morphing and metamorphosis as a factor that marks the work as postmodern: "a genre which suggests that identity is in constant fluctuation." She also sees the work as an attack on the Japanese establishment, arguing that Otomo satirizes aspects of Japanese culture: in particular, schooling and the rush for new technology. Akiras central image of characters aimlessly roaming the streets on motorbikes is seen to represent the futility of the quest for self-knowledge. The work also focuses on loss, with all characters in some form orphaned and having no sense of history. The landscapes depicted are ruinous, with old Tokyo represented only by a dark crater. The nihilistic nature of the work is felt by Napier to tie into a wider theme of pessimism present in Japanese fantasy literature of the 1980s. According to Dolores P. Martinez, the serial nature of the work influenced the storyline structure, allowing for numerous sub-plots, a large cast, and an extended middle sequence. This allowed for a focus on destructive imagery and afforded Otomo the chance to portray a strong sense of movement. The work has no consistent main character, but Kaneda and Tetsuo are featured the most prominently throughout. Publication Written and illustrated by Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira was serialized biweekly in Kodansha's Young Magazine from December 20, 1982, to June 25, 1990. While drawing the manga, Otomo began work on an anime film adaptation, leading to a lengthy break between chapters 87 on April 20, 1987, and 88 on November 21, 1988. Otomo agreed to a film adaptation of the work, provided he retained creative control. This insistence was based on his experiences working on Harmagedon. The film was released theatrically in Japan in July 1988, and followed by limited theatrical releases in various Western territories from 1989 to 1991. Even when Young Magazine became a weekly publication in 1989, Otomo and Akira retained a biweekly schedule. The 120 chapters and more than 2,000 pages were collected and released in six tankōbon volumes by publisher Kodansha between September 21, 1984, and March 23, 1993. A five-volume anime comic version created using scenes from the film adaptation was published between August 29 and December 6, 1988, with newly painted covers by Otomo. The colored version created for America by Marvel Comics was published in Japan in 12 volumes between October 7, 1988, and September 20, 1996. English publication Otomo and Kodansha's Yasumasa Shimizu visited