'Akira': 10 Things You Didn't Know

Released in 1988, Katsuhiro Otomo's groundbreaking cyberpunk anime Akira stands as a monumental achievement in science fiction history, inspiring a massive global following and numerous pop culture milestones. To finance the massive adaptation of the sprawling manga epic, creators formed the Akira Committee, which ultimately helped pioneer a production process featuring pre-scored dialogue to accurately match character mouth movements. The film also left a profound legacy by popularizing the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre, inspiring the famous “bullet time” visual effect in The Matrix, and even earning the distinction of becoming the first animated release in The Criterion Collection.

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This episode includes AI-generated content.