History Trivia / Akira

** The movie has two English dubs: one from 1989 and one from 2001. The 1989 dub was created by Kodansha for the film's initial US release and was distributed by Creator/StreamlinePictures, which resulted in it being referred to as the "Streamline dub", despite Streamline Pictures not actually producing it (it didn't help that many of its cast members would go on to do many dubs that Streamline ''did'' produce). The 2001 dub was done by Animaze for [[Creator/{{Geneon}} Pioneer's]] DVD release of the film and was created so the DVD would pass THX Certification. Until 2013, only the 2001 dub was distributed in the US, with the 1989 dub appearing on UK and Australian DVD releases. Both dubs would eventually appear on the 25th Anniversary Edition DVD and Blu-ray in 2013, which was distributed by Funimation. Fans tend to agree that it doesn't matter which one you prefer because they're both excellent quality.

* FountainOfExpies: Tetsuo. At least half the psychotic, supernaturally powered youngsters in anime, videogames and even [[Film/{{Chronicle}} movies]] of the last 30-odd years owe something to the lovable little freak.

* OldShame: Not the manga or the movie, but rather, the [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames Amiga adaptation of the movie]], which is considered one of the worst games of all time. When one guy [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/akira-amiga/ tracked down the developers]] to get an idea how the game turned out so awful, everyone who was willing to talk wanted to distance themselves from the game and the development company ICE Software as much as they could. When he attempted to contact the former heads of ICE Software (which had gone under not long after the ''AKIRA'' game was released), he was told rather loudly to "FUCK OFF".

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The game based on the classic anime motion picture AKIRA for the Amiga is considered one of the worst for the system. Why? It's a side-scrolling action game where you play as either Tetsuo or Kaneda, in at least four levels of extreme difficulty and unfairness. The idea of a difficulty curve is thrown out with the first level, a motorbike racing stage somewhat like the infamously difficult level 3 of Battletoads but with more random obstacle placement and the added challenge of constantly needing to pick up fuel cans; the publisher supposedly had to give out passwords for reviewers to clear it. The third level has keycards to collect, and while you don't need them all to reach the end of the level, if you don't get all of them anyway, you will be trapped and unable to complete the level. The fourth level can't be completed at all because of poor play testing; one of the platforms is placed too far away for you to jump on. It apparently even drove its developers, ICE Software of the United Kingdom, crazy.
** The Famicom version isn't much better, as it's a Trial-and-Error Gameplay option-choosing game disguised as an adventure game, where you must choose the movie's exact actions.

* CrossCastRole: Apparently, you gotta be a man to voice Lady Miyako.

* ActingForTwo: The Streamline dub of the 1988 movie had many of its voice actors taking on multiple roles. Barbara Goodson was the voice of Takashi and Kaori, Bob Bergen was both Masaru and Kaisuke, and Tony Pope was TalkingToHimself in several scenes as Yamagata, Colonel Shikishima and Nezu.

* FreezeFrameBonus: A rare comic book example. When the agent is hospitalized and being debriefed, pay attention to the painting above the bed. Now look up the cover of Otomo's other work Domu. See any similarities? Domu shares themes with AKIRA and came out before he started working on the AKIRA story.

* ThrowItIn: The scene with the black circles just before the final scene and credits is actually a pencil test.

* The movie was aired on {{Creator/Toonami}} as part of a Month of Movies event on December 2013. In December 2014, it was given an encore showing, airing the same night as ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan''. Both airings used the Pioneer dub.

* Unusually for anime, the film uses the western "pre-lay" style of recording first and then animating the mouths to match. This has made convincingly dubbing it into other languages [[HongKongDub very difficult]].

** The BBC2 subtitled version hasn't been seen since its initial broadcast in 1994. The Island/Streamline subtitled version hasn't been seen since the '90s, either, but at least that one was released commercially on home video.

** Even the subtitled versions experienced this. Even excluding the dubtitle tracks released by Manga and Bandai shortly after the turn of the millennium, there are no less than three subtitled versions. The first one was produced for the Island World Communications Collector's Edition double-tape release which also included ''Akira Production Report'' and was also released by Creator/StreamlinePictures in the spring of 1994. Another subtitle track was produced for the British television premiere on [=BBC2=]. The current subtitled version was produced by Pioneer Entertainment in 2001, and later released by Funimation with slight modifications.

** The BBC2 subtitled version hasn't been seen since its initial broadcast in 1994.

** Even the subtitled versions experienced this. Even excluding the dubtitle tracks released by Manga and Bandai shortly after the turn of the millennium, there are no less than three subtitled versions. The first one was produced for the Island World Communications Collector's Edition double-tape release which also included ''Akira Production Report'' and was also released by Creator/StreamlinePictures in the spring of 1994. Another subtitle track was produced for the British television premiere on BBC2. The current subtitled version was produced by Pioneer Entertainment in 2001, and later released by Funimation with slight modifications.

