Akira (manga)

On December 6, 1982,[lower-alpha 1] an apparent nuclear explosion destroys Tokyo and starts World War III. By 2019,[lower-alpha 2] a new city called Neo-Tokyo has been built on artificial islands in Tokyo Bay. Although Neo-Tokyo is set to host the XXXII Olympic Games, the city is gripped by anti-government terrorism and gang violence. While exploring the ruins of old Tokyo, Tetsuo Shima, a member of the bōsōzoku gang led by Shōtarō Kaneda, is accidentally injured when his bike crashes after Takashi — a child Esper with wizened features — blocks his path. This incident awakens psychic powers in Tetsuo, attracting the attention of a secret government project directed by JSDF Colonel Shikishima. These increasing powers unhinge Tetsuo's mind, exacerbating his inferiority complex about Kaneda and leading him to assume leadership of the rival Clown Gang through violence.

Meanwhile, Kaneda becomes involved with Kei, a member of a terrorist organization that stage attacks against the government. The terrorists, led by Ryusaku and opposition Diet leader Nezu, get wind of the Colonel's project and a mysterious figure connected with it known as "Akira". They hope to use this leaked information and try to restrict Kaneda's movements because of his involvement with their activities. However, when Tetsuo and the Clowns begin a violent citywide turf war, Kaneda instigates a counter-attack that unites all of Neo-Tokyo's biker gangs against Tetsuo. While the Clown Gang is easily defeated, Tetsuo's psionic powers make him virtually invincible. Tetsuo kills Yamagata, Kaneda's second-in-command, and astonishingly survives after being shot by Kaneda. The Colonel arrives with the powerful drugs needed to suppress Tetsuo's violent headaches, extending Tetsuo an offer to join the project.

After their confrontation with the JSDF, Kaneda, Kei, and Tetsuo are taken into military custody and held in a highly secure skyscraper in Neo-Tokyo. Kei soon escapes after becoming possessed as a medium by another Esper, Kiyoko. Kei/Kiyoko briefly does battle with Tetsuo and frees Kaneda. After rapidly healing from his wounds, Tetsuo inquires about Akira, and forces Doctor Onishi, a project scientist, to take him to the other espers: Takashi, Kiyoko, and Masaru. There, a violent confrontation unfolds between Tetsuo, Kaneda, Kei, and the Espers. The Doctor decides to try to let Tetsuo harness Akira — the project's test subject that destroyed Tokyo — despite Tetsuo's disturbed personality. Upon learning that Akira is being stored in a cryogenic chamber beneath Neo-Tokyo's new Olympic Stadium, Tetsuo escapes the skyscraper with the intent of releasing Akira.

The following day, Tetsuo enters the secret military base at the Olympic site, killing many soldiers. The Colonel comes to the base and tries to talk Tetsuo out of his plan; Kaneda and Kei enter the base through the sewers and witness the unfolding situation. Tetsuo breaks open the underground cryogenic chamber and frees Akira, who turns out to be an ordinary-looking little boy. The terror of seeing Akira causes one of the Colonel's men to declare a state of emergency that causes massive panic in Neo-Tokyo. The Colonel himself tries to use SOL, a laser satellite, to kill Tetsuo and Akira, but only succeeds in severing Tetsuo's arm.

Tetsuo disappears in the subsequent explosion, and Kaneda and Kei come across Akira outside of the base. Vaguely aware of who he is, they take him back into Neo-Tokyo. Both the Colonel's soldiers and the followers of an Esper named Lady Miyako begin scouring Neo-Tokyo in search for him. Kaneda, Kei, and a third terrorist, Chiyoko, attempt to find refuge with Akira on Nezu's yacht. However, Nezu betrays them and kidnaps Akira for his use, attempting to have them killed. They survive the attempt and manage to snatch Akira from Nezu's mansion. The Colonel, desperate to find Akira and fed up with the government's tepid response to the crisis, mounts a coup d'état and puts the city under martial law. The Colonel's men join Lady Miyako's acolytes and Nezu's private army in chasing Kaneda, Kei, Chiyoko, and Akira through the city.

