Akira: How Katsuhiro Otomo Directed His Own Manga’s Anime Adaptation
Akira needs no introduction. As one of the most popular anime and manga series ever made and one of the biggest influences for the cyberpunk subgenre of science-fiction, the 1982 manga and 1988 anime film are staples of not only Japanese media, but popular culture in general.
With a new anime series for the franchise in development by Otomo as well as an upcoming live-action film from Taika Waititi, it’s worth a look to see how a cult-classic mangaka also pivoted to becoming a legend of anime film.
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Akira’s director Katsuhiro Otomo harbored an appreciation for manga at an early age. Growing up in Miyagi Prefecture in the rural Tohoku Region of northern Japan, manga books provided a major source of entertainment to break up the monotonies of small-town boyhood. Likewise, the two manga he’s since reminisced as particularly formative during this period, Osamu Tezuka’s legendary Astro Boy and Tetsujin 28-Go, would underscore much of his interest both in sci-fi and in the appeal of sprawling urban metropolises far-set from his own small-town life.
By the time he was in high school, Otomo’s interest in manga had taken a more creative turn. He began illustrating his own work, and soon after graduating high school he was able to make the big move to Tokyo and work for the legendary manga publisher Futabasha, initially working on a manga adaptation of a short story by the 19th-century French Romantic writer Prosper Mérimée. By the age of 25, Otomo had begun working on his own independent film projects aside from the manga work. Like Ralph Bakshi or Quentin Tarantino, Otomo never went to a formal film or art school beyond high school.
After working on a slew of different
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