Introduction to Animated Film VS Manga
The story of a teenage rebel biker who took the world of anime by storm, Akira, is still ruling in the cinemas. Akira relates to the current world situations so well, returning to the big screens as 4K and IMAX theatrical release.
Katsuhiro Otomo turned his manga of 2000 pages into a two-hour movie and stole the spotlight from every other anime film – and obviously, the red Akira Jacket helped him here a lot! But what’s so good about it?
The movie tells us Tokyo’s situation after the bombings and many aspects, making the situation even worse. Anime-fans of Akira might not know the story from the very depth like the manga lovers, as obviously it’s not possible for a single man to squeeze a comic written in 8 years into a movie of few hours – Otomo is not a superhero! So, let’s dive into the ocean of more thrills, suspense, and drama that Otomo’s pen wrote in the manga.
Kaneda- Not The Only Main Character:
Akira’s movie revolves around Kaneda, the front-runner of the biker gang ruling in Tokyo. He is portrayed as a person who will do anything to save his friends from trouble in both versions.
But the thing that would surprise you is that it wasn’t just about the Bōsōzoku gang, nicknamed as ‘The Capsules,’ like in the movie.
In the manga, we saw another gang lead by The Eggman who targeted the US marines. There was no hint of him in the movie. Despite this highly-trained psychic of The Tokyo Empire, in the manga, there were a lot of gangs apart from Kaneda’s, fighting off with people to take control of the city. However, no one could talk about all these gangs in a limited hours movie – it’s understandable.
Who Is Tetsuo?
Tetsuo is portrayed as a not-so-smart person in both masterpieces of Otomo. He was easily bossed around by anyone for not being strong enough to fight back.
This caused a sense of inferiority complex in him, which persuaded him to go after power. He just wanted to show the world that he is strong and can destroy anything that comes in his way.
Well, there are some changes, though. Tetsuo in the manga can be seen as a person who has an evil heart, who was willing by his heart to destroy the world.
He was a toxic person in the manga and exploited Kaori, his girlfriend when she went to the army men for her sick father. While in the movie, we saw him being kind, caring, and vulnerable for his girlfriend. The film also portrayed the reasonings behind Tetsuo’s evil plans – justifying his personality a little bit.
BromanceBetweenKaneda And Tetsuo:
The childhood bond between both these characters was remarkable in both the versions. The two of them were with each other since their times in the orphanage. Kaneda cared about Tetsuo a lot due to his self-harming nature and served as a protector for him as they grew up.
In the film, we saw Kaneda stopping Tetsuo from destroying the city even more with his superpowers. For him, killing the mutated Tetsuo was never an option.
He just wanted Tetsuo to abort his evil mission and be his friend again. While in the manga, he was looking for knocking out Tetsuo and protect the world. In their final fight, Kaneda and Tetsuo started it with banter in the movie, while in the manga, Kaneda went straight to kill Tetsuo.
Who is Akira?
The film lovers only know that Akira was a god-like kid with inevitable psychic powers and buried in the ground by the ground. It was portrayed that he got frozen underground so the scientists could future-study on him, and nothing more than that was shown in the anime.
The picture of Akira has been depicted by Otomo as Tetsuo unleashed him, in the manga. The youth of Neo-Tokyo started to worship him as a Holy deity. He occupied a major part in the manga while in the movie, he remained a mysterious character throughout.
Tetsuo and Akira:
In the movie, Akira remained an unseen character, Tetsuo didn’t meet Akira in any scene. On the other hand, he was unleashed by Tetsuo, and soon both made the team destroy Neo-Tokyo and take charge. Tetsuo woke Akira from the cryogenic sleep he was in, who then ordered Tetsuo to make a hole in the Moon to cherish their powerful fusion.
Akira was a child-like evil power who sought help from Tetsuo’s mind, and both then decided to turn their evil plan a reality. Their unison was surely deadly but not more than Kaneda!
No one can deny the fact that despite having some differences, both versions of Akira were great. From the story development and amazing costumes, everything was just perfect.
And that’s why Akira is never getting old anytime soon as we could see many big names from the Hollywood rocking in Celebrity Halloween Costumes inspired by this legendary movie. Well, Kanye West’s love for Akira isn’t hidden from anyone too!
