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165-559: Akira ( アキラ , stylized as AKIRA ) is a Japanese cyberpunk post-apocalyptic manga series written and illustrated by Katsuhiro Otomo . It was serialized biweekly in Kodansha 's seinen manga magazine Young Magazine from December 20, 1982, to June 25, 1990, with its 120 chapters collected into six tankōbon ' volumes. It was initially published in the United States by Marvel Comics under its Epic imprint, becoming one of

330-627: A laser satellite , to kill Tetsuo and Akira, but only succeeds in severing Tetsuo's arm. Tetsuo disappears in the subsequent explosion, and Kaneda and Kei come across Akira outside the base. Vaguely aware of who he is, they take him back into Neo-Tokyo. Both the Colonel's soldiers and the followers of an Esper named Lady Miyako begin scouring Neo-Tokyo in search of him. Kaneda, Kei, and a third terrorist, Chiyoko, attempt to find refuge with Akira on Nezu's yacht . However, Nezu betrays them and kidnaps Akira for his use, attempting to have them killed. They survive

495-694: A steel frame that supports curtain walls . This idea was invented by Viollet le Duc in his discourses on architecture. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete . Modern skyscraper walls are not load-bearing , and most skyscrapers are characterized by large surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames and curtain walls. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with

660-413: A Japan similar to how it was after the end of World War II —rebelling governmental factions; a rebuilding world; foreign political influence, an uncertain future; a bored and reckless younger generation racing each other on bikes. Akira is the story of my own teenage years, rewritten to take place in the future. I never thought too deeply about the two main characters as I made them; I just projected how I

825-547: A bestseller. He then began his most ambitious work to date, Akira . Due to a lack of planning, Otomo had to hastily end Fireball without the finale he wanted and stated, "You could say that Akira was born from the frustration I had about that at the time." Not wanting to repeat what happened with that manga, he had the basic plot of Akira outlined from the start in a two-page synopsis and predicted he would finish it in six months. However, just like what happened with Domu , new ideas and problems immediately came up and expanded

990-537: A city consisting entirely of high-rise housing is the 16th-century city of Shibam in Yemen . Shibam was made up of over 500 tower houses, each one rising 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor being an apartment occupied by a single family. The city was built in this way in order to protect it from Bedouin attacks. Shibam still has the tallest mudbrick buildings in the world, with many of them over 30 m (98 ft) high. An early modern example of high-rise housing

1155-445: A frequent visitor to Japan, where he came to see that many of his visions of Japan were a reality: Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it. I remember my first glimpse of Shibuya , when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-suns—all that towering, animated crawl of commercial information—said, "You see? You see? It

1320-538: A futuristic vision which has elements in common with western science fiction and therefore have received wide international acceptance outside Japan. "The conceptualization involved in cyberpunk is more of forging ahead, looking at the new global culture. It is a culture that does not exist right now, so the Japanese concept of a cyberpunk future, seems just as valid as a Western one, especially as Western cyberpunk often incorporates many Japanese elements." William Gibson became

1485-597: A girl he loved who was killed in the battle. He succeeds to a small degree but is unable to maintain focus. He retreats to Akira's cryogenic chamber beneath the stadium, carrying her body. Kaneda and his friends appear to fight Tetsuo once more, but his powers transform him into a monstrous, amoeba-like mass resembling a fetus, absorbing everything near him. Tetsuo pulls the cryogenic chamber above ground and drops it onto Lady Miyako's temple. Lady Miyako dies while defying Tetsuo after guiding Kei into space to fire upon him with SOL. Kei's attack awakens Tetsuo's full powers, triggering

1650-485: A highly secure skyscraper in Neo-Tokyo. Kei soon escapes after becoming possessed as a medium by another Esper, Kiyoko. Kei/Kiyoko briefly does battle with Tetsuo and frees Kaneda. After rapidly healing from his wounds, Tetsuo inquires about Akira and forces Doctor Onishi, a project scientist, to take him to the other espers: Takashi, Kiyoko, and Masaru. There, a violent confrontation unfolds between Tetsuo, Kaneda, Kei, and

1815-487: A laser designator. Kaneda confronts Tetsuo, and the two begin to fight; Kei joins them. However, the brawl is interrupted when the Americans try to carpet bomb Neo-Tokyo and destroy the city outright with their laser satellite, FLOYD. Tetsuo flies into space and brings down FLOYD, causing it to crash upon the aircraft carrier, killing the fleet admiral and one of the scientists. After the battle, Tetsuo tries to resurrect Kaori,

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1980-733: A more classical approach came back to global skyscraper design, that remains popular today. Examples are the Wells Fargo Center , NBC Tower , Parkview Square , 30 Park Place , the Messeturm , the iconic Petronas Towers and Jin Mao Tower . Other contemporary styles and movements in skyscraper design include organic , sustainable , neo-futurist , structuralist , high-tech , deconstructivist , blob , digital , streamline , novelty , critical regionalist , vernacular , Neo Art Deco and neohistorist , also known as revivalist . 3 September

2145-472: A mysterious explosion destroyed the city, the story centers on teenage biker gang leader Shotaro Kaneda, militant revolutionary Kei, a trio of Espers , and Neo-Tokyo military leader Colonel Shikishima, who attempt to prevent Tetsuo Shima, Kaneda's mentally unbalanced childhood friend, from using his unstable and destructive telekinetic abilities to ravage the city and awaken a mysterious entity with powerful psychic abilities named "Akira". Otomo uses conventions of

2310-516: A new generation of dynamism not only in manga but also in European and American comics. Its impact shattered all borders." The Essential Guide to World Comics states that the translation of the work into French in 1991 by Glénat "opened the floodgates to the Japanese invasion." The imagery in Akira , together with that of Blade Runner , formed the blueprint for similar Japanese works of a dystopian nature of

2475-497: A new project. From the first meeting with the publisher, Akira was to be a short work of about ten chapters "or something like that," so Otomo said he was "really not" expecting it to be a success. Otomo had previously created Fireball (1979), a series in which he disregarded accepted manga art styles and established his interest in science fiction as a setting. Fireball anticipated a number of plot elements of Akira , with its story of young freedom fighters trying to rescue one of

2640-399: A particularly small surface area of what are conventionally thought of as walls. Because the walls are not load-bearing most skyscrapers are characterized by surface areas of windows made possible by the concept of steel frame and curtain wall. However, skyscrapers can also have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls and have a small surface area of windows. The concept of a skyscraper is

2805-451: A perfect 5 out of 5 rating. Loveridge wrote that " Akira still feels incredibly relevant 35 years later. Giving it a three ½ star rating, Amy McNulty praised Otomo's art and setting. However, she called the characterizations weak and concluded that although Akira "does little to appeal to those who aren't interested in sci-fi, paranormal, or dystopian tales [...] manga fans owe it to themselves to at least check it out." Rebecca Silverman gave

2970-420: A product of the industrialized age , made possible by cheap fossil fuel derived energy and industrially refined raw materials such as steel and concrete . The construction of skyscrapers was enabled by steel frame construction that surpassed brick and mortar construction starting at the end of the 19th century and finally surpassing it in the 20th century together with reinforced concrete construction as

3135-454: A proto-skyscraper, or to New York's seven-floor Equitable Life Building , built in 1870. Steel skeleton construction has allowed for today's supertall skyscrapers now being built worldwide. The nomination of one structure versus another being the first skyscraper, and why, depends on what factors are stressed. The structural definition of the word skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of

3300-412: A proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. Some structural engineers define a high-rise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, such as towers . Different organizations from

3465-505: A psychic reaction similar to Akira's. With the help of Kiyoko, Masaru, and the spirit of Takashi, Akira cancels out Tetsuo's explosion with one of his own. They are also able to free Kaneda, who was trapped in Tetsuo's mass. He witnesses the truth about the Espers' power as they, alongside Akira and Tetsuo, ascend to a higher plane of existence. The United Nations sends peacekeeping forces to help

