Akira, Vol. 1

You can't be into manga and not have heard about Akira, and I am no exception. It is on just about every ‘best of' list ever and certainly has been on my radar since my early days getting into manga. However, I never seemed to get around to reading it - until now. Recently I was craving some cyberpunk and while looking for recommendations, of course Akira tops a lot of the lists. So I finally picked it up and I realize now what I've been missing. I see why this is considered top-tier manga. The artwork is amazing, the world gritty, the characters grey and the story highly intriguing, fast-paced and mysterious. Adding supernatural powers, and shady government experiments into the mix adds a little something extra giving me a bit of Stranger Things vibes, even though this pre-dates that by nearly 30 years, so it would actually be Stranger Things that borrowed from it, not the other way around. All the artwork and world-building would be for not if it didn't have a solid story and I think that is where Akira shines. I was pulled in almost immediately and I'm still invested 3 volumes in, even when the characters are frustrating or make stupid decisions, I'm still on board with them and eager to know what comes next. It is certainly action-packed and Otomo's artwork fluidly portrays the action in a realistic way, lending to it being very cinematic. So far it hasn't fallen into many of the pitfalls that manga can be infamous for, truly being it's own work of art and storytelling and I can't wait to get through the whole series!