Courtesy of a company in Barcelona, we will be able to finally own a real version of the iconic bike driven by Kaneda from Akira.
Arguably one of the coolest bikes in all of manga and anime, is Kaneda’s hyper-futuristic motorcycle from Akira. Its origins stemmed from the bikes in Tron designed by Syd Mead, with Katsuhiro Otomo halving its width as the starting point.
When I spoke with Otomo about Akira, both its manga and anime versions, he talked a lot about the mecha design he came up. Not to mention working with industry greats such as Takashi Watabe, who also had a very sleek design style used in anime such as Lensman and Cyber City Oedo 808.
This particular bike though is being made by Bel & Bel, a company in Barcelona, and will retail for around 24,000 Euros (or around $26,000). Like in the anime, it will be electrically powered, but I am not sure it will quite reach the insane speeds its anime equivalent did.
Admittedly, this is by no means the first someone has tried to recreate Kaneda’s bike from Akira, in fact quite a few Japanese hobbyists have done it over the years. The difference here, apart from the much higher level of quality, is that you will be able to buy one yourself.
If you are one of the few people that hasn’t read or seen Akira, then you should check out the manga boxset and the anime on Blu-ray. Although, I hope this bike won’t encourage anyone to continue with that awful live-action adaptation.
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