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3630-488: A remake of), are often credited as precursors of the movement. Some defining films in the genre include: Related films include: Japanese cyberpunk also refers to a subgenre of manga and anime works with cyberpunk themes. This subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of the manga series Akira , with its 1988 anime film adaptation later popularizing the subgenre. Akira inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk works, including manga and anime series such as Ghost in

3795-411: A ring of debris. Following the rally, Tetsuo's power begins to contort his physical body, causing it to absorb surrounding objects; he later learns that his abuse of his powers has caused them to expand beyond the confines of his body, giving him the ability to transmute inert matter into flesh and integrate it into his physical form. Tetsuo makes a series of visits on board the aircraft carrier to attack

3960-556: A skyscraper today, it was record setting. The building of tall buildings in the 1880s gave the skyscraper its first architectural movement, broadly termed the Chicago School , which developed what has been called the Commercial Style. The architect, Major William Le Baron Jenney , created a load-bearing structural frame. In this building, a steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls, instead of load-bearing walls carrying

4125-417: A small surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a tubular structure , and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic, and other lateral loads. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks , which in some cases is also structurally required. As of September 2023 , fifteen cities in

4290-514: A time, the tallest of which is the 97.2 m (319 ft) high Asinelli Tower. A Florentine law of 1251 decreed that all urban buildings be immediately reduced to less than 26 m. Even medium-sized towns of the era are known to have proliferations of towers, such as the 72 towers that ranged up to 51 m height in San Gimignano . The medieval Egyptian city of Fustat housed many high-rise residential buildings, which Al-Muqaddasi in

4455-466: A variety of shapes, and it could be riveted, ensuring strong connections. The simplicity of a steel frame eliminated the inefficient part of a shear wall, the central portion, and consolidated support members in a much stronger fashion by allowing both horizontal and vertical supports throughout. Among steel's drawbacks is that as more material must be supported as height increases, the distance between supporting members must decrease, which in turn increases

4620-469: A vertical tube-like structural system capable of resisting lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation". Closely spaced interconnected exterior columns form the tube. Horizontal loads (primarily wind) are supported by the structure as a whole. Framed tubes allow fewer interior columns, and so create more usable floor space, and about half the exterior surface is available for windows. Where larger openings like garage doors are required,

4785-664: A withdrawal. Meanwhile, Tetsuo's aide, the Captain, stages an unsuccessful Empire assault on Miyako's temple. After the Colonel uses SOL to attack the Empire's army, a mysterious event opens a rift in the sky, dumping Kaneda and massive debris from Akira's second explosion. Kaneda is reunited with Kei and joins Kai and Joker, the former Clown leader, in planning an assault on the Great Tokyo Empire. Meanwhile, an international team of scientists meets up on an American aircraft carrier to study

4950-657: Is Blade Runner town." And it was. It so evidently was. Akira (1982 manga) and its 1988 anime film adaptation have influenced numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television and video games. Akira has been cited as a major influence on Hollywood films such as The Matrix , Dark City , Chronicle , Looper , Midnight Special , and Inception , television shows such as Stranger Things , and video games such as Hideo Kojima 's Snatcher and Metal Gear Solid , Valve 's Half-Life series and Dontnod Entertainment 's Remember Me . John Gaeta cited Akira as artistic inspiration for

5115-424: Is a "direct outgrowth of war and postwar experiences." She argues that Otomo grounds the work in recent Japanese history and culture, using the atomic bombing of Japan during World War II , alongside the economic resurgence and issues relating to overcrowding as inspirations and underlying issues. Thematically, the work centers on the nature of youth to rebel against authority, control methods, community building and

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5280-513: Is a composite photograph taken during a race at the Tokyo Racecourse when an image of Akira was shown on the jumbotron . Because the first three images had followed a pattern of "action-silence-action," the artist figured volume four should continue it and so drew Akira sitting down for the cover. Its back cover features an original Akira pinball machine created by Taito with animation cels pasted onto it by Otomo. The cover of volume five

5445-408: Is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least 100 meters (330 ft) or 150 meters (490 ft) in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise buildings . Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces. One common feature of skyscrapers is having

5610-454: Is considered a landmark work in the cyberpunk genre, credited with spawning the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre. It actually predates the seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer (1984), which was released two years after Akira began serialization in 1982 and was not translated into Japanese until 1985. Akira inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk-infused manga and anime works, including Ghost in

5775-406: Is important in most building design, but particularly for skyscrapers since even a small chance of catastrophic failure is unacceptable given the tremendous damage such failure would cause. This presents a paradox to civil engineers : the only way to assure a lack of failure is to test for all modes of failure, in both the laboratory and the real world. But the only way to know of all modes of failure

5940-433: Is largely from the force of the building material itself. In most building designs, the weight of the structure is much larger than the weight of the material that it will support beyond its own weight. In technical terms, the dead load , the load of the structure, is larger than the live load , the weight of things in the structure (people, furniture, vehicles, etc.). As such, the amount of structural material required within

6105-584: Is largely identical to the Dark Horse version. In honor of the 35th anniversary of the manga, Kodansha released a box set in late October 2017, containing hardcover editions of all six volumes, as well as the Akira Club art book, and an exclusive patch featuring the iconic pill design. This release was presented in the original right-to-left format, with unaltered original art and Japanese sound effects with endnote translations. The first tankōbon ' volume, which

6270-559: Is named after Tetsuo Shima. The popular bike from the film, Kaneda's Motorbike, appears in Steven Spielberg ' s film Ready Player One , and CD Projekt 's video game Cyberpunk 2077 . Deus Ex: Mankind Divided video game developer Eidos Montréal also paid homage to the film's poster. Ghost in the Shell (1989) influenced a number of prominent filmmakers. The Wachowskis , creators of The Matrix (1999) and its sequels, showed

6435-407: Is often used to refer to Akira Kurosawa , Otomo "thought that gap" was funny and decided to use the name in his work one day. The character names Tetsuo and Kaneda, and the Espers' codenames of Nos. 25–28, were taken from Tetsujin 28-go . Kaneda's iconic motorcycle from the manga had no specific design. So Otomo said it came out "kind of random" and changed every time he drew it. The character Chiyoko

6600-500: Is represented by Bart Simpson , Milhouse Van Houten replaces Tetsuo, and Kei and Colonel Shikishima are portrayed by Laura Powers and Principal Skinner respectively. Japanese cyberpunk Japanese cyberpunk cinema , also referred to as Extreme Japanese Cyberpunk, refers to a sub-genre of underground film produced in Japan , starting in the 1980s. It bears some resemblance to the 'low-life high-tech' cyberpunk , as understood in

6765-461: Is set to host the XXXII Olympic Games , the city is gripped by anti-government terrorism and gang violence . While exploring the ruins of old Tokyo, Tetsuo Shima, a member of the bōsōzoku gang led by Shōtarō Kaneda, is accidentally injured when his bike crashes after Takashi — a child Esper with wizened features — blocks his path. This incident awakens psychic powers in Tetsuo, attracting

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6930-399: Is the global commemorative day for skyscrapers, called "Skyscraper Day". New York City developers competed among themselves, with successively taller buildings claiming the title of "world's tallest" in the 1920s and early 1930s, culminating with the completion of the 318.9 m (1,046 ft) Chrysler Building in 1930 and the 443.2 m (1,454 ft) Empire State Building in 1931,

7095-519: Is the same overall plot." With Akira , Otomo also wanted to depict the later Showa period , including preparations for the Olympics , the rapid economic growth, and the student protests of the 1960s. "I wanted to recreate the assorted elements that built this era and craft an exciting story that would seem believable enough in reality." Otomo said that while there had been post-apocalyptic works before, he could not think of one that depicted an apocalypse in

