‘Akira’ Creator Katsuhiro Otomo Launches New Tokyo Studio With First Film Already In Production

Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo is returning to animation production with the launch of a new Tokyo-based film studio, Oval Gear.

The studio launched publicly this week with an official website, recruitment postings, and confirmation that new feature work is already in production. Otomo is listed as founder and will oversee the company’s creative direction.

The lone graphic on the Oval Gear website features the main character from Orbital Era, a sci-fi feature announced in 2019 in collaboration with Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), alongside a new version of Akira. It’s been radio silence for seven years, with the Oval Gear announcement being the first official mention of either project since before the pandemic.

Speculation is, justifiably, now spreading that the Orbital Era film is still alive, with the title currently in production at Oval Gear. That said, neither the studio nor Otomo has formally connected the two projects.

According to its website:

OVAL GEAR is a feature animation studio based in Tokyo, founded by Katsuhiro Otomo in 2026.

The studio was founded for two purposes: to pass on to the new generation the filmmaking methods and authorial sensibility Katsuhiro Otomo has cultivated over decades, and to produce new animated works for global release.

Our first title is currently in production.

Otomo’s influence on the animation industry is almost impossible to overstate. Akira helped redefine global perceptions of Japanese animation after its 1988 release, and it remains one of the most-cited inspirations by artists working in adult animation nearly four decades later. The film’s impact extended well beyond anime, influencing live-action filmmaking, game design, comics, and visual effects production internationally.

Beyond Akira, Otomo directed the retro-futurist feature Steamboy and contributed segments to anthology projects including Memories and Neo Tokyo. His manga work, particularly Domu and Akira, also played a major role in elevating the international profile of Japanese comics during the 1980s and ‘90s.