After 36 years, Akira's manga still offers one of cyberpunk's best endings

Cyberpunk often leaves room for a glimmer of hope. Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 film Akira became a cornerstone of the genre, yet it was adapted from a manga that only finished serialization on June 25, 1990, and the two versions take different paths to their conclusions.

Both works follow teen biker Tetsuo Shima and his friend Shotaro Kaneda, but the manga expands its cast and shifts focus away from Kaneda at times. Manga-Tetsuo feels more complex and ruthless, driven by childhood trauma and dependence on esper-suppressing drugs, and Otomo awakens Akira from cryogenic sleep in Volume 3 rather than treating him as a distant MacGuffin.

The film condenses the unfinished story into a tighter arc: Tetsuo mutates, triggers a cataclysm, and Kaneda briefly enters a new dimension where their shared childhood is recalled with tender nostalgia, a bittersweet final image that nevertheless suggests renewal amid ruins.

akira, katsuhiro otomo, tetsuo shima, shotaro kaneda, manga, film, cyberpunk, esper, cryogenic sleep, serialization