Akira: Book 1
No. 1 in the Akira series
by Katsuhiro Otomo
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Dark Horse Manga (Milwaukie, Oregon): December 2000. Trade paperback: 359 pages. ISBN-10: 1-56971-498-3 Suggested retail price: $24.95 (US) Tags: drugs; gangs; Graphic Novel; guns; Japan; made into movie; Manga; motorcycles; Tokyo Tactical strength: [9/10] |
Akira takes place in Tokyo about forty years after World War III, in which Tokyo and many other cities were completely destroyed. Japan has rebuilt Tokyo, except for ground zero, a huge crater caused by the bomb that destroyed the city forty years earlier. Now, the government has started to build an Olympic plaza at ground zero to host the upcoming games in Tokyo city, but the army has used the site for clandestine purposes as well. The army has built a secret facility deep beneath ground zero to house some mysterious entity known as Akira. A resistance group has learned of Akira and the secret facility, and it has agents assigned to try to infiltrate the site.
The story opens with a teenage motorcycle gang taking a joyride down the abandoned highway that leads to ground zero. The leader Kaneda eggs the others on until they have to come to a screeching halt at the literal end of the road. If they hadn't stopped in time, they would have plummeted down into the crater. On the return trip, Tetsuo, Kaneda's best friend, takes the lead, when suddenly a mysterious kid appears in the read. Before Tetsuo has time to react to the kid, his motorcycle seems to spontaneously explode. The kid, whom we learn later is named Takashi, has the features of an old man and the number 26 tattooed on his hand. As Kaneda tries to accost Takashi for causing Tetsuo's accident, the kid vanishes. Within minutes, army forces appear, pick up the injured Tetsuo, and without any explanation disappear just as quickly.
Later, Kaneda spots Takashi in downtown Tokyo. Kaneda wants to beat the kid up for causing Tetsuo's accident, so Kaneda starts chasing Takashi. Both the army and the resistance are searching for Takashi as well, and Kaneda soon finds himself in the middle of a battle between the two. The battle introduces more our other main characters: Ryu, a resistance leader; Kei, Ryu's sister, resistance agent, and love interest for Kaneda; and the Colonel, director of the Akira project.
The Colonel has a facility for investigating paranormal abilities, and has the facility doctors treat Tetsuo. During the treatment, the Colonel's staff discovers that Tetsuo has latent paranormal abilities, and the Colonel orders a full series of tests on Tetsuo. The tests awaken enormous telekinetic powers in Tetsuo, which Tetsuo uses to escape from the facility. The new powers cause Tetsuo enormous pain, and he goes on a rampage looking for enough drugs to make him feel normal. Tetsuo takes over a rival motorcycle gang -- the Clown gang -- by using his power to cause the leader's head to explode. Tetsuo then uses the Clown gang to acquire the volume of drugs he needs. When Kaneda hears about the Clown gang's increased activities, he rounds up several other gangs for a war on the Clowns, which culminates with a showdown between former friends Kaneda and Tetsuo.
In addition to this main storyline, Otomo includes many subordinate storylines. The Colonel must argue to maintain funding for the Akira project, and he also receives a premonition from one of his paranormal subjects that Akira will awaken soon. The resistance assigns Kei to keep an eye on Kaneda because they believe he has some of the secret medication the Colnel uses for his paranormal subjects. And all of this amidst motorcycle chases, shootouts, bar fights, street fights, mounted motorcycle fights, and lots and lots of explosions.
Through Otomo's excellent storytelling, we come to like Kaneda in spite of his bossy, self-centered personality, his disrespect for authority, and his drug use. Kaneda obviously cares for Tetsuo and would like to rescue him from the Clown gang, and Kaneda obviously has a crush on Kei. This well rounded characterization enables us to like Kaneda as a person and even want him to survive the many bad scrapes he gets himself into -- including shootouts with the army.
In this first volume, Otomo has set up numerous story lines that play out over the next five volumes, with one odd exception. Kaneda's high school girl friend (who remains nameless) tells Kaneda that he has made her pregnant. Kaneda pretty much blows her off, even though she brings this up every time she sees him. With this repeated emphasis on the pregnancy, we would expect this to play out as one of the storylines. Otomo never addresses Kaneda or his progeny again.
I really like Akiro for its story, but the artwork makes it great. I often find the story so compelling that I'm turning pages faster than I can take in the artwork, and have to constantly remind myself to take the time to carefully look at every frame. Otomo spends just as much time on the detail of a cut scene as he does an action frame. We see the folds in leather coats, intricate details in numerous cityscapes, varying emotions on each and every spectator's face, and even meticulous graffiti on appropriate surfaces. I also like Otomo's realistic approach to his character's emotions. When his characters cry, they only shed a few tears, not a flood that fountains from both eyes. And although the storyline deals with science fiction elements, Otomo treats the art in a very realistic, matter-of-fact way that through its detail and careful construction conveys his own sense of caring about the story and characters.
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Akira directed by Katsuhiro Otomo
