The wheels are “a-turnin” on the upcoming live action adaptation of Akira from the creative mind behind What We Do In The Shadows and Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi. Warner Bros has recently posted a need for several actors for the project, “Box 28” which clearly fall under the same criteria as the main cast and ancillary characters to be found from the Akira franchise. While a live adaptation of the legendary anime property has been tried numerous times in the past, its clear that WB’s most recent attempt is going to have the best chance of making the long sought after adaptation into a reality.
Backstage.com has posted nine different roles for varying characters, all of which seem to point toward this being the “casting call” for the upcoming Akira live action film.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The roles include that of Jun, “the leader of a street gang of teenagers & knows how to have a good time”, Koichi, “Constantly forced to punch up in order to survive. He’s fearless to the point of recklessness. He is haunted by the loss of a loved one.”, and Reina, “Gentle, kind, cute, compassionate. She is a member of a biker gang & cares deeply for Koichi.” These roles clearly fit under the criteria for character descriptions of Kaneda, Tetsuo, and Kaori from the anime, respectively.
Along with this trio that make for the bigger roles in the legendary franchise, additional descriptions in the casting call clearly are pointed toward including Akira mainstays such as Kei, Takashi, Kiyoko, and Masaru. The latter three being the psychic children that find themselves attempting to both assist and ultimately stop Tetsuo once he is given his god-like psychic abilities.
Taika Waititi has been on record saying that he didn’t want to “whitewash” the film and wanted to bring the characters to life with their original ethnicities from the anime film and manga line. Certainly, these descriptions for the possible characters of Akira line up with that statement. The eccentric director, and Warner Bros Studio, is looking to release the film on May 21st, 2021 and this news is certainly showing that they’ll make that deadline.
Originally created by Katsuhiro Otomo for Kodansha’s Young Magazine in 1982, Akira later inspired the equally as prolific 1988 animated film, which Otomo himself directed. The story is set in a dystopian world following the bleak close of World War III. A gang leader known as Kaneda finds himself embroiled in a massive government operation when his best friend begins exhibiting powerful telekinetic gifts. To save his friend, Kaneda must get to the bottom of Neo Tokyo’s espers, but the lead quickly learns he is way in over his head.
