Akira

Oh boy. Re-reading this was eye-opening. It's been on my personal favourite list for decades, it was the first anime and manga I ever saw, so it'll always have a special place in my heart. I rewatched the movie on 4K bluray recently and it holds up well. The Akira Club artbook is also gorgeous. The manga though... I'd recently bought all 6 volumes (the long-selling English ones by Kodansha), and was excited to re-read them for the first time since the late 1990s, but after reading one volume I was shocked to feel that nothing meaningful had happened. Despite the fact that the story is99% fast moving plot. But that crucial and paltry 1% dedicated to characterisation is what's upsetting me. It reminds me of a golden rule of storytelling that I believe in: you can have the most amazing plot ever, but if you don't have engaging characters, your story isn't worth a damn. People will barely rewatch movies with good plots with unmemorable characters, but people will always rewatch movies with mediocre plots just because the characters are awesome. Character is everything in storytelling. The movie adaptation works because it's streamlined and razor focused. The characters are not deep, but they're coherent. There is a palpable relationship between Kaneda and Tetsuo. Also, unlike the manga Kaneda is not a repugnant piece of shit in the movie (who likely impregnated a random girl in the manga and abandoned her!). There's a clear rites of passage involved in the movie, set against a broiling backdrop that is rich in symbolism. I even wrote a university dissertation on the movie and its thematic commentary on Japan's relationship to technology. I cited my theories with numerous references to behind the scenes interviews with Otomo and the staff. Akira the manga however has almost no characterisation whatsoever. Most characters are either just dumping exposition or reacting to explosions and gunfire. If you asked me to tell you something personal about Kei I honestly couldn't. In the movie she takes a life for the first time and is clearly shaken by it, but in the manga there's no reaction whatsoever during the same moment. It's weird how the movie can take the time to depict such a small character moment, but a 6 volume manga rarely stops to take a breath. I sense no thematic exploration despite the deep cyberpunk atmosphere in the beginning and the post-apocalyptic tropes in the second half, there's barely any character arcs despite the lengthy tale, every character except for Tetsuo is exactly the same personality-wise at the end as they were at the beginning, there's no growth or development to be seen. There's barely any subtext or metaphor to chew on. What is this story actually about? I'm not talking about the plot, I'm talking about subtext and theme, why Otomo decided to put pencil to paper all those years ago. For some reason Akira and Tetsuo are trying to kill each other almost immediately in the manga. At least in the movie Kaneda's immediate reasoning is revenge for the death of a friend, but in the manga Kaneda is trying to kill Tetsuo despite him not having done anything to Kaneda yet! Literally the only reason implied is that Tetsuo is running his own gang. That's it. That's the reason Kaneda and his friends want to kill Tetsuo. It's beyond stupid. In volume 2 Tetsuo is intent on finding Akira, and then once he does, there's zero conversation, zero insight into his motivation, absolutely nothing. It's just "ok, let's get out of here". It's shocking how shallow this manga is. Comments online are always praising the manga as having "such a better story than the anime". What story? There's no story! It's nothing but chase scenes for 6 whole volumes. The art remains iconic and one of my favourites of the medium, and Otomo's ambition is infectious, which is why I've rated the manga so highly, but I find myself stunned by how little I care for anything that's happening from panel to panel. As a digression, the popular and long-in-print English volumes of Akira are terrible. I was stunned. There are so many typos that Kodansha have left in all these years. The left to right format had no effort put into it, so all characters are left-handed, etc. In fact, I'm uncertain whether my next issue is because of the flipping, or because of Otomo himself but I was profoundly baffled by the panel progression in this manga. Traditionally you want big reveals or dramatic panels on a new page, so as not to spoil a reader's wandering eye, or even their peripheral vision. But in this translation, all the dramatic panels are on the second (right hand) page. I kept getting spoiled on big moments constantly. Then when you flip the page over, the start of the left-hand page just has mundane things going on. If you get this manga, get the 35th Anniversary boxset, because it's unflipped for the first time ever. So yeah, I found this re-reading experience sadly disappointing. Akira has a propulsive plot that has so much stuff happening, so much violence and characters running down corridors, and yet...it feels like nothing meaningful actually happens. The ending is also another huge question mark. No, I'm not talking about what on Earth happened in the climax (which again, is much more clearer in the movie than in the manga), but why the main characters behave the way they do. I won't spoil their inexplicable actions, but suffice to say some characters decide to exhibit emotions resembling nationalism for the first time ever, which almost made me angry with how nonsensical it is. This is not a character arc, this is not thematic exploration, it's just pulling shit out of thin air. It's been a profoundly disappointing experience rediscovering this manga. I will try to cling on to my memories of the 1990s, reading Manga Mania magazine and learning to draw by tracing the manga as a teenager.

