10 Essential Manga You Need To Read Before You Die
3. Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo)
The story of Akira is an early example of the cyberpunk genre and helped to pull both manga and anime into the international spotlight. It tells a terrifying and awe-inspiring tale that combines sci-fi with psychic fantasy, and you'll be hooked from the first page.
Akira takes place in the futuristic city of Neo-Tokyo and shows as a bike gang leader known as Kaneda battles to stop his childhood friend Tetsuo from destroying the city and awakening the titular Akira. The mentally unstable Tetsuo has recently awakened telekinetic powers, which produce nothing but destruction in his wake.
If you love sci-fi, then you can't live without reading this story. It's a deep and meaningful experience that tackles *deep breath* power issues, political turmoil, Japanese history, the military, unethical experimentation, and a lot more. It might seem like a simple science fiction action at first glance, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
If that's not enough for you, there's also a parody series called Bartkira, which painstakingly recreates the manga with characters from The Simpsons placed in. That one is certainly not essential, but still a hilarious experience nonetheless.