#akira bike project

[matus1976]

From inspiration to real life! Building a full size fully functional high performance recumbent motorcycle designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the platform's potential Aesthetically inspired by Kaneda's ride from "Akira" Building jigs and fixtures along the way for volume production, in kit or complete form, supporting multiple engine platforms Follow the prototype build at youtube.com/matus1976 subscribe and share! thanks!

[late-draft]

Hello! I just saw your posts about the Last Air Keyholder AU and—dear Agni!

Listen, this is beautiful. This is awestriking. This is *chef kiss*. I've always loved the initial sci-fi designs for ATLA, so it's incredible that someone's using them as a base/inspiration for an AU.

Also—your unapologetic, deliberate use of tropes? This is something extremely rare to see in narrative (tropes being intentionally used as a device) and I can't wait to see what shape they take here. Count me in!

I love this AU so far and have so many questions!

What is the vibe for the Fire Nation here? The vibe for the cities, the architecture, the worldbuilding, the culture—things like that. From the brief description we got, some parts of your world reminded me of Neo Tokyo from Akira, but maybe that's not what you're going for.

According to your previous sketch (and my inner romantic); is ZK going to happen in this AU? How do you see a possible relationship between them developing here?

Are you planning on adapting major canon plot points moving forward?

I have, like I said earlier, a lot of questions about this! But I don't want to smother you so this is all I'll ask for now. Can't wait to see what you show us next.

Have a nice day!

Hello! Thank you!! Yess a good usage of tropes is like running into a song you love that you heard many times, and still you crank the volume up! The fandom is like 20 years old, is it possible that not much stuff has been made for the sci-fi idea?

You're absolutely right, I gotta lean onto the king of megacities Neo Tokyo from Akira, but I wouldn't have the aesthetic be completely identical to it. There's mystical aspects in this AU too, and here's my initial attempt to throw together a fast vertical slice.

Light conditions are really important in a setting and in this AU I'd have a lot of the runtime happening during dawn or sunset. There's an aura of orange light floating in but very rarely direct sun rays due to the high buildings. There should however, be lots of traffic lights of all kinds. I'm already immersed in quite a few projects that feature megacities, but each one has a different flavour and I'd be overjoyed if I manage to correctly convey each one. In this ATLA AU, there's no specific time period from IRL that would be used as a reference. All nations are grouped and mixed similar to Republic City from LoK, but this AU is noticeably way more sci-fi than the 1920s LoK. There's a large focus on all kinds of transportation and roads/railways that accompany them. Highrise buildings are specifically Fire Nation in design and ownership (usually). Lower levels have a mix of everything but they do use leftover materials and mostly cement and metal. Ground and below ground levels are brick and a maze of pipes, through which strange disused cables snake. Sometimes they tangle in great masses…

I'm certain important characters from canon will appear, but I'm definitely not gonna follow the canon plotline strictly. Stuff like "Well there was a village being attacked by Hei Bai, so this AU has to have a village being attacked by Hei Bai…" nothing like that. I'm taking way more freedom in this AU to ensure that characters go through specific things that would be very useful to them and which allow the natural usage of respectively fitting tropes. But I'm not treating this AU as exclusively mine and nobody else's, so anyone can give suggestions! (please give suggestions!!)

Katara and Zuko first meet "racing on the opposite sides" of Aang. From starting out as Katara on her bike assisting the Avatar during chases while the banished prince is attempting to capture him, they sort of move into situations where they race each other. Zuko figures out that Katara is a major reason why all of his attempts thus far failed so he tries to change strategies and trip up Katara in whatever non-harmful way he can imagine. He's convinced, he must demonstrate, that her speed on a bike is not unreachable to him on his rollerblades. And if he shows off a couple of tricks along the way, so be it. :)

More stuff coming up

[deltastra]

My Thoughts on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Trailer

ITS HERE. AFTER NUMEROUS RUMOURED RELEASE DATES, THE TRAILER IS FINALLY HERE. GUYS I DREAMT THIS TRAILER LIKE 4 TIMES THESE PAST 6 MONTHS I WAS GOING INSANE. SPOILERS FOR THE TRAILER BELOW!!

