Akira, Vol. 3

Okay, the first 2/3 of this volume was a bit frustrating and had it ended there, I may have only given it 3 stars, BUT the last 1/3 was AMAZING! A few things I disliked about the beginning was that the use of ‘Deus ex Machina' was WAY overdone. Kaneda and Kei get out of so many things inexplicably that I was almost at eye-rolling by the 2/3 mark, not to mention the constant changing hands of the ‘prize' in ways that just seemed mind-boggling and then happened way too many times to the point that the plot lost all story and it was just a game of hot potato between all the different factions. We almost completely lose all storytelling in favor of action for the sake of action, which the previous volumes seemed to balance much better. Kaneda's immaturity, which I get is part of his character and is present for sure in other volumes, becomes rather annoying in this one, even childish at times with some of the dialogue really being dumbed down. But why did I give this 5 stars in the end? Because the end blows all that out of the water with a stunning conclusion that I didn't see coming and was phenomenally drawn. There was one gut punch after another and everything on the board is wiped out in one fell swoop, leaving a cliff-hanger ending that made me curse not having the next volume along with me. I can only hope that the issues at the beginning of this volume don't continue to show up with the change that happened toward the end, and that the story is given new vitality and direction in the coming volumes. So my advice is to push through the first part and you'll be rewarded at the end!