Akira Highly recommended

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

Akira volume 5

By otaku_kei
11th Nov 04

Kaneda has been returned to Neo-Tokyo by the psychic outburst of Tetsuo's power at the close of volume 4. Kaneda has been thrust into this devastated cityscape, but is still focussed on bringing Tetsuo to account for all the death and misery that he has caused, but also wants to make sure that the people he cares for, in particular Kei, come to no further harm. But just offshore of Neo-Tokyo the U.S. military forces are getting restless and are planning to act against the growing threat that Akira and Tetsuo pose. This volume sees the storm brewing as Tetsuo flexes his psychic muscles and exceeds the potential of all those experiments that have come before.

It's a welcome return for Kaneda as the series whilst lacking none of the excitement in volume 4, had been missing his own brand of impetuous vitality as well as the flirtatious friction with Kei. Well we get all of that back in this volume, as well the further conflicts that are arising between all of the characters as they align themselves against Tetsuo. Yet all is not right within the Great Tokyo Empire. Tetsuo's majordomo is pushing for more and more power for himself as Tetsuo withdraws more from the external world to focus his attention on the growth of his power grows.

As always the artwork and story are of an extraordinary high quality. The artwork is so surprisingly detailed, with the attention to detail of the ruined landscape, and almost no continuity problems from panel to panel. That must have taken an amazing amount of time to proof to make sure that the quality was standard throughout the series. The plot is also building towards the conclusion. Kei is moving towards channelling the powers of the other psychics in her final showdown with Tetsuo. Kaneda and the rest of the bikers are also moving closer to their revenge against Tetsuo. But Tetsuo is evolving and changing, and soon the power that lies within him will not be able to be contained in his fragile shell of flesh.

Well once again this series is not disappointing me. The plot has had me hooked from the start. The character of Tetsuo has been much more intriguing in the manga than it was in the anime. In these later volumes we are really starting to see his character evolve as well as start the fracturing of his personality that results in the baby monster we all know from the anime! This classic just has one more volume to run before its all over, and I await with bated breath...

10/10

-- otaku_kei 11th Nov 04