The pursuit ends at a canal, with Kaneda's group surrounded by the Colonel's troops. As Akira is being taken into the Colonel's custody, Nezu attempts to shoot Akira rather than have him be put into government hands; he is immediately fired upon and killed by the Colonel's men. However, Nezu's shot misses Akira and hits Takashi in the head, killing him instantly. The trauma of Takashi's death causes Akira to trigger a second psychic explosion that destroys Neo-Tokyo. Kei, Ryu, Chiyoko, the Colonel, and the other two Espers survive the catastrophe; Kaneda, however, disappears as he is surrounded by the blast. After the city's destruction, Tetsuo reappears and meets Akira.

Some time later, an American reconnaissance team led by Lieutenant George Yamada covertly arrives in the ruined Neo-Tokyo. Yamada learns that the city has been divided into two factions: the cult of Lady Miyako, which provides food and medicine for the destitute refugees, and the Great Tokyo Empire, a group of zealots led by Tetsuo with Akira as a figurehead, both worshiped as deities for performing "miracles". The Empire constantly harasses Lady Miyako's group and kills any intruders with Tetsuo's psychic shock troops. Kiyoko and Masaru become targets for the Empire's fanatical soldiers: Kei, Chiyoko, the Colonel, and Kai, a former member of Kaneda's gang, ally themselves with Lady Miyako to protect them.

Yamada eventually becomes affiliated with Ryu, and updates him on how the world has reacted to the events in Neo-Tokyo; they later learn that an American naval fleet lingers nearby. Tetsuo becomes heavily dependent on government-issued pills to quell his headaches. Seeking answers, he visits Lady Miyako at her temple and is given a comprehensive history of the government project that unleashed Akira. Miyako advises Tetsuo to quit the pills to become more powerful; Tetsuo begins a withdrawal. Meanwhile, Tetsuo's aide, the Captain, stages an unsuccessful Empire assault on Miyako's temple. After the Colonel uses SOL to attack the Empire's army, a mysterious event opens a rift in the sky dumping massive debris from Akira's second explosion, as well as Kaneda.

Kaneda is reunited with Kei and joins Kai and Joker, the former Clown leader, in planning an assault on the Great Tokyo Empire. Meanwhile, an international team of scientists meets up on an American aircraft carrier to study the recent psychic events in Neo-Tokyo, forming Project Juvenile A. Ryu has a falling out with Yamada after learning that he plans to use biological weapons to assassinate Tetsuo and Akira; Yamada later meets up with his arriving commando team. Akira and Tetsuo hold a rally at the Olympic Stadium to demonstrate their powers to the Empire, which culminates with Tetsuo tearing a massive hole in the Moon's surface and encircling it with a ring of the debris.

Following the rally, Tetsuo's power begins to contort his physical body, causing it to absorb surrounding objects; he later learns that his abuse of his powers has caused them to expand beyond the confines of his body, giving him the ability to transmute inert matter into flesh and integrate it into his physical form. Tetsuo makes a series of visits on board the aircraft carrier to attack the scientists and do battle with American fighter jets. Eventually, Tetsuo takes over the ship and launches a nuclear weapon over the ocean. Kei—accepting the role of a medium controlled by Lady Miyako and the Espers—arrives and battles Tetsuo. Meanwhile, Kaneda, Kai, Joker, and their small army of bikers arrive at the Olympic Stadium to begin their all-out assault on the Great Tokyo Empire.

As Kaneda and the bikers launch their assault on the stadium, Tetsuo returns from his battle with Kei. As his powers continue to grow, Tetsuo's body begins involuntarily morphing, and his cybernetic arm is destroyed as his original arm regrows. He then faces Yamada's team, but absorbs their biological attacks and temporarily regains control of his powers. Tetsuo kills Yamada and the commandos; he also eludes the Colonel's attempts to kill him by guiding SOL with a laser designator. Kaneda confronts Tetsuo, and the two begin to fight; they are joined by Kei. However, the brawl is interrupted when the Americans try to carpet bomb Neo-Tokyo and destroy the city outright with their laser satellite, FLOYD. Tetsuo flies into space and brings down FLOYD, causing it to crash down upon the aircraft carrier, killing the fleet admiral and one of the scientists.

