The popular anime film Akira released way back in 1988, and it continues to inspire incredible fan art focusing on the film's universe as well as blending it with other franchises. One Akira fan has created an incredible work of art by combining it with FromSoftware's upcoming release, Elden Ring.Twitter user Katlego recently shared their fan art that blends the worlds of Akira and Elden Ring together by drawing inspiration from the box art of the classic anime movie. In place of Akira protagonist Kaneda, and his futuristic motorcycle is Elden Ring's main character The Tarnished, and their trusty steed. Just like the primary Akira poster, this fan art also includes blood-red Japanese text over the game's English title.Unlike Kaneda's red leather attire with the recognizable blue pill emblazoned on it, Katlego's Tarnished is mostly clad in gray and black armor with red being more of a secondary color. Carrying a sword and buckler, Katlego may be hinting that their Elden Ring Tarnished will follow the Warrior path as opposed to the other classes in Elden Ring. Players will also be able to choose to play as a Bloody Wolf, Champion, Enchanted Knight, or Prophet, with each offering their own abilities, starting equipment, and more.
The horse in Elden Ring is called Torrent and players will have to locate theirs in the early game location called Limgrave. Katlego's version of Torrent appears very similar to the in-game mount, with a red saddle and red satchels hanging off the side. Torrent will be an important aspect of Elden Ring as just as it is in Katlego's fan art as FromSoftware has created a large map to accommodate for the faster traversal option.
Swapping the vibrant environments of Elden Ring for a minimalist approach, Katlego has surrounded their Tarnished and Torrent with a similar background to the Akira image. Because of the popularity of their combination of Akira and the new FromSoftware game, the artist intends to create prints for fans to hang on their walls.
Akira was released with great success, but the film continues to see attention today as Warner Bros. is currently working on a live-action adaptation of the anime movie. It's currently unclear when the live-action Akira will see the light of day, but fans like Katlego continue to celebrate the legacy of the anime in the meantime. Just as Akira raised the standard for anime movies in the past, Elden Ring carries more potential than previous FromSoftware titles due to a higher polish that includes George R. R. Martin as one of the writers.
Elden Ring releases for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 25.