I am going to do something different this time and add a post to volume 4 even though I haven't fully finished it yet and then, after finishing the volume, I will edit this post, so keep your eyes peeled.
Remember that moment when you first saw The Empire Strikes Back and you felt like the Empire had won? You truly felt like, after watching that film, that there was no hope for the heroes. Well, keep that image in mind for volume four of this story. We open to a devastated Neo-Tokyo, now a water-filled crater with ruins making up the rest of the city. A rescue helicopter is coming in to deliver supplies and medicine to the millions of impoverished citizens left to their own misery inside the city limits. There is no defined timeframe between the destruction unleashed by Akira and the opening of volume four, but it seems to have been months at least. The city is wasteland, populated by the poor, starving, wounded, and sick residents who now cling to whatever will give them hope. In the case of most, this is their new messiah, Akira. The boy sits on a throne and rules without saying a single word, as Tetsuo and other new followers enforce the will of kingdom of Akira. This is a hard place to be as a reader, for we are not 100% certain that Akira is behind this. One would be safer to assume that Tetsuo was pulling the strings, but with Akira, it is difficult to fully understand his motives.
The story moves back and forth between the various characters, showing where they now stand in the story. Kei, Chiyoko, and fellow resistance member Ryu seem to be operating from the shadows, even though Ryu seems to be willing to let himself fall into a drunken oblivion. Kei and Chiyoko also give medicine and aid to the remaining two Espers, who are unconscious and ill following the attack by Akira in the previous volume. Kaneda is missing and his whereabouts are unknown. The Colonel dresses as a nomad and operates on his own. Lady Miyako operates her temple as a refuge for those who do not follow Akira and provides aid to those she can. Operating in Neo-Tokyo are American operatives as well, having snuck in through the outer edges of the city. These operatives seem to be working to gain more information Akira and the current conditions of the city. And finally, the citizens, who are now miserable and destitute; these people operate in a tribal sense, following those who provide aid and support for them. They also use a barter system of goods as the economy has completely crumbled. Outside of Japan, the world has cut off the country as it has gotten word of the Akira project.
With that setting in mind, volume four plays out as an intense chase with the heroes seemingly always on the run, with the villains holding the upper hand at almost all times. Tetsuo is particularly cruel, giving people the pills that activate mental abilities within people, always with mixed results. Some become monstrous mental thugs, and others die instantly. Akira, meanwhile plays with rocks and sleeps, not saying a word. Occasionally he creates a double helix shape with stones, but not much else. Tetsuo also collects women to rape and murder, which is shown at one point, though not shown in a brutal fashion that might disgust readers. At one point Lady Miyako tells Kei and Chiyoko that they need to bring the Espers to her. They begin this process only to be attacked multiple times by Tetsuo's soldiers who are also trying to steal the Espers to bring to Tetsuo. What ensues is brilliance as Chiyoko is shown to be a true hero, and very much in the likeness of many action heroes in film and other media. In fact, I would say that Chiyoko steals the show in this volume demonstrating a level of heroism that many comic book characters could only dream of.
Also, Lady Miyako meets with Tetsuo and explains the history of the Akira Project, much of which turns out to be a truly sad story. As this story unfolds, Miyako explains that Tetsuo needs to stop taking the pills as they are inhibiting his full power levels. Chiyoko, wounded heavily in saving one of the Espers has met up with and is now with the Colonel, while Kei and the Esper she was protecting have made it to Lady Miyako's temple. While making refuge at the temple, Tetsuo's men launch a massive attack, attempting to take the Esper, Kei, and Lady Miyako.While the forces are resisted with heavy casualties on both sides, the temple is eventually destroyed in a violent assault by Tetsuo and his men. Meanwhile, the Colonel and the other Esper are making their way toward the temple when they are also assaulted by Tetsuo's forces. The Colonel, in demonstrating his own level of coolness, unleashes a massive attack from a portable trigger, causing the satellite Sol to blast the attackers into oblivion.
The final piece of the volume is the trickiest to explain as it is very metaphysical and resembles the mental states of Tetsuo and Akira. Tetsuo, finally off the pills he has been taking since volume one, screams aloud and flies into space, not by his own doing (it is hinted that Akira possibly is responsible for this). When there he witnesses meteors and debris forming into the double helix shape and then witnesses his own birth and early childhood. When he sees an early image of Kaneda he screams and is teleported before Akira, who silently stares and then smiles at Tetsuo. The journey that Tetsuo took however, involved a massive level of destruction as a large building emerges from nowhere and falls to the ground. From the rubble, Kaneda emerges, unsure of what has happened. In the final pages we see Akira sitting on his throne, seeming more sure of himself. Bowing contritely before him is Tetsuo, who also seems content.
I know this is a long entry but there is a lot that happens in this volume and thus far it is my favorite for tone, pacing, and character development. The symbolism of Tetsuo's rebirth is critical for understanding the level of power Akira has and knowing that what we have seen of Tetsuo has only been the surface for what is to come. Of course it was also great to see the return of Kaneda at the very end foreshadowing the upcoming and inevitable confrontation between Tetsuo and him. I had mentioned in the previous post that this volume and volume three seem almost two sides of the same coin. I still stand by that. Volume four appears as a much darker version of volume three. Remember in three, Tetsuo was missing the entirety of the story, and in volume four we see Kaneda gone for the same. Anyway, enough rambling....time to get to volume five as things are getting heavy now. Until next time, mate ne!
No comments:
Post a Comment