A review by nolansmock
Akira, Vol. 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo

5.0

I'm amazed at how this managed to live up to the hype surrounding it for me. That almost never happens, especially in a medium geared towards young adults. Getting back into manga this last year has been an exercise in restraint putting off reading what is probably it's most well-known import in the US, but buying all the volumes can be expensive, so it took a while until I found the 35th anniversary box for under $100. It can be done! I put it on the shelf for a while, was still holding out. I mean, could it really be that good? Yes, it is. I've never seen the movie because I'm actually not that into anime. Manga is something else entirely, a collection of still images, similar to what attracts me to photo books, but I've ended up with a VHS and blu-ray copies somehow over the years and once I finish the series, I'm looking forward to seeing the adaptation. Plenty has been said about the series already, so I'll just leave it there.