Akira (1985)

[アキラ]

Volume 2

Author/Artist: Katsuhiro Otomo
Publisher: Kodansha

Synopsis:
Tetsuo returns to the facility with the Colonel while Kaneda and Kay are taken captive.

Story/Characters:
We get several plots twisting around and colliding this volume. The main threads are Tetsuo taking an interest in Akira, the three psychic kids trying to stop him, Ryu's cell infiltrating the facility, and Kaneda and Kay caught in the middle. It can get a bit hectic at times, but there's a lot of action to keep things moving.

As a side note, I was rather fond of the one agent who got gut-stabbed in the previous volume making a comeback. Not a bad showing for a mauve shirt.

Art:
The amount of detail put into the art continues to impress. Action scenes are quite good and the penultimate page of the volume is rather effective.

Conclusion:
This wasn't a bad continuation of the story and, as mentioned before, there's plenty of action to be had, but I think a subplot or two could have been trimmed to make the storytelling more efficient. If you've already been hooked, you'll want to keep reading.

Rating:
Read It