After the battle, Tetsuo tries to resurrect Kaori, a girl he loved who was killed in the battle. He succeeds to a small degree but is unable to maintain focus. He retreats to Akira's cryogenic chamber beneath the stadium, carrying her body. Kaneda and his friends appear to fight Tetsuo once more, but his powers transform him into a monstrous, amoeba-like mass resembling a fetus, absorbing everything near him. Tetsuo pulls the cryogenic chamber above-ground and drops it onto Lady Miyako's temple. Lady Miyako dies while defying Tetsuo, after guiding Kei into space to fire upon him with SOL. Kei's attack awakens Tetsuo's full powers, triggering a psychic reaction similar to Akira's. With the help of Kiyoko, Masaru, and the spirit of Takashi, Akira can cancel out Tetsuo's explosion with one of his own. They are also able to free Kaneda, who was trapped in Tetsuo's mass, and he witnesses the truth about the Espers' power as they, alongside Akira and Tetsuo, ascend to a higher plane of existence.

The United Nations sends forces to help the surviving parties of Neo-Tokyo. Kaneda and his friends confront them, declaring the city's sovereignty as the Great Tokyo Empire and warning them that Akira still lives. Kaneda and Kei meet up with the Colonel and part ways as friends. As Kaneda and Kei ride through Neo-Tokyo with their followers, they are joined by ghostly visions of Tetsuo and Yamagata. They also see the city shedding its ruined façade, returning to its former splendor.

Kodansha had been repeatedly asking Katsuhiro Otomo to write a series for their new manga magazine Young Magazine for some time, but he was busy with other work for another publisher and turned them down.[15] After finishing Kanojo no Omoide... (1980) and Farewell to Weapons (1981) for Young Magazine, he started thinking of a new project. From the first meeting with the publisher, Akira was to be a short work of about ten chapters "or something like that," so Otomo said he was "really not" expecting it to be a success.[15] Otomo had previously created Fireball (1979), a series in which he disregarded accepted manga art styles and established his interest in science fiction as a setting.[6] Fireball anticipated a number of plot elements of Akira, with its story of young freedom fighters trying to rescue one of the group's older brother who was being used by the government in psychic experiments, with the older brother eventually unleashing a destructive "fireball" of energy (the story may have drawn inspiration from the Alfred Bester's 1953 novel The Demolished Man).[16] Otomo used a science fiction setting again the following year in Domu, which won the Nihon SF Taisho Award and Seiun Award and became a bestseller.[6] He then began work on his most ambitious work to date, Akira.

Due to a lack of planning, Otomo had to hastily end Fireball without the finale he wanted and stated, "You could say that Akira was born from the frustration I had about that at the time."[14] Not wanting to repeat what happened with that manga, he had the basic plot of Akira outlined from the start in a two-page synopsis and predicted he would finish it in six months. However, just like what happened with Domu, new ideas and problems immediately came up and expanded the story gradually as he wrote.[14] Mitsuteru Yokoyama's manga series Tetsujin 28-go (1956–1966) had particular influence on Akira, as Otomo wanted to pay homage to the children's manga.[14] He explained, "the grand plot for Akira is about an ultimate weapon developed during wartime and found during a more peaceful era. So the accidents and story develop around that ultimate weapon. If you know, Tetsujin 28-go then this is the same overall plot."[15] With Akira, Otomo also wanted to depict the later Showa period, including preparations for the Olympics, the rapid economic growth, and the student protests of the 1960s. "I wanted to recreate the assorted elements that built this era and craft an exciting story that would seem believable enough in reality."[14] Otomo said that while there had been post-apocalyptic works before, he could not think of one that depicted an apocalypse in the middle of the story and wanted to do that with Akira.[17] Mark Schilling reported that Otomo has also cited influence from the 1977 live-action film Star Wars on his series.[18]

