History Manga / Akira

''Akira'' (sometimes spelled ''AKIRA'' to differentiate between the work and the title character) is a post-apocalyptic [[ScienceFiction sci-fi]] {{manga}} serialized in ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from December 1982 to June 1990. The most recognizable of Creator/KatsuhiroOtomo's works, it maintains a sizable influence on pop culture around the world, largely owing to its [[AdaptationDisplacement far better-known]] 1988 film adaptation by Creator/TMSEntertainment.

* OminousPipeOrgan: Tetsuo's theme features this combined with a choir. "Requiem" also features this, especially during the scene where [[spoiler:Akira's power is almost done consuming Neo-Tokyo."

[[caption-width-right:320:''Neo-Tokyo is about to '''E.X.P.L.O.D.E.''''']]

''Akira'' (sometimes spelled ''AKIRA'' to differentiate between the work and the title character) is a post-apocalyptic [[ScienceFiction sci-fi]] {{manga}} serialized in ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from December 1982 to June 1990. The most recognizable of Creator/KatsuhiroOtomo's works, it maintains a sizable influence on pop culture around the world, largely owing to the success and acclaim of its [[AdaptationDisplacement far better-known]] 1988 film adaptation by Creator/TMSEntertainment.

As mentioned before, the manga received a highly acclaimed {{anime}} movie adaptation in 1988, directed and co-written by Otomo himself. It's widely different outside the above-mentioned premise[[note]]mainly focusing on events from the first third of the manga, while simultaneously removing or incorporating plotlines from later in the manga as well as rewriting a few plot points[[/note]], retooling certain areas of the manga into a thoroughly MindScrew plot, and it's primarily known for its unusually lavish animation (even by modern standards) as well as for its [[AwesomeMusic/{{Akira}} groundbreaking soundtrack]] and its runtime being on the heftier end for an animated film[[note]]At 124 minutes, it was ranked as the 13th longest animated film ever made[[/note]]. The film proved invaluable in disproving the AnimationAgeGhetto, at least for anime in the U.S., and is still considered a landmark production in animation and science fiction both at home and abroad. It has been dubbed twice into English, first in 1989 by Kodansha and distributed by Creator/StreamlinePictures (which lead to a misconception that Streamline produced it themselves) and then in 2001 by Animaze via Pioneer (later known as Creator/{{Geneon}}). A 4K remaster of the movie was released in 2020.

* RRatedOpening: Within the first ten minutes, we get cursing, drug references, a bloody gang war between rival biker gangs made up of ''teenagers'', and a rebel gunned down into '''bloody, chunky swiss-cheese''' by [[MultipleGunshotDeath concentrated machine gun fire]]. In fact, Tokyo explodes before the credits are even finished. And then there's the vicious assault on Kaori, where her shirt is ripped off (no SceneryCensor here) and she is punched in the face, and is still swollen and bleeding minutes later.

* SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification: Type 3 (PragmaticAdaptation). The manga was ''very'' long and would have been unfeasable to fully adapt to a feature film, so a good chunk of its content got the axe to keep the film at a reasonable length.

* WhamShot: About 3/4 of the way through the movie, Tetuso opens up the cryogenic capsule containing Akira... [[spoiler:and finds only jars inside.]]

Being over 2000 pages in six hefty volumes, the story the original manga tells is much longer than the already-lengthy film, featuring even more violence and a greater focus on politics. Because the film was in development and saw its release while the manga was still running does show a bit, critical plot developments in the film often became {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s in the manga, but it also led to some characters and concepts that only saw a brief appearance in the film [[AdaptationExpansion getting explored in greater depth by the manga]]. The series is notable for being the very first comic book series to utilize entirely computer coloring, when it was first released in the US by Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s Epic Comics in the late 80s/early 90s. Later English editions from Dark Horse and Kodansha Comics USA restore the original black-and-white artwork, but the pages remain flipped from left-to-right. For the 35th anniversary of the manga, Kodansha released a special box set with a 7th volume titled [[AKIRA Club]] and with the original format of right-to-left reading.

Being over 2000 pages in six hefty volumes, the story the original manga tells is much longer than the already-lengthy film, featuring even more violence and a greater focus on politics. Because the film was in development and saw its release while the manga was still running does show a bit, critical plot developments in the film often became {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s in the manga, but it also led to some characters and concepts that only saw a brief appearance in the film [[AdaptationExpansion getting explored in greater depth by the manga]]. The series is notable for being the very first comic book series to utilize entirely computer coloring, when it was first released in the US by Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s Epic Comics in the late 80s/early 90s. Later English editions from Dark Horse and Kodansha Comics USA restore the original black-and-white artwork, but the pages remain flipped from left-to-right. For the 35th anniversary of the manga, Kodansha released a special box set with a 7th volume and with the original format of right to left reading.

