In the 80s someone with a big vision and big dream poured what had been growing in his brain into a masterpiece, that soon would be acknowledged as a worldwide masterpiece. That person is Katsuhiro Otomo. The masterpiece is Akira.

Akira takes place in the future, in a place called neo tokyo. Neo because Tokyo before was "destroyed" by a person whose name is the title. Akira could do the destroying because he was number 28, a codename for government experiment in brainwave, mental research etc.(not my expertise area)

Where are the other numbers?
This is what the story revolves in.

Kaneda and Tetsuo are the high-ups of usual gang-rider in Neo-Tokyo, got into accident that looks unusual, Tetsuo got wounded, and finally brought by the so-called-police.
Now please tell me you can't figure what happens next and i will slap you in the face, two times.

Indeed the start of the story was both unfathomable and amazing at the same time, but what makes the story great is what happen next. It's realistic.
Why the numbers could do that?
Why Tetsuo is like that?
What is Akira?
All will be answered as realistic as possible, but remember this is a sci-fi story, so be prepared to be as imaginative as possible. Who knows in 2038 Tokyo would look like that? Tokyo could look better or (please no)worse than Akira version. If i may compare the philosophical part of Akira it would be close to 2001: Space Odyssey and Evangelion. Akira, if i may say, is the more enjoyable version of them both. I found myself wanting more of this while reading this, unlike two others.

Here comes the part where Akira stand out the most. The background and the surrounding art. It's TOO GOOD. Believe me, it's made in the 80s but the art still look superb and superlative than most of nowadays series. The explosion was made diligently. You could see almost EVERYTHING of the exploding building, from the glass to the foundation.
Okay, i have to admit that the character design was not eye-pleasing, but when you take a closer look at the character design, you could imagine them living in your brain. Every wrinkle of the Colonel, the curves of Kei's body were so realistic that i have no hard time imagining it was real.

Let's just hope the movie adaptation is as massive as the manga is.
If not, just remember how epic this manga is.