Table of Contents
AKIRA
アキラ(AKIRA) is a Japanese manga and anime film set in the mythical year of 2019 and follows the exploits of a biker gang member who finds himself in the crossfires of shady government research and the laws of the universe itself.
Reviews
Film
I think the film is okay, though the story is perhaps a bit rushed and it’s a bit pretentious in some places.
The real highlight of the film is that you can look at gorgeous animation.
Manga
I started reading the manga not that long after I first watched the film.
More may be written in the future, but the gist is that I actually think the manga is kinda mediocre.
The first problem is that Kaneda starts out as kinda a jerk and then becomes less of a jerk. But the only major change in-between is that Kaneda disappeared inside a black hole for an unspecified amount of time. At least if I remember correctly.
The second problem is that the manga abandons Neo-Tokyo (a setting that is actually kinda interesting) in favor of a post-apocalyptic destroyed Neo-Tokyo. This is so much less interesting that it’s hard to believe.
The third problem is the way it ends. It’s kinda difficult to know what they were going for.
Note though that the above is based on my memory and it’s been years since I read it, meaning I’m definitely not remembering it all correctly.
Speculah & Analysis
Why did World War 3 start?
It’s implied that WW3 started due to Akira’s awakening which led to an explosion in the middle of Tokyo. But, if this explosion was caused by the Japanese…why did WW3 start?
My current (hilarious) thought is that the Japanese caused WW3, then blamed outsiders (possibly the Americans), which then caused WW3. They then won the war.
How do I know they won? They’re still an independent entity and are insanely militarized by Japanese standards.