YAMAGATA

Real Name: Yamagata

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-82130) human, conventional vehicle and weapons-user

Occupation: Student

Group Membership: Unidentified motorcycle gang led by Shotaro Kaneda (Yamagata was something of a second-in-command)

Affiliations: Johji, Kai, Shotaro Kaneda, Shooting Star (a horse he bet on);
    formerly Tetsuo Shima

Enemies: Clown Gang, Joker, Tetsuo Shima, unidentified principal, teacher, and other school officials

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Neo-Tokyo, Japan circa 2019 A.D.

First Appearance: Young  Magazine (December 20, 1982);
   (Marvel/Epic) Akira#1 (September, 1988)

Powers/Abilities: Yamagata was an experienced motorcyclist, horse race gambler and presumably a brawler. He was generally aggressive and ready to fight.

    He had no respect for authority figures and readily challenged his principal and teachers.

    While he was savvy in planning strategic assaults, he had a poor mastery of vocabulary, frequently using malapropisms, often to the comedic interpretation of his friends.

    Jack and Coke was his usual drink

History: See comments for a summary of Earth-82130.

(Akira#1 (fb) - BTS) - Yamagata -- along with Kaneda, Tetsuo and others -- was sent to the Eighth District Vocational Training School because he had shown himself to be unwilling or unable to fit in with normal students in a normal environment. They were to learn a trade and become useful members of society.

(Akira#1) - At the age of 15, Yamagata was with the rest of Kaneda's gang -- notably including Kaneda and Tetsuo -- who rode their motorcycles through Neo-Tokyo to the edge of the 1982 bombing. When they subsequently raced to eat at Harukiya, Tetsuo took the lead but found Takashi -- a telekinetic with a childlike body but a wizened face who had wandered out from a secret project -- in his path. Takashi formed a force shield, stopping Tetsuo but also blowing up his motorcycle and badly injuring him. The rest of the gang stopped to help Tetsuo and at least Kaneda briefly observed Takashi before he vanished.

(Akira#1 (fb) - BTS) - Tetsuo was taken to a hospital.

(Akira#1) - Yamagata, Kaneda and the others were reprimanded by the school's headmaster, who warned them that they could still be tried in adult court if they were convicted twice for even minor offenses. When the youths mocked the adults, they called in the gym teacher, Mr. Takaba who beat them up. After his departure, the youths vowed revenge.

    That evening, Yamagata, Kaneda and the others met at Harukiya, where Yamagata asked and received some drugs from Kaneda and both shared that they had tried and failed to find out where Tetsuo was being kept. They subsequently noticed the presence of the adults Ryu and Kei, both members of a resistance movement against the government, although Yamagata and his friends did not know that were and were only interested in the attractive Kei. After Kaneda approached Kei, a conflict erupted, and the youths dispersed.

    Kaneda again encountered Takashi, explaining his involvement in Tetsuo's fate to Yamagata and the others. As they discussed beating up Takashi, he shattered a glass window and then vanished, and Kei urged them to flee, after which a large water tower atop the building crashed down on them. Hiding out as authorities investigated, they wondered if Takashi had been the cause of the damage, after which Kaneda took off to see if Kei knew more.

(Akira#2) - Reading the previous day's race results in the newspaper while in the classroom, Yamagata was berated by his teacher, and he responded hostilely, arguing that the teacher was acting like he was creating a disturbance. The teacher advised him that a negative attitude disturbed everyone, and Yamagata countered by asking the teacher if he should not be setting an example by not picking on the weak. When the teacher asked if he was telling him that there was nothing wrong with gambling, Yamagata replied, "Not it it's my money...or are you gonna pay up the $50,000 yen I'm out?" The teacher warned Yamagata that the next thing he was going to be out of was this school, and on his way to reform school, and Yamagata warned him in return that if that happened, the teacher's teeth were going to be out of his mouth.

    Further discussion was disrupted when Kaneda excused himself, and several other students made excuses to try to get out of class as well...and again, when Tetsuo returned to class.

    Later that evening as the gang prepared to party, Yamagata and another discussed that Kaneda was not there as he had gone to get drugs. After his return, they took drugs before taking off on the road, and Yamagata let Tetsuo use a new bike he stated that someone had left it in the street.

(Akira#3) - The gang -- presumably including Yamagata -- was pursued by police but refused to pull over, and they split up to avoid capture. Tetsuo was ambushed by the Clown Gang, and Kaneda and others came to his rescue, but when Kaneda stopped Tetsuo from killing a member of the Clown Gang, Tetsuo responded violently and challenged Kaneda's authority.

    The gang members -- presumably including Yamagata -- were present in the cafeteria when Mr. Takaba called out Tetsuo and then took him to see Col. Shikishima (?) who took Tetsuo into custody.

(Akira#4 - BTS) - Having developed devastating telekinetic powers, Tetsuo escaped custody and took over the Clowns gang.

