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Akira, Vol. 4

2001Katsuhiro Otomo

4.8/5

"When a man tries to see into the distance, what does he do? He narrows his eyes. Even with your eyes opened as wide as they will go...you cannot perceive something so large that it is beyond the range of your vision."Kaneda doesn't take part in this novel. Tetsuo returns to us. The novel contains many religious overtones, more in line with mystical Taoism (as far as my limited knowledge reaches). You decide (Lady Miyako speaks):"It is only when he is afraid that he considers the other world, and then he will gladly sell his soul to whatever god or Buddha offers him hope. In reality, we are all part of the flow of the same cosmic stream. Even scientists don't grasp what their calculations truly show them...infinity...time without space...eternity...space without bounds...energy beyond imagination...and what do they do with their findings? Announce them at society dinners for plaques and the recordings of their names in the annals of history. No more than that! But even so...the stream flows on beyond our awareness."Religous/ Spiritual themes fit the cyberpunk template. Akira has been exalted by Tetsuo as a new emperor, a god. They call him "Mighty Lord," and "Savior." They say, "Great Master, hear my prayers!" Tetsuo does all the work while Akira says nothing. He establishes a "Great Tokyo Empire."Akira intervenes through psychic means, into Tetsuo's mind, after he kills three of four girls who stripped naked to lay with him. I interpret this act pissed the little demigod off. Tetsuo sees old friends, old family memories, his former connections to goodness. He goes to Lady Miyako for answers. She tells him he can go as deep as Akira but has to drop the drugs. It is his destiny. He tries to do it and suffers. In this, hopes arose in my heart he would turn back to the good, former Tetsuo. An idea I believe the author may have purposed to arise in the reader.Kei and Chiyoko struggle to bring Kiyoko to Lady Miyako. They fight through many battles and Chiyoko find the colonel, wandering the streets with a turban-like rag on his head. He helps their cause, having owned the initial responsibility for Kiyoko. This blind guy wears a bandana over his eyes with a huge eyeball tattooed on top of his balding head, stands in high places and amplifies his voice to Tetsuo's people, warning them of things to come. I don't know specifics, but I believe this comes out of ancient Greece, somewhere, somehow.Kaneda appears as a ghost of fire to Kei. He says, "K...Kei...wh-where am I?" He disappears. He had appeared in the same way to himself in the first novel. Tetsuo's right-hand man rebels and takes upon himself to call a raid on Miyako's temple, and brings about a massacre against many peaceful priests, and innocent refugees. Much battle and warfare ensues, as Kei and Chiyoko enter. Tetsuo has a revelation. He meets Akira in the outer universe and in the smallest elements. Somehow. He then creates a massive storm as he continues to withdrawal from the drugs. A building drops out of the sky. Kaneda appears. The last frame shows Kaneda, and he says, "Is it over?"I had a thought about Lady Miyako, number 19. Could this explain the mystery of Stephen King, and his katet of the nineteen? Miyako also explains the origin of the superpowers from brain experiments, and how she started with the kids. The kids, then, are old, but somehow kept their stature and child-likeness.

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