AWAKEN AKIRA

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AWAKEN AKIRA

Awaken Akira was created by two friends, Ash Thorp and Zaoeyo (XiaoLin Zeng), who wanted to collaborate on a tribute to the iconic anime, Akira, by Katsuhiro Otomo. It’s creation took over a year, as we had to coordinate our time on it with other project commitments. We hope you find it was well worth the wait and truly enjoy our efforts.

We would like to thank Pilotpriest for the masterful score, as well as Raf Grassetti and The Joelsons for their help on the project. We would also like to give our most sincere thank you to Otomo-san and all the men and women who helped bring Akira to life. Akira has and will always be a timeless and continual muse for all of us.

For the complete experience, please visit awakenakira.com

FILM STILLS

The project started from a simple place of admiration for Akira. Mike and I grew up being influenced by it and as we evolve as artists ourselves we felt it was time to pay homage in an art-form we are familiar with which is cgi. - ASH THORP

Mike and I both have very busy lives outside of our normal freelance client work demands. We spent every free moment we had on Awaken Akira.

- ASH THORP

We had to be very cautious of not breaking the rules of the world and playing within its creative boundaries yet elevating the art form. I feel that Mike and I were able to pay homage yet give it a new voice by translating the art form to CGI. - ASH THORP

IN DEPTHS

Our goal with Awaken Akira was to learn and grow and to pay homage to a piece of our childhood that was very special to us. We also wanted to document the journey and share what we learned with you all.

FLUID DESIGN

Instead of trying a cgi route we decided to use in camera effects to symbolize the metamorphosis of Tetsuo.

LOST SHOTS

Through the year long process of creating Awaken Akira we ended up loosing a few shots in the process. Here are few that didnt make it and a look at some that eventually got developed further and made it in.