I have long been a fan of Akira. Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 animated post-cyberpunk epic is not only one of the greatest Animated achievements ever, it is also one of the greatest films ever made.

I saw this reel from Concept VFX artist, Ash Thorp (he does other incredible work), and as the title of this post indicates, this is a reinvention.

With news that the long gestating Hollywood remake of Akira is now at the hands of Taika Waititi (seriously, what is that film going to be like?), I really hope that this will remain the only live-action interpretation of the material.

Ash Thorp and his crew understand what makes Akira special, it isn’t just the visuals, it is also the emotional feeling of seeing something incredible for the first time. The viewer/reader has to be in awe of the power shown on the screen/page. And they do this in a video that is just shy of a minute long. The score by PILOTPRIEST does justice to what has come before.

Here is the link to the site. I truly recommend you spend sometime going through it, admiring the craft at hand. Enjoy.