Cinema Atlas Connection

Director Joel Crawford cited Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988) for its kinetic visual language—neon cityscapes, explosive action, characters moving through space with almost impossible velocity. He also drew from Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the pacing of standoffs, the stretched tension before violence. The result is an animated film that pulses with the energy of cyberpunk manga and Italian Westerns.