Even with modern advancements, live-action imposes significant limitations on visual storytelling. So why not embrace the timeless charm of traditional animation instead?
You certainly don’t need to remind me more than once how frustrating it is to feel dismissed, regardless of how refined your abilities may be. Chances are, many of you who are reading this know exactly what I’m talking about. Recall a moment in your own experience when—despite possessing both knowledge and genuine enthusiasm—it either required far too much effort to prove that you understood what you were discussing, or even worse, proved impossible.
Ideally, you've reached a stage where you can see that the issue lies with them, not with yourself.
Yet this concern mirrors one faced by animation itself. After all, I’m old enough to recall an era where grown-ups assumed anything animated could only be intended for kids. They believed such content had to be simplistic, incapable of delivering complex, layered narratives.
Like many children, I saw plenty of Disney movies—and similar ones—while growing up. These included both newer releases from during my childhood and older classic films produced long before I was born. Although I’m nowhere near as big a Disney enthusiast as my sister (who has actually met every single princess multiple times, believe me), we still grew up watching, studying, adoring, and belting out countless Broadway-style musical numbers together.
And then came anime. Although initially influenced by early Disney animations—well, how could one not be? not been?), divided and subdivided further into numerous intriguing, peculiar, and marvelous paths. This includes remarkable sci-fi and dystopian worlds That would struggle to find sufficient expression through any alternative form of media.
The global surge in anime's popularity made perhaps the strongest argument so far that animation isn’t—and never has been—a storytelling tool limited solely to entertaining younger audiences. Among animation’s greatest advantages lies its minimal constraints: primarily, the creative vision and skill required to bring ideas to life, along with sufficient resources to allow narratives to develop fully.
Any idea you can imagine becomes achievable through animation—something not always true for live-action. That’s exactly why we should discuss how people keep attempting to bring stories to life using real-world filming techniques. Akira.
Various media formats suit different types of stories more effectively.
In live-action movies, advancements in technology have consistently served as both an advantage and a drawback. This is why the physical creature effects featured in Paul Verhoeven's brilliant satirical film remain so memorable. Starship Troopers Still looks astonishingly impressive in 2025, unlike many early CGI-heavy movies which now appear strikingly outdated through today’s lens. So it has always been—and so it will remain—as both technology and cinema evolve together into the future.
Assuming, as I do, that you're someone with multiple interests and layers of enthusiasm—just like myself—I’ll further presume that you’re well aware certain stories lend themselves better to specific formats, whether they be feature films, short-form TV series, or comic book adaptations. Although those who originally created these tales frequently deliver them most effectively, this isn’t an absolute rule. Exhibit A: the animated movie... Robot Dreams which left me in tears by the conclusion. (It’s absolutely outstanding—watch it right away if you’ve missed it so far.)
It could certainly be seen as the same narrative, yet personally, I felt it had much greater impact when viewed through animation compared to reading it as a graphic novel. Of course, you may have another opinion—and that’s perfectly fine! Isn’t one purpose of art to evoke emotions within each individual uniquely?
Akira looms large over the landscape of animation. Since debuting in the late '80s—arriving slightly later in American markets during the early ’90s—it’s held an iconic status as a groundbreaking, cerebral landmark within science fiction and dystopian-themed anime storytelling. This seminal work from director Katsuhiro Otomo premiered theatrically in Japan and continued gaining international cinema exposure throughout the years following its debut. Its futuristic themes resonate beyond just anime enthusiasts alone, drawing interest from broader audiences who appreciate visionary speculative fiction narratives.
It centers around the narrative and the way it's presented. The highly intense and impactful film score adds significantly to this as well, resulting in a unified and engaging moviegoing journey—one that’s compellingly delivered, in my opinion. because It's animated—precisely because of that, not despite it.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Warner Bros. has possessed the rights to produce a live-action adaptation of Akira It has made numerous efforts over the years to launch various initiatives, with varying degrees of progress—yet each attempt ultimately fell through. As a result, it’s remained trapped for years in what appears to perfectly embody the term “development hell.”
Now, in June 2025, Those live-action rights have been returned to the Japanese publisher. Of the original manga series that inspired Otomo's iconic animation, published by Kodansha. To be honest: WELL DONE.
Since the utmost we might have anticipated was likely something along the lines of Bumblebee (itself arguably a live-action retelling of the truly underrated animated film The Iron Giant ) in terms of having an actual, heartfelt story into which a bunch of CG was integrated (and not used to completely overshadow). More likely, we would've ended up with an incoherent mess; all spectacle and style but very little substance (see: just about every other live-action Transformers movie).
And that's not why people still love the original animated film, decades later. This isn't a new argument; it's one that flares up every time modern Disney announces a live-action version of one of its animated classics, as well. In their case, it feels tired and cynical in a different way, because it's their own IP they're mining, seemingly because they're out of ideas to feed the ever-insatiable content mill that is our modern world.
Motorcycle aficionados continue to find inspiration in Otomo's work for good reason. Akira to such an extent that they're still building fantastic homages to Kaneda's motorcycle Far into the twenty-first century, could a real-life adaptation reach such heights of acclaim and affection many years down the line? That outcome appears highly improbable.
But what’s your take on this? Could I be mistaken, and are you really eager to watch a live-action adaptation of... Akira Perhaps this one will get an IMAX release this time? Or do you really not mind either way, even if Kaneda’s motorcycle does look awesome? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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