Akira 35th Anniversary Box Set

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Kurosawa’s effortless debut is based on a novel by Tsuneo Tomita about the rivalry between judo and jujitsu. Starring Susumu Fujita as the title character, Sanshiro Sugata is a thrilling martial arts action tale, but it’s also a moving story of moral education that’s quintessential Kurosawa. What I found out, ironically enough, is that the film adaptation and the source books are vastly different stories. The manga series is rather large, so one would obviously think that many subplots and miniature story arcs would need to be condensed or altogether scrapped, like many films need to do. But no, this is an entirely different story. Same beginning, similar climax, but virtually every plot beat that happens in the book is completely different than the film. Where the film "ends" is approximately 40% of the way through the story, but it uses the same climax that the series has. Odd.

If you’re a big fan of the movie adaption of Akira but have never dipped your toes into the source material, you owe it to yourself to read it. Even though the Akira anime was written and directed by Otomo, it only covers about 30% of the manga, at best. It’s almost like reading a different work that just happens to share the same characters and setting. Marvel at the beauty that is Akira. There’s really not much I can say about the series that hasn’t already been said before, but what I will add is that, if you’re a fan of the movie and want to dive deeper into this world, then the manga is a must. Notice I didn’t say that the manga will help you understand what’s going on in this story, because it’s still pretty confusing, but there’s something to be said about a story that barely explains itself, but still manages to engage the reader to such a degree. Also, the collected version of the printed story was completed two years after the movie, allowing the reader and viewer to experience the (similar) stories to a different effect. After finishing what would become his international phenomenon Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa immediately turned to one of the most daring, and problem-plagued, productions of his career. The Idiot, an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's nineteenth-century masterpiece about a wayward, pure soul's reintegration into society—updated by Kurosawa to capture Japan’s postwar aimlessness—was a victim of studio interference and, finally, public indifference. Today, this "folly" looks ever more fascinating, a stylish, otherworldly evocation of one man’s wintry mindscape. Otomo's first masterpiece is overshadowed by the grandeur of Akira, but both the art and the story display the full-range of his creative powers. In an apartment mega-complex with thousands of residents, the suicide rate has risen dramatically. An old man with terrifying psychic abilities has become senile, and is now indulging his deadly and selfish whims, manipulating the residents like puppets and sending some to their deaths.Is long been a fan of the movie but not read the source. My boss lent me Vol 1 recently and I devoured it. The panel work in this is incredible to this day. A must for anyone into graphic art.

One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an explora­tion of death. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived two­part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive. J'imagine sans problème comment le film a pour devenir un chef d'oeuvre en ne gardant que l'essentiel. (On m'a dit par exemple que le personnage d'Akira lui-même n'est pas dans le film. Ça m'amuse d'imaginer le personnage éponyme absent, mais je comprends parfaitement le choix : Akira est inutile.) Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa, two of cinema's greatest directors, transform Maxim Gorky's classic proletariat play The Lower Depths in their own ways for their own times. Renoir, working amidst the rise of Hitler and the Popular Front in France, had need to take license with the dark nature of Gorky's source material, softening its bleak outlook. Kurosawa, firmly situated in the postwar world, found little reason for hope. He remained faithful to the original with its focus on the conflict between illusion and reality—a theme he would return to over and over again. Working with their most celebrated actors (Gabin with Renoir; Mifune with Kurosawa), each film offers a unique look at cinematic adaptation—where social conditions and filmmaking styles converge to create unique masterpieces. An all-new, complete 35th anniversary hardcover box set of one of the most acclaimed and influential comics of all time, with the original Japanese art and right-to-left reading format for the first time! Sweet Dreams Are Made Of The Huge Sandman Box Set Being Over 50% Off So what makes this box set so special? Image: KodanshaIn Akira Kurosawa's first film after the end of World War II, future beloved Ozu regular Setsuko Hara gives an astonishing performance as Yukie, the only female protagonist in Kurosawa's body of work and one of his strongest heroes. Transforming herself from genteel bourgeois daughter to independent social activist, Yukie traverses a tumultuous decade in Japanese history.