Explore Akira’s Neo Tokyo through rare artworks by the legendary anime’s art directors

Arguably the most influential anime film of all time, 1988 film Akira brought the world depicted in the eponymous Japanese cyberpunk manga series to the screen, and has been a go-to source of inspiration for many a sci-fi film and TV show (not least the current series of Stranger Things) ever since. In particular, the scenery of futuristic mega city Neo Tokyo has been referenced by countless creatives, and now a new exhibition is bringing to light some of the intricate and imaginative drawings that first conceived this metropolis. Akira – The Architecture of Neo Tokyo at Berlin’s Tchoban Foundation will feature 59 original artworks used to build the fictional home of Tetsuo, Kaneda and their gang.

Thanks to the curator’s exclusive access to the studio archives of the artists involved in Akira’s production, on display will be background artwork, layout drawings, concept designs and imageboards instrumental in crafting the vision of Neo Tokyo’s unique cityscape. Many of the artworks have never been presented in an exhibition, and only very few of them have ever been published – amazing not just because of its worldwide renown, but also the ton of press coverage Akira received in 2019, the year in which it was originally set.

There are works on show by Toshiharu Mizutani, who served as the production’s art director, and his colleagues Katsufumi Hariu, Norihiro Hiraki, Shinji Kimura, Satoshi Kuroda, Hiromasa Ogura, Hiroshi Ohno, Hajime Soga, Tsutomu Uchida and Takashi Watabe. It is curated by Stefan Riekeles from the Riekeles Gallery in collaboration with the Tchoban Foundation’s Nadejda Bartels and Hiroko Kimura-Myokam of Eizo Workshop G.K. (Japan).

Akira – The Architecture of Neo Tokyo is on display at the Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin until 4 September 2022. After that, Stefan hopes to bring the show to London.