As mentioned before, the manga received a highly acclaimed {{anime}} movie adaptation in 1988, directed and co-written by Otomo himself. It's widely different outside the above-mentioned premise[[note]]mainly focusing on events from the first third of the manga, while simultaneously removing or incorporating plotlines from later in the manga as well as rewriting a few plot points[[/note]], retooling certain areas of the manga into a thoroughly MindScrew plot, and it's primarily known for its unusually lavish animation (even by modern standards) as well as for its [[AwesomeMusic/{{Akira}} groundbreaking soundtrack]] and its runtime being on the heftier end for an animated film[[note]]At 124 minutes, it was ranked as the 13th longest animated film ever made[[/note]]. The film proved invaluable in disproving the AnimationAgeGhetto, at least for anime in the U.S., and is still considered a landmark production in animation and science fiction both at home and abroad. It has been dubbed twice into English, first in 1989 by Kondansha and distributed by Creator/StreamlinePictures (which lead to a misconception that Streamline produced it themselves) and then in 2001 by Animaze via Pioneer (later known as Creator/{{Geneon}}). A 4K remaster of the movie was released in 2020.

* AdaptationDistillation: A feature length film adaptation of a 2,000-page manga. The film follows the manga fairly closely up until Tetsuo gets to Akira, then jumps right over [[spoiler:the post-apocalyptic plot arc that took up half the manga]] and goes straight into Testuo losing control of his power in the finale.

* GenreShift: While the manga focused mainly on action and political intrigue, the movie has a lot more psychological horror involved.

* OminousPipeOrgan: Requiem again.

* SittingOnTheRoof: At Kaori's dorm.

** In the hospital, Tetsuo uses telekinesis to slide a glass of water into his hand, like the Stalker's daughter does at the end of ''Film/{{Stalker}}''.

He then becomes the newest test subject for the "Akira Project", an initiative to imbue capable subjects with telekinetic powers. But when Tetsuo's powers awaken, the combination of an inferiority complex harbored since childhood and power beyond Tetsuo's wildest dreams [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity wastes no time in driving him insane]]. He escapes the lab and goes on a super-powered rampage through Neo-Tokyo, and it falls to a handful of people, including Capsule leader and Tetsuo's friend Kaneda, to put a stop to the destruction.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The brainwave pattern indicator that Doctor Ōnishi uses to measure Tetsuo's abilities. It especially sticks out since it's the only thing in the entire film to use CG; the rest is regular cel animation.

An Americanized LiveActionAdaptation[=/=]ForeignRemake had been proposed in 2002, but it spent a long time in DevelopmentHell with little progress made, with a lot of fans furious that the movie was even ''considered'' to be set in America. The project seemed to be officially cancelled in 2014 until it was announced the next year that Marco Ramirez (who has written for ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'', ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'', ''Series/DaVincisDemons'', and ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'') was signed on to write a screenplay for a potential trilogy of films based on the manga. In 2019, Creator/TaikaWaititi was signed on to direct, and had stated prior that he wanted to retain the original setting and hire a cast primarily made up of actors of Asian (preferably Japanese) descent. A synopsis also confirmed that the movie will take place in Neo-Tokyo. Unfortunately, it was put into limbo yet again when Waititi left production to work on ''Thor: Love and Thunder'' instead, resulting in the film losing its May 2021 release date. However, Warner Bros. are still reportedly interested in keeping Waititi involved.

* LiveActionAdaptation: According to Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, in the early 1990s, Kodansha Ltd. was in negotiation with Sony Pictures to produce a live-action remake of the film. Talk circulated again a decade later, but the project has yet to materialize. Rumors circulated that the project was canceled in both instances when the projected budget for the film was upwards of $300 million. Talks began again as Creator/WarnerBros signed on to produce the movie with Stephen Norrington (writer) and Jon Peters (producer). Akira was to be developed into two live action films; the first was to be scheduled for a summer 2009 release. Warner Brothers and Appian Way planned to adapt the two movies from the manga, with each one covering three volumes. Ruairi Robinson signed on as director, Gary Whitta wrote the script and Andrew Lazar, Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, and Jennifer Davisson were to produce the film. As recently as 2010, Lazar was still talking about getting the film out of DevelopmentHell--but as of January 2012 the film project was cancelled.

!!Trope Maker for
[[index]]
* SlidingBikeStop: Known on the net as the "Akira Bike Slide", with the iconic scene of Kaneda making a bike slide after defeating the leader of the Clowns in the movie.
[[/index]]

* SlidingBikeStop: ''AKIRA'' is the obvious TropeMaker and [[TropeCodifier Codifier]] of this trope with TheMovie, but this was [[OlderThanYouThink made way before this]], being part of the same scene in the [[https://shambrookblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/akira_1_p128.jpg 1982 manga]], which is a part of a panel instead a complete shot as seen in the anime.