7260-419: Is to learn from previous failures. Thus, no engineer can be absolutely sure that a given structure will resist all loadings that could cause failure; instead, one can only have large enough margins of safety such that a failure is acceptably unlikely. When buildings do fail, engineers question whether the failure was due to some lack of foresight or due to some unknowable factor. The load a skyscraper experiences

7425-648: The 1995 anime film adaptation of Ghost in the Shell to producer Joel Silver , saying, "We wanna do that for real." The Matrix series took several concepts from the film, including the Matrix digital rain , which was inspired by the opening credits of Ghost in the Shell , and the way characters access the Matrix through holes in the back of their necks. Other parallels have been drawn to James Cameron 's Avatar , Steven Spielberg 's A.I. Artificial Intelligence , and Jonathan Mostow 's Surrogates ; Cameron cited Ghost in

7590-412: The Akira manga and anime as major influences, particularly as the basis of his own manga career. Bartkira , a fan-made web comic parody of Akira created by Ryan Humphrey, is a panel-for-panel retelling of all six volumes of the manga illustrated by numerous artists contributing several pages each, with Otomo's characters being portrayed by members of the cast of The Simpsons : for example, Kaneda

7755-553: The bullet time effect in The Matrix films . Akira has also been credited with influencing the Star Wars franchise, including the prequel film trilogy and the Clone Wars film and television series. Akira has also influenced the work of musicians such as Kanye West , who paid homage to Akira in the " Stronger " music video, and Lupe Fiasco , whose album Tetsuo & Youth

7920-557: The cyberpunk genre to detail a saga of political turmoil, social isolation , corruption , and power . Widely regarded as a landmark work in cyberpunk and credited with pioneering the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre, Akira received universal acclaim from readers and critics, with Otomo's artwork, storytelling, characters, and exploration of mature themes and concepts subject to particular praise. The manga also achieved international commercial success, selling millions of copies worldwide. An animated film adaptation released in 1988 shortened

8085-629: The " Seven Sisters ", were built between 1947 and 1953; and one, the Main building of Moscow State University , was the tallest building in Europe for nearly four decades (1953–1990). Other skyscrapers in the style of Socialist Classicism were erected in East Germany ( Frankfurter Tor ), Poland ( PKiN ), Ukraine ( Hotel Moscow ), Latvia ( Academy of Sciences ), and other Eastern Bloc countries. Western European countries also began to permit taller skyscrapers during

8250-460: The 10th century described as resembling minarets . Nasir Khusraw in the early 11th century described some of them rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top floor complete with ox-drawn water wheels for irrigating them. Cairo in the 16th century had high-rise apartment buildings where the two lower floors were for commercial and storage purposes and the multiple stories above them were rented out to tenants . An early example of

8415-465: The 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-story buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry , which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago's Monadnock Building . What is the chief characteristic of the tall office building? It is lofty. It must be tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch

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8580-580: The 1960s now use a tube design derived from Khan's structural engineering principles, examples including the construction of the World Trade Center , Aon Center , Petronas Towers , Jin Mao Building , and most other supertall skyscrapers since the 1960s. The strong influence of tube structure design is also evident in the construction of the current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa , which uses

8745-587: The 1960s, according to the CTBUH, the skyscraper has been reoriented away from a symbol for North American corporate power to instead communicate a city or nation's place in the world. Skyscraper construction entered a three-decades-long era of stagnation in 1930 due to the Great Depression and then World War II . Shortly after the war ended, Russia began construction on a series of skyscrapers in Moscow . Seven, dubbed

8910-807: The 26th century BC. It was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the 160 m (520 ft) Lincoln Cathedral having exceeded it in 1311–1549, before its central spire collapsed. The latter in turn was not surpassed until the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument in 1884. However, being uninhabited, none of these structures actually comply with the modern definition of a skyscraper. High-rise apartments flourished in classical antiquity . Ancient Roman insulae in imperial cities reached 10 and more stories. Beginning with Augustus (r. 30 BC-14 AD), several emperors attempted to establish limits of 20–25 m for multi-stories buildings, but were met with only limited success. Lower floors were typically occupied by shops or wealthy families, with

9075-666: The 57 m (187 ft) tall 1924 Marx House in Düsseldorf , the 65 m (213 ft) tall Borsigturm in Berlin , built in 1924, the 65 m (213 ft) tall Hansahochhaus in Cologne , Germany, built in 1925; the 61 m (200 ft) Kungstornen (Kings' Towers) in Stockholm , Sweden, which were built 1924–25; the 77 m (253 ft) Ullsteinhaus in Berlin, Germany, built in 1927;

9240-596: The 89 m (292 ft) Edificio Telefónica in Madrid , Spain, built in 1929; the 87.5 m (287 ft) Boerentoren in Antwerp, Belgium, built in 1932; the 66 m (217 ft) Prudential Building in Warsaw , Poland, built in 1934; and the 108 m (354 ft) Torre Piacentini in Genoa , Italy, built in 1940. After an early competition between New York City and Chicago for

9405-559: The CTBUH, is the distance between the highest floor and its architectural top (excluding antennae, flagpole or other functional extensions). Vanity height first appeared in New York City skyscrapers as early as the 1920s and 1930s but supertall buildings have relied on such uninhabitable extensions for on average 30% of their height, raising potential definitional and sustainability issues. The current era of skyscrapers focuses on sustainability , its built and natural environments, including

9570-531: The Clown Gang is easily defeated, Tetsuo's psionic powers make him virtually invincible. Tetsuo kills Yamagata, Kaneda's second-in-command, and astonishingly survives after being shot by Kaneda. The Colonel arrives with the powerful drugs needed to suppress Tetsuo's violent headaches, extending Tetsuo an offer to join the project. After confronting the JSDF, Kaneda, Kei, and Tetsuo are taken into military custody and held in

9735-429: The Colonel's troops. As Akira is being taken into the Colonel's custody, Nezu attempts to shoot Akira rather than have him be put into government hands; he is immediately fired upon and killed by the Colonel's men. However, Nezu's shot misses Akira and hits Takashi in the head, killing him instantly. The trauma of Takashi's death causes Akira to trigger a second psychic explosion that destroys Neo-Tokyo. Kei, Ryu, Chiyoko,

9900-434: The Colonel, and the other two Espers survive the catastrophe; Kaneda, however, disappears as the blast surrounds him. After the city's destruction, Tetsuo reappears and meets Akira. Sometime later, an American reconnaissance team led by Lieutenant George Yamada covertly arrives in the ruined Neo-Tokyo. Yamada learns that the city has been divided into two factions: the cult of Lady Miyako, which provides food and medicine for

10065-582: The English publication were caused by Otomo's retouching of artwork for the Japanese collected volumes. It was these collections that formed the basis for translation, rather than the initial magazine serialization. The Epic version suffered significant delays toward the end, requiring several years to publish the final 8 issues. Marvel planned to collect the colorized versions as a 13-volume paperback series, and teamed with Graphitti Designs to release six limited-edition hardcover volumes; however, these ceased in 1993, so

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10230-541: The English version of Akira to match most American and European comics. The coloring was done by Steve Oliff at Olyoptics , who was hand-picked for the role by Otomo after being introduced by Goodwin. Otomo sent Oliff illustrations that he colored with markers as samples. Oliff had also received slides from the anime film adaptation of Akira to use as reference. At one point, Otomo visited Oliff in Point Arena, California and worked alongside him for several days, but after

