REVIEW: Akira (Manga)

Akira

By Katsuhiro Otomo

Akira

Originally published in 1982

·         The manga starts off giving its science fiction back story on how the world of Akira is based on an alternate reality where Japan was bombed and that caused World War III, predating Code Geass and other realities where the basis of history in manga differs drastically from our own timeline in an effort to make a metaphor to how Japan has changed drastically (Akira, Pages 6-11)

·         Our protagonist is NOT named Akira but is instead a punk ass kid Kaneda who would beat up a bystander who happened to have superpowers. In addition, in the reformed version of Japan’s state the teachers are allowed to give their students a good sock in the face for some odd reason regardless of child abuse laws in our own reality. (Akira, Page 31)

·         The architecture of Japan in Akira notably is new buildings being built on the ruins of pre-World War III Japan. This is exemplified where tall buildings much like Judge Dredd which houses entire populations exist over the old Japanese skyline. (Akira, Page 35)

·         The club that Kaneda goes into notably has a Dante’s Inferno reference with the “Abandon All Hope” graffiti over where the story really kicks off. (Akira, Page 40)

·         The news with the pictures is notably photorealistic compared to the cartoony version of how people look in the world of Akira. (Akira, Page 109)

·         Of course, an evil corporation with human experimentation is the cause of all the mutations and weird stuff that is going on around Japan.

·         A LOT of the plot of the first part of Akira is based on motorcycle chases, which given pre-psychic powers this serves as the only action in the manga. (Akira, Page 125)

·         Of course, the protagonists and major characters in Akira are high-school students. However, this reflects how college is seen in America as the time of great self-discovery and nostalgia for the Japanese audience.

·         Kaneda is really a punk ass kid who takes the entirety of the situation in strides even though he’s been caught in gun fire and the sight of unholy psychic abominations at the beginning, hitting on Kei and actively threatening Resistance members. (Akira, Page 151)

·         People notably die horrible, gruesome deaths in Akira, like the gangsters who get their head exploded by pure psychic terror from Tetsuo. (Akira, Page 186)

·         There is little depiction of women save for the nurse that Kaneda slept with and Kei, though as most of the manga is based on gang wars and military psychic drugs it makes sense for this to be.

·         Over all, I like this manga a lot as a future cyberpunk psychic Japanese manga, however the trope has been done to death nowadays as with the titles of Code Geass, Gundam, and the like.

Bibliography:

Ōtomo, Katsuhiro, Yoko Umezawa, Linda M. York, and Jo Duffy. Akira. New York: Kodansha Comics, 2009. Print.