Akira Creator Pays Surprise Series’ Special L.A. Art Exhibit

Katsuhiro Otomo was an extremely busy man during his visit to Los Angeles for the annual anime convention, Anime Expo. After announcing the continuation of the Akira franchise with a new anime series, his third feature length film in the form of Orbital Era, and the upcoming release of a 4K edition of Akira, Otomo still managed to fit in a surprise series with an L.A. Art Exhibit. Bringing entirely new artwork to Los Angeles, the franchise Akira has never been as popular as it is right now and we didn’t even mention the live action movie!

Twitter User Deb Aoki posted pictures from the exhibit that put the legendary anime franchise in the spotlight once again:

The exhibit showed off a ton of great new artwork from the legendary anime, including original drawings from the manga as well as a brand new poster for Akira that was signed by Katushiro Otomo himself. Whether or not any of these art pieces will actually go up for sale is still up in the air, but we couldn’t think of a better time to start putting these up for sale than now with the anime that “started it all” trending so much in the news!

The Akira manga ran for six volumes from 1982 to 1990, covering a wealth of material that the original film didn’t get the chance to touch upon. With the upcoming “sequel series” to the franchise, it’s clear that Otomo wanted to portray even more of the spectacular story on the screen in animation. Whether or not there will be any new material created specifically for the returning anime is yet to be seen, but with Otomo confirming that he will also be at the helm of the anime itself, it would clearly fall under his vision for the franchise regardless.

What’s your favorite piece of art from the Akira themed art show exhibit? What piece of Akira news from Anime Expo are you most excited for? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime!

Originally created by Katsuhiro Otomo for Kodansha’s Young Magazine in 1982, Akira later inspired the equally as prolific 1988 animated film, which Otomo himself directed. The story is set in a dystopian world following the bleak close of World War III. A gang leader known as Kaneda finds himself embroiled in a massive government operation when his best friend begins exhibiting powerful telekinetic gifts. To save his friend, Kaneda must get to the bottom of Neo Tokyo’s espers, but the lead quickly learns he is way in over his head.