qiaosilin 's review for:

Akira, Vol. 4 by Katsuhiro Otomo

4.0

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Volume 4 seems to continue a little bit after the ending of Volume 3, maybe a few months; I'm not entirely sure. Either way, a lot of stuff happens, whether it's the creation of the Great Tokyo Empire that follows the lead of our eponymous character Akira as supreme ruler (which I personally think is hilarious because Akira is still a child with the most petulant look on his face all the time. Plus, all he seems to do is eat and sleep and sit around on his chair, looking like he would really like to play with toy trucks or something) or the downfall of the radical group, of which Kei and Ryu and Chiyoko were all a part. Kaneda, our mouthy protagonist, isn't a part of Volume 4 and you would understand why if you'd read Volume 3. Is his presence really missed? Nope, because we have a whole bunch of really interesting characters separated by the chaos who are going through some interesting shit and we don't really need to see what Kaneda is up to because that would be way too much to keep track of.

Otomo is still amazing at drawing the destroyed landscapes and destruction scenes. His storytelling is great during the trippy dream sequences, making you really want to know more about both Akira and Tetsuo. There's some tell-not-show parts with Miyako-sama, but it's a manga and that's kind of expected with the genre. There is still a decent amount of showing within that telling sequence however.

The badasses of the manga series continue to be Kei, my homegirl, and Chiyoko (man, this lady is FIERCE).