Akira
I went to see Akira at the IMAX in Waterloo last night. I very much enjoyed it as a visual spectacle and the music was fantastic, but having re-read the comic in the previous couple of days I was a bit disappointed by the differences in the story.
I had very little experience with manga or anime generally until about five years ago - I'd basically only watched Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion. But in February 2021 I discovered the newly started Mangasplaining podcast who did their first episode on Akira Volume 1. The podcast seems to sadly be defunct now having only published a handful of episodes in the last 2 years, but originally the plan was to read a volume every season until they finished it. When they got to the Akira episode each season I would re-read the whole thing up to and including that volume, but it meant I'd never actually read the sixth and final volume.
So this week I read the whole thing (I have the 35th Anniversary box set which keeps the original Japanese format including the sound effects) in a couple of days and although I didn't enjoy the sixth volume as much as the others, there are still some great bits. I'm glad I did read it in advance since there are clearly some ideas Otomo took from the film back to the comic (the film was made in 1987-8, when the comic went on hiatus at the approximately three-quarters mark).
The film obviously has to cut a lot to make everything fit in two hours and I was expecting the bulk of the second half of the comic to not be there but I was left disappointed with how the climax was put together, especially with the almost complete removal of Akira as a character in the film. Kei's characterisation was severely cut, with Kaneda, Tetsuo and the Colonel receiving almost all the focus.
It was quite strange seeing a lot of the elements of the comic remixed but I can't really imagine the experience of watching the movie without having read the comic at all. The plot got very messy at the end so I suspect it might be difficult to follow what's going on.
All that said though, the animation is incredible and I loved the music. This was my first experience of an IMAX cinema. I was sat right at the front and to the side of the screen, which I found a bit overwhelming at first, until I took my glasses off which helped me to not focus too much on the middle of the enormous screen, and some of the views of NeoTokyo took my breath away. I'm glad to have finally finished the comic and seen the movie, and I think this was an excellent way to experience the latter.