"Akira" was the first adult anime I ever watched. As a young teen, I found the movie intensely violent and disturbing. Critics raved about the movie and I while I agreed with them to an extent, the fluid animation was excellent and the character designs were pretty good, I found the story to be beyond confusing. Last week I started reading the manga series to see if the story made more sense. There's so much more to the manga than the anime. Some additions work, some don't. But is the manga less confusing than the anime? Yes and no. Yes, in that the reader is given far more background context to help understand the story, and no, because the ending is still damn confusing.
"Akira" by Katsuhiro Otomo is a landmark manga series. The series comprises of 6 thick volumes totaling well over 2,000 pages. The story belongs to the cyberpunk thriller genre and paved the way for anime and manga for years to come. I'll be reviewing the English translation.
TRANSLATION:
The English translation is for the most part well done and includes minimal spelling and grammatical errors. Again, the major sound effects throughout should've been left untranslated as the English equivalents don't make much sense, are silly and regularly intrude on Otomo's art. Another pet peeve of mine is that this manga series reads from left to right, not right to left as it was originally created.
ART:
The art varies greatly in quality. The first two manga volumes range from mediocre and average, to quality art. The middle volumes onwards are much more refined and consistent in quality. Otomo has a flair for detail, especially architecture. His character details are also realistic but their facial features are typically cartoony like most manga. Action scenes are particularly well done, as are the ruined city of Neo Tokyo and the scope that comes with the story. In places the art style is very 80's, sometimes for better or worse.
CHARACTERS:
There are many different characters from different positions of society. There's no real lead protagonist but Tetsuo, the runt of a bikie gang is the lead antagonist and Akira, a little boy is his figure head/puppet.
STORY:
"Akira" is by nature, more plot-driven than character-driven. That's not to say character development doesn't play a part, it does, but it's not a focus of the story. The series is set in the not too distant future, a dystopian Tokyo, known as Neo Tokyo. The story involves children with paranormal powers but there's so much more to it. Themes covered include social isolation and the corruption that comes with having great power. It's about broken friendships and surviving in a world that has gone mad. Towards the end there's some talk about human evolution (silly).
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The story starts off a bit rough and much of the art matches it. Thankfully, the story improves fairly quickly but it takes some time for the quality of art to reach the same heights. I found middle 3rd of the story to be the most interesting and satisfying part. I especially enjoyed the endless shots of modern architecture in various states of ruin, with buildings lying at various angles and people traversing them. Also, the interactions between Akira's troupe and other groups in Neo Tokyo were very cool. The last volume was action-packed but I found the ending to be disappointing and confusing. There were allusions to the destructive nature of youth unchecked and to the WW2 Japanese bombings and the effects thereof but it just didn't make sense from any viewpoint. "Akira" is an enjoyable series but it's not a masterpiece.
Not for children. "Akira" contains moderate violence, disturbing imagery, some strong language and mature themes.
7.5/10
