Akira (manga)

Replica to real size of Kaneda's bike.

Akira (アキラ, '' Akira''^?) is a manga of more than two thousand pages written and drawn by Katsuhiro Ōtomo between 1982 and 1990, obtaining significant success in Japan and the rest of the world. best manga in 1984 in the general category (一般部門). It is the basis for the Japanese animated film of the same name, and both works were instantly recognized as classics within their respective genres.

The eponymous feature film departs from the manga's plot line for clear reasons: the film was released two years before the manga's conclusion. Akira is set in the futuristic city of Neo-Tokyo, rendered in great detail in the animated film (nearly $7 million was spent on the sets alone).

Plot

Background

1988: The world is on the brink of utter destruction. Advanced technology was the cause of a terrible explosion that triggered a nuclear war and devastated the great cities of the planet. Thirty years later, on the ruins of Tokyo, stands the megalopolis of Neo-Tokyo, an oppressive and inhumane city loaded with problems such as unemployment, violence, drugs and terrorism. Religious sects and extremist groups, taking advantage of the dissatisfaction of citizens, cultivate the myth of Akira, a "guinea pig boy" repository of "absolute energy" whose resurrection would mean for Japan the dawn of a new era.

Plot Summary

The story takes place in the year 2019 in Neo-Tokyo, a city rebuilt after suffering the devastating effects of a suspected nuclear explosion that sparked World War III. The government exercises repressive control over the city and experiments on children with latent psychic powers, applying drugs to enhance them, they contribute with predictions to keep the peace. Kaneda and Tetsuo are members of a motorcycle gang called "The capsules" who have, among other hobbies, participate in street fights against other gangs, continually confronting another gang called "The clowns" mounted on powerful motorcycles. In the manga, Tetsuo has an accident caused by a strange old-looking boy (in the film, it was during a street fight on a motorbike, in the manga, it is while they were driving back to the city). From that accident, Tetsuo is not the same again. The government kidnaps him, and in an analysis they discover that his psychic potential is one of the greatest they have detected, comparable to that of an extraordinary subject recruited long ago. They begin to experiment on him and he begins to develop psychic powers rapidly, which exacerbate his fears and frustrations, pathologically transforming his personality. On the other hand, there are Kay and Ryu, members of the resistance and led by their boss Nezu, they try to find out what happens in the army facilities located in ground zero, the place where the nuclear bomb that destroyed the ancient city exploded. This is where Kiyoko, Takashi and Masaru are, strange-looking children and possessors of these psychic powers, without forgetting Akira who is discovered to be the real person responsible for the explosion that occurred years ago, upon reaching absolute power.

The product of government experiments, Tetsuo begins to hallucinate and develops paranormal powers beyond anything known. This leads him to believe himself a god and to face the army itself looking for any evidence of Akira's existence, since he believes he is his successor and superior to him. Then his struggle to control the power he so longed for is unleashed and leads him down the path of self-destruction.

On the other hand, Kaneda, leader of his gang, is related to Kai, with whom he ends up falling in love and confronts Tetsuo, of whom he had been overprotective. The latter develops a feeling of inferiority and hatred towards Kaneda, whom he questions as a boss, which is enhanced by his new powers.

In all of this, sects and groups arise that worship Akira and take Tetsuo as the new savior who will bring Neo-Tokyo out of chaos and oppression.

Characters

• Shōtarō Kaneda (zero מה Kaneda Shōtarō): The main protagonist of anthology. Kaneda is the careless leader of a gang of criminal bikers. He and Tetsuo have been friends since childhood. He's reckless and mocks Tetsuo even though he feels like his younger brother. Since the rescue of Kei, Kaneda becomes involved in the anti-government group of this in the hope of locating Tetsuo.

