Akira (1988)

Trivia: Kaneda once makes a remark about Kei's relationship with Ryu. In the original comic, Ryu is Kei's older brother.

Trivia: The music for this movie was completed before any of the composers saw a single frame of film, or even read the script. As a result of this, the music had to be edited to fit in some scenes.

Trivia: The movie takes place in 2019, and features an Olympic stadium in Neo-Tokyo. Material in the film also hints that Neo-Tokyo will be hosting the 2020 Olympic games. In real life, Tokyo was actually supposed to host the 2020 Olympic games, before they were delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trivia: At the time, the film had a record budget for an animated film in Japan, coming in at around $10 million US dollars. (Though its budget has since been surpassed by a number of other films).

Trivia: The film was comprised of 160,000 still images. At the time, it used a record 327 different colors - many of which were created specifically for the film. Part of the reason it used so many colors was because a lot of the film takes place at night, which requires a completely different set of paints.

Trivia: The sequence involving black circles at the very end of the film (right before the line "I am Tetsuo!") was actually just a quick animation and color-gradient test the animation team did that was never intended to be part of the movie. The director decided to include it in the final cut.

Trivia: The film is notable for having two separate English dubs. An initial dub was created by Streamline in 1988 for the film's North American release on VHS and on limited screens. 13 years later, distributor Pioneer paid a hefty $1 million to have the film remastered and redubbed for its North American DVD release.

Trivia: When it was first released, cinematic legends Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were approached to assist in bringing the film to the US. While both loved the film (Spielberg has cheekily referred to Kaneda's red motorcycle as his "favorite Japanese animated character"), both also felt that it was too niche and unique to appeal to American audiences. Their refusal to take part in its American release are part of what inspired original distributor Streamline Pictures to purchase the rights to the film - they wanted to prove Spielberg and Lucas wrong.

Trivia: While the vast majority of the film was achieved through traditional hand-drawn animation, the film does contain a smattering of CGI effects and computer-augmented animation. The most noticeable effect being the doctor's computer, which projects a strange, spherical-like reading that was produced digitally.

Trivia: The movie came out two full years before the manga that inspired it ended. As a result, the ending of the anime and the ending of the manga differ greatly.

Trivia: A live-action American remake has been in the works since the 1990's. It has repeatedly been postponed due to budgetary concerns.

Trivia: "Akira" is something of a rarity for 80's Japanese anime films because the voices were recorded ahead of time and the animation was made to match the voices. At the time, the animation usually came first and the voice actors would try to match it.

Trivia: Kanye West has called "Akira" one of his favorite films, and even included references to it in the music video for his song "Stronger."