Kodansha Comics made a pretty welcome announcement at the Emerald City Comiccon this weekend in revelaing that they’ll be bringing out a 35th aniversary box set of the Akira manga from Katsuhiro Otomo. The set will have the six compiled volumes as well as the Akira Club art book in hardcover format. The release overall is a big one as it marks the first time that the series will be unflopped in North America and with the original Japanese sound effects. Previous editions were done with Otomo’s desire to see it presented in a way that English-speaking readers would understand it better. The set will be priced at $199.99 when it lands in 2017.
Plot concept: 1988: It is World War III. Tokyo is decimated by a mysterious black explosion, unmatched in magnitude.
2019: Fast forward 31 years. Neo-Tokyo, hastily built on the ruins of old Tokyo, is a sprawling cityscape of neon extravaganza. It is a fusion of towering skyscrapers and cutting-edge technology that is permeated through and through with an explosive, hyper-violent cocktail of biker gangs, poverty, and revolutionaries. In this derelict metropolis live Tetsuo Shima and Shoutarou Kaneda, two bikers who are the best of friends and the fiercest of rivals, despite being affiliated with the same gang. Desperate to prove himself as Kaneda’s equal, Tetsuo unwittingly pulls a stunt that culminates in the awakening of a cryptic existence that threatens to change both the face of Neo Tokyo and the lives of those who call the city their home—the awakening of a government secret simply known as Akira.
