Studio Akira is a Japanese film and anime studio, now acquired and owned by a Japanese branch of the Pearler film corporation, Kadishen Films in 2013. Studio Akira is mostly known for its anime series, such as F.M.R (Horror), Halt! (Fantasy), Dark Love (Hentai) and X Onee-Chan (Slice of Life).
History[]
Studio Akira was founded by Asahi Shirakawa in Osaka, Japan in March 18, 1981 as Osaka Animation.
Shirakawa had seen Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli as a rival and wanted to outdo him, to make his films surpass Nausicaa. So he and his team get to work on ''Evil Dead'', a dark magical girl anime film inspired by the Vietnam War with a much larger budget and guest by USA and Europe's best directors and animators on his side that eventually gets released on 1985. He changed the name of the studio to "Studio Akira". Up until the mid 1980s, Studio Akira mainly relied on cel for the animation, occasionally with Scanimate accompanied, with the studio working 18 hours a day animating the anime. It takes nine weeks to produce an episode of the anime. From the late 1980s, Studio Akiea began using their proprietary UNIX-based XANIFS systems, that are heavily-modified Silicon Graphics machines catered specifically for the Japanese animators.
While on his work on the arcade-quality computer VX18, Shirakawa was assassinated by his former colleague Hiro Tsukihime, who would later serve death penalty three weeks later. The reason why he murdered Shirakawa was a power stuggle, over who gets to take the anime studio to a direction they wanted to. The new CEO was Taro Yamagata who would later be responsible for the anime studio's more experimental titles. VX18, based on Motorola 68000 and 1801-compatible CPU, was released in 1988 in Japan to compete with NEC PC-98, Sharp X68000, Fujistsu FM Towns and MSX2. It had the best graphics possible, sporting 16.7 million colours and both YM2151 and YM2610B, as well as SID chip from the Commodore 64 and with a multitasking operating system HX, albeit an expensive one. A lot of arcade titles such as ''Evil Dead: Continuation'', ''Thunder Hill (a mecha vertical scrolling shooter), ''Tokyo Builder'' (isometric city building game) and others, were commissioned by Studio Akira, done by various doujin soft programmers. Several eroge and nukige games would also be ported from the PC-98, X68000, MSX and FM Towns to the VX18.
In 1990, inspired by the success of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit", the little-known animator Shizuoka was brainstorming with his freelance artists to what should they do with the success of the aforementioned movie. Eventually, he collaborated with Madask Films, a German experimental film company to create the most bizarre piece ever, that was a hybrid of anime and live-action. That film, loosely taking the cues from a 1992 film ''Cool World'', would later be culminated into a hentai live-action hybrid movie bearing the name ''Crossworld'' in 1994, using a special trick that superimpose anime characters into the live-action one. Immediately, it sparked a massive controversy. Numerous countries banned the film, several more criticised it, animation geeks in United States were left scratching their heads, bewildered at the very idea of "pornographic live-action anime hybrid". It was groundbreaking in a sense to push the boundaries of the anime medium, but it was criticised for the explicit sexual content, that was even pornographic.
List of anime produced by Studio Akira[]
Heavy Metal (1981; Horror)
Dr. Gloop (1982; Children's; in collaboration with Hanna-Barbera)
The Mystery Children 2000 (1982; Children's; in collaboration with Hanna-Barbera)
Under The Rule (1983; anime adaption on Ivan Vazov's Pod Igoto)
Zeus (1983)
Thriller (1983; based on Michael Jackson's Thriller; in collaboration with Michael himself)
1984 (1984; an anime adaptation of George Orwell's 1984)
Bay Ganyo (1984; an anime adaption of Bulgarian writer Aleko Konstantinov's Bay Ganyo)
Angel Of Steel (1985; Mecha, Yuri)
Grunge and Hair Metal (1991; Slice Of Life)
Bear Brawl (1992; Action)
The Thing (1993; Horror)
I Am Me (1993; Magical Girl)
Ultima VI (1993; based on a video game)
Ayumi-Chan Monogatari (1994; Hentai, based on the VN by AliceSoft)
September (1999; based on Geo Milev's work)
Dexter Laboratory X (2005; Children's; under licence from Cartoon Network)
How To Draw Manga (2003-2012; anime adaptation of Graphic-sha's series of instruction books; ecchi)
NamaTama (2007; Hentai)
Strike Of The Beast (2008; Guro, Horror)
Mongols (2009; based on the Mongol Empire)
Mr. Bean The Anime (2010; in collerbation wirh Tiger Animations)
Dad's Relations (2010-present; Sitcom; an anime/manga counterpart of shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Bob's Burgers, etc.)