With Akira, Otomo wanted to "dig deeper into [his] issues" with speed and flow, telling a story with as few words as possible, "edit it to gain that sense of speed and make people read it faster, and at the same time make them stop cold at the important scenes."[14] When it started, he was drawing 20 pages a chapter, for a total of 40 pages a month. Otomo began the process for each chapter by fully completing the first page as practice. In order to save time, he did not bother with character-pose sketches or the like; he drew directly onto the page he was submitting to the editors. After he drew each page, his assistant inked the lines of the buildings and the rest of the backgrounds with a Rotring pen and a ruler. Otomo would complete the rough draft two days before his deadline. He would spend half a day drawing the characters, then finish the buildings by adding dust, crevices and cracks to windows. Otomo estimated that they would finish the final rough draft at 5 a.m. on Sunday, ink the characters by 7 p.m., and then submit the completed chapter at 8 a.m. Monday morning. When Otomo began production on the anime film adaptation of Akira, he said the manga had a weekly schedule of 20 pages a week. So he hired a second assistant to help, and occasionally brought in a third just to handle the screentone. "When the manga deadline drew near, we’d pull several all-nighters, then I’d walk right into the anime studio the day after."[14] Manga artist and film director Satoshi Kon was an uncredited assistant on the series.[19]

The image model for the character Akira was Shōryū from Saiyūki (1960). Otomo liked his sorrowful expression and used him as a reference after deciding to make Akira a child.[17] While editing his film Jiyū wo Warera ni, Otomo would often hear someone in the studio next door yell "Akira!", which he took to be the name of the assistant director. Because in the film industry the name "Akira" is often used to refer to Akira Kurosawa, Otomo "thought that gap" was funny and decided to use the name in his work one day.[17] The character names Tetsuo and Kaneda, and the Espers' codenames of Nos. 25–28, were taken from Tetsujin 28-go.[15][16][17] Kaneda's iconic motorcycle from the manga had no specific design. So Otomo said it came out "kind of random" and changed every time he drew it.[17] The character Chiyoko was originally designed to be an old man, but Otomo felt that was too ordinary and "a little boring" and came up with the idea for an old lady, which then became a large old lady. The character grew on him as he drew and she ended up with a greater role than he originally planned.[17]

Otomo posing on a replica of the futuristic motorcycle driven by Kaneda in Akira (2016)

The logo for the manga changed several times throughout its serialization, including switching between Japanese and English.[17] The first 35 chapters used katakana in the font Thick Textbook, chosen by Otomo for its ease of understanding and impact. After getting tired of this logo and having entered "Chapter 2" a few chapters previously, he used English in Broadway for chapter 36 because he wanted an Art Deco feel. However, Otomo did not like it when he saw the magazine and for chapters 37–48 he changed the font to a different Art Deco-style and wrote his name in English as "OHTOMO KATSUHIRO". Otomo was often drawing Art Deco-styled skyscrapers on the title pages at this time, but that stopped when Neo Tokyo is destroyed in the story, at which point the logo changed again and he removed the "H" from his surname. The fourth logo for Akira, used for chapters 49–71, returned to using katakana and was created by manga artist Hiroshi Hirata as Otomo wanted a Japanese calligraphy-style. Otomo's name was still written in English until chapter 55. Having come to the "final chapter" of the series, Otomo figured he should change the logo again and went with an English font similar to Impact for the title and his name for chapters 72–120. He had already been using Impact with the top "trimmed off", which gives a dignified and American comics feel, for the covers of the collected volumes.[17] However, some fans believe some of the fonts actually used do not match the above named typefaces.[20]

Otomo was meticulous in creating the collected tankōbon volumes of Akira, often leading to them being released late.[17] During serialization he faced not only schedule deadlines but also page limits and would have to cut stuff in order to fit said limit. He therefore would draw rough designs of what he actually "wanted" to draw in the margins of the chapters' manuscripts so that he would remember when time came to redraw the collected volume. He also had to make alterations in the collected volumes due to all the chapter title pages being removed, for example to make sure two-page spreads ended up on opposing pages. He wanted everything about the collected volumes, including the page count and paintings, to give a deep and full American comics feel. The covers are entirely in English, but he said this was not with an eye towards global distribution, he simply "had this incredible enthusiasm to just try to make something new." With its all-English cover, B5 size and painted page edges, the first volume of Akira caused a sensation in Japan.[17]

