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, 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. ( )

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. ( )

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

Wizard Top 100 of All Time: 41a
IGN Ultimate Bookshelf Essential

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 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. ( )