Akira Vol 2 by katsuhiro otomo

The second volume in this series sees an uptick in the amount of action (not that volume 1 lacked). Tetsuo recovers quickly from his gunshot wounds and demands answers from the doctor who seems to be running the experiments on gifted people. He finds out that there are more kids in the facility with powers and forces the doctor to take him to meet them. Meanwhile, Kei suddenly has powers she’s never had before and uses them to break out of her cell and evade capture, in the same facility . She gets Kaneda out as well and tries to stop Tetsuo. The other three gifted children are actually controlling Kei in an attempt to stop Tetsuo because they’ve seen what future he brings about, and they don’t like it. Tetsuo learns of the existence and location of Akira, and plans to free him.

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For me, this was a much stronger volume than the first. We heard less from Kaneda, who is pretty much the worst for all his stupid, sexist dialogue. There is also a little more in this volume in terms of strong female characters, which were pretty much non-existent in volume 1. Kei has some pretty awesome moments of being strong and kicking some military butt. The strongest of the other gifted children is definitely Kiyoko, the little girl. And there’s also a lady at the head of Kei’s organization who is currently shrouded in mystery but definitely had the air of being powerful.

Sara’s Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 11-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1

Publisher: Dark Horse
Publication Date: April 3, 2001
ISBN: 9781569714997 (Paperback)


Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Action Adventure