Otomo painted the cover illustration of the first volume very thick, while its inside cover illustration was influenced by Tetsuji Fukushima's manga Sabaku no Maō and how he used colors like American comics.[17] Because the first volume had a "hot" red cover, Otomo felt volume two should have a "cool" one. Its back cover image was created using video, and he said he ruined Kodansha's VCR by repeatedly changing the color balance to get it right. Following the American and European cover images of the previous two volumes, Otomo felt the third should have an Asian one and so included the signs in its background. Its back cover is a composite photograph taken during a race at the Tokyo Racecourse when an image of Akira was shown on the jumbotron. Because the first three images had followed a pattern of "action-silence-action," the artist figured volume four should continue it and so drew Akira sitting down for the cover. Its back cover features an original Akira pinball machine created by Taito with animation cels pasted onto it by Otomo. The cover of volume five was the first to feature an event actually related to the content inside the book. Its back cover features an Otomo-designed decorative bamboo rake that cost 2 million yen to make and features a custom made Miyako doll and mecha models. Otomo felt the sixth cover had to be cool because it was the final one, and as a result it went through the most number of rough designs as he had to really work to get Kaneda's line of sight towards the reader without it feeling forced. For the back cover photograph, a life-size kiosk featuring numerous Akira goods was constructed in Kodansha's studio with cooperation from Sudo Art Workshop and a stage manager from Nikkatsu. Construction, which included two fluorescent signs (cropped out of the final image) and handmade newspapers, and shooting took three days.[17]

Otomo and Kodansha's Yasumasa Shimizu visited New York City in 1983 to meet with Archie Goodwin of Marvel Comics, who had seen Akira and wanted to publish it in America.[25] Shimizu said that Kodansha had received offers from many other publishers, including the newly established Viz Media, but Otomo chose Goodwin because he was really close to French artists that Otomo was a fan of.[25] Otomo did not want Akira to be seen as some "strange thing from Japan," leading to a meticulous and now-"unimaginable" process of altering the art and coloring to make it accessible to American audiences.[25] Because Japanese manga is read right-to-left, the artwork had to be flipped to read the other way. But the process was not as simple as mirroring, backgrounds had to be redone in order to remove the Japanese sound effects and reshape the word balloons to fit the Roman alphabet.[17] So Otomo went in and made substantial retouches and adjustments that are specific to the American version.[25]

Japanese manga is largely in black and white, but it was decided to fully color the artwork in the English version of Akira to match most American and European comics. The coloring was done by Steve Oliff at Olyoptics, who was hand-picked for the role by Otomo after being introduced by Goodwin.[26] Otomo sent Oliff illustrations that he colored with markers as samples.[17] Oliff had also received slides from the anime film adaptation of Akira to use as reference. At one point, Otomo visited Oliff in Point Arena, California and worked alongside him for several days, but after the first 5 or 6 issues, Oliff said he was given free rein.[26] Oliff persuaded Marvel to use computer coloring. The coloring was more subtle than that seen before and far beyond the capabilities of Japanese technology of the time. It played an important part in Akira's success in Western markets, and revolutionized the way comics were colorized.[27] Coloring lasted from 1988 to 1994, being delayed by Otomo's work on Steamboy.[26] Akira was the first comic in the world to be colored digitally, using computers. Its release in color led to the widespread adoption of computer coloring in comics and Oliff's work on Akira earned him three consecutive Harvey Awards for Best Colorist (1990–1992) and the first Eisner Award for Best Coloring (1992).[26][28][29][30][31][32]

Akira began being published in the American comic book format in the United States in 1988 by Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics.[17] This colorized version ended its 38-issue run in 1995.[26] Delays in the English publication were caused by Otomo's retouching of artwork for the Japanese collected volumes. It was these collections that formed the basis for translation, rather than the initial magazine serialization. The Epic version suffered significant delays toward the end, requiring several years to publish the final 8 issues. Marvel planned to collect the colorized versions as a 13-volume paperback series, and teamed with Graphitti Designs to release six limited-edition hardcover volumes; however, these ceased in 1993, so the final 3 paperbacks and planned sixth hardcover volume were never published. British publisher Reed began releasing full color versions of the six Akira volumes in 1994.[17] A partially colorized version was serialized in British comic/magazine Manga Mania in the early to mid-'90s. A new edition of Akira was published in six paperback volumes from 2000 to 2002 by Dark Horse Comics in North America and Titan Books in the UK. This version is in black-and-white with a revised translation, although Otomo's painted color pages are used minimally at the start of each book as in the original Japanese volumes.[4][33] In 2003, Tokyopop published the anime comic version in North America.[34]

