Akira Vol. 04

Akira is an important manga that influenced a generation of Japanese and American creators. It debuted in Japan in 1984 and in the U.S. in 1989, and it has remained a perenial bestseller in both countries ever since. The anime film version of Akira is credited with changing the way animation was perceived in America, and interest in Akira has never been higher.

Suffering the fate that beset its namesake three decades earlier, twenty-first-century Neo-Tokyo lies in ruin. Set off by the bullet of a would-be assassin, the godlike telekinetic fury of the superhuman child Akira has once again demolished in seconds that which took decades and untold billions to build. Now cut off from the rest of the world, the Great Tokyo Empire rises, with Akira its king, the psychic juggernaut Tetsuo its mad prime minister, and a growing army of fanatic acolytes ready to go to any length to please their masters. Forces on the outside still search for a way to stop Akira, and the answer may lie in the hands of the mysterious Lady Miyako, a powerful member of Akira’s paranormal brotherhood. But the solution to harnessing Akira may ultimately be more dangerous than Akira himself.