So this is it the climactic finale to one of the greatest tales that has ever been committed to paper! (OK, so possible exageration there.) Tetsuo in a display of his phenomenal power has punched a hole in the moon! The damage has caused a shift in the Earth's tidal pattern's so the already battered city of Neo-Tokyo has to contend with floods as well as the extensive damage it has already endured. The forces of Miyako are gathering to contend with the growing threat that Tetsuo poses. The Great Tokyo Empire are preparing to fight off a possible invasion by the American forces moored off the coast of Neo-Tokyo. Kaneda and the Colonel are both making their separate ways to their final confrontation with Number 41. The action is all go as the world hangs in the balance!

Tetsuo's power has finally broken free of the constraints of his mortal body and is now causing the bloated, freakish giant baby monster from the end of the anime. Kei used as a medium by Miyako and the other children has to confront him in a battle of powers whilst others attempt to awake Akira to his full power to direct as a final weapon against Tetsuo! Yet the focus of this volume is of course the closing chapters where we are once again drawn into the psychic world that Tetsuo, Akira and the others inhabit. This montage of memories really help to explain Tetsuo in much greater detail, and why when gifted with such enormous power he started this path of murder and destruction. This exploration of the Akira phenomena as a force of evolutionary change within humanity, strikes a chord with something deep inside many people. The idea of the power as a universal/race memory is a theory that still gets debated about within scientific circles - whether it is possible for memories to be passed down through genetics?

This is a fantastic end to an amazing series. In case you hadn't picked up the general theme of these reviews that I have loved every moment of this production. As always the artwork and writing is fantastic. As far as I'm concerned the manga far outstrips the anime in terms of scope and storytelling depth. Now that is of course easy to achieve with the printed page than with an animated feature but this series I recommend highly to any fan of the anime, Katsuhiro Otomo's other works, sci-fi epics or someone just looking for some great storytelling!

This is Otomo's opus! Check it out!

10/10