BY KATSUHIRO OTOMO

CHAPTERS

CYCLE WARS
 —
and putting a stop to
WHAT HAS Trouble ensues, and both
it

GONE delinquents and resistance

fighters again mcounter
BEFORE Number 2G, Ryu attempts to
reassure the paranormal boy, but
Kaneda is anxious to punish
him for injuring Tetsuo. As they
argue, mysterious soldiers
pursuing Number 26 reach the
scene, anned and ready A fire-
fight results.

year 2D30. The Then the ominous Colonel in

The world is
is

rebuilding from charge of the covert operation

World War III In Neo- appears with a secret weapon-
Tokyo, plans are being made to Number 27, a crippled para-

hold the next Olympics in the normal child named Masani.

"old cily"— where, ihirty-eight Masaru astonishes the resist-
years before, the first of the ance fighters by addressing

bombs fell. Number 28 as Takashi. Kay

aneda and his friends, and Ryu had previously assumed
teenage delinquents, make an that Number 26 was the
unauthorized motorcycle run into Colonel^ ultimate weapon-
the old city to check out the old Hie as-yet unseen paranormal
site. They encounter a terrified giaiTt code-named Akira.
child, known only as Number Kaneda provokes a crisis by
26. possessing extiaordiriary pretending to threaten Taka^i,
tIeKinenc abilities, Dunngttie who is exhibiting symptoms of

ncounrer. the paranormal boy drug withdrawal. Takashi

raveiv mures letsuo, one of responds with telekinetic
aneda s close friends. Tlien, tie
separated from the resistance
Tiie next maht. at Hanikiya, fighters, but he manages to
tough locai dive. Kaneda intercept and hide a pill meant
attempts, unsuccessfuilv, to pick forTdiashi.who is recaptured
ip a newcomer Kay in fact, she byttie Colonel's men.

!id her companion. Ryu, are The next day Tetsuo —who
of an underground resist- follortinc nsacc'dent™s taken

u group dedicated to learning to a iiospitcl by soldiers

j1 is happening in the old city reappears in school, seemingly

all right. However, during stolen dmg.
Tetsuo's treatment, the Colonel Kiyoko, another of the

has learned that the delinqjent psychic children under the

has great psychic potential. Colonel's control, announces to

Kaneda has a girltrierd in her master the disastrous news

the school infinnar/ analyze the that Akira—who is asleep, and
drug intended fnrTakashi, It is e>;pected lo remain so for so
similar in substance to pills l:mn i;: lining to awaken in the
Kaneda and his friends t.iin;. Vleanwhile, at the
but unbelievably coricenti deout, Kaneda
and powerful. I ghost- ike
1

Eager for action, Kaneda. himself shouting

Tetsuo and Iheir gang head out Akira's name.
for a rumble with their chief vvnen soldiers enter the
rivals—the vicious Clown gang. resistance hideout in foir*,
A member of the Clowns Kaneda and Kay manage
comers and begins to beai iscapetoHanikiva,
Tetsuo. Kaneda aid the rest of where the bartender agrees to
his frends rescue Tetsuo. wno
astonishes them, first by Ove whelmed by pain, Tetsuo
displaying an jncharactensiic breaks out of the Colonel's instal-

bloodthirstiness, and then m lation, leaving death in his wake

challenging Kaneda's authority. vvnen ne is cornered alone in

Determined not to let a new the street by the Clown Gang,

human weapon escape him. the Tetsuo uses his burgeoning

Colonel goes to the school the aughter those who

next day to collect Tetsuo. He takes control of

Under the trealrnents of the ting them live in

Colonel's chief medical ofririiir return for the massive amounts

Tetsuo begins lo exhibit of drugs required to stave off

powerful psychic abilities ..and to his agony

undergo great pain. Kaneda, anxious to recover
Ivlaanwhile, Kaneda, trying the motorcycle he 'eft behind
to spy on the Colonel and vhen '-e "|nined" the e.-jtance,
leain whaT is happuningto eludes Kay, He is neai.y caught
Tetsuo, re-encounters the by soldiers in the underground
members of the resistance, and lunnels. Kay gets to the lost bike
is brought back to their head- first, and when Kaneda joins
quarters. Questioned by Rvu, her, they are able to escape
he denies all knowledge of the again.

Takashi The Colonel

NEXT ISSUE; MY RIEND, MY ENEMY
 AKIRA
MORE SCENES FROM Tl IE ANIMATED FILM

In issuHfivenf our edition of 4feraws sliowed material

frum ihe arimatfid movio which had its premiere in Tokyo on July 16,

1988. On this and the page that follows, we're happy to

provide a further look at the film (the number one attraction in ils

opening week) which was storyboarded, written, and direcled

by the oreatorof /^A7re, Katsuhiro Dlomo.

Above: Telsuo lights a member ol the Clown gang. Note Ihat

Olomo has the malorcvcles shown with colored lires; this is a development
now believed being considered lor Ihe future by rnenulacturers.
BeIdw: one otHie cheracter designs lor Kancda.
 TbIsuo riding on a newly designed motorcycle.

Masaru, Numbei 27, Inside the government helicopter sesfchlng

tor his tcKouv lnula^^Takashi, Mumber 2B.

All (ilinms ms MASHTODM Co , LId./AKIHA Cijrmiillse

 W War in the streets. Neo-Tokvo ir the thirty-eighth year after V<kiM
War III shakes with the Sunder of careening motorcycles, rings with tlie clatter of brutal combat.
With chains, witli pipes, with ^e very machines they ride, members of the yojng fugitive Kaneda's
motorcycle gang move to avBiga themselves upon their nrthless rivals, the Clowns. Bjt the Clowns
have a new leader Tetsjo, Once Kaneda called him a friend. Now everyone calls liim a monster.
Altered hy forces he does not understand, Telsuo has become a psychic powered gianL >fe! for all

his power, he teeters on the brink ol madness, beyond control of even the mysterious government
forces who helped place him on this path in llie hope of countering someone even more deadly
even more threatening. Someone called . . . AKIRA.

KATSUHIRO OTOMO'S
 I l@Y<^ ym
I hu^ ym
I pr^j^m ym