 He made his major debut in 1966 with the gag-manga "Gaikotsu-kun", which was published in "Bekkan Shōnen Magazine", and shocked readers in 1970 with "Ashura", which contained numerous unsettling depictions of human life.The first chapter of "Ashura" contains a scene where a woman commits cannibalism to prevent herself from dying of starvation, and later attempts to eat her own child as well.The August 2, 1970 edition of "Weekly Shōnen Magazine", which first published this chapter, was banned in several regions as a result of this scene, propelling Akiyama to infamy within the manga industry.