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Katsuhiro Otomo’s Followers (883)

Katsuhiro Otomo

Born

in Hasama, Japan

April 14, 1954

Genre

Manga

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Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese manga artist, film director, and screenwriter. For his works in Japanese see 大友克洋. He is perhaps best known for being the creator of the manga Akira and its anime adaptation, which are extremely famous and influential. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the recent 2006 feature film adaptation of the Mushishi manga.

Katsuhiro Otomo was born in the former town of Hasama, in Miyagi Prefecture.

As a teenager growing up in the turbulent 1960s, he was surrounded by the demonstrations of both students and workers against the Japanese government. The riots, demonstrations, and overall chaotic conditions of this time would serve as the inspiration for his best known work, Akira. Some would argue th Katsuhiro Otomo is a Japanese manga artist, film director, and screenwriter. For his works in Japanese see 大友克洋. He is perhaps best known for being the creator of the manga Akira and its anime adaptation, which are extremely famous and influential. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the recent 2006 feature film adaptation of the Mushishi manga.

Katsuhiro Otomo was born in the former town of Hasama, in Miyagi Prefecture.

As a teenager growing up in the turbulent 1960s, he was surrounded by the demonstrations of both students and workers against the Japanese government. The riots, demonstrations, and overall chaotic conditions of this time would serve as the inspiration for his best known work, Akira. Some would argue that this seminal work is an allegory of 1960s Japan, and that one could easily substitute the year 2019 for 1969 and leave little difference in the basic story.

The animation from this period (especially the works coming out of Tokyo animation studios Mushi Production and Toei Doga, now known as TOEI Animation) were influencing young Otomo. Works like Tetsujin 28-go, Astro Boy, and Hols: Prince of the Sun would help push Otomo toward a career in animation. However, it was the films coming out of America that were driving his rebellious nature. Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider would serve as inspiration for Shotaro Kaneda and his biker gang in Akira: rebellious youth who took too many drugs and didn't care about authority or the pressures put on them by their parents' generation.

Otomo has recently worked extensively with noted studio Sunrise with the studio animating and producing his most recent projects, the 2004 feature film Steamboy, 2006's Freedom Project and his latest project, SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next, released in 2007.

Otomo grew up a fanatic of American blockbusters, which has influenced his cinematic style throughout his huge career. He grew fond of the work of artists like Moebius, and is often regarded as the person who brought a Westernized style into manga. From the late seventies onwards, Otomo created numerous volumes of anthologies and short stories, which usually ran at 23 pages each. Serialization for Fireball was cancelled, though the premise and themes were later to appear in the Sci-Fi Grand Prix award winning Domu and Akira. Otomo later moved onto directing and creating notable anime like the film adaption of Akira, Memories, and Steamboy. His most recent manga have been the scripting of Mother Sarah and the short story Park released in an issue of Pafu last year. He has also directed several live action films, such as World Apartment Horror, Give Us A Gun/Give Us Freedom, and the 2006 feature film adaptation of the Mushishi manga. ...more

Combine Editions
Katsuhiro Otomo’s books

Average rating: 4.39 · 131,539 ratings · 5,769 reviews · 316 distinct works • Similar authors

	Akira, Vol. 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon (Illustrator) 4.41 avg rating — 39,452 ratings — published 1984 — 37 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Akira, Vol. 2 by Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon 4.46 avg rating — 17,060 ratings — published 1984 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Akira, Vol. 3 4.45 avg rating — 14,723 ratings — published 1987 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Akira, Vol. 4 by Katsuhiro Otomo, Katsuhiro Otomo 4.47 avg rating — 13,277 ratings — published 1987 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Akira, Vol. 5 by Katsuhiro Otomo, Yoko Umezawa (Translator), Jo Duffy (Translator) 4.49 avg rating — 12,953 ratings — published 1990 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Akira, Vol. 6 by Katsuhiro Otomo, Yoko Umezawa (Translator), Jo Duffy (Translator) 4.52 avg rating — 12,278 ratings — published 1993 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Domu: A Child's Dream by Katsuhiro Otomo, Dana Lewis (Translator), Toren Smith (Translator) 4.09 avg rating — 2,372 ratings — published 1983 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Akira 4.68 avg rating — 944 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Akira Club by Katsuhiro Otomo, Kumar Sivasubramanian (Goodreads Author) (Translator) 4.40 avg rating — 523 ratings — published 1995 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Memories: The Collection by Katsuhiro Otomo, Yoko Umezawa (Translator), Robert Spaulding (Translator) 3.94 avg rating — 327 ratings — published 1990	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Katsuhiro Otomo…

Series by Katsuhiro Otomo

Akira [アキラ] (6 books)
by

Katsuhiro Otomo,

Yoko Umezawa (Translator),

Jo Duffy (Translator)

4.45 avg rating — 110,766 ratings

Akira (38 books)
by

Katsuhiro Otomo

4.19 avg rating — 4,658 ratings

童夢 [Dōmu] (1 book)
by

Katsuhiro Otomo,

Dana Lewis (Translator),

Toren Smith (Translator)

4.09 avg rating — 2,551 ratings

Akira (14 books)
by

Katsuhiro Otomo

4.16 avg rating — 1,508 ratings

Akira (20 books)
by

Katsuhiro Otomo

4.02 avg rating — 1,055 ratings

More series by Katsuhiro Otomo…

Quotes by Katsuhiro Otomo (?)

“TETSUOOOO”
― Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Vol. 6

tags: kanedaaaa

22 likes

“What a disgrace! They were afraid...ashamed...they chose to conceal it...they buried the roots of a Great Civilization...they lacked the courage to go further...and turned their backs on what science had to offer them...and tried to seal away forever the hole they had torn open with their own hands.”
― Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Vol. 1

tags: mystery, plot

10 likes

“Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter...No Women's Bathroom”
― Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira, Vol. 1

tags: cityscape, plot-device

10 likes

See all Katsuhiro Otomo's quotes »

Polls

Which of these books would you like to be our 9th Group Read Discussion (September 2012)?

The winning pick will be our official 9th Group Read Discussion. The 2nd place finisher will have an optional discussion thread.

The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire

21 votes, 22.3%

Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1: Gifted by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

14 votes, 14.9%

Tale of Sand by Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl and Ramon Pérez

9 votes, 9.6%

Domu: A Child's Dream by Katsuhiro Otomo

8 votes, 8.5%

Star Wars: Dark Empire Trilogy HC by Tom Veitch, Cam Kennedy and Jim Baikie

7 votes, 7.4%

Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by Guy Delisle

6 votes, 6.4%

Midnight Nation by J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank

6 votes, 6.4%

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director's Cut by Jhonen Vasquez

6 votes, 6.4%

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware

4 votes, 4.3%

Superior by Mark Millar, Leinil Francis Yu

4 votes, 4.3%

Liberty Meadows Volume 1: Eden by Frank Cho

4 votes, 4.3%

The Guild by Felicia Day, Jim Rugg and Dan Jackson

3 votes, 3.2%

Athos in America by Jason

2 votes, 2.1%

Destination Moon by Hergé

0 votes, 0.0%

The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists by Seth

0 votes, 0.0%

NonNonBa by Shigeru Mizuki

0 votes, 0.0%

The Moon Moth by Jack Vance and Humayoun Ibrahim

0 votes, 0.0%

94 total votes

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Katsuhiro Otomo’s Followers (883)

Katsuhiro Otomo

Combine EditionsKatsuhiro Otomo’s books

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Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Katsuhiro Otomo’s books