THE DETAIL?! I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I JUST KNOW THE SHADOW ESCAPE SCENE IS GOING TO BE FIRE.

Ok so I love how compared to Sonic's soft-looking quills which looks more like fur, Shadow's quills look more spiky and rough. It's so clear that they are parallels that even their designs beautifully contrast.

"Shadow's story began a lot like yours Sonic. But where you found family and friends, Shadow found only pain and loss"

This gives me hope that they will actually adapt Project Shadow in its truest form. Especially seeing the G.U.N agents point their guns at Shadow and Gerald Robotnik who appear to be grieving. While I don't expect them to show Maria's death, I hope they at least imply it. (I feel bad for the actress but a lot of fans will cheer for her character's death because it shows that the writers care about following the source material lol)

Okay so one thing that is different is that instead of Sonic being framed and hunted by the government, he is instead asked for assistance to track down Shadow. Makes sense for their universe given the first two movies. However, I do hope Team Heroes end up betraying the authorities and let Shadow escape.

WE ARE GOING TO GET A NIGHT CITYSCAPE FIGHT I LOVE THESE TYPES OF FIGHTS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

ALSO KEANU REEVES SOUNDS GREAT AS SHADOW!!

AND THE TELEPORTATION? I LOVE IT! Looks like they won't portray it as "Chaos Control" but it's fine I guess!

THAT RUNNING ANIMATION ACTUALLY LOOKS MORE MENACING THAN THE GAMES WHAT THE HECK?! THAT'S SO WELL DONE!

THE FIGHTS DEFINITELY IMPROVED BASED ON THE FEW SCENES WE GOT!

Okay so this is giving me hope that they won't make Team Sonic work with the authorities. Looking at their faces, it gives me the impression that they took away their dad (possibly he is the one being framed?)

Well Jim Carrey did ask for the fat suit! Looks like he's going full Eggman now!

Bro they're doing this on purpose at this point. Man I love Agent Stone so much.

OKAY SO I KNEW THAT HE WILL HAVE A MOTORBIKE CAUSE OF WHAT PEOPLE SAID THEY SAW AT THAT CON WHERE THEY PLAYED THE TEASER BUT MAAAAAAN.

HE RLLY PULLED UP ON SONIC WITH A BIKE.

OH MAN THAT DETAIL

AKIRA REFERENCE OF COURSE THEY HAD TO!!!!!

OH HE LOOKS SO COOL IM GOING TO EXPLODE.

THIS. This is why I love night cityscape battles. They look so beautiful.

WAIT SO GERALD IS ALIVE IN THIS UNIVERSE...INTERESTING. I love how the actor matches Jim Carrey's Eggman!

OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL GUYS, GOD THIS TRAILER WAS LIKE 5% OF WHAT I SAW IN MY DREAMS SO IM HAPPY.

Jokes aside, perfect. I love this trailer so much and it was worth the hype. I'm so excited to watch this movie despite the few minor events that they changed in order to properly incorporate this story into the movie universe.

I doubt Amy or Rouge will appear but that's fine. Maybe for a post-credit scene I think.

Shadow is definitely the star of the show here. The detail on his quills, his voice, and his behaviour is all so good. I'm sure they'll give Shadow's character justice. I'm assuming Project Shadow will be the prologue in the movie before the title card drops but thats just me predicting stuff!

AAAAAAAAAAAAH IM SO EXCITED GUYS HEHEHEHE

[animeisforanimation]

Scavengers Reign: a story that alludes but never references

Beware!

minor spoilers for “scavengers reign” (2023)

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR “NOPE” (2022)

* * *

“Scavengers reign” is an amazing show and there are many reasons to love it. But the main one for me is the idea of natural balance being built on what we, humans, perceive as cruelty.

