me, who's seen this title a million times, something new to see, and a way to get even more involved in the story.
Having finally seen this DVD release, I have to congratulate Pioneer. I've never seen an anime title treated so well, so perfectly. I WISH anime producers would take this title and nail it to their walls, and say to everyone they meet, "THAT'S how you release an anime title on DVD." If I could find someone at Pioneer to give them a hug for this, I would. I'd hug their whole restoration team if given a chance. Top-notch, excellent, wonderful, perfect. That about describes the new Region 1 AKIRA DVD release.
As for me, overjoyed describes me right about now. Still a little pissed off at UPS, but I'm used to them losing stuff. It's more than made up for by the surprising amount of love that was put into this 2-disc set, though.
Oh, and folks, even if you're not lucky enough to get your hands on the limited edition 2-disc tin with all of the extras, you need to get this title in its 1-disc movie-only standard release. After all, it's really about the movie itself, and when it comes to that, there's no difference between the special and standard editions. They're both fantastic.
-Dave Alvarado, El Cosmico
