Akira the Movie vs. Akira the Manga: Which is Better?

Greetings, everyone!  Welcome to Part 1 of Akira Month!  To kick this two part, all about Akira, discussion post event off, I’ll be taking the manga that inspired the groundbreaking film, and the groundbreaking film that later inspired the world and seeing which one really makes fans explode-OK, that came out a little weird.  So now, without further delay, let’s get started on my discussion post battle of Akira  the Manga versus Akira the Movie!

First Up: Akira the Movie

So let’s begin with the Akira that most people are familiar with, the 1988 film.

In a nutshell, Akira the film is about a teenage biker gang member named Tetsuo who suddenly develops psychic powers that eventually cause him to lose his mind.  This decent into

 madness also sparks a rivalry between him and his best friend Kaneda, who has unwillingly become involved with a terrorist group trying to expose a secret government organization that studies individuals with psychic abilities much similar to the ones that Tetsuo has developed.  And at the heart of it all lies a child psychic responsible for destroying Neo-Tokyo named Akira who threatens to destroy the corrupt city once again.

That’s the plot in sum.  If you want to read the full plot, you can read my Flashback February review in the link provided.

What Akira the Movie Has

It’s probably no duh that Akira the movie is the story that Katsuhiro Otomo created with his manga series brought to life on the big screen.  Looking at Akira from a cinematic stand point, the film made huge strides in Japanese animation.  The film’s fluidity in animation and use of moving a character’s entire face rather than just the mouth were unique to Japanese animation at the time of its release.  The film is not only a classic in anime films, but also a classic in animated films for adults-another major breakthrough at the time of its release.

Now as far as the actual Akira story itself is concerned, the one thing that I did like about the film was its underlying themes.  Much of the themes in Akira-particularly the one on power and corruption- are better represented in the film than in the manga.

What Akira the Movie Doesn’t Have

Five words: AN ENTIRE HALF OF STORY!!

As hard as it may be to believe, looking at Akira the film and comparing it to the manga, the film only covers volumes one, two, and six out of all six volumes of the manga.  As a result, tons of details and characters are either omitted or demoted to cameo roles.  And although there are a lot of differences between the two, I won’t be listing all of them.  However, you can find out what some of these major differences are in the video below.

Akira - What's the Difference?

One of the biggest reasons why this gap is present is due to the length of the manga series itself.  Spanning over 2,000 pages long, it’s certainly understandable why everything was not put into a two-and-a-half hour film.  Realistically, it probably could’ve taken two or three movies to do that.  Another big reason for this lack of story comes from the timing of the film; the film was released two years before the manga series was even finished!  The film essentially ends the series by giving a preview of what happens at the end (talk about a major spoiler!).

Next Up: Akira the Manga

The plot in the manga and the plot in the movie are very similar, but the similarities between the two stories end when Akira himself is awakened.

In the manga, rather than finding a container the organs and tissue samples of Akira, Tetsuo manages to awaken the child psychic himself in the flesh-and not in pieces.  From there, Tetsuo is attacked and Akira escapes with Kaneda and Kei, which leads to the third volume of the manga series-not covered in the film.  Towards the end of volume three, Colonel Shikishima and the army and Kaneda, Kei, and the revolutionary group Kei’s associated with, meet together for control of Akira.  Akira’s powers are unleashed and Neo-Tokyo is destroyed again.  Volume three ends with Tetsuo and Akira reuniting.  After these events, Neo-Tokyo is divided into two sections: one side consists of the cult following of Lady Miyako- a major character in the manga who is demoted to a minor cameo in the movie-, while the other consists of the Great Tokyo Empire, led by Akira and Tetsuo.  From that point on until the end of the manga series, the stories follows the struggles between the warring sections as well as Tetsuo’s dangerously increasing powers.

What Akira the Manga Has

Just by reading the summary above, plus my comments earlier, the manga has more story and details than the film.  Enough said there.

But what was also interesting about the manga was that because of this extra 1,000 pages or so that the film left out, the manga ended up being more entertaining.  Much of this does have to do with the fact that the second half of the manga has a lot more going on than the first half.  Not to say that the film, which mostly covers the first half of the manga, is not entertaining, but it can’t be denied that there’s at least 1,000 pages worth of content missing.

What Akira the Manga Doesn’t Have

Interestingly enough, the underlying themes of the overall story really weren’t all that highlighted in the manga series.

Although the having much of the story and details that were never seen in the film, the manga was lacking in developing it’s themes.  The big theme in particular that I didn’t think was at all represented in the manga was the one on power and corruption.  Symbolically speaking, Tetsuo is supposed to serve as a representation of how power can corrupt a person.  In both manga and film, Tetsuo’s psychic abilities corrupt him in both mind and body, literally.  Although the manga shows Tetsuo further developing his powers to the point where they are beyond his control at much more drastic detail, the film seemed to highlight the theme a little better.

The one theme that was highlighted excellently throughout the manga series was durg addiction.  This one was related to Tetsuo’s addiction to the pills he takes to numb the pain that comes with his psychic abilities.  This was particularly important to the manga in that it limited Tetsuo’s powers from developing any further.  It’s only after he goes off of the drugs and goes through an agonizing withdraw that he continues to become stronger.  However, by volume five, the theme becomes irrelevant to the plot.

The Winner?...

It’s a DRAW!

Looking at both film and manga, it was really hard to chose.  The manga had all the story and detail that the film doesn’t have, while the movie had the themes that manga lacked.  But given that much, it really does seem that you can’t have one without the other.  It’s hard to deny the notoriety and praise that both mediums have deserved, so I called this battle a draw. 

Now, if you want to talk about an ideal way to interpret the manga in film, here’s my thoughts:  rather than make a film, make a series.  I certainly love the film and it’s one of my favorites-why do you think I have a month dedicated to it?-, but a better way to get full story and detail as well as excellent animation would be to make an anime series that is true or mostly true to the manga.  That would be something I would like to see rather than a live-action remake of the film.

Well, that’s all I have! What do you think?  Do you think the manga was better than the movie? Or was the movie was better than the manga?  Come on, people!  I wanna hear what you have to say!  Anyways, that’s all for now.  Stick around for next Sunday cause I’ll be doing Part 2 of Akira Month!

-Hanime on Anime