The original AKIRA comic series was published in the December 6 edition of the Japanese comics anthology, Young Magazine, in 1982. From there on, it developed into a fast growing, extremely entertaining, and highly successful series in Japan. It was so thrilling that it was one of the basis for the now famous, and progressive Japanese Comic/Animation company Manga. AKIRA developed in the United States by way of Marvel/Epic Comics. They translated the series into English and released it in the US. It appeared to have even greater appeal to the American audience than the Japanese. Later, AKIRAís creator, Katsuhiro Otomo released the graphic novel series of the same name. Eventually, Streamline Pictures and Tokyo Movie Shinsha asked Otomoto develop his story for an animated feature film. The movie of AKIRA brought a new dimension to the story, containing the best state-of-the-art techniques. Minimal computer animation was used in this production. Otomo, admitting his taste for Disney films, sought to create an atmosphere of realism to assist in staging the graphic story, for which he achieved. Although the one major flaw with AKIRA is its consistency to alter the date of the original nuclear cataclysm ,it does not interfere with what is possibly one of the greatest animated films since Walt Disney.