J.G. Keely’s review of Akira, Vol. 1 > Likes and Comments
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Hey, thanks for leaving a comment. I always appreciate hearing what people think of my reviews, and it's very humbling to hear that I inspire other people to think and write.
I have heard of Battle Angel Alita--I saw the movie once when I was young. James Cameron, director of The Terminator and Avatar has actually wanted to film a live-action version of it for a long time. Thanks for the suggestion, I should try to get a copy to take a look at.
"There's other anime/manga that try to be political, but they tend to over simplify things and make things black and white."
Yeah, that's true for most books. I didn't completely buy into Otomo's politics, but at least it was complex and fleshed out.
". . . most writers sacrifice taking that one step further for the sake of pandering to school-girl loving Otakus"
Plus this was in the early days of manga and anime coming to America, when we were getting a lot of weird, art house stuff. Now that it's a big business, most of the stuff we get is fairly simplistic and cliche--it's much easier to translate quickly, and the average American won't be confused by complex cultural ideas and references.
"The only other anime/novel that goes beyond what Otomo does in that regards is Legend of the Galactic Heroes."
Cool I haven't heard of it. I'll have to check it out. There's an interesting article here about some of Otomo's earlier work--stuff that was too weird to make it to America. I've heard of Berserk, Musashi, and Nausicaa (another movie I saw as a kid), and I'm definitely going to read those some day.
Glad you liked the review, thanks for the comment.
a Keely review without debates? quite weird...
speaking of which, i would like to recommend Berserk (the anime, or just the first ~20 volumes -after that it regressed into the darkest holes of adolescent power fantasy), Kino no Tabi, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica (a deconstruction of the magical girl subgenre, but it doesn't stop there). Quite interesting i think, when in the West fantasy fictions are too full of misogyny, in Japan you got the strange combination of extreme fetishisation of women coupled with lots of independent female characters.
Well, a high rating of a cult series isn't going to bring out the same level of interest as some of my other reviews.
Thanks for the suggestions, always nice to have new books to look into.
Naoki Urasawa is pretty good. As for anime, you might want to look into Serial Experiments Lain.
Dan wrote: "a Keely review without debates? quite weird...
speaking of which, i would like to recommend Berserk (the anime, or just the first ~20 volumes -after that it regressed into the darkest holes of ado..."
Yes! Madoka Magica was fantastic, although the anime was much better than the manga (much more subtle and emotional with some beautifully bizzare animation). Plus, the company has it free on YouTube. I still haven't looked into Berserk or Kino's Journey, though. I prefer anime over graphic novels, do you know if the anime is any good?
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Hey, thanks for leaving a comment. I always appreciate hearing what people think of my reviews, and it's very humbling to hear that I inspire other people to think and write.I have heard of Battle Angel Alita--I saw the movie once when I was young. James Cameron, director of The Terminator and Avatar has actually wanted to film a live-action version of it for a long time. Thanks for the suggestion, I should try to get a copy to take a look at.
First of all, your mum sounds awesome. I'll make sure to do the same for my kids.
It's been years since I've read Akira, but I remember it being awesome. I see you had a slight issue with Otomo's art. I noticed that too. Another problem I had with him is with the character designs. Even when a certain someone died, I still saw some background characters and others who looked liked that character; I became slightly confused.This isn't the only manga I've read with this problem.
However, Otomo has been one of my inspirations. And as Ivon pointed out, the art in Alita is brilliant (I forgot who the artist was). Otomo is one of a kind, though. He always tries to make things cinematic and come to life. There's probably a few in the industry who aims to do that.
" it's impossible to ignore how well visualized everything is, and how complex and multi-layered the society and politics are. "
I agree. There's other anime/manga that try to be political, but they tend to over simplify things and make things black and white. There's not much like this around; most writers sacrifice taking that one step further for the sake of pandering to school-girl loving Otakus. The only other anime/novel that goes beyond what Otomo does in that regards is Legend of the Galactic Heroes. A very rich in detail, intricate piece of political/war space opera (the creator actually done his homework). The only thing you can compare it with is the likes of Foundation, Dune and Babylon 5. Unfortunately, people dislike it because it's rather dialogue driven,slow, "complex", old and isn't some melodrama filled with angst(Gundam) and panty-shots(Nearly everything else), topped with a hypocritical anti-war message (Gundam) Sorry for going on.
I think Akira is Otomo's best work. And the review has given me flash backs to when I was young. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has started to "catch up" with comics. I might look out for European comics/graphic novels. Any suggestions? (I've not read any)
Based on your other reviews and ratings (I've just went through), I think you'd like: Nausicaa, which is 7 short volumes; Mushishi; Berserk, since you like Conan, and Naoki Urasawa's work. I think some might be right up your alley. There's a lot of good ones out there that stick out from the usual crowd.
