Katsuhiro Otomo (born 1954) is a Japanese manga artist, screenwriter and film director, best known for creating the manga Akira and directing its 1988 animated film.

Created the manga Akira (begun 1982) and directed the animated film Akira (1988). Also directed the feature film Steamboy (2004) and is widely regarded as a major influence on cyberpunk manga and anime.

Two detailed, 5-star DeBaser reviews praise Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira for its philosophical depth, visual power and lasting influence on cyberpunk. Reviewers contrast the manga's scope with the film's standalone strengths and highlight themes of power, memory and post-war trauma.

For:Fans of manga and anime, cyberpunk readers, film students and readers interested in philosophical sci-fi

 

"Men are incapable of seeing... they remain anchored to the ground and only see what’s under their nose. When the ground trembles beneath their feet, then they panic. And that is the moment they give their soul to God or Buddha. We don’t realize we are immersed in a flow much greater than us. Scientists always make grand calculations. An absurd amount... infinite time... unimaginable energy... and in the end, what remains of all this? The name of some scholar, nothing more. Yet that flow runs right before our eyes... What does a man do when he tries to look at something far away? He squints... and when faced with something greater than himself? Opening his eyes is useless. The universe is floating towards its final stage, what is high lowers, what is dense becomes rarefied and disperses. The direction is uniform and irreversible. Humans are living beings and, as a herd, they try to oppose this principle; however, in the grand scheme of things, they too find themselves within the flow. The only thing that can contrast this flow is "power": manifesting "power" can stop the flow, but it is temporary, because when it resumes its course, it increases its speed and returns to the starting state. When men manage to see the flow, they are overcome by great terror. You yourself have seen it... Appearance is nothing but a shell. Akira is not within the flow... Those who live within the flow cannot understand."

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"A metropolis (Tokyo), a sun exploding in its center, no noise or background commentary... just silence, this is how \"Akira\" opens."

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