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When Japanese cartoonist/animator Katsuhiro Otomo won the Grand Prix at this year’s Angoulême comics fest, he became the first manga artist to win the prize—the win followed several years of controversy regarding the festival’s failure to recognize more international cartoonists. And unlike the 2014 winner Bill Watterson, who was at the event in spirit only, […]

Hell hath no fury like a fanboy spurned, but that usually doesn’t occur until after the film in question has been released to theaters. Tired of having their expectations dashed by disappointing news of the long anticipated live-action "Akira" adaptation, fans completed their own live version of a trailer for the popular manga-turned-anime, one that attempts to “do 'Akira' justice” by following the source material as closely as possible.

Next Friday, April 18th, Katsuhiro Otomo's "Short Peace" will make its U.S. theatrical debut.

A Doraemon/Akira mashup for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

Short Peace is the name of Akira director Katsuhiro Otomo’s new omnibus feature comprised of four different shorts. It appears that Otomo’s Combustible, which qualified for Oscar consideration last year as a stand-alone short, will be part of the package.

Halcyon Realms points out the other directors who are involved in the project:

The four directors are Otomo himself, Morita Shuhei (Kakurenbo, Freedom Project), Hiroaki Ando (co-director of Tekkon Kinkreet) and Hajime Katoki (mecha designer for Gundam, Super Robot Wars, Virtua On, Patlabor and tons of other stuff.) Koji Morimoto has also been credited on the official page as the director of the film’s opening sequence.

The film’s website states that the film will premiere in Japan on July 20, 2013.

Anime and manga superstar Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Steamboy) will be appearing in person at the PLATFORM International Animation Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 27th at 9:30pm – and I’m happy to announce I will be moderating a Q & A session with him at the event. Festival director Irene Kotlarz will be presenting him with a Lifetime Achievement Award and we will also be screening his new short, Combustible. Please read the complete press release about this event, here.

Otomo’s appearance is his first public one in the U.S. since 1990. Or at least since the last time I’ve seen him. Here are some vintage snapshots (below) of Otomo and I appearing at screenings of AKIRA at New York’s Film Forum (bottom) – and at an Asifa meeting at the New School (top) in 1990. It’ll be fun to see him again. Akira has gone on to become a classic example of science fiction and a game-changing work of anime – inspiring many modern day Hollywood filmmakers such as Sam Raimi, Chris Nolan and the Wachowski siblings.

The PLATFORM International Animation Festival is a three-day event taking place in Los Angeles on October 26th-28th, 2012. In addition to the Otomo appearance and screening, there will be a retrospective of films by stop motion pioneer Ladsislaw Starewicz, A Best of Annecy shorts program, A special screening from PES, a presentation on the making of Disney’s new short Paperman and a CalArts student film retrospective. If you are in L.A. I urge you not miss this event. Seriously – buy tickets NOW.

Click the thumbnails below to see images from Otomo’s new short, Combustible: