Akira has always been popular with anime freaks and film buffs, but recently there’s some renewed interest because the 2 part live-action version has been announced. Supposedly the new version will be less of remake of the film, and more of an interpretation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s graphic novel series. Each film will be based on three of the six volumes of the original novel.

Warner Brothers paid seven-figures for the rights to the movie, so there should be an adequate budget fitting for the scale of a film like Akira. The studio’s describing the film as “Blade Runner meets City of God”, which sounds pretty freaking outstanding. Hopefully it won’t disappoint.

BTW, check out cartoonist Harry Partridge’s hilarious spoof of the mistakes an American Akira might make: