This page uses content from the Katsuhiro Otomo biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Katsuhiro Ōtomo (大友克洋 Ōtomo Katsuhiro) (born April 14, 1954) is a Japanese manga artist and anime director. He is best known for being the director of Akira, one of the most influential anime films, as well as the writer/artist for the original Akira manga.

Early life

Ōtomo was born in the former town of Hasama, in Miyagi Prefecture.

As a teenager growing up in the turbulent 1960s, he was surrounded by the demonstrations of both students and workers against the Japanese government. This period of change in Japan is what created the Japan we all know today - a Japan that is a sharp contrast to the occupation era that occurred after World War II. The riots, demonstrations, and overall chaotic conditions of this time would serve as the inspiration for his best known work, Akira. Some would argue that this seminal work is an allegory of 1960s Japan, and that one could easily substitute the year 2019 for 1969 and leave little difference in the basic story.

The animation from this period (especially the works coming out of Tokyo animation studios Mushi Production and Toei Doga) were influencing young Ōtomo. Works like Gigantor, Astro Boy, and Hols: Prince of the Sun would help push Ōtomo toward a career in animation. However, it was the films coming out of America that were driving his rebellious nature. Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider would serve as inspiration for Shotaro Kaneda and his biker gang in Akira: rebellious youth who took too many drugs and didn't care about authority or the pressures put on them by their parents' generation.

Bilbliography

• A Gun Report (1973)
• Fireball (1979)
• Domu (A Child's Dream) (1980-1982)
• Sayonara Nippon (さよならにっぽん, 1981)
• Kibun wa mou sensou (気分はもう戦争, 1982)
• Jiyu o Warera ni (自由を我等に, 1982)
• Akira (アキラ, 1982-1990)
• Memories (1990)
• Legend of Mother Sarah (1990-1996)
• Akira Club (1995 - Artbook)
• SOS Dai Tokyo Tankentai (ＳＯＳ大東京探検隊, 1996)
• The Memory of Memories (1996 - Artbook)
• Hipira (2002)

Short story collections

• Short Piece (ショート・ピース, 1979)
• Highway Star (ハイウェイ・スター, 1979)
• Good Weather (グッド・ウエザー, 1981)
• Hansel and Gretel (1981)
• Boogie Woogie Waltz (1982)

Filmography

• Jiyū o Warera ni (自由を我等に, 1982)
• Harmagedon (幻魔大戦, 1983)
• Labyrinth Tales (also known as Neo-Tokyo 迷宮物語, 1987)
  • "The Order to Cease Construction" (工事中止命令)
• Lab (ラブ, 1987)
• Robot Carnival (ロボット・カーニバル, 1987)
  • "Coming Soon"
  • "See You Again"
• Akira (アキラ, 1988)
• World Apartment Horror (ワールド・アパートメント・ホラー, 1991)
• Roujin Z (老人Z, 1991)
• Memories (1996)
  • "Magnetic Rose"
  • "Cannon Fodder"
  • "Stink Bomb"
• Spriggan (1998)
• Metropolis (メトロポリス, 2001)
• Steamboy (スチームボーイ, 2004)
• Mushishi (2006)
• Freedom Project (2006)

External links

• Ōtomo Katsuhiro's JMDb Listing (in Japanese)
• Otomo Katsuhiro's AnimeNewsNetwork Encyclopedia Listing
• AKIRA 2019: Katsuhiro Otomo Biography
• Otomo Katsuhiro's Freedom Project

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