At time of release Akira was possibly regarded as the greatest manga yet written (and certainly clearer to understand than Evangelion). With the modern focus on dialogue as an engine of plot and character, Akira was a strange reading experience, with its static characters, repeated quarter-volume fight scenes against armies of gunmen, and unashamed focus on spectacle over exploring the intricacies of its own plot. The movie of Akira probably distils the vital themes and character dynamics much more sharply, with some more brilliant exchanges and creative images than anything in the source; the manga has nothing quite like that giant milk-bleeding teddy bear.What it does have, however, almost nothing else does. The art of Akira is great; the atmospheric sense of place is without peer. The feeling of ruin and desperation lies over every rag and pile of rubble. Every bizarre, wasted psychic is undeniably a child of nuclear apocalypse. The action rattles along at a frantic pace (Dark Horse's release of the series without chapter divisions was genius), with ominous forces of politics, science or the supernatural a constant presence. Those quarter-volume cinematic running battles? You won't find better. Some shonen manga constantly introduce new character dramas and plot devices like fairground gewgaws. Nothing in Akira feels contrived; everything is the natural movement of a master's artwork, action and atmospheric roller-coaster, on as grand a scale as the titanic powers of Akira himself. The characters of Akira are not principally developed or expounded by drama or dialogue; with their world in constant collapse, there is scarcely time for such things. Their characters are expounded through action. Every line and act of Tetsuo, Kandeda and the Colonel expresses their character with utter consistency and charisma. And every character is real. Hopeless revolutionaries like Ryuusaku pervade history. Rebels, rivals and friends, Kaneda and Tetsuo live on in every city of Earth. And men exactly like the Colonel, my favourite character, actually hijacked Japan into WWII. Manga such as Naruto or Aldnoah Zero end up describing nothing but the playground squabble of two boys. Akira's themes of power, social collapse and rebellion (teenage, militant, military and supernatural) are real, and they are big; hence a manga filled with good old-fashioned gun battles has been impossible to ignore in any period. Personal struggles, such as Kaneda and Tetsuo's conflict, are overshadowed by cataclysmic events, and gain vitally in sympathy because of it. Before covering a few flaws I must mention Chiyoko, the machine-gun wielding wonder-woman who will be new to movie watchers, and that her character could be considered a test-run for the heroine of 'Legend of Mother Sarah'. That is a great manga; if you can track down some copies legally, do so. For all the roaring bluster of Akira's cast, however, their characters and fates perhaps lack the detail or originality that would move them from archetypes to beloved household names. As mentioned, the manga also often gets too caught up in grand disasters and continuous action to explore its characters and plot in more original or explicitly thoughtful ways. As also mentioned, the movie absolutely solves this latter problem. And the manga remains a brilliant spectacle of power, rebellion, and social collapse.