(Akira#5 (fb) - BTS) - Yamagata and the other gang members -- not including Kaneda, who had been hiding out after being pursued by Shikishima's agents -- encountered the Clowns. Initially not recognizing Tetsuo because of how much he had changed, Yamagata subsequently identified him as the Clown's leader and observed him using his powers to rip another person's head open.

(Akira#5) - After Kaneda and Kei had been hiding out at Harukiya, with Kaneda doing work for the bartender (and presumed owner) in exchange for living quarters, Yamagata and two other went to the bar. Angry and cursing, Yamagata and his associates ordered a double, and when the bartender asked what was eating them, Yamagata replied, "Nothing and everything! I can't contain my indigestion!"

    Offered to take a bicarb for his stomach, Yamagata explained that his pride was hurt, and when one of his friends told him he was an idiot and meant to say, "indignation," Yamagata argued that he knew what he meant. When he further commented, "There's nothing wrong with disgusting problems" and was corrected "You mean, 'discussing problems?'," Yamagata told his friend to get off of his case.

    After the bartender told them that Kaneda was staying there, Yamagata and the others located him, and Yamagata angrily related how Tetsuo was leading the Clown Gang to take the drugs and money (to buy more drugs). Figuring Kaneda would think he was crazy, Yamagata did not tell him about Tetsuo's powers.

    Kaneda ordered the others to arrange a meeting with all of the leaders of all of the local gangs except the Clowns at 5pm the next night at Harukiya, and Yamagata headed to the seventh district to meet with the Carburetor Boys; one of the other guys mocked Yamagata, telling him not to get indigestion.

(Akira#37/2) - The next day, Yamagata still had school where -- although ready for the conflict that evening -- he looked through the newspaper, trying to figure out the conditions for the next horse race. He further noted that he was "concerned with the sod...I mean the turds..."
    Kai advised him that he meant "the turf," and Yamagata agreed that that was what he had meant.

    The gang subsequently gathered, and Yamagata noted that they had gathered every other gang against Tetsuo and his Clowns. When his teacher advised him that class was about to start and asked why he was loitering in the hallway, Yamagata replied, "I ain't no loiter bug."

    The teacher asked if he was trying to be smart, and Kai whispered to Yamagata, "That'd be a first," but Yamagata assured the teacher that he was heading right to class.

    Regardless, Yamagata stopped to talk to the local bookie, Johji, putting ten bucks on the Shooting Star to win, which was 50:1 odds. When Kai asked him if he was crazy, Yamagata told him he had gotten a tip straight from the horse's ass.
    Kai corrected him that he meant "horse's mouth," but Yamagata replied, "horses don't talk."

    Both discussions about plans to meet up that night and the gambling were overheard by Mr. Takaba, who prepared to bring Yamagata in, but instead had a swiftly opened door smack into his head, after which he slipped on a pencil and fell down the stairs.

(Akira#5) - That night at Harukiya, Yamagata outlined the plan, to have the Clowns run along the route straight to Pier 12, and along the way, the various gang members would pick off all of the weaker ones.

    Yamagata clarified that Kaneda's gang would take care of Tetsuo personally, and a guy from another gang told him, "Have fun when he rips your head open."

    Learning Tetsuo and the Clowns were already on the intended route, Yamagata and the rest of the gangs took off after them.

(Akira#6) - Waiting at a construction site, Yamagata led the gang after Tetsuo as he arrived. 

    While Tetsuo caused a large crate to drop in the path of several bikers, Yamagata, who had gone another route, came at Tetsuo head on.

    Yamagata hurled his motorcycle helmet at Tetsuo but missed, perhaps deliberately, as this led to Tetsuo fleeing into a warehouse where others were waiting to deal with him with forklifts and other equipment.

    Tetsuo, however, sent his attackers flying back through the warehouse's wall, and Yamagata was on his back at Tetsuo approached him.

    Kaneda's arrival distracted Tetsuo, and Yamagata urged Kaneda to shoot Tetsuo, but Kaneda hesitated to shoot his former friend. When Tetsuo telekinetically hurled vehicles and boxes at him, Kaneda dove to safety, dropping the gun in the process.

    Yamagata picked up the gun and turned to shoot, yelling "Die..you bastard..."

    However, before he could fire, Tetsuo blew his head open, killing him; he fell backwards toward the nearby Kaneda.

(Akira#6 - BTS) - With the gun still in Yamagata's hand, Kaneda used the sole bullet in it to shoot Tetsuo, hitting him him the abdomen.

    Avoiding equipment hurled by Tetsuo, Kaneda struck him down with a pipe, but the arriving Col. Shikishima broke up the fight and convinced Tetsuo to go with him to be given training to handle his powers and to treat the massive headaches they caused.

(Akira#37/2) - Shooting Star won the race, although Yamagata was no longer around to collect the $500 he would have won.

(Akira#38) - After Tetsuo and the other ESPers ascended to a higher plane, Kaneda and Kei rode their motorcycles through Neo-Tokyo, and they saw ghost-like visions of Yamagata and Tetsuo.

Comments: Created by Katsuhiro Otomo.