10395-506: The Espers. The Doctor decides to try to let Tetsuo harness Akira — the project's test subject that destroyed Tokyo — despite Tetsuo's disturbed personality. Upon learning that Akira is being stored in a cryogenic chamber beneath Neo-Tokyo's new Olympic Stadium , Tetsuo escapes the skyscraper with the intent of releasing Akira. Tetsuo enters the secret military base at the Olympic site the following day, killing many soldiers. The Colonel comes to

10560-424: The Japanese punk subculture that arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s. The filmmaker Sogo Ishii introduced this subculture to Japanese cinema with his punk films Panic High School (1978) and Crazy Thunder Road (1980), which portrayed the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and went on to become highly influential in underground film circles. Crazy Thunder Road in particular

10725-519: The Japanese punk subculture , which arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s, with Sogo Ishii 's punk films of the late 1970s to early 1980s introducing this subculture to Japanese cinema and paving the way for Japanese cyberpunk. Japanese cyberpunk also refers to a subgenre of manga and anime works with cyberpunk themes. This subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of Katsuhiro Otomo 's manga series Akira , with its 1988 anime film adaptation (which Otomo directed) later popularizing

10890-545: The Shell , Battle Angel Alita , Cowboy Bebop , and Serial Experiments Lain . Cyberpunk themes are widely visible in anime and manga . In Japan , where cosplay is popular and not only teenagers display such fashion styles, cyberpunk has been accepted and its influence is widespread. William Gibson 's Neuromancer , whose influence dominated the early cyberpunk movement, was also set in Chiba , one of Japan's largest industrial areas. Cyberpunk anime and manga draw upon

11055-491: The Shell , Battle Angel Alita , Cowboy Bebop , and Serial Experiments Lain . Tetsuo Hara cited Akira as an influence on the dystopian post-apocalyptic setting of his manga Fist of the North Star (1983 debut). Manga artist Tooru Fujisawa , creator of Great Teacher Onizuka , cited Akira as one of his greatest inspirations and said it changed the way he wrote. Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto has cited both

11220-506: The Shell as an influence on Avatar . Ghost in the Shell also influenced video games such as the Metal Gear Solid series, Deus Ex , Oni , and Cyberpunk 2077 . The original video animation Megazone 23 (1985), with its concept of a simulated reality, has a number of similarities to The Matrix , Dark City , and Existenz . Battle Angel Alita (1990) has had a notable influence on filmmaker James Cameron, who

11385-531: The UK. This version is in black-and-white with a revised translation, although Otomo's painted color pages are used minimally at the start of each book as in the original Japanese volumes. In 2003, Tokyopop published the anime comic version in North America. The English-language rights to Akira are currently held by Kodansha Comics , who re-released the manga from 2009 to 2011 through Random House . Kodansha's version

11550-407: The United States and Europe define skyscrapers as buildings at least 150 m (490 ft) in height or taller, with " supertall " skyscrapers for buildings higher than 300 m (984 ft) and " megatall " skyscrapers for those taller than 600 m (1,969 ft). The tallest structure in ancient times was the 146 m (479 ft) Great Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt , built in

11715-518: The West; however, it differs in its representation of industrial and metallic imagery and an incomprehensible narrative. The main directors associated with the Japanese cyberpunk movement are Shinya Tsukamoto , Shozin Fukui , and Sogo Ishii . The origins of the genre can be traced back to the 1982 film Burst City , before the genre was primarily defined by the 1989 film Tetsuo: The Iron Man . It has roots in

11880-497: The amount of material that must be supported. This becomes inefficient and uneconomic for buildings above 40 stories tall as usable floor spaces are reduced for supporting column and due to more usage of steel. A new structural system of framed tubes was developed by Fazlur Rahman Khan in 1963. The framed tube structure is defined as "a three dimensional space structure composed of three, four, or possibly more frames, braced frames, or shear walls, joined at or near their edges to form

12045-408: The anime film adaptation of Akira , he said the manga had a weekly schedule of 20 pages a week. So he hired a second assistant to help, and occasionally brought in a third just to handle the screentone . "When the manga deadline drew near, we’d pull several all-nighters, then I’d walk right into the anime studio the day after." Manga artist and film director Satoshi Kon was an uncredited assistant on

12210-600: The art had not aged as gracefully. In his reviews of the first three volumes of Akira , Mark Pellegrini of AIPT Comics strongly praised Otomo's art as "simple, but very lively" and called him a master at drawing architecture. Pellegrini reviewed the series by making many comparisons to the animated film adaptation, calling the characterizations in the manga both "better and on par" with those in it. Anime News Network had four writers review Kodansha USA's 35th Anniversary box set of Akira . Austin Price and Lynzee Loveridge both gave it

12375-522: The art in the anime world that followed its release. A video game, simply titled Akira , based on the animated film was released on December 24, 1988, by Taito for the Famicom console. The game has the player in the role of Kaneda, with the storyline starting with Kaneda and his motorcycle gang in police custody. In 1994, a British-made action game was released for the Amiga CD32 and it's considered one of

12540-473: The attempt and manage to snatch Akira from Nezu's mansion. The Colonel, desperate to find Akira and fed up with the government's tepid response to the crisis, mounts a coup d'état and puts the city under martial law . The Colonel's men join Lady Miyako's acolytes and Nezu's private army in chasing Kaneda, Kei, Chiyoko, and Akira through the city. The pursuit ends at a canal , with Kaneda's group surrounded by

12705-436: The attention of a secret government project directed by JSDF Colonel Shikishima. These increasing powers unhinge Tetsuo's mind, exacerbating his inferiority complex about Kaneda and leading him to assume leadership of the rival Clown Gang through violence . Meanwhile, Kaneda becomes involved with Kei, a member of a terrorist organization that stages anti-government attacks. Led by Ryusaku and opposition Diet leader Nezu,

12870-429: The base and tries to talk Tetsuo out of his plan; Kaneda and Kei enter the site through the sewers and witness the unfolding situation. Tetsuo breaks open the underground cryogenic chamber and frees Akira, who turns out to be an ordinary-looking little boy. The terror of seeing Akira causes one of the Colonel's men to declare a state of emergency that causes massive panic in Neo-Tokyo. The Colonel himself tries to use SOL,

13035-557: The basic idea of individuals with superhuman powers, especially psychokinetic abilities. However, these are not central to the story, which instead concerns itself with character, societal pressures and political machination. Motifs common in the manga include youth alienation, government corruption and inefficiency, and a military grounded in old-fashioned Japanese honor, displeased with the compromises of modern society. Jenny Kwok Wah Lau writes in Multiple Modernities that Akira

13200-451: The bikers launch their assault on the stadium, Tetsuo returns from his battle with Kei. As his powers continue growing, Tetsuo's body begins involuntarily morphing, and his cybernetic arm is destroyed as his original arm regrows. He then faces Yamada's team but absorbs their biological attacks and temporarily regains control of his powers. Tetsuo kills Yamada and the commandos; he also eludes the Colonel's attempts to kill him by guiding SOL with

13365-402: The book in 2007. In 2002, Warner Bros. acquired rights to create an American live action film of Akira . Since the initial announcement, a number of directors, producers and writers have been reported to be attached to the film, starting with Stephen Norrington (writer/director) and Jon Peters (producer). By 2017, it was announced Taika Waititi would officially serve as the director of

13530-477: The buildings and the rest of the backgrounds with a Rotring pen and a ruler. Otomo would complete the rough draft two days before his deadline. He would spend half a day drawing the characters, then finish the buildings by adding dust, crevices and cracks to windows. Otomo estimated that they would finish the final rough draft at 5 a.m. on Sunday, ink the characters by 7 p.m., and then submit the completed chapter at 8 a.m. Monday morning. When Otomo began production on

