Did the anime film Akira really predict the 2020 Tokyo Olympics 32 years in advance?

The answer

Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark anime film Akira, released on July 16, 1988, is set in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo in the year 2019. In one scene, a sign reads: 'Only 147 days until the Tokyo Olympics,' placing the fictional games in 2020. Remarkably, Tokyo was indeed selected to host the 2020 Summer Olympics - a decision announced in September 2013, 25 years after the film. The coincidence becomes even more eerie: in the film, the Olympics face controversy and public protests, and the games in reality were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and faced significant public opposition. The original manga, serialized from 1982 to 1990, is set slightly differently, but the film's specific 2020 reference has become one of fiction's most celebrated 'predictions.'