This feeling is perfectly captured in a poem by Richard Siken:

“Can we love nature for what it really is: predatory?”

I came across this line thanks to “Nope”, another story about alien animals being “monsters”, but also just… staying animals. Merciless, but not cruel. Antagonistic, hungry, scary, but not evil.

And then I started thinking and it came to me that there’s a lot in common between the stories. That there may even be a reference?

So, there’s a creature in “Scavengers”, a flying predator that opens up and looks like a giant Monstera leaf. Doesn’t it look kinda familiar?

Am I projecting? Just looking for similarities between two works of art I adore?

Or am I?

At the end of the day, this half-devoured creature is as close to a horse as anything we ever see on Vesta.

* * *

Here we come back to the beginning, to the title of this post. Scavengers is an original work and though there are plenty of things it’s definitely inspired by (Möbius art style being the most obvious one) it never pushes it in your face, never goes all the way.

Like, the way Azi drives made me wait for “Akira slide”… which never came. And it was a right choice, I think. This story is it’s own from beginning to end and it doesn’t let itself walk into the slippery slope of formalized references.

(This being said, references do NOT in any case diminish a work’s value if used in a proper context, a feat that a true post/metamodern director that is Jordan Peele truly pulled off).

So, let’s finish this post with this 100% accidental, but funny and cool as hell parallel: amazing ladies on bikes defeating creatures~

[sonicknockout]

I'm still alive and making stuff, just got caught up in different projects. But here's some doodling of Whisper as Akira from Rival Schools. She's a bike mechanic and the only non-jailed member of the Diamond Cutters gang.

[joeys-piano]

Fic Author Self-Rec

Tagged by @voxofthevoid to share 5 of my favorite fics I've written. This might be a trip down memory lane for some of you who've been here for a while, and it might be a crazy experience for the rest.

Soft tagging: @feu-eau, @thechaoscryptid, @shiguangism, @heymacareyna, @bowties-are-cool3000, and any of you!

I can't think of a more OG story that had my heart, and my soul, and my sanity stitched inside it. This was a pure character study for one of my favorite characters, Oda Sakunosuke. He's a handyman. He's a gunman. He raises orphans as an orphan himself. He knows love like a favorite meal, but is still surprised he can indulge in it. I just wanted to write a single evening from his life and write how cherished he is even if he doesn't know it.

If he could trade every summer for a bowl of this, he'd never complain again and would savor the moment.

Remember the love stories about the Suez Canal and the Evergiven? I don't write much about trending topics but this was something I wanted to get my hands on. It was refreshing and very freeing getting to bottle this up like a time capsule.

He looked at him the way every ship wanted to be looked at when they docked — for who they were, not what they bore — and that made all the difference.

The most poignant memory I have of writing this is being in Vietnam at my grandfather's house and there is a wild rooster roaming the grounds by the banana trees. And well, given the circumstances, it was a good chance for me to flex my poetry muscles and have something cozy to sink into. I love how playful the writing this. I love how it reflects what I think love is, in the same way I think it's love when I cuddle my squishes in the morning and can't bring myself to leave them in the morning.

It’s no mistake that he’s as part of you as the Middle Ages, that to hold him is like you’re slipping into a bout of familiar Englisc. Which is about as timeless as the stars when you kiss him in a language that’s never not-enough and as part of him as a promise.

It's not a love story, but it's written like one. No one dies, but someone died. There were two brothers in this story; there are two strangers aimed to kill. This is a religious-esque story with a prophet and a martyr, and at the same time this a story about misconceptions disguised as faith. I very rarely write stories that don't feature romance, if you judge based on my body on work. So this one sticks out a lot to me and really gives you the full spread of my dynamic as a writer I feel. I often think romance is what holds me back in my writing, so getting to not do that here and just writing what interested me felt good.