* The movie is also notable for being one of the few animated movies to be released by Creator/TheCriterionCollection (specifically, it was given a laserdisc release in 1993), along with ''Literature/WatershipDown'', ''Animation/FantasticPlanet'', and the more recent ''WesternAnimation/FantasticMrFox''.
* The movie is one of the last animated features to use traditional cel animation exclusively and it's entirely made by hand. Its status as a landmark in animation and cultural status in Japan has made further adaptations impossible, including multiple attempts at live-action films and animated series.

* AcclaimedFlop: Surprisingly, the film was originally a disappointment at the Japanese box office in spite of positive reception, making only 1.5 billion Yen against a 1.1 billion Yen budget (about $9 million). [[GenreKiller This would have been a big enough bomb to tank the entire theatrical anime industry]] -- [[SubvertedTrope but thanks to]] [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a massive amount of adoration from Western fans]], who brought the global total up to $49 million, the movie ultimately became very profitable.

** The movie has two English dubs: one from 1988 and one from 2001. The 1988 dub was created by Kodansha for the film's initial US release and was distributed by Creator/StreamlinePictures, which resulted in it being referred to as the "Streamline dub", despite Streamline Pictures not actually producing it (it didn't help that many of its cast members would go on to do many dubs that Streamline ''did'' produce). The 2001 dub was done by Animaze for [[Creator/{{Geneon}} Pioneer's]] DVD release of the film and was created so the DVD would pass THX Certification. Until 2013, only the 2001 dub was distributed in the US, with the 1988 dub appearing on UK and Australian DVD releases. Both dubs would eventually appear on the 25th Anniversary Edition DVD and Blu-ray in 2013, which was distributed by Funimation. Fans tend to agree that it doesn't matter which one you prefer because they're both excellent quality.

** For US fans, the original 1988 movie dub that was distributed throughout the 1990s was impossible to find for years outside of old VHS and Laserdisc copies. [[note]]And the Australian DVD, but whatever.[[/note]] Creator/FUNimation's 25th Anniversary release, however, features both this and the 2001 dub on top of the excellent Japanese surround sound mix, so this is no longer an issue. [=FUNimation=] themselves even said that they had not considered including that dub until someone who used to work at Intersound approached them at a convention and offered to give them its masters.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Both film and manga depict Japan, although the country is never mentioned, getting ready to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, 25 years before the announcement was made at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina that Tokyo would have indeed hosted the 2020 Olympics in real life. However due to the Covid-19 pandemic the Olympics is being postponed until the summer of 2021.

* AcclaimedFlop: Surprisingly, the film was originally a disappointment at the Japanese box office in spite of positive reception, making only 1.5 billion Yen against a 1.1 billion Yen budget (about $9 million). [[GenreKiller This would have been a big enough bomb to tank the entire theatrical anime industry]]] -- [[SubvertedTrope but thanks to]] [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a massive amount of adoration from Western fans]], who brought the global total up to $49 million, the movie ultimately became very profitable.

** For US fans, the original 1988 movie dub that was distributed throughout the 1990s was impossible to find for years outside of old VHS and Laserdisc copies. [[note]]And the Australian DVD, but whatever.[[/note]] Creator/FUNimation's 25th anniversary DVD and Blu-ray re-release, however, features both this and the 2001 dub on top of the original Japanese track, so this is no longer an issue. [=FUNimation=] themselves even said that they had not considered including that dub until someone who used to work at Intersound approached them at a convention and offered to give them its masters.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Both film and manga depict Japan, although the country is never mentioned, getting ready to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, 25 years before the announcement was made at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina that Tokyo will indeed host the 2020 Olympics in real life.

* DevelopmentHell: Almost infamous at this point. Warner Bros has been trying to make a live-action adaptation since ''2002''. No less than ''five'' different directors have been attached to the project. It's been going on long enough that the planned film has its [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(planned_film) own wiki page]].

* DevelopmentHell: There have been several attempts to produce a live-action version by Hollywood studios, but they've never gotten beyond the pre-production stage. With all of the controversy about [[RaceLift Western actors playing Asian roles]], it's probably for the better.

** Spain used to have dueling dubs in the form of the one produced by Manga Films and the one by Selecta Visión. The former was poorly translated and contained changes to the original, but it had some important actors and was well acted. The second was created to correct the first and was more faithful, but it was awfully cheap and most of its voices were either miscast or badly acted. The war between both only ended when Selecta Visión redubbed it with much more money on the line and finally gave the movie a good Spanish version.

* AcclaimedFlop: Surprisingly, the film was originally a disappointment at the Japanese box office, making only 1.5 billion Yen against a 1.1 billion Yen budget. This would have been a big enough bomb to tank the entire theatrical anime industry -- but thanks to [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a massive amount of adoration from Western fans]], who brought the total up to $49 million, the movie ultimately became profitable.

* AcclaimedFlop: Surprisingly, the film was originally a disappointment at the Japanese box office, making only 1.5 billion Yen against a 1.1 billion Yen budget -- but thanks to [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a massive amount of adoration from Western fans]], who brought the total up to $49 million, the movie ultimately became profitable.

%%** Also, recently Katsuhiro Otomo admitted he was not happy with how the anime adaption turned out.

** In Latin America, there's three different dubs: Two of them dubbed in Mexico and another one in Argentina. The Argentinian dub was used only in South America, while the Mexican ones were used in the entire region.