Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 7:21AM 'Akira' Plot Summary Released
We've been posting periodic updates about the live-action remake of the anime classic Akira for some time now, as it has attracted star talent ranging from Ken Watanabe to Kristen Stewart. With casting still very much in flux, a plot synopsis has surfaced online through the website Acting-auditions.org. The most notable changes include the switch from the anime's setting of "Neo-Tokyo" to "Neo-Manhattan", and the changing of Kaneda's and Tetsuo's relationship. Here's the full description:
Kaneda (Garrett Hedlund) is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother, Tetsuo, is abducted by government agents led by The Colonel. Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join with Ky Reed (Kristen Stewart) and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City thirty years ago when it was destroyed. Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous but after finding his brother again, is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers. Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy, Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind. Kaneda clashes with The Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races in to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island, as he did thirty years ago.
Changing the setting to "Neo-Manhattan" is just so Hollywood I can't help but laugh about it, and removing (or at least downplaying) the biker gang angle seems to throw out one of the most distinctive elements of the original. I don't really understand why they're keeping the main character's names from the Japanese version, it isn't as though the purists would be any more offended by it then they probably already are.
Akira is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and is set to start filming by Spring 2012.
Reader Comments (4)
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Ya! Garrett Hedlund as Kaneda! Um....this doesn't even sound right, and I imagine it'll even look bad watching it play on the big screen. Hedlund just doesn't LOOK like a Kaneda...hehehehehe
Ultimately, I'm just glad they're NOT simply making the anime or the manga all over again as live action and this is something that stands on it's own as an interpretation of the original. They just saved themselves from UTTER disaster, as far as I'm concerned, with Watanabe as the Colonel. The names - eh - it might be possible in a more "global" future that some names from other cultures become "anglicized". Maybe Kaneda and Tetsuo are HALF brothers in this version. Maybe they even change it before release. But Helena Boham Carter as Lady Miyaki !? THAT they gotta' change! Make her a Russian mystic or get somebody else FAST. I still don't mind the move to Manhattan - it's more a human melting pot and this a story about meddling with HUMAN evolution, so setting in the crossroad city of the WORLD seems more appropriate. Ya' gotta' remeber "Akira" was a great projection of the future from the NINETEEN EIGHTEES, but it's a different world now, and when you really examine it, a lot of "Akira's" milieu is VERY dated. So I'm glad they're "updating" it, but I just hope they 've really examined it and retained the right core elements.
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