This could swallow, eat him alive, when he tells himself that the hardest part of being human wasn’t hate, or disgust, or the anger, or the insistence to rid another. But to love, and have the patience, and be the kindest you could be when the world — when your brother — struck the anvil of your knees.

I wrote an Akira slide reference I'm still proud of. And I get to write about food, one of my favorite joys.

Lu Guang edges them to the road. He brakes to the side, sliding westward across a storm drain and the open maw of every pothole in existence, burning rubber across the metres. Pushing his whole weight to stop the bike, he digs his right sole into the earth. And almost topples—because of physics, because of mass times acceleration, because of the pressure inside his leg—threatening to fall apart once they stop.

[shoujoboy-restart]

The "Akira Bike Slide Effect" in animation is so sad, and no, I don't mean the act referencing the iconic bike slide literally.

I mean this idea of wanting a "cool shot" or couple frames of animation above an entire concise and concistent project with many amazing moments of animation where one or two of them capture audiences attention, metaphorically putting 350$ out of a 1000$ budget into one single disposable thing gambling it will grab enough attention to pay itself back.

Bizarrely smooth frames of erratic movement, overly flow-y hair, particle effects out of no where, realistic shading and compositing...that goes no where, with no intention besides the character action being show with excessive details that will not be repeated during the rest of the running time left, just a flash with no sound.

[renzokuarc]

"I love monochrome women"

C is 100% being drawn with a jet ski. She might even have to Akira bike slide on it, idk yet.

Title is a quote from one of my friends who helped out with this project, they will have colours in full illustrations

def could do more but like, at what cost? I'm not a character designer lmao. I draw SOMETIMES (pay me and I'll draw anytime tho pls I'm begging combinations in biome)

actually there IS more, they're just not summer so they're pushed back, one of them is planned to be a future Era where she's the manager of the ember monarchs, I'm so exited to work on it

...

just remembered that I was meant to put an amazonian moonflower on A's hat, it's so renzover

[symphonic-scream]

Oh some more stuff for the queer au that has yet to gain a name!

The Quad apartment is large, like penthouse type shit. Ann pays for it for all of them, she's still. Very rich. She and Shiho share one room, Ryuji and Yusuke each have their own, and then. There's the closet room. It's a room that's just, a collective closet for everyone (mostly Ann) and where she takes her friends for makeovers

Hifumi ends up living with Makoto and Haru for a few years actually. She tries to offer to move out when they have their son but honestly, she's become family, and they ask her to stay, if only to help cover the shop while Haru recovers

After 2 years, Sae Niijima even offers their last name to Hifumi. A "third sister", Makoto claims when they go through with it

Ryuji and Makoto work out together! They're gym buddies! Runs every other morning, gym on the others- it happened once as Ryuji trying to find a way to bond with "Akira's new friend" and it caught on. Makoto runs every morning with Johanna anyways, but she finds it to be much more fun with Ryuji

Yusuke always invites the whole group when he gets a painting in a gallery or something like that. Ann gets everyone dressed up, and it's a whole thing. They then hit up crossroads, where most get drunker than they should, with everyone crashing at the nearest place

Haru always smells like fresh bread and coffee, and she wakes up at dawn to get started on the bakery side of her business. She's crawling back into bed just as Makoto's leaving for a nap, and wakes up just after the lunch rush to work until close. Then she and Makoto have dinner with Hifumi, head to bed, and it all starts again. She's hired a few college students and even two high schoolers, though she promotes one of her workers to manager when she has her son

Grease monkey Makoto! She does her own repairs to her motorcycle, does all the upkeep, all that. She has a pair of coveralls she wears that are stained from oil, but she's been working on her bike since she graduated high school, it's her passion project

Yusuke has a little cactus he's had since he began transitioning! It was his mother's favourite plant, and he hopes to keep it alive with him as long as possible

