Hollywood struggles with live-action anime adaptations, but the Akira adaptation is particularly challenging. Taika Waititi's upcoming project, Klara and the Sun, can offer a glimpse of what his Akira movie would look like. Akira's 22-year-long journey in development hell showcases the difficulties of bringing it to life.

Taika Waititis next movie will see the director tackle a dystopian world, making it the perfect replacement for his live-action Akira film that has been in development for several years now. Hollywoods live-action anime adaptations do not have a great track, with only a couple of movies and TV shows living up to their respective source materials. One Piece season 1 recently proved that there can be faithful adaptations that bring something new but respect the original story, which is essential for an Akira movie to work. However, adapting the iconic Japanese movie into a Hollywood feature is very difficult.

Katsuhiro Otomo wrote...