Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira was a landmark in both manga and anime. As a manga, it became a must-read cyberpunk classic alongside Shirow Masamune’s Ghost in the Shell and Yukito Kishiro’s Gunnm (Battle Angel). As an anime, it essentially invented the modern concept of the media beyond "Japanese cartoons." While there had been mature animated shows and films made before Akira, Otomo's film broke the dam and brought many more adult-oriented films and shows into the forefront.

However, while Otomo helmed both the manga and the anime movie, the latter is a very different beast from the former. He pressed his animators hard to get everything just right, but even he had to pick and choose which subplots, sections, and characters got to make it into motion.

7 Kaneda's More Central Role

Akira Differences- Kaneda Poster

Despite being called Akira, the series’ most iconic character is Shotaro Kaneda. He’s the one on the film’s many posters, the one with the fancy motorbike, and the one who does that neat skid that every animated series since 1988 copied in one way or another. He’s pretty much the same in both the manga and the film: a cocky prick with a bone to pick with Tetsuo and the authorities.

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The manga expands further upon his relationship with Kei, one of the resistance members. But surprisingly, Kaneda doesn't stand out in the manga like he does in the film. His backstory, connection to Tetsuo, and why he ends up detesting him gets set up really quickly. That’s because the manga is more about different factions taking each other on, rather than one sole protagonist taking on a sole antagonist. Kaneda was just one of many heroes.

6 Tetsuo's Characterization

Akira Differences- Tetsuo Film

Likewise, Tetsuo’s heel turn happens much more quickly in the manga too. The movie gives him a more sympathetic backstory as a biker kid with an inferiority complex that gets the better of him when he gets his powers. In the manga, he starts abusing his powers almost as soon as he gets them. He splits off from Kaneda's gang, takes over a rival group, and starts strategizing against everyone else.

Drugs play a bigger part in the film than just medicine. Tetsuo starts taking them to keep his pain at bay, and sometimes forces others to take them just to watch them die from the overdose. Meanwhile, Kaori, depicted as his girlfriend in the film, starts off in the manga as a plaything Tetsuo gradually warms up to. He wasn't an angel in the film, but he's much more of a devil in the manga.

5 Missing Characters

Akira Differences- Chiyoko Manga

Having to cut characters from media isn't new, and it happens to even the most popular characters. Akira stands out in that it had to cut a good chunk of them, including Tetsuo's entire faction. For example, the "Birdman" was a blindfolded figure with an eye tattoo on his forehead that acted as a lookout via his psychic powers. His friend, the "Eggman," carries over Birdman’s visions to the others via their psychic link.

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There was also a character known only as "Tetsuo’s Aide: or "Captain," who tries to manipulate Tetsuo by scheming behind his back. Both he and the Eggman end up killed by another cut character, a Japanese-American soldier called George Yamada.

The most popular cut character is on the heroes' side. Chiyoko was a muscular weapons expert who acted as Kei's aunt, and looked after her within the Resistance. She bounced off of her and Kaneda in some funny and charming ways. If any future Akira project had her in it, it would be a plus for most fans.

4 Lady Miyako Was Much More Important

Akira Differences- Lady Miyako Film

Some character changes across media can be really beneficial. Unfortunately, the changes to Lady Miyako weren't so good. They were more to save time than to add to the character. In the film, she was an Akira-worshipping crank who followed Tetsuo around once he broke free. She didn’t show any powers, nor did she add any significance to the plot — aside from chanting, protesting, and getting (presumably) killed off-screen.

In the manga, Lady Miyako was one of the Espers. She still ran a religious cult, who were the main benefactors behind the Resistance. Nezu, the little rat-looking government member, was following her orders when he wasn’t working on his own agenda. She shaped the events of the manga from the shadows, telling the Resistance what they need to know about the government, protecting the people caught in the crossfire, and paving Tetsuo’s way towards his end.

3 There Are More Espers

Akira Differences- Espers Manga

These are the three weird old kids with psychic abilities, Takashi, Masaru, and Kiyoko. Akira was part of their ranks too. In the manga, just like in the film, they were all government test subjects looking into their abilities. Except in the film, they’re treated as if they, Akira, and Tetsuo were the only ones with powers. The manga expands further on their backstory, revealing they were just a few of many subjects involved in the government’s project.

Each of them were marked with numbers. Lady Miyako was #19, Akira was #28, and Tetsuo was the 41st and final subject. The other numbered subjects aren’t named, though it’s suggested they were killed or horribly injured as part of the experiments. Not that the main Espers are safe either. Takashi gets killed during the manga, causing Akira to freak out and obliterate Neo Tokyo.

2 Akira Goes From MacGuffin To Nothing

Akira Differences- Akira Tetsuo Manga

Wait, Akira actually turns up?! The biggest difference is that Akira was an actual character in the manga — well, kind of. After his psychic explosion, he was kept cryogenically imprisoned under the earth to prevent further tragedy. Kiyoko prophesied he’d return with Tetsuo and destroy Tokyo all over again. Needless to say, they’re as good as her word. Once revived and taken into Tetsuo's care, he’s simultaneously treated as a deity and as a weapon of mass destruction. Whoever threatens him and his territory risks setting him off again.

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In the film, meanwhile, only bits of Akira are frozen. The government dissected his body and preserved it for study. Tetsuo takes his body parts, and rules over the rest of Neo-Tokyo as its most powerful psychic. Aside from flashbacks, Akira’s only appearance as an intact person is at the end, where he becomes a deus ex machina. He’s less of a title character and more of a title concept at best.

1 Drawn To Different Conclusions

Akira Differences- Kaneda Ending Film

Otomo would ultimately regret making the Akira film before he finished the manga. In a feature for the March 1991 edition of Monthly Film Bulletin, he said “As I worked on the film, I came to like the idea of having two different but similar versions of the same story, but part of me still thinks that part of the original was sacrificed.” The film’s ending, where Kaneda is absorbed into the psychic explosion and sees Tetsuo’s old memories, was one Otomo wished he could have used for the manga.

It takes the two back to their first meeting at their orphanage, back to when they were just two lonely kids who befriended each other. It’s a nice conclusion to their arcs. The manga’s conclusion is similar, except Otomo had to close off the political aspects too. Kaneda and co fight off the United Nations, threaten them by pretending Akira is still within their possession, and establish the Great Tokyo Empire. It’s okay, though its complications take away the sweetness the film's ending had.

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