Futaba's room is like. Half of it is monitors, her gamer chair, light up keyboards and mousepads with some busty anime woman on them (Futaba is asexual in this! She just. The irony is amusing to her). Then she has her mattress on the ground, with bookshelves filled with manga and figures

On a different note- ahem. Yes I am team Ryuji ADHD, but also- ADHD Makoto. Inattentive presenting, really. She found out after graduating, working as an assistant to a counselor and stuff, and. Listening to him talk to one of his patients made it click for her

"Baby I think I, might have what Ryuji has"

"oh, yes. Are you only finding out now? I'm sorry but you two talk in code when you're together"

I have many thoughts and feelings about this au but most importantly it needs a name, please help me out I can't think of one

[ampersandthewiz]

So @captainbrookeworm has me beta read their Ninjago fanfics by reading them aloud while they proofread. I haven’t seen most of Ninjago. Here are a few highlights from their most recent chapter, which you can read here: https://www.tumblr.com/captainbrookeworm/713592451560046592/shores-of-restless-souls-chapter-3

(I’m A, they’re B)

Originally they had "Myth Busters" instead of mythcrackers which prompted this exchange:

A: Oh is that like the fake one they use in-universe?

B: Huh? No, that's actual Myth Busters.

A: Myth[SPACE]Busters? It's just one word smooshed together.

B: Is it??? (Checks Google) OH.

(Discussion about how it wouldn’t be called MythBusters if the Lego Ninjago writers were making it)

B: How about Legendcrackers then?

A: Nono, just go with Mythcrackers. With the official Mythcrackers™️ Myth Crackers available in your local supermarket.

———

A: *reading Morro's lines*

B: You always make Morro's voice so whiny.

A: Yeah isn't he an angsty teen? Tbh i havent heard what he sounds like.

B: Ok hang on. *puts phone up to computer mic* (Morro is there. Barely.)

A: Can't you just DM me the clip like a normal person???

B: But spoilers :(

A: I'VE ALREADY READ THE SPOILER FIC

(The Morro clips play)

A: There's no clips of him like talking normally, he's so extra.

B: Yeah <3

I then proceeded to try and mimick the Morro Voice I heard and immediately they were like "absolutely not, go back"

———

A: "Instead of slowing down, she turned the bike so it slid through the dust as she slammed on the brakes" IS THIS YOU WRITING OUT THE ACTION OF THE 'AKIRA' BIKE SLIDE

B: IT’S COOL AS HELL SUE ME

———

A: (Finding a voice for Pixal) Headcanon voice: That one tiktok TTS voice

B: nO

[biketalkla]

0:29 on.soundcloud.com/xwxnT Money Talks: Truck sideguards are proven to save lives; the League of American Bicyclists' Deputy Executive Director Caron Whitaker tells cohost Taylor Nichols how the USDOT chose the trucking industry over lives.

10:33 on.soundcloud.com/Le7gy Advocacy Roots: A recent Bike Talk forum covered the past, present, and future of Bike Advocacy in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Ecovillage. Ecovillagers began the Bike Kitchen, LA County Bike Coalition (now BikeLA), and CicLAvia. This clip features Executive Director of LA Walks and candidate for California Assembly, John Yi; the ED of BikeLA, Eli Akira Kaufman; the founder of the Bicycle Kitchen, Jimmy Lizama; and Biking Attorney Josh Cohen.

28:02 on.soundcloud.com/B41qT Getting There: A New York City project asked people who use bikes and other small wheeled devices what they use them for and how infrastructure affects their motivations and needs. The project also recruited over three dozen volunteers to ride every block of every designated bike lane on the official New York City Bike Map to better understand the issues riders face when navigating the existing infrastructure. Streetopia Upper West Side blogger Carl Mahaney reports back to cohosts Taylor and Lindsay. www.gettingthere.city

46:31 on.soundcloud.com/muN8h Charging ahead: Qualifying applicants to the California Air Resources Board (CARB)e-bike incentives pilot program will get a voucher of up to $1,000 for a regular e-bike and up to $1,750 for a cargo or adaptive e-bike. The California Bicycle Coalition is advocating for additional funding so the program can continue past this year’s pilot. Calbike Policy Director Jared Sanchez tells cohost Don Ward all about it.

