Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga of the same name.
The film has become a hugely popular cult film and is widely considered to be a landmark in Japanese animation.
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Dubbing History[]
It should be noted that Akira is a trickier anime product to dub due to the fact that, unlike standard anime procedure, the original voices were recorded first and the mouth movements were drawn to match. Traditionally in anime, the mouth moving animation is done with simplistic mouth flapping while the recording is done afterward.
The movie was first dubbed by Electric Media, Inc. and Wally Burr Recording for Kodansha Ltd. and saw a limited theatrical release in America on December 25, 1989. In North America, the English-dubbed version of movie was distributed by Streamline Pictures. This dub is often incorrectly referred to as the "Streamline dub" because of this, not helped by the fact that the voice cast had a number of regulars for Streamline's dubs.
In 2001, a new dub was produced by Animaze for Pioneer Entertainment's DVD release, which also saw a limited release in theaters. The Animaze version was the only English dub distributed in the United States for several years afterwards, while the original dub appeared on the UK and Australian DVDs. Following the release of FUNimation Entertainment's Blu-ray version of the film in 2013, both dubs have since been featured in American home media releases. A 4K Blu-ray disc was released on December 22, 2020.
Cast[]
Image | Character | Seiyū | Electric Media / Streamline Dub | Animaze / Pioneer Dub |
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Shōtarō Kaneda | Mitsuo Iwata | Cam Clarke | Johnny Yong Bosch | |
Tetsuo Shima | Nozomu Sasaki | Jan Rabson | Joshua Seth | |
Kei (Kay) |
Mami Koyama | Lara Cody | Wendee Lee | |
Colonel Shikishima | Tarō Ishida | Tony Pope | Jamieson Price | |
Doctor Ōnishi | Mizuho Suzuki | Lewis Arquette | Simon Prescott | |
Ryūsaku (Ryu) (Roy) |
Tesshō Genda | Steve Kramer | Bob Buchholz | |
Kiyoko (No. 25) | Fukue Itō | Melora Harte | Sandy Fox | |
Takashi (No. 26) | Tatsuhiko Nakamura | Barbara Goodson | Cody MacKenzie | |
Masaru (No. 27) | Kazuhiro Kamifuji | Bob Bergen | Travis Weaver | |
Kaori | Yuriko Fuchizaki | Barbara Goodson | Michelle Ruff | |
Yamagata (Yama) |
Masaaki Ōkura | Tony Pope | Michael Lindsay | |
Kaisuke (Kai) | Takeshi Kusao | Bob Bergen | Anthony Pulcini | |
Nezu (Insider) |
Hiroshi Ōtake | Tony Pope | Mike Reynolds | |
Revolutionary 1 | Masato Hirano | Lewis Arquette | Steve Blum | |
Revolutionary 2 | Yukimasa Kishino | Wally Burr | Michael McConnohie | |
Shimazaki | Tony Pope | Robert Axelrod | ||
Colonel's Council Liaison (Senator) |
Kōichi Kitamura | Lewis Arquette | Michael Forest | |
Eiichi Watanabe | Tarō Arakawa | Bob Bergen | Ted Rae | |
Mitsuru Kuwata | Yukimasa Kishino | Tony Pope | Skip Stellrecht | |
Yūji Takeyama | Masato Hirano | Jan Rabson | Eddie Frierson | |
Groupies | Kayoko Fuji | Lara Cody | Julie Ann Taylor | |
Masami Toyoshima | Julie Phelan | Patricia Ja Lee | ||
Yuka Ono | Barbara Goodson | Dyanne DiRosario | ||
Lady Miyako | Kōichi Kitamura | Steve Kramer | William Frederick Knight | |
Inspector | Michihiro Ikemizu | Bob Bergen | Steve Staley | |
Army | Kazumi Tanaka | Steve Kramer | Tony Oliver | |
Harukiya Bartender | Yōsuke Akimoto | Tony Pope | John Snyder | |
Councilmen | Kōichi Kitamura | Lewis Arquette | Peter Spellos | |
Yukimasa Kishino | L. Michael Haller | Michael Sorich | ||
Masayuki Katō | Barbara Goodson | Doug Stone | ||
Masato Hirano | Cam Clarke | Dan Lorge | ||
Tarō Arakawa | Steve Kramer | Bob Papenbrook | ||
Jan Rabson | Paul St. Peter | |||
Michihiro Ikemizu | Bob Bergen | Christopher Carroll |
Additional Voices[]
Electric Media Dub
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Pioneer/Animaze Dub
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Notes[]
- There is contradictory information about the voice director for the original dub. The ending credits identify Sheldon Renan as the director and Renan discussed directing the dub in a 2016 interview.[1] However, Jan Rabson identified Wally Burr as the voice director in a 2011 interview.[2]
- Eddie Frierson, Barbara Goodson, L. Michael Haller, and Steve Kramer are the only voice actors to appear in both dubs.
Video Releases[]
Distributor | Year | Format | Dub | Region | Country | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Streamline Pictures | 1990 | Electric Media | NTSC | United States | ||
Manga Entertainment | 1991 | PAL | United Kingdom | |||
Pioneer Entertainment | 2001 | Pioneer | 1 NTSC |
United States | ||
Manga Entertainment | 2002 | 2 PAL |
United Kingdom | |||
2005 | All | |||||
Bandai Entertainment | 2009 | + |
Pioneer | A DVB-T |
United States | |
FUNimation Entertainment | 2013 | All | ||||
2020 | ||||||
2022 | + |