AKIRA

Katsuhiro Otomo's "AKIRA" is nothing short of a masterpiece. Critically acclaimed and thought to be the work which brought manga to the West, "AKIRA" is truly a seminal work in the manga genre.

Katsuhiro, like most manga artists, is solely responsible for both the writing and art in "AKIRA". And consdering the fact that the series is over 2,100 pages long, that is no small feat. He also assumed responsibility for directing the animated feature film adaptation of "AKIRA" of the same name.

In fact, Katsuhiro developed an entire culture around "AKIRA". He actually published all of his related work (sketches, advertisements and toys) in a book called "AKIRA Club".

Book one, the first of seven installments in this cyber-punk epic, serves as the story's exposition. The general premise and major players are introduced and the story ends on a cliffhanger.

Katsuhiro achieves something of a cinematic style that I have found to be characteristic of manga. It would seem as though this is primarily through his panel work. The use of dynamic panels, often in odd shapes and dimensions, serve as jump cuts from one piece of action to the next and with the story's high speed pace, it's all a reader can do to turn the pages fast enough to keep up.

His humor is also an important element of the story. In much the same way that Frank Quitely's gentle, almost innocent art grounds Morrison's unbelievable stories, I have found that Katsuhiro's frequent use of humor serves to create levity and thus reality in situations that would otherwise be unbelievable.

As a side note, I have included the original trailer for the film, which I think does a great job of translating his sound effects into something a bit more tangible. Also, the sound track in the film is unparalleled.