Akira Concept Art Reminds Us What Could Have Been

The live-action adaptation of Katsuhio Otomo’s legendary anime Akira has been an ongoing battle for Warner Bros for years now. Long rumored to be in development since the early 2000’s, Akira won’t likely see the light of day anytime soon, but recently some of the would-be movie’s production and concept art has surfaced, giving us a glimpse of what could have been.

One of the directors that was attached to the project, Ruairi Robinson, director of the cult horror hit Blinky, shared some of the designs for Chris Evans’ Kaneda, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Tetsuo’s American analog “Travis”, as well as Kaneda’s trademark motorcycle and what Neo-Manhattan would look like.

Looking through the images, it’s hard to imagine it being such an Americanized story. The Ghost In The Shell live-action adaptation has already drawn a large amount of criticism just from one movie still alone, and I would imagine something like this would draw similar ire. Still though, much like the Lord of the Rings and Watchmen before it, Akira has long been considered “unfilmable” movies, but time will only tell if we ever get something anything closer than just concept art.

(Via Bloody-Disgusting)