13695-629: The characters, especially the protagonist, going through monstrous, incomprehensible metamorphoses in an industrial setting. Many of these films have scenes that fall into the experimental film genre; they often involve purely abstract or visual sequences that may or may not relate to the characters and plot. Recurring themes include: mutation, technology, dehumanization, repression and sexual deviance. In contrast to Western cyberpunk which has roots in New Wave science fiction literature, Japanese cyberpunk has roots in underground music culture, specifically

13860-424: The classical designs of the early skyscrapers , instead embracing the uniform international style ; many older skyscrapers were redesigned to suit contemporary tastes or even demolished—such as New York's Singer Building , once the world's tallest skyscraper. German -American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century. He conceived

14025-620: The console's worst games. In 2002, Bandai released a pinball simulation titled Akira Psycho Ball for the PlayStation 2 . On June 9, 1995, Kodansha released Akira Club , a compilation of various materials related to the production of the series. These include test designs of the paperback volume covers, title pages as they appeared in Young Magazine , images of various related merchandise and commentary by Otomo. Dark Horse collaborated with Kodansha to release an English-translated version of

14190-644: The creation of a significant number of early skyscrapers, though none of these were steel reinforced and few remain today. Height limits and fire restrictions were later introduced. In the late 1800s, London builders found building heights limited due to issues with existing buildings. High-rise development in London is restricted at certain sites if it would obstruct protected views of St Paul's Cathedral and other historic buildings. This policy, 'St Paul's Heights', has officially been in operation since 1927. Concerns about aesthetics and fire safety had likewise hampered

14355-537: The destitute refugees, and the Great Tokyo Empire, a group of zealots led by Tetsuo with Akira as a figurehead; both worshiped as deities for performing "miracles." The Empire constantly harasses Lady Miyako's group and kills any intruders with Tetsuo's psychic shock troops. Kiyoko and Masaru become targets for the Empire's fanatical soldiers: Kei, Chiyoko, the Colonel, and Kai, a former member of Kaneda's gang, ally themselves with Lady Miyako to protect them. Yamada eventually becomes affiliated with Ryu and updates him on how

14520-632: The development of skyscrapers across continental Europe for the first half of the 20th century. By 1940, there were around 100 high-rise buildings in Europe ( List of early skyscrapers ). Some examples of these are the 43 m (141 ft) tall 1898 Witte Huis (White House) in Rotterdam ; the 51.5 m (169 ft) tall PAST Building (1906–1908) in Warsaw ; the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, completed in 1911 and 90 m (300 ft) high;

14685-402: The early 1960s Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan , considered the "father of tubular designs " for high-rises, discovered that the dominating rigid steel frame structure was not the only system apt for tall buildings, marking a new era of skyscraper construction in terms of multiple structural systems . His central innovation in skyscraper design and construction

14850-416: The environment and loaded structures with decorative elements and extravagant finishes. This approach to design was opposed by Fazlur Khan and he considered the designs to be whimsical rather than rational. Moreover, he considered the work to be a waste of precious natural resources. Khan's work promoted structures integrated with architecture and the least use of material resulting in the smallest impact on

15015-454: The environment. The next era of skyscrapers will focus on the environment including performance of structures, types of material, construction practices, absolute minimal use of materials/natural resources, embodied energy within the structures, and more importantly, a holistically integrated building systems approach. Modern building practices regarding supertall structures have led to the study of "vanity height". Vanity height, according to

15180-613: The film adaptation was published between August 29 and December 6, 1988, with newly painted covers by Otomo. The colored version created for America by Marvel Comics was published in Japan in 12 volumes between October 7, 1988, and September 20, 1996. Otomo and Kodansha's Yasumasa Shimizu visited New York City in 1983 to meet with Archie Goodwin of Marvel Comics , who had seen Akira and wanted to publish it in America. Shimizu said that Kodansha had received offers from many other publishers, including

15345-480: The final 3 paperbacks and planned sixth hardcover volume were never published. British publisher Reed began releasing full color versions of the six Akira volumes in 1994. A partially colorized version was serialized in British comic/magazine Manga Mania in the early to mid-'90s. A new edition of Akira was published in six paperback volumes from 2000 to 2002 by Dark Horse Comics in North America and Titan Books in

15510-491: The first 5 or 6 issues, Oliff said he was given free rein. Oliff persuaded Marvel to use computer coloring. The coloring was more subtle than that seen before and far beyond the capabilities of Japanese technology of the time. It played an important part in Akira ' s success in Western markets, and revolutionized the way comics were colorized. Coloring lasted from 1988 to 1994, being delayed by Otomo's work on Steamboy . Akira

15675-523: The first building in the world to feature a metal-framed glass curtain wall , a design element which creates light, airy interiors and has since been used the world over as a defining feature of skyscrapers". Further developments led to what many individuals and organizations consider the world's first skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built in 1884–1885. While its original height of 42.1 m (138 ft) does not even qualify as

15840-401: The first manga works to be translated in its entirety into English. It is currently published by Kodansha Comics in North America. Considered a watershed title for the medium, the manga is also famous for spawning the seminal 1988 cyberpunk anime film adaptation of the same name and the greater franchise . Set in a post-apocalyptic and futuristic "Neo-Tokyo", more than three decades after

16005-463: The first volume had a "hot" red cover, Otomo felt volume two should have a "cool" one. Its back cover image was created using video, and he said he ruined Kodansha's VCR by repeatedly changing the color balance to get it right. Following the American and European cover images of the previous two volumes, Otomo felt the third should have an Asian one and so included the signs in its background. Its back cover

16170-591: The first volume of Akira became publisher Kodansha's first manga to receive a 100th printing. At a price of ¥1,000 in Japan and $ 24.95 overseas, the manga tankōbon volumes grossed estimated revenues of ¥ 2 billion ( $ 16 million ) in Japan and $ 125 million overseas, for an estimated total of $ 141 million grossed worldwide. During its run, the seinen manga magazine where it was first serialized, Weekly Young Magazine , experienced an increase in its weekly circulation, from 1 million in 1986 to 1.5 million in 1990. At an average manga magazine price of ¥180 at

16335-494: The font Thick Textbook, chosen by Otomo for its ease of understanding and impact. After getting tired of this logo and having entered "Chapter 2" a few chapters previously, he used English in Broadway for chapter 36 because he wanted an Art Deco feel. However, Otomo did not like it when he saw the magazine and for chapters 37–48 he changed the font to a different Art Deco-style and wrote his name in English as "OHTOMO KATSUHIRO". Otomo

16500-409: The fonts actually used do not match the above named typefaces . Otomo was meticulous in creating the collected tankōbon ' volumes of Akira , often leading to them being released late. During serialization he faced not only schedule deadlines but also page limits and would have to cut content in order to fit said limit. He therefore would draw rough designs of what he actually "wanted" to draw in

16665-471: The glass façade skyscraper and, along with Norwegian Fred Severud , designed the Seagram Building in 1958, a skyscraper that is often regarded as the pinnacle of modernist high-rise architecture. Skyscraper construction surged throughout the 1960s. The impetus behind the upswing was a series of transformative innovations which made it possible for people to live and work in "cities in the sky". In

16830-513: The group's older brother who was being used by the government in psychic experiments, with the older brother eventually unleashing a destructive "fireball" of energy (the story may have drawn inspiration from Alfred Bester 's 1953 novel The Demolished Man ). Otomo used a science-fiction setting again the following year in Domu , which won the Nihon SF Taisho Award and Seiun Award and became

16995-465: The hundred-story John Hancock Center and the massive 442 m (1,450 ft) Willis Tower . Other pioneers of this field include Hal Iyengar , William LeMessurier , and Minoru Yamasaki , the architect of the World Trade Center . Many buildings designed in the 70s lacked a particular style and recalled ornamentation from earlier buildings designed before the 50s. These design plans ignored