As mentioned before, the manga received a highly acclaimed {{anime}} movie adaptation in 1988, directed and co-written by Otomo himself. It's widely different outside the above-mentioned premise[[note]]mainly focusing on events from the first third of the manga, while simultaneously removing or incorporating plotlines from later in the manga as well as rewriting a few plot points[[/note]], retooling certain areas of the manga into a thoroughly MindScrew plot, and it's primarily known for its unusually lavish animation (even by modern standards) as well as for its [[AwesomeMusic/{{Akira}} groundbreaking soundtrack]] and its runtime being on the heftier end for an animated film[[note]]At 124 minutes, it was ranked as the 13th longest animated film ever made[[/note]]. The film proved invaluable in disproving the AnimationAgeGhetto, at least for anime in the West, and is still considered a landmark production in animation and science fiction both at home and abroad. It has been dubbed twice into English, first in 1989 by Kondansha and distributed by Creator/StreamlinePictures (which lead to a misconception that Streamline produced it themselves) and then in 2001 by Animaze via Pioneer (later known as Creator/{{Geneon}}). A 4K remaster of the movie was released in 2020.

Being over 2000 pages in six hefty volumes, the story the original manga tells is much longer than the already-lengthy film, featuring even more violence and a greater focus on politics. Because the film was in development and saw its release while the manga was still running does show a bit, critical plot developments in the film often became {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s in the manga, but it also led to some characters and concepts that only saw a brief appearance in the film [[AdaptationExpansion getting explored in greater depth by the manga]]. The series is notable for being the very first comic book series to utilize entirely computer coloring, when it was first released in the US by Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}}'s Epic Comics in the late 80s/early 90s. Later English editions from Dark Horse and Kodansha Comics USA restore the original black-and-white artwork, but the pages remain flipped from left-to-right.

* ShoutOut: The jukebox Kaneda fiddles with sports advertisements for various rock bands, including Music/{{Cream}}, Music/LedZeppelin and Music/TheDoors.

''Akira'' (sometimes spelled ''AKIRA'' to differentiate between the work and the title character) is a post-apocalyptic [[ScienceFiction sci-fi]] {{manga}} serialized in ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from December 1982 to June 1990. The most recognizable of Creator/KatsuhiroOtomo's works, it maintains a sizable influence on pop culture around the world, largely owing to the success and acclaim of its [[AdaptationDisplacement far better-known]] 1988 film adaptation.

At 2:17 P.M. on December 6th, 1982 (July 1988 in the film)[[note]]The dates are exactly the date when the manga began serialization and when the film premiered in Japanese theaters, respectively[[/note]], [[TheTokyoFireball a mysterious black-domed explosion]] destroys UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}} and sets off WorldWarIII. [[TimeSkip 38 (or 31, depending on whether it's the manga or the film you're dealing with) years later]], the rebuilt city-- now known as "Neo-Tokyo"-- has fallen into decay, corruption, and crime.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The brainwave pattern indicator that Doctor Ōnishi uses to measure Tetsuo's abilities. It especially sticks out since it's the only thing in the entire film to use CG; the rest is regular cel animation.

* ActionGirl: Many of the female cast, most notably Kei who is a resistance fighter [[spoiler:and a psychic medium [[WillingChanneler who can let other psychics possess her and fight through her]] in the manga.]]

%% * AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction: Adventure

-->-- '''Tetsuo'''

* IllGirl: Kiyoko is physically weak and constantly bedridden. Masaru is a male example who was afflicted with polio at a young age.

At 2:17 P.M. on December 6th, 1982 (July 1988 in the film)[[labelnote:*]]The dates are exactly the date when the manga began serialization and when the film premiered in Japanese theaters, respectively[[/labelnote]], [[TheTokyoFireball a mysterious black-domed explosion]] destroys UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}} and sets off WorldWarIII. [[TimeSkip 38 (or 31, depending on whether it's the manga or the film you're dealing with) years later]], the rebuilt city-- now known as "Neo-Tokyo"-- has fallen into decay, corruption, and crime.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters The Movie wasn't exactly light on the amount of characters. The manga however takes the cake. Even minor movie characters have a greatly expanded role. On top of that, all are very much relevant to the overall plot and integral to how things work out.

* NoFEMAResponse: Justified as, by the time major humanitarian aid efforts are on their way to Neo-Tokyo, Tetsuo and his followers have already organized the survivors into a militantly isolationist cult who attack the relief workers.