Akira, Volume 1

It came on time and the manga is amazing the art style is A+

Great manga nice clear panels my only real problem with this is it is printed to be Read left to right and not the traditional right to left

I’ve loved the animated film for many years and so had high hopes for the original manga work. But going through the first volume, I was incredible dissatisfied - dull, one note teenagers with heavy misogynistic attitudes, poorly drawn characterizations, sometimes confusing visual grammar... maybe over its successive volumes it becomes something special. But to me it seems like the film had distilled what was great in the graphic novel and thrown away the huge amount of tedious filler that fills so much of these pages. Akira was obviously something special at the time of its publishing, and the underlying story and themes are just as exciting and dramatic... but this, based upon the first volume - is not a case of the author using a slow burn medium to create a rich set of characters you want to follow. Instead it’s a b-movie pulp attitude with an indulgent director’s cut prints all over it.

I remember seeing Akita on channel 4 (uk tv) waaaaaaay back in something like 1987/8. I remember being utterly blown away that cartoons could be this graphic, and it birthed my fancy Japanese graphic novels and film. In my travels I’ve seen the books, flicked through them from time to time, but never pulled the trigger as it were. Well… I needed something to read whist I recovered from my heart surgery, and why not a blast from my past. If you’ve seen the film, be prepared for a mind flip. It’s completely different. Many characters have been left out and many parts removed entirely. But dear lords and ladies of the aesir and Vanir, it’s AMAZING. I have read many classics. Akita has to be number one,

I have been a fan of the mind blowing film adaption of this for many years, however, for some insane reason it has taken me until now to read the books on which it was based on.Pros: Incredibly written, well paced, with some of the most breath taking visuals you will see in comics (understatement)Cons: NothingIn my opinion, this is with out doubt a complete masterpiece , I cannot think of anything in this medium that compares (if you can, let me know as would love to see)

Received the book today and have no complaints other than the condition of the book received. The front cover has multiple dents and tears that continue a few pages into the book and has similar dents on the back. I bought this book brand new so that it would be in a decent condition but have been unfortunately let down. Looking at the deepness of the dent, it tears part of the pages up to page 43 and on the rear it almost looks like it has been stabbed by something.