• Tetsuo Shima (Te. Shima Tetsuo): Kaneda's best friend from children and the second subject of history. Tetsuo is shown as the black sheep of the grid, from which he and Kaneda are part, but suffers a lot from a deep root of inferiority complex. Admire your friend but at the same time envy him. Then Tetsuo's powers wake up and quickly becomes Kaneda's nemesis and main antagonist of history; he wants Kaneda's motorcycle (a symbol of great status and power) and wants to test his power to no longer need protection from anyone.

• Kei (certainty): Activist of the Revolutionary Army, esteems Ryu a lot. Meet Kaneda at the police station. Then he meets him when he fled the police, and Kaneda helps him. After being captured both, it makes him trust more in Kaneda. Kiyoko, you can get Kei in trance, and so it allows both of us to escape. Then, dominated by Kiyoko, he fought with Tetsuo when he wanted to wake Akira. It's rescued by Kai.

• Colonel (Taisa): He is the head of the AKIRA Project, although unlike the Doctor, he sees it from the military point of view. Because of the crisis generated by Tetsuo's second escape, it takes over Neo-Tokio. He meets Tetsuo at the Olympic Stadium, and when Akira wakes up he is teleported out of the blast range. On the sleeve, it is often found with Kaneda, and makes Tetsuo stay momentarily in the hospital.

• Numbers (Project Akira): A secret project of the Japanese government to use the mental power of humans. Three children who are test subjects for the secret project, also known as The Nanbāzu Numbers. They have bodies of children, but in their chronological order they are of the late 1940s. Their bodies and faces are wrinkled by age but have not grown physically, either by their powers, the battery of tests and surgeries performed in them, the drugs used to keep those powers under control, or a combination of the three. These are ancient acquaintances of Akira, who have survived the destruction of Tokyo. Numbers are:

• Masaru (loud): Designated as #27, Masaru is physically confined either to a wheelchair or a special floating chair. He has the power to use Telequinesis and is considered the leader of the three.

• Kiyoko (crying): Designated as #25, Kiyoko is so physically weak that she is confined to a bed. She has the ability to use teleport and precognition, in addition to having an oracular gift, and therefore the Colonel trusts her. The anime shows that she's a good friend of the colonel. She also stands out for being a maternal figure and leader of decision-making time.

• Takashi (tracking): Designated as #26, this child is rescued by a member of the Revolutionary Army, and by fleeing this member is killed by the police. In his escape, he meets Tetsuo, a fact that will be of great importance to history. At the end of the film, he decides that he can rescue Kaneda from the explosion created by Akira. He has the power to use telekinesis. Takashi is accidentally killed by Nezu, but is revived along with the rest of the children of the Akira project near the end of the sleeve.

• Akira (Speaking Option): The character of history, designated as #28. Akira was a child who developed psychic skills when he served as an examination for the ESP government in the 1980s. He lost control of his power and annihilated Tokyo in 1988. After that event, Akira was confined and subject to proof of modern science, which proved the inability to demonstrate the mystery. His body was placed inside a cryogenic compartment below the Olympic Stadium of Neo Tokyo, to be entrusted to the study of future generations.

• Miyako: She is often referred to as Lady Miyako (Mi Miyako-sama?), is a subject of the previous test known as #19, she is the priestess of a temple in Neo-Tokio, and an important ally of Kaneda and Kei as history progresses on the sleeve. In the film, it is only a picturesque monk who advocates Akira's return, and sees Tetsuo the new Akira.

• Yamagata or Yama (PARTURE): It belongs to the gang of criminal mortars led by Kaneda; it always uses a shirt with the Japanese symbol of Mount Fuji, and the rising sun. Maybe he's Kaneda's best friend. In the film he was killed by Tetsuo, when he went to the bar to buy pills. Kaneda, in a sort of rite, destroys his motorcycle. On the sleeve, he died in a clash between Tetsuo and the Colonel.

• Kai (quot.): The main character is funny, and it serves to give Kaneda some information on several occasions. He does not play an important role at first, but becomes more prominent later in history.