Editing by Taylor Nichols, Kevin Burton and Mitchell Bove. Closing Song, "Bike," by Mal Webb. Interstitial music, "Just Moving," by Don Ward. Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.

[matus1976]

I'm building a real life Akira Bike - a full size fully functional high performance recumbent motorcycle designed from the ground up to full advantage of the platform's potential, inspired by Kaneda's ride. Building jigs and molds along the way for volume production and will support multiple power platforms. Check out the prototype build at youtube.com/matus1976

[mrdacat]

How did I end up in a Ninja seeking club?

Chapter 1: My New Peaceful, Ordinary Life,

“HELP!” A girl's voice screamed from behind me… man talk about timing. As I turn around to see the source of the screaming. A girl on a Bicycle is racing toward me and a beautiful girl with short blonde hair on top of it.

“Akari, what are you doing!” yelled a pretty girl with raven hair who was standing next to me. If someone doesn't do something, she is going to hurt herself.

I rushed forward towards the oncoming Bicycle, side stepping the bike at the same time I grabbed Akira and pulled her off the bike, but lost my balance and slipped as we fell. I put my hands on Akari's shoulder and waist making sure she landed on me and for a second everything went black.

work I've been doing to take a break from the mind numbing editing of my novella, if this interested you, the rest is in the link below

[shanaraharlyah]

Born to Be Wild

"Get your motor runnin' Head out on the highway Lookin' for adventure And whatever comes our way" ~Mars Bonfire, Steppenwolf --- This was the next project I was working on which required me to make Bulma.  When I found the post apocalyptic outfit for G3F in my runtime, it reminded me of Toriyama's picture of Bulma with the dirt bike and I knew I had to do something with it.  It took some trial and error to decide how to pose them, but I like this one. I actually got the initial idea when I realized I could have called Yamcha’s Yamaki, Born to be Wild. XD Setup and Rendered in DAZ Studio 4.12 Public Build Beta.  Postwork in Photoshop Elements 8.0 Yamcha, Bulma and Dragonball Copyright Akira Toriyama

Bigger Here 

[incorrectsdkquotes]

Youtuber AU (warning: some spoilers)

(requested by @ladyofthelake13)

AU in which all (or most) of our favorite characters make a living as famous/semi-famous Youtubers/vloggers.

Yuya is a True Crime vlogger a la Buzzfeed Unsolved. Each week she researches old crimes and cold cases, adding in her own thoughts on the case and her thoughts on who really committed them. She started out the channel first as an extra credit project when she was still in pre-law but grew so popular that she started creating videos full time. She earns most of her money through merchandizing rights and by creating her own brand. Every now and then she delves into supernatural-type videos with her adopted sister Sakuya as co-host. Her adopted brother Nozomu helps out behind the scenes with editing videos and doing some camera work. One of the more popular aspects of her channel is when she brings her friends, other popular Youtubers, in as guests. There are even shipping wars among her followers on who she has the most chemistry with.

Benitora is a travel vlogger who travels all around the country trying out different local and specialized food/snacks, showing off various features in the geography and chatting with friendly locals. His prestigious family only allows his ‘frivolities’ under the excuse that he’s going out and building goodwill with the populace he will eventually be in charge of. Tora’s father is the leader of the country, something that Tora himself tries to keep quiet about. To finance his travels, other than the Patreon page he set up, Tora made a deal with his father Ieyasu: he can keep up a steady and consistent view count Tora can keep making his videos. As soon as viewership drops below a certain amount, he has to stop and resume his training to take over leadership. So far he’s been able to keep up his end of the bargain, but the looming future ahead of him is something that he’s never quite able to forget.

