Akira, Volume 3

Akira is awake and what a cute bundle of untapped psychic force of creation strong eough to shatter the world he turns out to be! On the run and hiding with the awesome Chiyoko, Kei and Kaneda reach out to the resistance, but there is treachery afoot! With the Colonel and the military and two factions of the resistance after them, and after Akira the actions rolls furiously through the city until everything builds to the biggest E*X*P*L*O*S*I*O*N of them all, a sequence up there with Moore's Miracleman for sheer destructive power unleashed on the pages of a comic book. It is off the charts. And this is where the film ended. The comic is only getting started.

When I was halfway through this volume, and even 70% into it, I was thinking “meh, I'm giving this one four stars only…”. There were several reasons for that:

This chapter is a confusing one, and at times difficult to believe, with several groups or factions chasing each other around Neo-Tokyo, only to turn around a corner and stumble upon each other again by chance. That goes on for a while, and it seems an excuse for grandiose action (beautifully drawn as usual!). Through all that, the motivations of those different characters and groups isn't clear: what are they trying to do? Get Akira? Destroy this other group? Get those dissidents? Prevent that coup d'état…? Unbelievable stuff happens: escaping in the last minute from a show more definitive situation, jumping into a tank in plain sight of the military and simply driving it, etc. Around 60%, and for a few pages in a row, I noticed a drop in the quality of the art (thicker strokes, less detail, weird faces that seemed drawn hastily). And finally, Tetsuo is (until this point) completely absent, and he's an interesting character undergoing transformation, so I definitely wanted to know about him.

Then, the last twenty pages came.

And I'm giving it five stars again. show less

3.5


"This whole thing just keeps on getting more complicated." - Kaneda


Kaneda is right. While still entertaining, this is probably my least favourite volume so far. We're transitioning into where things go way beyond the film, and the reader is bombarded with a lot of information - but not in the way of text exposition. Things are still a roller-coaster of action set pieces, and you really have to be on your toes to keep up with what's going on.

Still fun, wonderfully drawn, and necessary setup for what's to come; but I can't help but feel things could have been communicated just a little bit better. The rather hectic and convoluted presentation is redeemed somewhat by an excellent finale. Akira's awakening is nothing short of epic.

Third volume starts with Kaneda and Kei barely surviving the escape from military compound with Akira in tow. While trying to hide from the military their trust in their allies will be put to test. Who can be trusted in poisonous political environment? At the very moment when everything seems lost things get worst due to the stupid action of a man who cannot admit defeat. And then true cataclysm takes place.

Tetsuo is absent from this volume for almost entire run. Only at the end does he enter the scene and disappears with the most potent force on Earth. Volume truly ends on the cliffhanger.

Art is, as is always the case for this series, excellent. Framing of parts of Neo-Tokyo just bare minutes before the cataclysm is pure joy to follow, show more events playing out like on a movie screen. Level of details is incredible, families preparing for start of the day seconds before the disaster and then silent panels where buildings get reduced to ash and dust.... what to say but phenomenally done.

Highly recommended to all fans of SF. show less

  This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer  Title: Akira #3  Series: Akira  Author & Artist: Katsuhiro Otomo  Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars  Genre: Manga  Pages: 284    
Synopsis: The Colonel activates a coup after losing Akira and takes over Neo-Tokyo [because we all know that as Neo-Tokyo goes so goes the rest of Japan].   The rebels are betrayed by one of their own, a schemer who wants Akira for himself so he can be a "player" in the big leagues.   A show more new group of super powered children appear, apparently loyal to the leader of the rebels, a certain Lady Miyako who is also super-powered, somehow.   Kaneda, Kei and a new sidekick, a true blue Japanese Mama-san are running all over the place, trying to keep Akira safe. Oh yeah, Kaneda steals a tank. Yeah, for real.   Finally, Akira. The poor kid is passed from group to group like a football at the Superbowl and at the end, he psychically explodes and a good part of Neo-Tokyo is now gone. And Tetsuo appears next to him at the last page of the book. Good times ahead!   My Thoughts: This ran the gamut from sad [Takeshi, one of the 'old' kids getting his brains blown out] to funny [Kaneda stealing a tank is just awesome! This whole volume would have been worth it for just that!]   This is definitely not for everyone. But I would highly recommend it unreservedly to any guy or to anyone else looking for some epic scifi blow-em up action. If you're looking for deep character development and monologues about feelings, go read something else. Seriously.   I'm off to eat a rare steak and shoot some guns. And maybe steal a tank while I'm at it *wink* " show less

Reread.

Oh boy this is a mess. I have no clue whose on whose side, which side is the right side, or if Akira is only dangerous because people are trying to use him as a weapon. But he's 'woke' now. Like REALLY woke. And now Tetsuo is back to throw a monkeywrench in the works.

Once again, liked it better the second time around.

Cannot wait to get to Volume 4 now!

Most of this one was just running around. Extra stars for what happens when the running stops.