My first post about comics, in this case a particular comic. A few days back I read a very highly rated manga called Akira, written and drawn by the manga pioneer Katsuhiro Otomo. And by freaking God, was it a mind-blowing experience.
It’s divided in six volumes, which does not come nearly close to the 28 volume ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’, my other favourite manga. But Otomo managed to make it just as epic and, in all the senses of the words, ground-breaking. You can actually see the rules of modern manga being single-handedly made right there. The art is simply superb, better than LW&C, and anyone who has read the latter and knows how highly I regard it (but that’s a post for another day) will know how serious I am when I say this.
When it comes to the story I confess I started it with little optimism. I mostly downloaded it to see what is there to rave about. I have always found post apocalypse stories to be clichéd and mindlessly violent, with more than a hint of a forced depressing atmosphere.
This isn’t.
Akira is set thirty years after an unknown explosion destroyed Tokyo and started World War III. Through the volumes we find what the source of the explosion – ‘Akira’ – really was and how it can potentially impact the future again (and does); in the background of the lives and actions of the two juvenile delinquent protagonists, and a solid cast of supporting characters. We see in the beginning that the people in Neo-Tokyo had mostly healed from the end of the world horrors from thirty years ago and how they keep on surviving whatever Otomo throws at them. Akira is as much a story celebrating human resilience as anything else. Unlike most other pieces of serialised fiction, there is never a fixed status quo (except maybe in the first two volumes) and the frequent restructuring of society is brilliantly handled. Events which you would conventionally have thought would happen somewhere near the end happen as early as the second volume, and this frantic pacing keeps throwing the reader off-guard. The humour is mostly good but it falls flat at times, its probably the weakest link of the manga.
In a very entertaining and completely non-preachy manner Otomo has weaved a beautiful discourse on the subjects of isolation (the character of Tetsuo and his actions remind me a lot of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’), wars and politics, religion, greed and fear, among others. He shows the depths humans can fall and the heights they can rise. Tetsuo in particular remains the most poignant character I have read in quite a while. In fact, I fail to remember the last time I read a comic which had so many memorable characters for me. Perhaps Watchmen comes the closest.
Like I mentioned before, Akira (and the subsequent film adaptation by Otomo – which I’m yet to see) is regarded as a pioneer of modern manga and anime. One can easily see why. The clichés of usual manga/anime fare – annoying, cocky protagonists, obligatory juvenile romances, some absurdly colourful side characters – are all seen here, yet they seemed fresh, even though I’ve experienced a lot of future wannabes over the years. I believe it is because Otomo successfully weaved them into the story rather than merely forcing them on it.
Lone Wolf and Cub still remains my favourite Japanese comic, but this came ever so close to dislodging it. So if you are a comics geek like me, this is a must read. For everyone else except those who absolutely abhor the genre (I can’t help you), its worth picking up and giving it a try. I know what’s the first thing I do when I have a faster net connection once I get back to college, find the movie and watch it.
