Akira

***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.

## 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

### Additional Voices

**Electric Media Dub**

* Lewis Arquette
* James Arrington
* Bob Bergen
* Wally Burr
* Cam Clarke
* Lara Cody
* Eddie Frierson
* Barbara Goodson
* L. Michael Haller
* Steve Kramer
* Julie Phelan
* Tony Pope
* Bruce Winant

**Pioneer/Animaze Dub**

* William H. Bassett
* Steve Blum
* Kevin Brief
* Emilie Brown
* Paul Carr
* Christopher Carroll
* Dana Craig
* Peter Doyle
* David Ellenstein
* Rebecca Forstadt
* Jessica Gee
* Josh Gerhardt
* Barbara Goodson
* L. Michael Haller
* Matthew Hustin
* Steve Kramer
* Lex Lang
* Peter Lurie
* Dave Mallow
* Mona Marshall
* Michael McCarty
* Matthew Mercer
* Matthew Kermit Miller
* Daran Norris
* Tony Oliver
* Brad Orchard
* Jonathan C. Osborne
* Bob Papenbrook
* Derek Stephen Prince
* Ted Rae
* Joe Romersa
* Michelle Ruff
* Kevin Seymour
* Paul St. Peter
* Brad Sergi
* Steve Staley
* Lisa Tarulli
* Chloe Thornton
* Kirk Thornton
* Ezra Weisz
* Daniel Woren

## 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. However, Jan Rabson identified Wally Burr as the voice director in a 2011 interview.
* Eddie Frierson, Barbara Goodson, L. Michael Haller, and Steve Kramer are the only voice actors to appear in both dubs.

## References

1. ↑ https://thequietus.com/articles/21395-killing-of-america-interview
2. ↑ https://mediamikes.com/2011/09/interview-with-jan-rabson/

## External Links

* *Akira* at the Internet Movie Database
* *Akira* (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia