Ask anyone with minimal knowledge of the medium to play a word association with the term anime, and you are likely to receive the same response: Akira. The masterpiece of manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira stunned Western audiences with its crisp style, high production value and intense action sequences. This 1988 feature-length anime was a blockbuster in the West, drastically outpacing the success of its Japanese release.

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Otomo has his own distinct style which incorporates more Asian features into his characters, considered by many to be more “realistic” than any other manga artist. First released in the U.S. in print format in 38 issues over 7 years, Akira was the first serialized comic colored digitally by a computer. While Otomo’s unique style changed the way many manga artists approached their work, he has largely left the medium to work almost exclusively in film. Twice he has directed the biggest-budget anime projects Japan had ever witnessed. Other works include Memories and an adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis.

See also:

• Hayao Miyazaki
• Leiji Matsumoto
• Mecha Arrives
• Osamu Tezuka
• Rumiko Takahashi