Kodansha Weekly Young Magazine, the home of Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira manga has recently announced that the series' first volume will be reprinted for the 100th time next month. The legendary manga series debuted in Weekly Young Magazine back in December 1982 and concluded its run in June 1990. The series was collected in 6 volumes.
To commemorate the milestone, Otomo kept it brief, issuing the following statement in the manga magazine. "Thank you for reading for such a long time." The first volume of the series has never changed its ¥1,5000 yen (~$14.23 USD) price from when it first debuted in 1982.
Akira is the first series from Kodansha to be reprinted 100 times. An impressive feat when you consider that publisher currently has over 25 ongoing weekly and monthly manga magazines whose titles include Attack on Titan, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Ghost in the Shell and more legendary manga.
Marvel Comics originally published a translated version of the series in the U.K. and U.S. in 1988 but these days, Kodansha's North American branch releases the series in English.
Recently, a 4K Remaster of Katsuhiro Otomo's legendary 1988 anime film adaptation played in select theaters looking to fill theater seats as most films have been delayed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Akira takes place in 2019. 31 years after being destroyed during World War 3, Tokyo (now ‘Neo-Tokyo’) has been rebuilt and is a thriving metropolis. Shotaro Kaneda is the leader of a biker gang. His friend Tetsuo is injured in an accident and taken to a top-secret government facility. He develops telekinetic powers but decides to use them for evil rather than good. He has the same powers as Akira, the force that destroyed Tokyo in 1988. It now appears that history will repeat itself.