AKIRA

AKIRA!

apparently it used to be well out of print and only recently have the books been re-released. i bought volumes 1-3 and holy shit it's incredible. it totally sucks you in and throws you about. really enjoyable and the art is fcken amazing. non stop explosive chaos!

thing is, volume 4 ain't being released til next month. volume 5 january 2011. volume 6 doesn't even have a release date yet. knowing i have to wait at least half a year to finish the story is just plain painful.

i know i could download and read it on the compy, but i've found reading actual books to be plenty more enjoyable than scans/ebooks. is there ANYONE else who's only reading akira now and finding themselves waiting for the next books?

(does the ipad have a cbr app. that'd be pretty sweet.)

It's in print again? Awesome, I did not know that. I read scans a few years ago, & it is indeed very good. Way better than the movie, in my opinion (which is still worth watching for the soundtrack & animation).

I had all the Akira books and i might think the books are better then the film actually (and i love the film).

yeah, the film is definitely awesome. but holy shit the books are just so awesome and enjoyable (and i haven't even finish it yet. the climax of the film was definitely the highlight and the books keep escalating in ridiculousness as i read on).

and holy shit the art. every frame is incredible.

i wanted to get into BLAME! because i loved the few pics that i saw. went to this awesome comics/culture store in the city and they had every book except the first, saying it's out of print and impossible to order in. went home to read some scans and it just didn't grab me. it seemed kinda crappy actually, other than the totally awesome art.

Awww I read the Akira manga online a couple years ago. I have to say its the most enjoyable comic reading experience I've ever had. Such a feat of epic proportions. I've tried to get my hands on Vol 3 or Vol 6 over the years (mainly cause theres a crazy amount of sexy explosion art) but couldn't find them anywhere....

Having the whole 6 books would be great, but they're feckin expensive over here...

I read a good bit of BLAME! but kinda gave up... there really wasn't much of an engaging story. But the art.... probably one of my favourite styles. I might pick it up again where I left off.

He has some other cool shit too

Abara and Biomega (couldn't find a decent link) are worth checking out

You can still get the Dark Horse editions, I prefer the black & white version.

yeah i'd like to purchase these bu they are quite expensive. i probably will buy them .

I have them in korean. lol. If you can understand Korean, Korea is like Japanese comic lover's next best thing. So many comics get translated into Korean.

BLAME! is like 1000 pages of guys walking down cyberpunk corridors. Fuck that.

Seeing this thread reminds me of this anime nerd i know. When he talks about anime, he refers to each title as if he were saying them in japanese: akira becomes Ahh keeDAH and naruto becomes NAHduTOH.

I started reading the old ones from the library about a year ago, and also only got up to volume 3... I couldn't be bothered booking them cos I'm silly and lazy but I was liking it a heck of a lot more than the film, which is already pretty good. I think the manga just flows better, the story feels like it makes more sense and just works better... I should try to read them all.

Another series I want to read all of is Sandman, I've only read about half of them... possibly less... but they are so very good...

  On 8/8/2010 at 11:47 PM, vasio said:

You can still get the Dark Horse editions, I prefer the black & white version.

yeah, the current version in print is by Kodansha Comics. it's the black and white version (with first few pages in colour).

i plan on getting sandman at some point. haven't read any, but im happy to take on board anything that looks sweet. there are collected versions at the comics stores and they look hefty as fuck.

I'd love to buy the books, but since here in France they're only printed in some expansive deluxe formats, I have to get it in a library. But hell yeah, that's always a pleasure to read this chef d'?uvre, every time I discover new things and that's really awesome. Need to see the film.

I read blame one month ago, I loved its style (except normal faces that are weak) but thought it a bit boring. I also don't get the story behind it all.

Akira is awesome.

  On 8/8/2010 at 10:57 AM, pigster said:

i wanted to get into BLAME! because i loved the few pics that i saw. went to this awesome comics/culture store in the city and they had every book except the first, saying it's out of print and impossible to order in. went home to read some scans and it just didn't grab me. it seemed kinda crappy actually, other than the totally awesome art.

have you seen the BLAME! anime-mini-series? 6 episodes, each 5 minutes long. VERY atmospheric and spooky.

[youtubehd]KHoXnfpz-rk[/youtubehd]

i try to read akira every year. There is something about it that is like no other. Oh yeah, cause it's written by someone who was smart and wasn't JUST a good artist. Totally incredible

I went through all six books in 2002 and tried to write a script to book one (hah!).

I got books 3-6 on ebay for $30 total back then.

One thing that's annoyed me about the new printing (the one with the glossy cover)is that it doesnt seem to inlcude the intorduction page that catches you up on what was in the previous book. It's not really needed, but I always enjoyed reading that when I was picking up one AKIRA book at random.

at different times, different books have been my favorite. Book 3 is the one I return to most.

if u really like Katsuhiro Otomo's design, check out Freedom, it's an OVA that is cel-shaded with a definite Akira tint to the characters and bike models. very cool story about humanity on the moon and gov't conspiracy.

Ive not really got into anime much before, but I recently picked up deathnote #1 after seeing it mentioned in another thread and thought it was great. Got volumes 2 and 3 on order, hope they turn up soon!