The series has won much recognition in the industry, including the 1984 Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga. It won a Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material in 1993, and was nominated for a Harvey for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work in 2002. In her book "The Fantastic in Japanese Literature", Susan Napier described the work as a "no holds barred enjoyment of fluidity and chaos". The work is credited as having introduced both manga and anime to Western audiences. The translation of the work into French in 1991 by Glénat "opened the floodgates to the Japanese invasion." The imagery in "Akira", together with that of "Blade Runner", formed the blueprint for similar Japanese works of a dystopian nature of the late 1990s. Examples include "Ghost in the Shell" and "Armitage III". "Akira" cemented Otomo's reputation and the success of the animated feature allowed him to concentrate on film rather than the manga form in which his career began.