Excellent review as usual. I actually feel like a gain/learn something from your reviews so that's why I read them.
It's been years since I've read Akira, but I remember it being awesome. I see you had a slight issue with Otomo's art. I noticed that too. Another problem I had with him is with the character designs. Even when a certain someone died, I still saw some background characters and others who looked liked that character; I became slightly confused.This isn't the only manga I've read with this problem.
However, Otomo has been one of my inspirations. And as Ivon pointed out, the art in Alita is brilliant (I forgot who the artist was). Otomo is one of a kind, though. He always tries to make things cinematic and come to life. There's probably a few in the industry who aims to do that.
" it's impossible to ignore how well visualized everything is, and how complex and multi-layered the society and politics are. "
I agree. There's other anime/manga that try to be political, but they tend to over simplify things and make things black and white. There's not much like this around; most writers sacrifice taking that one step further for the sake of pandering to school-girl loving Otakus. The only other anime/novel that goes beyond what Otomo does in that regards is Legend of the Galactic Heroes. A very rich in detail, intricate piece of political/war space opera (the creator actually done his homework). The only thing you can compare it with is the likes of Foundation, Dune and Babylon 5. Unfortunately, people dislike it because it's rather dialogue driven,slow, "complex", old and isn't some melodrama filled with angst(Gundam) and panty-shots(Nearly everything else), topped with a hypocritical anti-war message (Gundam) Sorry for going on.
I think Akira is Otomo's best work. And the review has given me flash backs to when I was young. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has started to "catch up" with comics. I might look out for European comics/graphic novels. Any suggestions? (I've not read any)
Based on your other reviews and ratings (I've just went through), I think you'd like: Nausicaa, which is 7 short volumes; Mushishi; Berserk, since you like Conan, and Naoki Urasawa's work. I think some might be right up your alley. There's a lot of good ones out there that stick out from the usual crowd.
Excellent review as usual. I actually feel like a gain/learn something from your reviews so that's why I read them.
"There's other anime/manga that try to be political, but they tend to over simplify things and make things black and white."Yeah, that's true for most books. I didn't completely buy into Otomo's politics, but at least it was complex and fleshed out.
". . . most writers sacrifice taking that one step further for the sake of pandering to school-girl loving Otakus"
Plus this was in the early days of manga and anime coming to America, when we were getting a lot of weird, art house stuff. Now that it's a big business, most of the stuff we get is fairly simplistic and cliche--it's much easier to translate quickly, and the average American won't be confused by complex cultural ideas and references.
"The only other anime/novel that goes beyond what Otomo does in that regards is Legend of the Galactic Heroes."
Cool I haven't heard of it. I'll have to check it out. There's an interesting article here about some of Otomo's earlier work--stuff that was too weird to make it to America. I've heard of Berserk, Musashi, and Nausicaa (another movie I saw as a kid), and I'm definitely going to read those some day.
Glad you liked the review, thanks for the comment.
a Keely review without debates? quite weird...speaking of which, i would like to recommend Berserk (the anime, or just the first ~20 volumes -after that it regressed into the darkest holes of adolescent power fantasy), Kino no Tabi, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica (a deconstruction of the magical girl subgenre, but it doesn't stop there). Quite interesting i think, when in the West fantasy fictions are too full of misogyny, in Japan you got the strange combination of extreme fetishisation of women coupled with lots of independent female characters.
Well, a high rating of a cult series isn't going to bring out the same level of interest as some of my other reviews.Thanks for the suggestions, always nice to have new books to look into.
Naoki Urasawa is pretty good. As for anime, you might want to look into Serial Experiments Lain.
Dan wrote: "a Keely review without debates? quite weird...speaking of which, i would like to recommend Berserk (the anime, or just the first ~20 volumes -after that it regressed into the darkest holes of ado..."
Yes! Madoka Magica was fantastic, although the anime was much better than the manga (much more subtle and emotional with some beautifully bizzare animation). Plus, the company has it free on YouTube. I still haven't looked into Berserk or Kino's Journey, though. I prefer anime over graphic novels, do you know if the anime is any good?
Well ... I just want to say that I enjoyed almost all of your reviews. Some of them are funny, and most of them are extremely thoughtful, a kind of writings that makes me thinks and reflects into myself-- that I lack having in most other reviews.
So, uh ... to avoid me blabbering another worthless words, let me say this to sums my respect to you: thanks for all the reviews that you've wrote, for they have helped me to shape my own writing style, and, somehow, helps me shaped my understanding of the way that life works.
...
Well, I guess that's the end of my introduction--I hope I didn't accidentally mis-delivering something though, ahahah ^^;
So, um, to follow this review's topic ... I'm wondering if you've ever heard of "Battle Angel Alita" manga? I've read the first book, and I'd say that it's exceeding Akira in fighting scenes and characterization. And the art itself, I'd say, almost on par with Akira.