Okuni is a beauty vlogger who has inside access to some of the newest products about to hit the market. She regularly reviews the new and upcoming products, shares tutorials for both beginners and those who’ve been using makeup for a while on how to apply the perfect foundation, get expert wingtips, and how to match their particular color pallet for their skin tone. Okuni will bring in her friends, both women and men, to give them makeovers as well as to have them compete in different makeup challenges. So far, the most popular video on her channel is from when she let Hotaru and Shinrei give each other makeovers.

Yukimura’s channel comes across as half family drama and shenanigans and half prank channel. Saizo is largely his go-to camera man, but other members of his family take turns as well, lending to some...interesting footage that almost always ends up in the videos released to the public. Every now and then Yukimura will drop his own political takes into conversation, only to immediately start talking about something else as a distraction. There are rumors that he’s going to be running for public office as a bid to overthrow the current political power. There are also others who discount this theory stating that Yukimura’s not serious enough for the role and actually doesn’t have any interest in politics beyond his ‘hot takes.’ It’s goofy, fun-loving Yukimura, there’s no way. Yukimura himself loves to obfuscate this even further by going on regular shopping trips where he shows off the newest gifts he’s planning to get for his family...usually specifically for whoever’s holding the camera at the time, leading to a lot of back and forth with the cameraperson on exactly why they deserve these gifts in the first place.

Sasuke’s channel is largely an unboxing channel for various toys and other gadgets, usually ones he gets from Yukimura. He’ll also review the items based on how engaging or mentally stimulating he finds them. When Sasuke isn’t reviewing items he’s usually filming himself out in the woods exploring with his childhood friend Kotaro. The two friends run a side vlog documenting skateboarding, biking, and rollerblading tricks and stunts or hiking and camping trips they go on together. A popular series of videos the two friends have that has boosted their viewership considerably involves them showing off various sword stunts and tricks. Every now and then Benitora sneaks his way onto Sasuke’s channel, sharing travel tips and stories. Despite Sasuke repeatedly mentioning how annoying he finds the older man, viewers can’t help but notice that Tora’s never actually cut out of any videos he appears in. Every now and then Sasuke will post gaming videos that he plays with Kotaro and occasionally Tora; despite several requests, he insists he’s not a gaming channel.

Bontenmaru’s channel is almost exclusively dedicated to bodybuilding and workout techniques. Usually these videos include him trying to get his friends involved in working out or acting as their personal trainer. Some of his friends are more receptive to this than others. Whenever a new workout ‘challenge’ comes out, Bon will immediately make a video about it, either criticizing the challenge or pointing out the different ways that the challenge helps develop certain muscle groups. When he’s not making workout and bodybuilding videos, Bon can be found filming drunk hangouts with his friends. There’s a small subsection of his videos dedicated to reviewing workout clothes while trying to promote his own personal brand or workout clothing and accessories.

Akira’s videos are full of DIY tips and tricks as well as testing to see if other DIY videos hold up. More often than not the DIY videos he reviews are hilariously wrong, something he goes out of his way to prove and mock. When he’s not reviewing DIYs, he’s posting Let’s Plays to his channel. Akira is also a popular Twitch streamer, usually co-opting his friends into playing either Team Death Matches or pvps together. He likes to consider himself a cool and collected gamer, which admittedly he is to a degree. Whenever he has to be on the same team as certain ‘friends’ of his, though (Benitora, Hotaru and Akari, namely) he tends to lose his cool. If his friends annoy him too much, though, he’ll just bring them on as guests to try out the end results of his DIY videos.

Hotaru’s channel is about as chaotic and disfunctional as the man himself. His videos are almost completely unedited, excepting for a few special effects for when his brother appears on screen. He tends to get stuck with the label of ‘Travel Vlogger’ flor lack of a better description for his videos, which usually document the various places he finds himself whenever he gets lost. It’s become an in-joke and even a betting pool among his followers on where he’ll end up next with his videos. If he’s not out getting lost, he’s posting videos about random things that he’ll find interesting--various stray cats, an interesting bug he found, or even a few attempted prank videos on his brother Shinrei. For those who don’t get enough humor out of his videos, Hotaru’s twitter account is open and well documented, usually with various out of context posts or sporadic updates on where he is. He is well recognized on the Internet, if by name only, as a living cryptid.

