“AKIRA – ‘GET IT KANEDA!!’ Super Conductive Machine,” Original Japanese B1 Poster, Printed in 1988 First‑Release Campaign, Double‑Sided, Size 73 × 103 cm – Excellent Condition AA16
A superb, large‑format original Akira poster from the film’s initial 1988 Japanese release, devoted entirely to the most famous bike in anime history. Printed in B1 size and conceived as a full technical “hero shot” of Kaneda’s motorcycle, this double‑sided offset lithograph combines cinematic spectacle with industrial‑design fetishism, and is today one of the most coveted pieces from the early Akira promotional campaign.
Printed in Japan in 1988, this first‑issue B1 measures approximately 73 × 103 cm. The recto is dominated by a cinematic, near life‑size photograph of Kaneda’s red machine, parked in three‑quarter profile against a wet Neo‑Tokyo street. Above it, in vast lavender block letters that span almost the entire width of the sheet, blazes the command: GET IT KANEDA!! The background is all concrete and smoke – a hazy, back‑lit underpass or stadium wall – throwing the bike’s scarlet bodywork, dark tyres and illuminated control panel into crisp relief.
To the right of the image, a column of yellow English text under the title SUPER CONDUCTIVE MACHINE delivers a mock‑technical description of the bike’s powertrain: internal‑combustion engine, micro‑computer controlled super‑conductive coil, regenerative braking, magnetic field reversal, “maintenance‑free perpetual mobility using super‑conductive electricity.” Below, three line‑drawings in pale yellow trace the bike in plan and elevation with further specification text – overall length and height, wheelbase, dry weight, maximum speed, braking distance, anti‑locking brake system, on‑board CD player and navigation, and more. It is presented as a fully realised industrial object rather than a fictional prop, fully in keeping with Otomo’s obsession with plausible near‑future technology.
In the lower left margin the credits read, in English, MACHINE DESIGN © KATSUHIRO OTOMO / MACHINERY MODELING WHITE HOUSE / PHOTO © SADACHIKA SATO / COOPERATION © TAITO CORPORATION, firmly anchoring the poster to Otomo’s hand and to the 1988 production context. The entire composition feels like a cross between a movie one‑sheet and a sales brochure for a prototype superbike – a perfect visual analogue for Akira’s collision of animation, design and engineering fantasy.
The verso is no less rich. The upper half is a riotous “AKIRA FACTORY” collage that drops us into the production process. Against a matrix of green, computer‑like city lights, photographs show studio staff in branded windbreakers at a mixing desk; paint trays, brushes and cels; manga covers and video boxes; rollers and monitors; and a large panel in which Otomo himself appears to be painting the iconic Akira logo on the explosion poster, while speech bubbles crack jokes in both Japanese and English (“YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT?” / “YEAH!”). Around these images float cut‑out silhouettes, neon outlines and graffiti‑like slogans, evoking both the anarchic energy of Neo‑Tokyo and the real‑world studio culture that created it.
The lower half reprises the magnificent lavender DIALOGUE OF AKIRA THE MOVIE layout: a dense wall of tiny Japanese script reproducing the film’s dialogue or script lines in full, over which is superimposed a large white schematic drawing of a spherical mechanical construct, all hinges, lenses and conduits. It reads as a technical blueprint blown up to architectural scale, turning the reverse side into a hybrid of storyboard, screenplay and engineering drawing. Between the imagery and the text, the verso forms a compact documentary essay on how Akira was made, mirroring the tone and layouts of contemporaneous 1988 Kodansha “making‑of” publications.
Dating to 1988 – the year Akira first opened in Japanese theatres – and printed for the original release campaign, this B1 sits at the very origin point of the film’s global cult. It is cross‑collectible as cinematic memorabilia, as an Otomo‑designed industrial‑design poster, and as a key artefact of late‑Shōwa Japanese visual culture.
The condition is excellent. The sheet is unrestored and not linen‑backed; colours on both sides remain rich and saturated, with the reds of the bike and the neon greens of the collage particularly strong. Paper is supple and clean, showing only light handling and a few very minor, unobtrusive surface impressions and edge waves consistent with careful storage over more than three decades. There are no significant tears, no paper loss, no writing or stains. It presents beautifully and would frame to dramatic effect whether displayed on the Kaneda‑bike face or the production‑collage/script side.
Guaranteed original 1988 Japanese printing, B1 format double‑sided offset lithograph; not a reproduction or later reprint. A Certificate of Authenticity will be included.
For any serious Akira, anime, or science‑fiction design collection, this “GET IT KANEDA!!” B1 is an exceptional centrepiece – a museum‑grade survival that crystallises the film’s blend of pop myth, engineering fantasy and meticulous craft.
