Kaneda and his sweet bike will blaze through your collection (assuming that you're rich)

5:30 PM on 11.08.2009   |   Jason Millward

The now-classic anime Akira was the first I have ever seen. I've watched it many times in the past 15 years, and I've got to say, I still don't quite know everything that's going on in it. What I do know is that it's gorgeous, it has an amazing score, and that I want Kaneda's bike (also that Leonardo, the ninja turtle, voiced-acted Kaneda in the first dubbed version). While that bike is now available to own (as is Kaneda himself in a 1/6 scale form), I'm still no closer to ordering it. Why? Too gosh-darn expensive.

We first caught wind of these figures back in July, where they were seen at the Tokyo Toy Fair. Four months down the line and they're now available for pre-order. Poking around, I've found that the best deal on the web for Kaneda is at Alter Ego Comics, where they're knocking 10% off of the $200 price tag. They aren't currently listing the bike, but I wouldn't recommend picking it up anywhere but from Sideshow Collectibles anyway as they have an exclusive version that comes with the company decals. Why such an essential piece to the bike's look is an exclusive to one distributer boggles my mind, as it looks like a different bike without them. I'm not going to worry about it too much though, as I'll never justify dropping $420 on such a thing. Yikes!