Katsuhiro Otomo alone has made this year’s anime expo one of the biggest in recent memory. First, unveiling the news that his legendary Anime/manga franchise of Akira would be continuing with a new anime, and then by diving deeper into his upcoming new film, Orbital Era. While little is known about the plot of the film or when we can expect it to come out, Otomo has released a brief teaser trailer that gives us a somewhat mysterious look into the world that is created in this galactic environment.
Videos by ComicBook.com
As mentioned in our previouse write-up regarding the project, the character pictured in the promotional materials clearly has an affinity for skateboarding as well as a helmet that has the letters “CCCP” printed on the front. Whether this will be from the perspective of a character for an alternate reality where the Soviet Union still stands is yet to be seen but this does offer some further clues to audiences. The movie itself will be distributed thanks in part to Sunrise Inc. and Bandai Namco.
Orbital Era will be the third movie to come from the creative mind of Katsuhiro Otomo, with Steamboy and Akira being the two previous entries from the anime legend. Otomo, when asked about the project, was very vague about any details regarding the story but did say this:
“The reality found in mankind’s future will be depicted through their perspective.”
Much like Akira and Steamboy, the film will present a brand new setting for Otomo to work with and re-imagine the current environment of humanity. While Akira dove into a cyber-punk setting in humanity future, Steamboy traveled to the past to present a steam-punk scenario. Whether or not Orbital Era will take place in the past, present, or future is yet to be seen.
Another major announcement that Otomo unleashed upon fans this week was the plan to continue Akira in an anime format as well as release the original film in a 4K, Blu-Ray special edition. Not to be outdone, Funimation also announced that they’ll be releasing a replica of the jacket that one of the main protagonists, Kaneda, wears during the film. Clearly, now is a fantastic time to be both a fan of the Akira franchise as well as Katsuhiro Otomo himself.
What did you think of this first teaser trailer from anime legend Katsuhiro Otomo? What do you think this movie will be about when it is ultimately released? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and/or fictional time lines that see historical events go down in a different way!
