Akira  

アキラ

In 1988, World War III occurs and Tokyo is destroyed by an unprecedented black explosion. Thirty years later, in 2019, Neo-Tokyo is built on the ruins of old Tokyo and becomes a cityscape of neon lights and advanced technology. Despite its modernity, it is plagued with biker gangs, poverty, and revolutionaries. Tetsuo Shima and Shoutarou Kaneda are two friends who are also fierce rivals and belong to the same gang. Tetsuo tries to prove himself as equal to Kaneda by performing a dangerous stunt that leads to the awakening of Akira, a government secret that threatens to change Neo-Tokyo's future and impact its residents' lives.

Akira won the 8th Kodansha Manga Award in general category in 1984, the Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material in 1993, and was nominated for the Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work in 2002.The series was first published in English by Marvel Comics under the Epic Comics imprint and was one of the first manga to be translated in its entirety. Marvels version was fully colorized and released in 38 trade paperback volumes from 1988 to 1996 (and later incompletely collected into 10 volumes). Dark Horse Comics republished Akira in its original 6-volume format from December 13, 2000 to March 27, 2002. Kodansha Comics USA currently holds the license and republished the series from October 13, 2009 to April 12, 2011. They rereleased the series in a 35th anniversary box set on October 31, 2017. The set contained 6 hardcover volumes in the original right-to-left reading format for the first time, as well as the artbook Akira Club. The manga has also been published in Brazilian Portuguese by JBC since 2016.