The English-language rights to Akira are currently held by Kodansha Comics, who re-released the manga from 2009 to 2011 through Random House. Kodansha's version is largely identical to the Dark Horse version.[35][36] In honor of the 35th anniversary of the manga, Kodansha released a box set in late October 2017, containing hardcover editions of all six volumes, as well as the Akira Club art book, and an exclusive patch featuring the iconic pill design. This release was presented in the original right-to-left format, with unaltered original art and Japanese sound effects with endnote translations.[37][38][39]

The first tankōbon volume, which was released on September 14, 1984, significantly exceeded sales expectations, with its print run increasing from an initial 30,000 copies up to nearly 300,000 copies within two weeks, becoming the number-one best-seller in Japan before eventually selling about 500,000 copies. By 1988, Akira had sold approximately 2 million copies in Japan, from four volumes averaging about 500,000 copies each.[60] The manga was published in the United States in 1988, followed by Spain in 1990, France and Italy by 1991, and then Germany, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Brazil. It was reported by Critique international that by 2000 Akira had sold 7 million copies worldwide, including 2 million in Japan and 5 million overseas.[61] As of 2005, Akira has been published in more than a dozen languages worldwide.[62] In 2020, the first volume of Akira became publisher Kodansha's first manga to receive a 100th printing.[63] At a price of ¥1,000 in Japan[40] and $24.95 overseas,[4] the manga tankōbon volumes grossed estimated revenues of ¥2 billion ($16 million)[64] in Japan and $125 million overseas, for an estimated total of $141 million grossed worldwide.

During its run, the seinen manga magazine where it was first serialized, Weekly Young Magazine, experienced an increase in its weekly circulation, from 1 million in 1986 to 1.5 million in 1990.[65] At an average manga magazine price of ¥180 at the time,[66] the 120 issues serializing Akira sold an estimated total of 120–180 million copies and grossed an estimated ¥22–32 billion ($170–250 million).[64]

Akira has won much recognition in the industry, including the 1984 Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga.[67] Fans in the United Kingdom voted it Favourite Comic at the 1990 Eagle Awards.[68] It won a Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material in 1993,[69] and was nominated for a Harvey for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work in 2002. In 2002, Akira won the Eisner Awards for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material and Best Archival Collection.[70] The 35th anniversary edition won Best Archival Collection again at the 2018 Eisner Awards, in addition to Best Publication Design.[71]

Akira is credited with having introduced both manga and anime to Western audiences.[23] According to Kodansha USA's Naho Yamada, "Akira ignited a new generation of dynamism not only in manga but also in European and American comics. Its impact shattered all borders."[72] The Essential Guide to World Comics states that the translation of the work into French in 1991 by Glénat "opened the floodgates to the Japanese invasion."[73] The imagery in Akira, together with that of Blade Runner, formed the blueprint for similar Japanese works of a dystopian nature of the late 1990s, such as Ghost in the Shell and Armitage III.[24] Yamada also said that "Otomo jacked into his generation's frustration with society, in the wake of the defeat of Japan's liberal student movement, and created an epic that, in true Japanese fashion, processed societal trauma through cataclysmic visual symbolism."[72] Writing for The Japan Times, Matt Schley said "For many readers, Akira was a revelation. Each panel features a head-spinning amount of detail, and Otomo, an avowed film buff, keeps things moving at a breathless, cinematic pace."[72] In her book The Fantastic in Japanese Literature, Susan J. Napier described the work as a "no holds barred enjoyment of fluidity and chaos".[74] Akira cemented Otomo's reputation and the success of the animated adaptation allowed him to concentrate on film rather than the manga form in which his career began.[6]

