Enjoying “Akira” once more

A while back, I realized I hadn’t read the famous Japanese comic Akira in a real long time:

I once owned the near complete collection of English-language comics (more on that later), but I threw them out years ago. Stupid, I know. Anyways, I didn’t really feel like collecting them all over again, so I purchased the first book or two in the graphic novel published by Dark Horse before coming to Ireland.

This weekend, I dusted off the first graphic novel and started reading it, and really got hooked into the story, just as I did as a teenager. You see, I was probably around 14 or 15 when they first published the Akira series into English. I remember an older friend of mine somehow bought them as each issue came to the US, so at the bus stop before going to school we’d all gather around and read the story with him. It was my first taste of Japanese culture and Japanese media and the story was so compelling at the time. Age 16, the following year, was a huge turning point in my life:

• I discovered Eastern thought at the time, particularly Buddhism and Taoism.
• I had my first part-time job, and started buying Akira comics like crazy.
• My favorite album of all-time, Stone Temple Pilots’ “Purple” came out that summer.
• I had my first real crush on a girl. She was Chinese-American and dating another guy. We became good friends, but she didn’t share the feelings with me. I was pretty crushed for a while, and but the other things in this list really helped me get through it. Ah, young love.¹

All these things have had a big impact on my life. I’ve been a Buddhist ever since, for some reason I’ve had a “thing” for Asian women ever since² and happily married the girl who is my wife now, and I still listen to “Purple” regularly. You’ll notice there’s a common theme from this time. One of my Japanese-American friends back then called me a “rice-lover”, but I didn’t feel insulted.³ I was kind of a depressed kid in those days, but I think things like Buddhism and such really started to give me a new direction in life, and gave me a sense of identity I didn’t have at the time.

So, Akira isn’t just a good comic for me, it brings back lots of good memories from that summer. At the time, I stumbled upon issue 20 I think in a comic store where I hung out, and then started buying whatever issues they had available. I never could get my hands on certain issues from earlier in the series, but I did manage to get all the later issues, including the rare final issues of the series that came out a year or two later. It was something of a passion for me, as I am sure it was for many readers at the time. I never liked other Japanese comics, still don’t, but Akira was the one and only “manga” that I ever enjoyed reading.

Later I saw a late night showing of the movie in a small theater in Seattle with another friend and enthusiast. The movie, Akira, was just awesome, but I also had a chance to see some of Otomo’s other works, though I can’t recall the names. I remember one short introduction film of a child and a cute, but creepy clown that sang sweetly as it led the child through the maze of fences. Another short film was about a work site fully automated by robots, and a human foremen who tried to restore order. However, the robots were so focused on achieving their task, they imprisoned the human even though they literally worked themselves to death and broke down. Otomo really is a genius, I realized. His works are dark, and have a kind of rebellious anti-authority streak which had a strong impression on me in those days.

Now, fifteen years later, my life has changed quite a bit, yet when I read Akira this weekend, I found I still loved the story as much as I did then. Being older, I can appreciate some aspects of the story I couldn’t understand at the time, but the story of resisting authority, alienation of modern life, and the potential of youth still moves me as much as it did then.

As my Japanese language skills are getting stronger, I may yet try to read it in the original Japanese.

Fifteen years have passed since that summer. Some things have changed quite a bit, some things remain the same.

P.S. It’s nice when I meet someone who gets the TETSUO!!! KANEDA!!! joke. I love my fellow nerds.

¹ Sadly I heard later she rebelled against her strict immigrant parents and got into some real, real trouble with drugs and such. That’s the last I heard. I hope she’s doing ok now and found some peace.

² I am embarrassed to admit this point, because I’ve been berated by an Asian-american friend once about it in college. She accused me of only liking Asian women for stereotypical reasons like subservience or something, but I couldn’t get across to her that I just really thought Asian women were beautiful and I liked exploring their background and culture. It’s been a long time since I saw her, but I wish she could see my relationship with my wife now, and see that we get along well as equal partners and that we just like being together. But, as I thought back to that, I get the impression from her that being Asian-American in the US is difficult, I felt she was lashing out not just at me, but at a lot of things, so I am not really mad, but let down.

Similarly, I remember another Asian-American friend in college being berated by her friends for hanging out with me (as friends, not even romantically). I find it sad when people can’t just let other people be friends. We complicate our lives, and the lives of others so easily with our prejudices and beliefs.

³ Ironically that same friend introduced me to the same Buddhist temple in Seattle I became a member of years later. I can’t thank him enough for the things he taught me then. Despite his teasing, we really were good friends, but sadly I lost touch later when he moved to the East Coast.