Kanye West says his “biggest creative inspiration” is Akira
He says Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 film “is so relevant to the state of the world.”
Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira is a classic of both anime and manga, and Kanye West tweeted out his appreciation for the 1988 film on Monday. "This movie is my biggest creative inspiration" West tweeted along with a photograph of Otomo holding some Yeezys in front of a poster containing panels from the iconic comic.
In subsequent tweets, Kanye insisted that the influence of Akira can be felt throughout his work. "Every stage show I’ve ever worked on, Every video, not just Stronger, every product, even when I was in the hospital, I would think… oh shit this is like Akira." The video for the Graduation single "Stronger" is an homage to the film.
"This is not only the greatest animation achievement in history," Kanye said, "the subject matter is so relevant to the current state of the world." Akira is the story of psychic teenager Tetsuo doing battle with former friend Kaneda in the futuristic city of Neo-Tokyo. Watch a trailer here (p.s., the soundtrack is pretty amazing too).
Kanye's tweets are the perfect opportunity to revisit his previous, since-deleted Akira tweet: "No way Spirited Away is better than Akira... NOOO WAAAY... sorry was just looking at a youtube of top 10 anime films."
