Almost every anime fan has seen or heard of AKIRA the animated movie—it was one of the first anime movies to get wide-scale recognition in the U.S. But before AKIRA the movie, there was AKIRA the manga. This massive two-thousand-plus-page epic has gone on to win every possible award, and it is considered by some the best graphic novel series ever created, anywhere. Now it is available for the first time in the States... well, not really. AKIRA was first released in the states back in 1988 by Marvel Comics, but this is the first time that it is being offered in the "phone book"-sized graphic novel format in which it originally appeared when it came out in Japan.
Written and drawn by Otomo Katsuhiro, who also directed the movie, AKIRA takes place in Neo-Tokyo in the year 2030, thirty-eight years after World War Three began when a new type of bomb exploded over Japan. While riding at night through Old Tokyo where the bomb exploded, a group of bikers suddenly come upon a small boy standing in the middle of the road. Before Tetsuo, who is riding at the head of the pack, can swerve out of the way, his motorcycle explodes—causing him to become gravely injured. Kaneda, the leader of the group, goes up to confront the small boy, but before he can do anything, the boy vanishes into thin air.
Things start to become weirder when the military then shows up, asks some questions and then leaves without offering any aid to the injured Tetsuo. Not too long after that night, Kaneda's life takes a turn as he becomes involved with a head-strong woman named Kei who belongs to an underground revolutionary movement that is fighting against a covert government agency that is raising and studying humans with paranormal abilities. One of these superhumans turns out to be the little boy that Kaneda's gang ran across that night in Old Tokyo. Worst yet is that Tetsuo is also one of these superhumans, but he is far more dangerous than the others because his powers are just developing and he doesn't know how to control them. And at the heart of this maelstrom of commotion is the shadow of an enigmatic and extremely powerful force known only as Akira.
For the most part, I liked this manga. Otomo is a very good storyteller. His artwork is very clean but also detailed and the action sequences were easy to follow. He has also done a good job in developing a cast of characters who all seem to have some reason to be involved in the story by weaving them all together in a plot which revolves around the mysterious Akira force. (And no, Akira is not the name of the book's main character.)
One of the things that I like about AKIRA the manga is the epic story that it is trying to tell. Just reading the first volume alone gives me the impression that this version of AKIRA is going to be an even bigger epic than the one that was portrayed in the movie. In fact, I feel that the synopsis I provided in this review isn't adequate enough to describe just how much is going on in this story.
Overall, AKIRA is one good read. It's usually hard to tell how a series as a whole will be by just reading the first volume, but since all the reviews on the back cover and in the Otomo biography at the end of the book proclaim that AKIRA is the best thing since sliced bread, I think that it's safe to say that the AKIRA will be at least decent throughout its run. That last sentence may sound a little cynical, but I'm just wary by nature of anything that "everybody" likes. However, despite my paranoia, I did enjoy the manga and, even though I have seen the movie and thus have some inkling of where the story is going and how it is going to end, I still want to check out future volumes. So if you haven't picked up your copy of AKIRA volume 1 yet, go do it now.