17160-402: The important scenes." When it started, he was drawing 20 pages a chapter, for a total of 40 pages a month. Otomo began the process for each chapter by fully completing the first page as practice. In order to save time, he did not bother with character-pose sketches or the like; he drew directly onto the page he was submitting to the editors. After he drew each page, his assistant inked the lines of

17325-408: The late 1990s, such as Ghost in the Shell and Armitage III . Yamada also said that "Otomo jacked into his generation's frustration with society, in the wake of the defeat of Japan's liberal student movement, and created an epic that, in true Japanese fashion, processed societal trauma through cataclysmic visual symbolism." Writing for The Japan Times , Matt Schley said "For many readers, Akira

17490-446: The live-action adaptation, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Michael Golamco . Warner Bros. planned to distribute the film on May 21, 2021, but after Waititi was officially confirmed to both direct and write Thor: Love and Thunder , the film was put on hold and removed from the release slot. On July 4, 2019, Bandai Namco Entertainment announced an anime television series to be made by Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks). Akira

17655-454: The lower levels of a skyscraper will be much larger than the material required within higher levels. This is not always visually apparent. The Empire State Building 's setbacks are actually a result of the building code at the time ( 1916 Zoning Resolution ), and were not structurally required. On the other hand, John Hancock Center 's shape is uniquely the result of how it supports loads. Vertical supports can come in several types, among which

17820-419: The manga form in which his career began. Katherine Dacey of MangaBookshelf called Akira one of manga's "greatest sci-fi epics." She also noted how Tetsuo and Kaneda seem like real teenage boys in the manga, not generic action figures like in the film's "grossly" simplified depiction of their relationship. Although stating that Akira ' s plot was still as topical as ever in the year 2009, Dacey felt that

17985-479: The margins of the chapters' manuscripts so that he would remember when time came to redraw the collected volume. He also had to make alterations in the collected volumes due to all the chapter title pages being removed, for example to make sure two-page spreads ended up on opposing pages. He wanted everything about the collected volumes, including the page count and paintings, to give a deep and full American comics feel. The covers are entirely in English, but he said this

18150-425: The middle of the story and wanted to do that with Akira . Mark Schilling reported that Otomo has also cited influence from the 1977 live-action film Star Wars on his series. With Akira , Otomo wanted to "dig deeper into [his] issues" with speed and flow, telling a story with as few words as possible, "edit it to gain that sense of speed and make people read it faster, and at the same time make them stop cold at

18315-674: The most common for skyscrapers can be categorized as steel frames, concrete cores, tube within tube design, and shear walls. The wind loading on a skyscraper is also considerable. In fact, the lateral wind load imposed on supertall structures is generally the governing factor in the structural design. Wind pressure increases with height, so for very tall buildings, the loads associated with wind are larger than dead or live loads. Other vertical and horizontal loading factors come from varied, unpredictable sources, such as earthquakes. By 1895, steel had replaced cast iron as skyscrapers' structural material. Its malleability allowed it to be formed into

18480-435: The most complex encountered given the balances required between economics , engineering , and construction management. One common feature of skyscrapers is a steel framework from which curtain walls are suspended, rather than load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Most skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables them to be built taller than typical load-bearing walls of reinforced concrete. Skyscrapers usually have

18645-506: The most prominently throughout. Written and illustrated by Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira was serialized biweekly in Kodansha's Young Magazine from December 20, 1982, to June 25, 1990. While drawing the manga, Otomo began work on an anime film adaptation, leading to a lengthy break between chapters 87 on April 20, 1987, and 88 on November 21, 1988. Otomo agreed to a film adaptation of the work, provided he retained creative control. This insistence

18810-420: The newly established Viz Media , but Otomo chose Goodwin because he was really close to French artists that Otomo was a fan of. Otomo did not want Akira to be seen as some "strange thing from Japan," leading to a meticulous and now-"unimaginable" process of altering the art and coloring to make it accessible to American audiences. Because Japanese manga is read right-to-left, the artwork had to be flipped to read

18975-450: The other way. But the process was not as simple as mirroring, backgrounds had to be redone in order to remove the Japanese sound effects and reshape the word balloons to fit the Roman alphabet. So Otomo went in and made substantial retouches and adjustments that are specific to the American version. Japanese manga is largely in black and white, but it was decided to fully color the artwork in

19140-406: The performance of structures, types of materials, construction practices, absolute minimal use of materials and natural resources, energy within the structure, and a holistically integrated building systems approach. LEED is a current green building standard. Architecturally, with the movements of Postmodernism , New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture , that established since the 1980s,

19305-413: The plot considerably, but retained many of the manga's primary characters and plot elements alongside additional scenes, settings, and motifs . The film was similarly lauded and has served as a significant influence to the anime industry and sci-fi media as a whole. The adaptation also marked Otomo's transition from a career primarily in manga to one almost exclusively in anime. Akira was instrumental in

19470-719: The price of steel decreased and labor costs increased. The steel frames become inefficient and uneconomic for supertall buildings as usable floor space is reduced for progressively larger supporting columns. Since about 1960, tubular designs have been used for high rises. This reduces the usage of material (more efficient in economic terms – Willis Tower uses a third less steel than the Empire State Building) yet allows greater height. It allows fewer interior columns, and so creates more usable floor space. It further enables buildings to take on various shapes. Elevators are characteristic to skyscrapers. In 1852 Elisha Otis introduced

19635-452: The reader without it feeling forced. For the back cover photograph, a life-size kiosk featuring numerous Akira goods was constructed in Kodansha's studio with cooperation from Sudo Art Workshop and a stage manager from Nikkatsu . Construction, which included two fluorescent signs (cropped out of the final image) and handmade newspapers, and shooting took three days. Akira , like some of Otomo's other works (such as Domu ), revolves around

19800-537: The recent psychic events in Neo-Tokyo, forming Project Juvenile A. Ryu has a falling out with Yamada after learning that he plans to use biological weapons to assassinate Tetsuo and Akira; Yamada later meets up with his arriving commando team. Akira and Tetsuo hold a rally at the Olympic Stadium to demonstrate their powers to the Empire, culminating with Tetsuo tearing a massive hole in the Moon's surface and encircling it with

19965-402: The rush for new technology. Akira ' s central image of characters aimlessly roaming the streets on motorbikes is seen to represent the futility of the quest for self-knowledge. The work also focuses on loss, with all characters in some form orphaned and having no sense of history. The landscapes depicted are ruinous, with old Tokyo represented only by a dark crater. The nihilistic nature of

20130-474: The safety elevator at the E. V. Haughwout Building in New York City, allowing convenient and safe transport to buildings' upper floors. Otis later introduced the first commercial passenger elevators to the Equitable Life Building in 1870, considered by some architectural historians to be the first skyscraper. Another crucial development was the use of a steel frame instead of stone or brick, otherwise

20295-643: The safety elevator, allowing convenient and safe passenger movement to upper floors. Another crucial development was the use of a steel frame instead of stone or brick, otherwise the walls on the lower floors on a tall building would be too thick to be practical. Today major manufacturers of elevators include Otis , ThyssenKrupp , Schindler , and KONE . Advances in construction techniques have allowed skyscrapers to narrow in width, while increasing in height. Some of these new techniques include mass dampers to reduce vibrations and swaying, and gaps to allow air to pass through, reducing wind shear. Good structural design

20460-468: The scientists and do battle with American fighter jets. Eventually, Tetsuo takes over the ship and launches a nuclear weapon over the ocean. Kei—accepting the role of a medium controlled by Lady Miyako and the Espers—arrives and battles Tetsuo. Meanwhile, Kaneda, Kai, Joker, and their small army of bikers arrive at the Olympic Stadium to begin their all-out assault on the Great Tokyo Empire. As Kaneda and

