Akira Highly recommended

Publisher
Dark Horse
Writer
Katsuhiro Otomo
Artist
Katsuhiro Otomo
Country of origin
Japan
Length
6 volumes
Year
1988

Akira volume 3

By otaku_kei
10th Nov 04

The Colonel's worse fears have been realised because Akira has awakened! To try to keep control of a situation spinning out of control, the Colonel orders a code 7 military alert and places the city under martial law. The military, in a coup d'etat, make moves against all the groups seeking to destabilise whilst also trying to secure Akira from the clutches of those same rebels. So what we get is a volume heavy on action as almost every character continually cross paths in a chase across the city as they all try to contain Akira so that he doesn't awaken to the full force of his power as he did when he destroyed old Tokyo!

This volume is almost all action. The plot is spiralling towards a convergence that is set to change the whole process of the story. With Akira on the loose some groups are reckless in their attempts to secure power. In fact in many ways this volume is the most obvious critique of the greed and shortsightedness of humankind.

With Otomo using the Akira story to speculate on the further development of mankind. Otomo uses an analogy of the psychic powers to the atom bomb, with the normal humans trying to harness the power for military/political leverage yet the evolved humans seeing it as the path of future development for humankind. This can be seen as an atack on the political dynamics of the cold war era world (when this title was being written). But also as an attack on humankind in general as being unable to comprehend the infinite possibilities of power beyond the immediate use as violence.

This volume ends spectacularly and quite unexpectedly if you've only seen the anime. It leaves you questioning the fate of several of the central characters fates, but also sees a welcome return for Tetsuo who has been largely absent from the proceedings of this volume after losing his arm to the SOL satellite at the end of volume 2. The ending of this volume really left me begging for more. The series had hit a turning point and diverts dramatically from the plot of the anime from this volume onwards.

As always the artwork and plotting are of extraordinary high quality. The artwork is extremely detailed and lends the characters a level of depth that can be lacking in much comic art. The plotting and scripting continues to be of the high quality that the first two volumes set.

This volume has set the plot going in a different direction which really does leave the reader hooked as to what will happen next. We want to know what Tetsuo has planned for Akira as he takes him into custody at the end of the volume. What does the future hold for Kei, Kaneda, Chiyoko and the Colonel? It has the reader hooked in and so far is not letting go.

10/10

-- otaku_kei 10th Nov 04