3.11 Disasters Bring Katsuhiro Otomo Back to Manga Roots
No hype here for the proposed American bastardization of the classic and prescient Japanese manga tale of dystopian ennui and Armageddon that shook the world and changed the perception of comics forever. Nope.
One of the most influential manga artists in the history of the genre, Katsuhiro Otomo, 58, is currently showing the more than 2,000 original drawings that made up his most acclaimed work, AKIRA, at an exhibit in Tokyo. He has not been creating much new manga for the last 20 years, but last year’s 3.11 disasters in his native northeastern Japan spurred him to look back on his past work.
WATCH NHK World’s Tomoko Kamata’s report to find out why Otomo has come home again.