The Japanese Film Festival Ireland returns for 2026 with a fantastic 3-film line-up at Garter Lane. Tue 28 April – Kokuho, Wed 29 April – The Curse and Thurs 30 April – Akira.
Akira アキラ, Katsuhiro Otomo’s cyberpunk classic, makes its welcome return to the big screen.
JFF is delighted to present this special screening of audience favourite, Akira, as part of this year’s festival. In a dystopian neo-Tokyo, Kaneda and Tetsuo are members of a vigilante biker gang. When his best friend Tetsuo is captured by the authorities after an accident, they discover he has powerful telekinetic abilities. As Tetsuo struggles with his newfound abilities, he uncovers the dark secrets of Akira – the subject of previous catastrophic experiments by the government. As Tetsuo’s newfound powers spiral out of control, Kaneda must save his best friend to prevent a new cataclysm.
A landmark in anime and grown-up animation, Akira has lost none of its power and spectacle in the nearly 40 years since its original release. JFF is delighted to present this special screenings of this audience favourite as part of this year’s festival.
Based on the graphic novel “AKIRA” by Katsuhiro Otomo. First published by “Young Magazine”, Kodansha Ltd. ©1988 MASH・ROOM/ AKIRA COMMITTEE All Rights Reserved
Win Free Tickets Haiku Film Review Competition on Insta/FB. Closes Fri 10 April.
Language: Japanese (English subtitles)
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Otomo Voice Cast: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tessho Genda