If Akira was published today, I very much doubt it would get a fraction of the praise it now gets (even if it was updated to the "present time"). The good about this manga has already been told extensively, so I will talk about the bad. Kaneda, one the main characters, is a normal human being, yet somehow he can wrestle with Superman, outsmart Batman, and overcome the Fates and the angels of Death. Additionally, he drives the fanciest motorcycles (and is the best rider, obviously), and gets the girl (another obviously, as all good heroes are supposed to get the girl). By the way, Kaneda isa teenager, like many of the readers to whom the manga was targeted. Coincidence? There is supposed to be a relationship between two characters like the one you can find in Berserk and other manga. But here the relationship is poorly developed - okay, maybe I am being too soft here. The relationsihip is rather not developed (a couple of drawings to tell a sotry which, admittedly, didnt need more because it was cliché even back in the day). Wondering whats behind the powers of some of the characters? Well, dont. It is just military experimentation and that kind of stuff. You do not need to know more, and you wouldnt understand it anyway. Think of it as a world with magic, but no rules, so the author can have whatever they want, and need, any time. There are characters that can read the thoughts of other characters, fly, survive in space, cause explosions more destructive than the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But, a regular Joe can kick their asses. There is no consistency as to what sort of skill can is a "power" mastered by a character. In Akira, we may find a characer than can simply jump very high, another that can move objects with their mind, yet another that can apparently see what is going on everywhere in the world and, further, has the ability to direct that vision to precisely what is of interest to them - instantly. Etc. etc. If you are not bothered by thinks like those above, then Akira is a great read. Otherwise, dont waster your time.

I don't think I have ever written a review on something I quite liked as much as this, so this right now seems kind of unusual for me, but yeah, Akira the manga is excellent. I had already watched the movie previously and loved it. It was an aesthetic masterpiece, however as far as story goes, it just felt too rushed and like it's skipping larger chunks of important information. Even if it ultimately raised interesting questions about society and technological development, it still felt like something was missing. Now that I have finally gotten around reading the manga, I have to say, that even that problemis eliminated for me. The story initially focuses around a group of juvenile delinquents, who happen to stumble upon a shriveled-up-vegetable-kid with psychic powers, while minding their own business, speeding with their motorcycles on the Neo Tokyo highway. One accident later all hell starts breaking loose. The plot as it progresses is great. It starts by painting a society with loose morals; authorities are violent, kids get involved in all sorts of trouble (our real-life parents would be getting panic attacks for) and street gangs are running rampant. Throw in some politics, secret organizations and psychic powers, mix 'em up with interesting sci-fi ideas and post-world war II anxieties of the Japanese and you have yourself a tasty mixture to serve as the basis of a story unlike anything back in 1982 - as well as today. The characters in Akira are good enough. I have found criticism of them not being developed too much and that's fair enough, but honestly I don't think Akira needed that. Yes, you might not like Kaneda, who is technically a morally more ambigious shounen main character, happy-go-lucky and way too brave for what he is doing, as well as an a**hole to boot, Kei is also kinda bland and while the colonel may grow likable for being a man of principle, who does his best to get sh*t done and Chiyoko is a bazooka wielding and tank driving war-machine, the closest thing to a relatable character will probably be Tetsuo, a crazy f**k, who develops godlike powers and holds Neo Tokyo in his palm with his rule of terror - the source of his relatability being the various psychological implications we get, an obvious oedipal complex, as well as his appearent ambitions. But none of that really matters, too much to me, cause - as I've already pointed out - the world building brilliantly makes up for it with portraying a general psychological mentality of the surroundings of Neo Tokyo, that makes the world come to life, even if I wouldn't want to go for a beer with any of the characters. Aesthetically, it's also great. Sure Tetsuo looks like he is on one of those "who can make his face smallest?"-challenges and one or two characters look too much alike, but then again, all of them always seem really dynamic and never too stiff, the machinery presented has excellent designs and the backgrounds always look detailed and pleasing to the eye, which you grow to appreciate especially when Otomo starts sh*tting out pages upon pages of devastation and explosions. So all things considered, I think it's only fair, I give this the best rating.