Katsuhiro Otomo is perhaps the manga artist who has most defined the medium over the last 50 years. From his breakout early short stories "A Gun Report"and "Fire-Ball" to his timeless longer works Domu: A Child's Dream, Memories, and, of course, AKIRA, Otomo's career punctuated the end of the "gekiga" era of the 1960s and 1970s and charted a new course toward Japanese manga and anime's now-central place on the global cultural stage. No single work is more responsible for spreading anime fandom around the work than the film adaptation of AKIRA, which Otomo directed himself and which was the most expensive animated film ever made at the time. Today, Otomo is revered by generations of comics creators as a professional inspiration and by fans around the world for his work in manga, anime, live-action film, picture books, public art, and more.