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Brandon Prior
Professor Speed-Schwartz
DGMA
30 November 2018
Katsuhiro Otomo: Dystopian Mastermind
Katsuhiro Otomo is best known for his Manga Akira, getting its own adaptation directed
by him to a film that saw its western release in December of 1989, soon approaching its 29th
anniversary this year. The film has a dystopian art style that was unseen at the time, and became
a major inspiration for many anime and manga artists. It also caused a complete upheavel on
what the public (especially the western public) viewed anime as, changing it from cheaply made
Japanese cartoons to sex-driven violent mature films. A lot of different parts of the film
contributed towards this, whether it’s the gritty, somewhat grounded character designs, or the
background design and worldbuilding that we see throughout the film, and these factors are often
seen throughout all of Otomo’s work.
Looking at another one of Otomo’s films, Steamboy, we can see the same strong
worldbuilding from Akira in this film. Both stories involve a world with fighting and strife, but
while Akira is set in a modern society with advanced technology, Steamboy is set in a very
steampunk setting, where the advanced technology is based on a more 1800’s era. The
backgrounds and set pieces for each scene are also thought out and crafted. If a battle is taking
place we get wider shots with clear views of all the war machines and soldiers, while more
personal encounters usually take place in tighter looking quarters. Scenes with a lot of characters
give breathing room for each of them, not letting the screen get too messy and cluttered, while
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scenes with only a few characters on screen will let them take up more space and give them finer
details. Take for example this shot here from Steamboy:
This shot is simultaneously showing the carnage on screen and filling empty space with rubble
while also giving the woman a lot of space for her walk forward. This is just one of many great
shot compositions in Otomo’s work. By taking the extra time to think of how this scene should
look, he managed to fit 6 bodies on screen, while of course still giving the woman walking room
to move.
Katsuhiro’s next strongest trait and the trait which will be the most helpful for my project
is his character designs and how they convey who the character is. For instance, from the film
Memories:
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This man’s design says a lot about his character just at a glance. We see he’s wearing
very formal attire, large glasses and a thin build. We can tell that this man is not a fighter and is
more likely the person helping behind a screen, as he is here. In contrast to this character we
have this character from the same film:
This character, who has a much more built body, and his attire is more action based, dimly
colored, and bulky. We see he’s holding a weapon of some form in his hand, and also has some
sort of object in his right ear, assumedly an earpiece for communications. With a single frame
from the film only, we can figure out a large amount of information for each character inside.
Effective character design and designing a character based on their personality are two things I
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strive to accomplish, and Katsuhiro Otomo manages to design his characters efficiently in each
of his films.
These traits and features are not absent from Otomo’s masterpiece film Akira either. The
city of Tokyo featured in the film feels simultaneously like an unrealistic utopia as it does a real
place you can visit, especially when looking at large establishing shots of the city.
This Neo-Tokyo featured in the film has been recreated and been the source of inspiration for
many other futuristic settings in all media. Most of these recreations don’t hide their source of
inspiration:
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(Neotokyo, Timesplitters 2)
(Neo-Tokyo, Akira)
The neon lights, colorful signs and concrete urban vibe is seen in most Otomo inspired films.
Another feature of Akira that has inspired other films is the character designs. Tetsuo Shima is a
shining example of how to show a character’s development through their design and how it
changes from the start of a film to the end.
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Closer to the beginning of the film when Tetsuo is first taken he has short hair, and his
expression is never usually extreme unless under pressure. His clothes remain bland and simple,
showing how his lack of the knowledge of his powers means he doesn’t see how important he
truly is. His demeanor starts annoyed and angry, confused as to why he’s being held hostage and
only wanting to escape. After his powers start to develop, we slowly see this side of Tetsuo
slipping further and further away from us, as he becomes more powerful and begins his insane
hunt for whoever Akira is.
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After Tetsuo continues to develop his powers and build his strength, he becomes more manic and
irrational, his hair sticking up on the back of his head rather than being settled and smooth like it
was at the start of the film. His facial expressions whenever he’s talking or screaming in pain and
anger have increased in severity. He now wears a red robe as a cape, signifying his belief in his
deity-level strength and knowledge, and as he takes more injuries to his arm and it becomes more
and more mechanical, it shows the loss of his human side. Tetsuo is just one example of strong
character design and character development from Katsuhiro Otomo’s films.
Katsuhiro Otomo is the artist I chose as inspiration for my animation because his skills in
character design and character development especially struck out to me as a trait I want to learn
and master for potentially my own series one day. There are lots of things from the films that I
will directly reference for my final project (such as the children in Akira) which I didn’t cover
here, but that just shows how amazing of an artist and an animator Katsuhiro Otomo is.
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Works Cited
Otomo, Katsuhiro. “Katsuhiro Otomo On Creating 'Akira' And Designing The Coolest Bike In
All Of Manga And Anime” Interview by Ollie Barder. Forbes, May 2017. URL:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2017/05/26/katsuhiro-otomo-on-creating-akira-
and-designing-the-coolest-bike-in-all-of-manga-and-anime/#37a64a7a6d25
Otomo, Katsuhiro. “Katsuhiro Otomo” Interview by Kuriko Sato. Midnight Eye, December
2006. URL: http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/katsuhiro-otomo/