Review - AKIRA 4K Limited Edition

★★★★

Based on the ground-breaking manga of the same name by man of many talents Katsuhiro Otomo, ‘AKIRA’ follows the story of a biker gang leader named Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata). Kaneda is tracking down his friend Tetsuo (Nozomu Sasaki), who while in the middle of a gang war, crashed into an Esper causing him to come away with psychic powers. This leads to his Tetsuo becoming the target of a secret government research facility. These new powers could signal the end of an already fractured Neo-Tokyo as Tetsuo begins to evolve into a new entity…

It has been 30 years and Akira still lives up to it’s well earned hype. Not only in terms of story, but visually too. AKIRA is a complete thrill ride from beginning to end and looks damn good in it’s new 4K transfer. The remaster process for this film has been kind with the colours popping far more prominently than its previous home media releases. Now of course, as with any older films being transferred, there are going to be some visual imperfections – but there is nothing of major concern that disrupts viewing pleasure in any way. The sound quality on this print is also pretty crisp, although didn’t seem like a massive improvement over previous home media releases.

This new limited edition version of AKIRA is a must have for any fan of the film. Not only does it come in a gorgeous collector’s box, but it comes with a whole host of special features.

AKIRA 4K Limited Edition
1x 4K UHD Blu-ray
2x Standard Blu-ray
1x 40 page booklet featuring: ‘The Energy Of Akira Stimulates The Human Mind’ by Ryusuke Hikawa, ‘The Music of Akira Continues to Evolve’ by Reiji Asakura, a round table interview with the Japanese cast and sound director, and ‘Timeline of Events in Akira’

Bonus Blu-Ray special features include: AKIRA sound making 2019, AKIRA soundclip by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, End credits for 1998 theatrical release, Theatrical preview – Trailer collection with English subtitles, Storyboard collection.

I highly recommend picking up this product if you are a fan of the film, and have yet to see it transferred to 4K.

This is sure to be a hot collectors piece for any anime collection so I’d recommend checking it out soon before it’s gone!