    You can look it up on Google for "Akira Manga" for more detail, but the stories were originally released as a serial in Young Magazine and then redesigned significantly for release by Epic (the creator-owned division of Marvel) in color, in English, and with the format altered/re-designed significantly to read in traditional "Western style," (front to back, left to right) in the Akira series.
    At the time the Epic series came out, I was in high school and college and limited in funds.

    I purchased the 35^th anniversary box set specifically for this profile, but I intended to follow-up and read it all, and profile the other characters eventually. I failed to realize that this box set not only reprinted the original art with English language, so it is read from back to front and right to left, but was also in black and white AND it was incomplete, lacking later publications like the back-up to #37, which features Yamagata.
    And, it is not separated into chapters/books by anything other than the main story arcs, with the #1-6 being the Tetsuo story arc. So, with that arc being 357 pages, I figured about 60 pages per issue, and I looked for what seemed like story breaks, but my listing of which issue.
    It's a great product for a fan of the original, but not quite what I was looking for...however, what I want is only available at this time in the original Epic stories...which are a lot more expensive...
    Thanks to Loki for providing guidance, including a complete listing of Yamagata's appearances as well as color images and digital images of the #37/2 story

    I would have to think Yamagata's malapropisms were completely different in Japanese, and that they had to be completely rewritten to work in English.
    Otomo and his studio (Kodansha) retained full review and rejection rights, but the translation/interpretation was all done by Archie Goodwin's group. I have it in my head that Toren Smith was lead translator on the project, but I can't find anything to back that up, and may be confusing it with Appleseed and the Dark Horse team. Either way, though, all English dialogue was written by the Epic staff with Kodansha having final approval. Otomo redrew a lot of the panels to both accommodate the English text and also to George Lucas Special Edition the thing since the translation gave him the time and opportunity to go back and "fix" a lot of things that bothered him under the initial release.
    --Eric Guy, who also suggested this profile to me.

    The Wikipedia page for Akira notes that Yamagata was born November 9, 2003. I did not see that in the stories I read, nor do I have any idea from what source came that information.

    Further from Loki:

    Yamagata's name means something when you break it down: Yamagata (山 形)  means "mountain, hill" (山) (yama) and "form, shape, type" (形) (kata/gata).

Alternate reality versions of Yamagata and Kaneda both show up in Edge of Spiderverse I#5, p16, pan 1, as members of the gangs Peni Parker's SP//dr and Daredevil. Yamagata is on the left edge of the picture, while Kaneda is getting kicked by Daredevil. They are far from the only manga/anime characters who make cameos in the issue (pretty much all of Peni's classmates are from various ones), nor even this panel (the two shouting "No one lives" are from Ghost in the Shell, and I vaguely recognize the kid and woman at the middle bottom of the picture). 

Earth-82130 On December 6, 1982 A.D., a new type of bomb exploded over the metropolitan area of Japan, leading to World War III. Circa 2019, teenage motorcycle gang leader Shotaro Kaneda, militant revolutionary Kei, a number of psychic-powered withered youths and Neo-Tokyo’s Colonel Shikishima attempted to prevent the unbalanced telekinetic Tetsuo Shima from awakening the mysterious and powerful Akira. Young Magazine #24 (1982); (Marvel/Epic) Akira #1 (1988)

    This profile was completed 9/26/2024, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Yamagata should be distinguished from:

• YAMA of the Hyborian era - King of Demons--[Savage Sword of Conan#59]
• YAMA - Hindu death god, part of plot that raised Demogorge--Thor I Annual#10
• YAMA – extraterrestrial, traveled to earth with Wayfinder, later fled from demons to the Microverse, becoming one of its original inhabitants--Micronauts I#31 (35(fb(31(fb)))
• YAMA, JIMMY of Earth-982 - Midtown High School, classmate of May Parker, nephew of Sachi--What If? II#105
• YAMA, SACHI - lawyer assigned to the Commission to watch over the Juggernaut--X-Men Forever#6
• YAMA, SACHI of Earth-982 - mother of J2, wife of Juggernaut/Cain Marko, assistant district attorney, aunt of Jimmy--J2#1
• YAMA DHARMA (Dr. Jan Maarshall) - Nest, Swedish electrical engineer, patterned after Hindu God of Death - aka the Death-Lord--Marvel Team-Up Annual#1
• YAMA-KINGS (Lord Tuan) - rulers of K'un-Lun's Feng Tu - aka Lords of the Dead--Deadly Hands of Kung Fu#21

Appearances:
Some issues of Young Magazine #24 (December, 1982) - #17 (September, 1983; I ASSume that the numbering re-started each year and that there were 17 issues in 1983; I'm not sure how many were after #24 in 1982)
Akira#1-4 (September-December, 1988) - Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira#5-6 (January-February, 1989) - Katsuhiro Otomo
Akira#37/2 (1995) - Jo Duffy (writer), Mark Texeira (artist)
Akira#38 (1995) - Katsuhiro Otomo

First posted: 09/10/2026
Last updated: 02/22/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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