And thus began the reign of Vietnamese Batpod biker gangs.

Just keep them away from Catwoman.

[thanks, trent!]

Masashi Teshima of Fukuoka, Japan has spent the past 7 years and over $120,000 creating a working version of Kaneda's bike from Akira, and now he's riding it across the country to raise money for children's autism research.

The project has Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo's seal of approval, and Otomo himself will appear with the bike at an exhibition at Tokyo's 3331 Arts next week to raise money for those affected by last year's major earthquake.

[kotaku]