20625-432: The series a rating of three out of five, calling Akira a must-read for anyone interested in manga. While most of the character designs and basic settings were directly adapted from the original manga, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, changing much of the second half of the series. The film Akira is regarded by many critics as a landmark anime film: one that influenced much of

20790-408: The series. The image model for the character Akira was Shōryū from Saiyūki (1960). Otomo liked his sorrowful expression and used him as a reference after deciding to make Akira a child. While editing his film Jiyū wo Warera ni , Otomo would often hear someone in the studio next door yell "Akira!", which he took to be the name of the assistant director. Because in the film industry the name "Akira"

20955-428: The story gradually as he wrote. Mitsuteru Yokoyama 's manga series Tetsujin 28-go (1956–1966) had particular influence on Akira , as Otomo wanted to pay homage to the children's manga. He explained, "the grand plot for Akira is about an ultimate weapon developed during wartime and found during a more peaceful era. So the accidents and story develop around that ultimate weapon. If you know, Tetsujin 28-go then this

21120-418: The subgenre. Akira inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk works, including manga and anime series such as Ghost in the Shell , Battle Angel Alita , Cowboy Bebop , and Serial Experiments Lain . Cyberpunk anime and manga have been influential on global popular culture , inspiring numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television and video games. Japanese cyberpunk generally involves

21285-525: The surge in popularity of manga outside Japan, especially in the United States and France. The manga won several awards, including the Kodansha Manga Award , a Harvey Award , and four Eisner Awards . On December 6, 1982, an apparent nuclear explosion destroys Tokyo and starts World War III . By 2019, a new city called Neo-Tokyo has been built on artificial islands in Tokyo Bay . Although Neo-Tokyo

21450-485: The surviving parties of Neo-Tokyo. Kaneda and his friends confront them, declaring the city's sovereignty as the Great Tokyo Empire and warning them that Akira still lives. Kaneda and Kei meet up with the Colonel and part ways as friends. As Kaneda and Kei ride through Neo-Tokyo with their followers, they are joined by ghostly visions of Tetsuo and Yamagata. They also see the city shedding its ruined façade, returning to its former splendor. I wanted to draw this story set in

21615-458: The terrorists get wind of the Colonel's project and a mysterious figure connected with it known as "Akira." They hope to use this leaked information and try to restrict Kaneda's movements because of his involvement with their activities. However, when Tetsuo and the Clowns begin a violent citywide turf war, Kaneda instigates a counter-attack that unites all of Neo-Tokyo's biker gangs against Tetsuo. While

21780-498: The time, the 120 issues serializing Akira sold an estimated total of 120–180 million copies and grossed an estimated ¥22–32 billion ( $ 170–250 million ). Akira has won much recognition in the industry, including the 1984 Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga. Fans in the United Kingdom voted it Favourite Comic at the 1990 Eagle Awards . It won a Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material in 1993, and

21945-438: The title for six years. The design and construction of skyscrapers involves creating safe, habitable spaces in very tall buildings. The buildings must support their weight, resist wind and earthquakes, and protect occupants from fire. Yet they must also be conveniently accessible, even on the upper floors, and provide utilities and a comfortable climate for the occupants. The problems posed in skyscraper design are considered among

22110-476: The transformation experienced in adolescent passage. The latter is best represented in the work by the morphing experienced by characters. Susan J. Napier identified this morphing and metamorphosis as a factor that marks the work as postmodern : "a genre which suggests that identity is in constant fluctuation." She also sees the work as an attack on the Japanese establishment, arguing that Otomo satirizes aspects of Japanese culture: in particular, schooling and

22275-687: The tube frame must be interrupted, with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity. Tube structures cut down costs, at the same time allowing buildings to reach greater heights. Concrete tube-frame construction was first used in the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building , completed in Chicago in 1963, and soon after in the John Hancock Center and World Trade Center . The tubular systems are fundamental to tall building design. Most buildings over 40 stories constructed since

22440-474: The tube structure was the Chestnut De-Witt apartment building, considered to be a major development in modern architecture. These new designs opened an economic door for contractors, engineers, architects, and investors, providing vast amounts of real estate space on minimal plots of land. Over the next fifteen years, many towers were built by Fazlur Rahman Khan and the " Second Chicago School ", including

22605-472: The upper rented to the lower classes. Surviving Oxyrhynchus Papyri indicate that seven-stories buildings existed in provincial towns such as in 3rd century AD Hermopolis in Roman Egypt . The skylines of many important medieval cities had large numbers of high-rise urban towers, built by the wealthy for defense and status. The residential Towers of 12th century Bologna numbered between 80 and 100 at

22770-460: The walls on the lower floors on a tall building would be too thick to be practical. An early development in this area was Oriel Chambers in Liverpool , England, built in 1864. It was only five floors high. The Royal Academy of Arts states, "critics at the time were horrified by its 'large agglomerations of protruding plate glass bubbles'. In fact, it was a precursor to Modernist architecture, being

22935-604: The weight of the building. This development led to the "Chicago skeleton" form of construction. In addition to the steel frame, the Home Insurance Building also utilized fireproofing, elevators, and electrical wiring, key elements in most skyscrapers today. Burnham and Root 's 45 m (148 ft) Rand McNally Building in Chicago, 1889, was the first all-steel framed skyscraper, while Louis Sullivan 's 41 m (135 ft) Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri, 1891,

23100-495: The work is felt by Napier to tie into a wider theme of pessimism present in Japanese fantasy literature of the 1980s. According to Dolores P. Martinez, the serial nature of the work influenced the storyline structure, allowing for numerous sub-plots, a large cast, and an extended middle sequence. This allowed for a focus on destructive imagery and afforded Otomo the chance to portray a strong sense of movement. The work has no consistent main character, but Kaneda and Tetsuo are featured

23265-414: The world has reacted to the events in Neo-Tokyo; they later learn that an American naval fleet lingers nearby. Tetsuo becomes heavily dependent on government-issued pills to quell his headaches. Seeking answers, he visits Lady Miyako at her temple and is given a comprehensive history of the government project that unleashed Akira. Miyako advises Tetsuo to quit the pills to become more powerful; Tetsuo begins

23430-814: The world have more than 100 skyscrapers that are 150 m (492 ft) or taller: Hong Kong with 552 skyscrapers; Shenzhen , China with 373 skyscrapers; New York City , US with 314 skyscrapers; Dubai , UAE with 252 skyscrapers; Guangzhou , China with 188 skyscrapers; Shanghai , China with 183 skyscrapers; Tokyo , Japan with 168 skyscrapers; Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia with 156 skyscrapers; Wuhan , China with 149 skyscrapers; Chongqing , China, with 144 skyscrapers; Chicago , US, with 137 skyscrapers; Chengdu , China with 117 skyscrapers; Jakarta , Indonesia , with 112 skyscrapers; Bangkok , Thailand , with 111 skyscrapers, and Mumbai , India with 102. As of 2024, there are over 7 thousand skyscrapers over 150 m (492 ft) in height worldwide. The term "skyscraper"

23595-648: The world's tallest building for forty years. The first completed 417 m (1,368 ft) tall World Trade Center tower became the world's tallest building in 1972. However, it was overtaken by the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower ) in Chicago within two years. The 442 m (1,450 ft) tall Sears Tower stood as the world's tallest building for 24 years, from 1974 until 1998, until it was edged out by 452 m (1,483 ft) Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which held

23760-432: The world's tallest building, New York took the lead by 1895 with the completion of the 103 m (338 ft) tall American Surety Building , leaving New York with the title of the world's tallest building for many years. Modern skyscrapers are built with steel or reinforced concrete frameworks and curtain walls of glass or polished stone . They use mechanical equipment such as water pumps and elevators . Since