Akari is well known as an influencer, posting her own beauty tips and tricks, local restaurant reviews, and even some humorous videos of her friends doing silly, stupid, and humiliating videos as a result of some kind of blackmail that she has on them. Every now and then her videos turn educational when she offers medical advice on how to treat certain wounds and injuries, usually because one of her dumb friends has that specific injury that she demonstrates with. Akari also has certain Opinions on a certain pharmaceutical company that she absolutely in no way has any connections with. She certainly never worked there at one point, and you can’t prove that she ever did.

Kyoshiro’s mostly known for his editing skills, being the go-to editor for his girlfriend’s sister Yuya’s channel. He has a few tutorials on how to edit videos together, though there are a few videos that are light skits that he does with his girlfriend Sakuya. He did a series at one point that was part tea-review and part gushing about Sakuya. He tries to stay out of the spotlight for the most part, but he’s not opposed to appearing on Yuya’s channel as a guest host...as long as Kyo’s not also guest hosting at the same time. He has a unique relationship with Kyo, where sometimes they appear to be best friends and in other videos as mortal enemies. No one’s quite sure what the relationship is between them, though there have been a few rumors floating around that the two are siblings. These rumors have yet to be acknowledged either way, however.

Kyo’s channel isn’t actually run by him. Every video that appears on his channel is something that one of his friends made and then uploaded for him. These videos usually take the form of boasting Kyo’s skills (usually made by Akira or Akari) or as group hangouts with his friend group. There are a few that were made by Yuya that are typically along the lines of “look what this guy did now” that are pretty popular and technically give Kyo the title of ‘influencer.’ Kyo is also known on the Internet as a type of cryptid, though not to the levels of Hotaru. Instead, he’s known as the kind of person you want to emulate, who men either hate or want to be like and who several women wish to date. There’s some speculation that Kyo may already be in a relationship with someone (typically Yuya, though she refuses to say anything about the subject). There’s some talk that there may be open warrants out for his arrest, but so far nothing about his alleged crimes or the man’s whereabouts has come to light.

[spogwam]

Akira

Akira’s cultural impact is immeasurable, creating the cyberpunk genre and single-handedly projecting anime into western culture for the first time. Watching it today, it is clear the extent of its influence on western cinema since its release in 1988.

Akira takes place in 2019 and follows Shotaro Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima, biker gang members at war with other gangs and the police. When a secret government project grants Tetsuo powers beyond anyone's control, he begins a rampage to destroy neo-tokyo.

This film is at once an extended set piece and deeply meaningful: it has an ambiguous storyline and all-encompassing metaphors, giving it much room for interpretation that encourages at least one rewatch. It's explosive spectacle makes it unique as an action anime film and therefore more accessible to western audiences.

Akira is famous for its use of physical neon lights throughout the animation process: an achievement made more impressive by the fact that the animators were working with around 24 lights in every frame of the film. This innovative technique brings an otherwise grimy neo-tokyo to life, adding depth to its meticulously drawn landscapes and demonstrating capitalism’s hold on this dystopian future.

Akira’s masterful sound design greatly heightens the experience: the screaming of the motorcycles racing through the cityscape and its booming soundtrack grabs your attention from the start and refuses to let go.

In October of this year, Akira was remastered in 4K due to it's growing cult status; its red motorcycle has since become an iconic symbol with thousands of replica bikes being sold every year. 

I would recommend this cult classic to anyone yet to delve into the  world of anime film. Akira is an important piece of film history that is often overlooked and lays the groundwork for countless cyberpunk stories to follow.