New 'Akira' Anime Series On The Way From Original Manga Creator

The popular manga and anime, “Akira,” will be getting a new series from the original creator.

The announcement came as part of Project Anime, the industry event that precedes Anime Expo in Los Angeles. Sunrise Inc. was hosting a panel where the new series was announced, along with a new film and anthology series.

For any unfamiliar, “Akira” was originally a post-apocalyptic manga that ran from 1982 to 1990 and was set in Neo-Tokyo 20 years after a mysterious explosion rocked the city. The series followed gang-leader Kaneda as he and several others tried to prevent his mentally-imbalanced, Tetsuo, from ravaging the city with psychic powers similar to the titular individual that caused the original explosion.

The manga was then adapted to film with a 1988 anime that is largely credited, along with the original “Ghost in the Shell,” as popularizing anime in the West.

Sunrise’s new series will be overseen by the manga’s original creator, Katsuhiro Otomo, and will not be a sequel to the 1988 film. Instead, it will be a new adaptation of the manga, which will encompass more of the original material that the film wasn’t able to. It is also has nothing to do with the live-action adaptation currently in the works at Warner Bros. being directed by Taika Waititi, set for release in 2021.

On top of the “Akira” reveal, Sunrise also announced Otomo will also be overseeing two addition projects. The first is “Orbital Era,” a sci-fi action-adventure film that follows the lives of a group of boys living on a space station. Otomo is also going to be putting together a complete collection of his works, titled “Otomo: The Complete Works,” that will feature all his manga going back to his 1971 debut.