World Idol Project (2011-present; Idol, Yuri, Music)
Yugoslavia's Death (2012; about the Yugoslav Wars)
Forever Wars (2012; War, Action)
Attraction Incidents (2013; Horror, Hentai)
Washington (2013; History; about the American Revolution)
Female Don Quixote In The Hamlet World (2013; History; Comedy; Ecchi)
Helvete, Black Metal! (2014; based on 1992 Norwegian Black Metal arsons, female characters are named after famous black metal members like Dead, Euronymous, Varg, etc.; POV Hentai)
Zeus Is A Female (2014; Isekai; Horror; Mythology)
Colourful Girls (2014; Slice Of Life)
Break The Damn Fourth Wall! (2014; POV, Harem)
Half-Life: The Anime (2014; in collaboration with Valve; Survival; Horror)
TC Teasy (2014; Slapstick; brother and sister in a Tom And Jerry-fashion situation, Children's anime)
Imitation Love (2015; Hentai)
Autobiography Of Monica Rial: Animeized (2016)
Heil, Welt! (2016; Nazi Victory; Alternative History; Hentai; Horror)
Martin Adam Friedman: Thrash Metal Warrior (2017; based on ex-Megadeth guitarist)
DC Anime (2017; in collaboration with DC Studios and Warner Bros.)
Pavitra Rishta (2017; based on an Indian soap opera)
AV Stars (2018; Hentai, fictionalised versions of JAV Idols)
Lurking Darkness (2018; Action, Gore)
Different Styles (2018; Slice Of Life)
Tyrannosaurus Rex (2019; remake of 1989 horror movie; Horror; Hentai; Guro)
What, You Love Us?! Well, We All Hate You! (2020; Harem)
Sakura Gamer (2020; Hentai)
Doki Doki Literature Club: The Animation (2020; in collaboration with Team Salvato; Harem, POV Horror)
Thunderlite (2020; Isekai, Harem and Action)
Formula One: The Anime (2021; Racing; in collaboration with FIA)
Five Nights At Freddy's: Reencumbered (2021; based on the video game, Horror)
Chikan Kyoushi (2021; Hentai)
Tokyo 2020 (2021; promoting the Tokyo 2020 Olyimpics)
A Little Private Time With Mami Miura (2022; POV Hentai; Animated Doujishi of Kyochuu Rettou character)
Huniepop: The Animation (2022; Hentai)
Katawa Shoujo: The Animation (2022; Harem; Ecchi)
Sonic.exe (2022; Horror; Hentai)
Metallica: 1983 (2023; Slice Of Life, Music, Hardcore Ecchi)
Momo Asakura (2023; Slice Of Life; based on seiyuu)
Sydsnap Beauty (2023; Hentai; based on anituber Sydsnap and VTuber Projekt Melody)
Nudist Life (2023; Ecchi, Slice Of Life, Comedy, Yuri)
Hitler Is Back (2023; Isekai, War, Horror, Action)
Kiki And Lulu (2023; Children's)
Lewd Idol Project (2023; Idol, Music, Hentai)
Needy Streamer Overload (2023; Horror, based on the game)
Ero-Thrash Metal (2023; Hentai, Music)
With Madask Films
Crossworld (1994; Live-Action Hybrid; Hentai)
NYW (1999; Live-Action Hybrid; Hentai)
Seaven Sea (2013; Live-Action Hybrid; Hentai)
Crossworld Remake (2019; Live-Action Hybrid; Hentai)
Webshorts
OS-Tan (2010)
Megatokyo (2012-present; based on the webcomic)
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (2015; official Metallica music video; animated by Studio Akira; Horror, Guro, Action)
Earth-Chan (2018; Short, Comedy)
Education To... Death! (2019; an anime remake of 1941 Disney WW2 anti-Nazi cartoon with Disney's collaboration; ecchi elements were added)
Console-Tan (2020)
Euro 2020: The Animation (2021)
OS-Tan X (2022)
Kayli Mills: VA Problems (2023; Ecchi)
Hey, Pixiv-Tan! (2023; Hentai)