Well, would you look at that? io9 recently unearthed some unused concept art from Warner Brothers' doomed live-action remake of Akira.
Not sure what iteration of the project this comes from -- there have been several attempts over the years -- but this batch does reveal the look of a non-Japanese Kaneda. That's something I didn't want to see, even in illustrated form.
Let's hope this project remains dead. To see more images of what "Neo-Manhattan" might have looked like, go here.