Katherine Dacey of MangaBookshelf called Akira one of manga's "greatest sci-fi epics" and was pleasantly surprised to find that it works better on the page than it does on the screen, explaining that the story demands the "more intimate" medium of print as it makes the chase and fight scenes "more urgent and surprising" and the city setting feels more claustrophobic in black and white.[75] She also noted how Tetsuo and Kaneda seem like real teenage boys in the manga, not generic action figures like in the film's "grossly" simplification of their relationship. Although stating that Akira's plot was still as topical as ever in the year 2009, Dacey felt that the art had not aged as gracefully; noting the backgrounds and weaponry as having the same "mixture of sterility and rust that was a hallmark" of the period's science fiction, and describing the characters' thick bodies and pudgy faces as just like the heroes in Tsukasa Hojo's manga. She did however praise Otomo's ability to "convey the 'geography' of the scene" and said he does such a good job of showing how the characters move through the space, that sound effects are almost superfluous.[75]

In his reviews of the first three volumes of Akira, Mark Pellegrini of AIPT Comics strongly praised Otomo's art, "It's simple, but very lively. Also gory, but the execution is inspired, meaning it doesn't just rely on the shock value of an exploding head" and called him a master at drawing architecture.[76][77] Pellegrini reviewed the series by making many comparisons to the animated film adaptation, calling the characterizations in the manga both "better and on par" with those in it.[76] He described Kaneda as a much rougher protagonist whose goals "aren't particularly altruistic, usually revolving around chasing tail, getting revenge or scoring meth; any humanitarian outcomes his actions may accrue are purely coincidental." He noted Tetsuo's characterization as rather much the same as the film's, but called Yamagata and Kai "the bigger victims", as Kai is not even named in volume one and Yamagata dies sooner.[76] Describing the last act of the film as a hasty climax where a lot happened but felt "so spontaneous and hollow that you either didn't follow most of it or didn't particularly care", Pellegrini wrote that all of that is in volume three of the manga "but it all has the sweet, merciful context needed to give it some resonating depth."[77] In particular, he was referring to Nezu, who is explained more succinctly and unintentionally causes a major event in manga, and Lady Miyako, who was a "non-character" in the movie but has a big role in the manga. However, Pellegrini also noted how Lady Miyako's trio of psychic kids die before readers can make any emotional connection to them and criticized Kaneda and Kei as simply doing the same thing they have been doing since the series began.[77]

Anime News Network had four writers review Kodansha USA's 35th Anniversary box set of Akira. Austin Price and Lynzee Loveridge both gave it a perfect 5 out of 5 rating, with the former beginning his review with "It's difficult to overstate how fantastic a work Akira is" as Otomo's visions of a post-war Tokyo have practically become synonymous with cyberpunk.[78] Loveridge wrote that "Akira is as much a lushly drawn sci-fi action tale as it is a commentary on the ingrained fear of nuclear destruction, the burying of a country's painful secrets to save face internationally, and a widening gap of values between the older and next generation." She wrote that it still feels incredibly relevant 35 years later and that everyone should read Akira.[78] Giving it a three ½ star rating, Amy McNulty praised Otomo's art and wrote that with psychic powers, government conspiracies, and street thug motorcycle gangs, the stakes are high and the first volume "does a decent job of setting up the conflict and framing it" from Kaneda's viewpoint. However, she called the characterizations weak as the friendship between Kaneda and Tetsuo was not established before they are suddenly archenemies and the rest of the characters and relationships seem muted because of the aforementioned high stakes going on around them. McNulty finished by writing that Akira "does little to appeal to those who aren't interested in sci-fi, paranormal, or dystopian tales, but manga fans owe it to themselves to at least check it out."[78] Rebecca Silverman gave the series a rating of three out of five, writing that "While this may have been groundbreaking in the early 1980s, and it's still a compelling story today, a lot of the shock value has worn off" because we have now grown used to seeing similar dystopias and tales of authoritarian grimness in manga. She also wrote that the gritty 1980s art looks a little dated, but works so well with the story that it is easy to overlook it and finished by calling Akira a must-read for anyone interested in manga.[78]