Following several announcements during this years Anime Expo in Los Angeles during 4th of July weekend one of the biggest headlines came from one of the guests of honor Katsuhiro Otomo. During his panel it was revealed that he had his hands full on several upcoming projects including a 4k blu ray release and a new series based on the iconic anime AKIRA series as well as a new feature film titled Orbital Era.
AKIRA was originally written back in 1982 by Katsuhiro Otomo and was adapted into a film in 1988. Otomo has mentioned that he was unhappy with condensing 6 volumes into a film and with the announcement of a full series we could expect the full story to finally be told.
Another announcement during the same panel was the reveal of Otomo’s upcoming third film Orbital Era. A 44 second teaser was shown which shows off some very interesting cg shots with the final shot being a person in space with a skateboard featuring the title.
According to The Verge, Otomo will be heading the project in terms of writing, directing, and designing the film. His last film was the 2004 animated feature Steamboy.
If you don’t think that was enough AKIRA news, this all comes a few weeks after the news broke that Taiki Waititi will be directing a live action AKIRA film slated for May 2021.