• Kaori It's Tetsuo's girlfriend. She's very shy and quiet, she's the first one Tetsuo is looking for when she first escapes from the hospital. It's heavily hit by the Payasos, without Tetsuo doing anything. At the end of the movie she's looking for Tetsuo at the Olympic Stadium and is scared to see her mechanical arm. Then Tetsuo loses control and transforms into a mass, catches it, and without wanting it or doing anything, crushes it into her body. On the sleeve appears at the end of the story and is recruited as one of Tetsuo's sex slaves, to later become an object of sincere affection, she also serves as an Akira nanny. On the sleeve he dies when he gets shot behind Tetsuo's back, he's trying to resuscitate her but fails.

• The Doctor (receiver Dokutā): Scientific head of the AKIRA Project. He sees Tetsuo's potential and decides to experiment with him. That's why he's reproached by the Colonel. In the end, marveled at the results, he died when his trailer was destroyed. On the sleeve, it dies when you visit Akira's frozen camera, breaking the coolant hoses.

• Nezu or Nezumi (50€): He is in the council of Neo-Tokio; he is the leader of the terrorist resistance movement against the government and is the contact of Ryu. He seems to be the mentor of Kei and Ryu, and pretends to be the national salvation of corrupt and ineffective bureaucrats in power. It soon becomes evident, however, that Nezu is equally corrupt, and that the only thing he intends to do is to take power for himself. In the film, when the crisis explodes, he tries to flee and shoots Ryu. Although he gets out without being captured by the police, his nerves prevent him from taking his drugs for the heart and he dies in a great scene where when he falls he opens his suitcase and leaves his titles and notes. On the sleeve, he was shot dead by the colonel's men.

• Ryu: It is the "operating leader" of the revolutionary Army and Kei's companion. He plans to extract children from the AKIRA Project, and maintains contact with Nezu. Precisely, in the crisis generated by Tetsuo's escape, Nezu shoots Ryuu, but this one does not die and gets hurt, walking the streets to die just a few steps from Nezu.

• Chiyoko: is a middle-aged woman, tall, strong and skilled in combat. It appears for the first time when he hides Kaneda and Kei from justice. It protects Kei and behaves almost like a mother with her. It only appears on the sleeve.

• The Clowns:

Bike gang, enemies of the Kaneda biker gang. Led by Joker, and later by Tetsuo. In the manga, they have a more important action.

♪ Joker Jōkā: Head of the Clowns. On the sleeve, you must yield your position to Tetsuo, and you are even forced to work with Kaneda.

Spanish edition

In Spain in 2012, Norma Editorial brought together in a special box for the 30th anniversary of the series the complete work in 6 volumes, including the artbook Akira Club and a set of postcards. Although in 2005 Norma had already published the manga, and in the 90s it had been published in three formats (comic format, manga (black and white) and in color) by the publishing house Ediciones B.

In Argentina between December 2017 and February 2020, the publishing house OVNI Press published an edition of the complete work in 6 volumes with local translators focused on the Latin American public.

Legacy

• In several interviews with the USA edition. UU. of Shonen Jump, Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto, has cited the sleeve and anime of Akira as determinants, particularly at the base of his career as mangaka.

• The acclaimed director of anime Satoshi Kon was accredited for some of the works of art in Marvel Comics editions Akira.

• This phenomenon has enhanced that some artists base some of their works in the comic and the film, as in the case of the group Vigués Blows, who has dedicated the song "Akira vs. Tetsuo" to his CD "Army of Fantasmas" (2012). Another example is the mention in the EP "Hecatombe" (2018), composed by a synthesis based on the film by Daniel Loaiza and produced by Drama Theme, with a theme divided into three parts as a mixtape, which carry by titles, "Origen", "Núcleo" and "Exodus" respectively, with the interpretation of Venezuelan rappers Lil supa and Rial Guawanko, The latter is identified