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Akira Manga Creator Katsuhiro Otomo Teases New Manga Again

Akira manga creator Katsuhiro Ōtomo and his staff hinted again at a new manga on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday. He shared a photo of the prophetic character Kiyoko drawn on a whiteboard with the text, "I had a dream Otomo-sensei drew a new manga." The photo was tweeted with the sentence, "Kiyoko's prophetic dream will become reality."

Otomo had revealed in 2012 that he was preparing his first long series since Akira. He said the same year that the manga would take place in the Meiji Era and that he would work on the manga himself without assistants. The manga was supposed to debut that fall in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine, but it was delayed, and Otomo said that the target audience may be older than Weekly Shonen Sunday's.

Otomo then said in an 2018 interview in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine that he was working on a full-length manga, but the contents were secret. He added that he felt stuck when it came to putting his pencil to paper, but that he was finding enjoyment in working away at it.

Otomo began his career as a manga creator on such works as Domu, Kibun wa mō Sensō, and his most famous title internationally, Akira. He then branched into animation by directing part of the Robot Carnival omnibus and a feature film adaptation of his own Akira story. He directed other anime projects such as the Memories omnibus, the Gundam: Mission to the Rise event short, and the Steamboy feature. He also collaborated on Harmagedon, Roujin Z, Spriggan, Metropolis, Freedom Project and Hipira: The Little Vampire.

Sources: Katsuhiro Ōtomo's Complete Works' Twitter account via Siliconera