23925-470: The world, although only partially iron framed, is The Flaxmill in Shrewsbury , England. Built in 1797, it is seen as the "grandfather of skyscrapers", since its fireproof combination of cast iron columns and cast iron beams developed into the modern steel frame that made modern skyscrapers possible. In 2013 funding was confirmed to convert the derelict building into offices. In 1857, Elisha Otis introduced

24090-650: The years immediately following World War II. Early examples include Edificio España (Spain) and Torre Breda (Italy). From the 1930s onward, skyscrapers began to appear in various cities in East and Southeast Asia as well as in Latin America . Finally, they also began to be constructed in cities in Africa , the Middle East , South Asia , and Oceania from the late 1950s. Skyscraper projects after World War II typically rejected

24255-400: Was Burst City (1982). Since its release, it has had a strong effect on the underground Japanese film scene. It starred Shigeru Izumiya , who would, four years later, go on to direct his own cyberpunk film, Death Powder , in 1986. The early short films of Shinya Tsukamoto , such as The Adventures Of Electric Rod Boy (1987) and The Phantom of Regular Size (1986) (which Tetsuo was

24420-490: Was a revelation. Each panel features a head-spinning amount of detail, and Otomo, an avowed film buff, keeps things moving at a breathless, cinematic pace." In her book The Fantastic in Japanese Literature , Susan J. Napier described the work as a "no holds barred enjoyment of fluidity and chaos". Akira cemented Otomo's reputation and the success of the animated adaptation allowed him to concentrate on film rather than

24585-532: Was an influential biker film , with a punk biker gang aesthetic that paved the way for Katsuhiro Otomo 's Akira . Ishii's next film was the frenetic Shuffle (1981), an unofficial short film adaptation of a manga comic strip by Otomo. According to Paul Gravett , when Akira began to be published, cyberpunk literature had not yet been translated into Japanese, Otomo has distinct inspirations such as Mitsuteru Yokoyama 's manga series Tetsujin 28-go (1956–1966) and Moebius . Ishii's most influential film

24750-603: Was based on his experiences working on Harmagedon . The film was released theatrically in Japan in July 1988, and followed by limited theatrical releases in various Western territories from 1989 to 1991. Even when Young Magazine became a weekly publication in 1989, Otomo and Akira retained a biweekly schedule. The 120 chapters and more than 2,000 pages were collected and released in six tankōbon ' volumes by publisher Kodansha between September 21, 1984, and March 23, 1993. A five-volume anime comic version created using scenes from

24915-611: Was first applied to buildings of steel-framed construction of at least 10 stories in the late 19th century, a result of public amazement at the tall buildings being built in major American cities like New York City , Philadelphia , Boston , Chicago , Detroit , and St. Louis . The first steel-frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building , originally 10 stories with a height of 42 m or 138 ft, in Chicago in 1885; two additional stories were added. Some point to Philadelphia's 10-story Jayne Building (1849–50) as

25080-424: Was in 17th-century Edinburgh , Scotland, where a defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the old town of Edinburgh. The oldest iron framed building in

25245-473: Was like when I was younger. The ideas naturally flowed out from my own memories.  —Katsuhiro Otomo, on the birth of Akira Kodansha had been repeatedly asking Katsuhiro Otomo to write a series for their new manga magazine Young Magazine for some time, but he was busy with other work for another publisher and turned them down. After finishing Kanojo no Omoide... (1980) and Farewell to Weapons (1981) for Young Magazine , he started thinking of

25410-534: Was nominated for a Harvey for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work in 2002. In 2002, Akira won the Eisner Awards for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material and Best Archival Collection. The 35th anniversary edition won Best Archival Collection again at the 2018 Eisner Awards, in addition to Best Publication Design. Akira is credited with having introduced both manga and anime to Western audiences. According to Kodansha USA's Naho Yamada, " Akira ignited

25575-465: Was not with an eye towards global distribution, he simply "had this incredible enthusiasm to just try to make something new." With its all-English cover, B5 size and painted page edges, the first volume of Akira caused a sensation in Japan. Otomo painted the cover illustration of the first volume very thick, while its inside cover illustration was influenced by Tetsuji Fukushima's manga Sabaku no Maō and how he used colors like American comics. Because

25740-409: Was often drawing Art Deco-styled skyscrapers on the title pages at this time, but that stopped when Neo Tokyo is destroyed in the story, at which point the logo changed again and he removed the "H" from his surname. The fourth logo for Akira , used for chapters 49–71, returned to using katakana and was created by manga artist Hiroshi Hirata as Otomo wanted a Japanese calligraphy -style. Otomo's name

25905-451: Was originally designed to be an old man, but Otomo felt that was too ordinary and "a little boring" and came up with the idea for an old lady, which then became a large old lady. The character grew on him as he drew and she ended up with a greater role than he originally planned. The logo for the manga changed several times throughout its serialization, including switching between Japanese and English. The first 35 chapters used katakana in

26070-513: Was planning to adapt it into a film since 2000. It was an influence on his TV series Dark Angel , and he is the producer of the 2018 film adaptation Alita: Battle Angel . Comic book artist André Lima Araújo cited cyberpunk manga and anime such as Akira , Ghost in the Shell , Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop as a major influence on his work, which includes Marvel Comics such as Age of Ultron , Avengers A.I. , Spider-Verse and The Inhumans . Skyscraper A skyscraper

26235-414: Was published in the United States in 1988, followed by Spain in 1990, France and Italy by 1991, and then Germany, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Brazil. It was reported by Critique international that by 2000 Akira had sold 7 million copies worldwide, including 2 million in Japan and 5 million overseas. As of 2005, Akira has been published in more than a dozen languages worldwide. In 2020,

26400-409: Was released on September 14, 1984, significantly exceeded sales expectations, with its print run increasing from an initial 30,000 copies up to nearly 300,000 copies within two weeks, becoming the number-one best-seller in Japan before eventually selling about 500,000 copies. By 1988, Akira had sold approximately 2 million copies in Japan, from four volumes averaging about 500,000 copies each. The manga

26565-427: Was still written in English until chapter 55. Having come to the "final chapter" of the series, Otomo figured he should change the logo again and went with an English font similar to Impact for the title and his name for chapters 72–120. He had already been using Impact with the top "trimmed off", which gives a dignified and American comics feel, for the covers of the collected volumes. However, some fans believe some of

26730-454: Was the concept of the "tube" structural system , including the "framed tube", "trussed tube", and "bundled tube". His "tube concept", using all the exterior wall perimeter structure of a building to simulate a thin-walled tube, revolutionized tall building design. These systems allow greater economic efficiency, and also allow skyscrapers to take on various shapes, no longer needing to be rectangular and box-shaped. The first building to employ

26895-596: Was the first steel-framed building with soaring vertical bands to emphasize the height of the building and is therefore considered to be the first early skyscraper. In 1889, the Mole Antonelliana in Italy was 197 m (549 ft) tall. Most early skyscrapers emerged in the land-strapped areas of New York City and Chicago toward the end of the 19th century. A land boom in Melbourne , Australia between 1888 and 1891 spurred

27060-578: Was the first comic in the world to be colored digitally, using computers. Its release in color led to the widespread adoption of computer coloring in comics and Oliff's work on Akira earned him three consecutive Harvey Awards for Best Colorist (1990–1992) and the first Eisner Award for Best Coloring (1992). Akira began being published in the American comic book format in the United States in 1988 by Epic Comics , an imprint of Marvel Comics. This colorized version ended its 38-issue run in 1995. Delays in

27225-440: Was the first to feature an event actually related to the content inside the book. Its back cover features an Otomo-designed decorative bamboo rake that cost 2 million yen to make and features a custom made Miyako doll and mecha models. Otomo felt the sixth cover had to be cool because it was the final one, and as a result it went through the most number of rough designs as he had to really work to get Kaneda's line of sight towards

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