In Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga Akira, the motorcycle-gang leader who searches for Tetsuo is Kaneda.
Shotaro Kaneda leads a youth motorcycle gang in Neo-Tokyo, the rebuilt city established after a catastrophic explosion destroyed Tokyo. When his friend Tetsuo Shima develops powerful psychic abilities after an accident, Kaneda becomes entangled with military experiments, political unrest, and the secret surrounding Akira.
Kaneda is impulsive, competitive, and often irreverent, but his determination to find Tetsuo gives the story its emotional center. His distinctive red motorcycle became one of the most recognizable images associated with the series and its animated film adaptation.
Akira was serialized in Young Magazine from 1982 to 1990 and collected in six volumes. Otomo wrote and illustrated the manga and also directed the 1988 animated film, which condenses and rearranges the much longer comic storyline.