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Assignment One Graphic Novel Analysis

Justyna Paszkiewicz 995249011 CCT300

In light of the great success of the Akira series, Katsuhiro Otomo is undoubtedly a master storyteller. What is surprising about his graphic novels is that - despite a graphic novel’s inherent ability to accommodate the words of a narrator - he doesn‘t tell the story at all. Even the minimal amount of text included in the story often reads like an image. By allowing pictures to dominate the function of telling the story, Otomo has become a master at showing stories.

Whether it was the desire to depict the temptation and power of evil or to comment on the corruption and alienation of the government, Otomo used these ideas created a futuristic world of impossible evil and rebellious vigilantes. Placing an incredible amount of attention form, Otomo uses the medium of a graphic novel to portray his driving ideas. Using Surface, Craft and Structure, Otomo’s graphic novel comes together in the form of a futuristic Manga action comic (McNeil 2009).

Akira Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira is set in year 2030, a few decades after the III World War. It is centred around Kaneda, who wants to protect Tokyo from further attacks by Tetsuo (his best-friend-turned-greatest-enemy) and Akira, Tetsuo’s master. Akira, though resembling a child, is endowed with unprecedented psychic powers and reigns as the ruler of Neo-Tokyo. Tetsuo gained similar powers and though they are ever-increasing, they are not quite as strong as Akira’s (Otomo 1993). In Number 28 “Swept Away”, Tetsuo returns to Neo-Tokyo after creating a giant crater on the moon’s surface. The resulting chaos on Earth causes a massive wave of water to burst through the underground, nearly drowning Kaneda, Kai and the Joker. In the meantime, Lady Miyako asks Kay to serve as a medium to concentrate Tetsuo’s power and use it against Akira. The scientists of Juvenile-A attempt to advise the US Military’s Akira Assassination Corps against their plans but an attack is already in motion. Back in Neo-Tokyo, one of Akira’s followers notices Tetsuo‘s badly injured arm and unstable state. The Colonel is alarmed to learn that there has been a breech in his weapon computer system SOL. Kaneda arrives at Lady Miyako’s temple to confirm his suspicions about Tetsuo’s part in the moon’s destruction. After learning that his love, Kay, has agreed to channel Tetsuo’s power for Lady Miyako, he is overtaken by rage. In a fit of passion he vows to defeat Tetsuo on his own (Otomo 1993).

Surface The Surface of the graphic novel is instantly eye-catching for its colour (McCloud 182). The dense colour within the frames against the stark white gutter emphasises the structure of the page and makes it instantly recognizable as a comic. It features very animated characters in an urban and somewhat dreary setting.

Craft While crafting his characters, Otomo designed Kaneda and Kay to have the simplest faces in comparison to most other characters in the novel (Figure 1). As Scott McCloud explains, a simple face that does not look like anyone in particular is “universal” - allowing readers to imagine themselves in Kaneda and Kay’s place (31). Although Tetsuo’s and Akira’s faces are relatively simple as well, their proportions are more unusual than Kaneda and Kay’s. However, it may have been the author’s intention for the reader to relate to Tetsuo and Akira in order to show that they are warped versions of regular people. They are not inherently bad but they are trapped in the influence of an uncontrollable power. The rest of the characters such as Lady Miyako, the Joker and the Scientist are drawn with very much detail. This creates an unavoidable sense of what McCloud refers to as “otherness” (44). Notable too, is that Otomo’s backgrounds are incredibly detailed and visually stimulating (Figure 2). They encourage the reader to enter and fully experience the protagonist’s world. The level of detail in the secondary characters and background is uniform - as if to imply that they are part of the background and thus part of the protagonist’s subjective world. With all this detail and realism, Akira falls along the representation edge of McCloud’s Picture Plane (McCloud 52). The characters are slightly closer to the point of Meaning, while the background is slightly closer to the point of Reality. This location requires very little effort in generating meaning from Otomo’s representations. Rather than needing to interpret the setting, the reader finds himself in a visually stimulating world.

Throughout the novel, Otomo continually blurs the line between the word and picture planes by showing sounds and emotion (McCloud 49). Both of these pictures display sounds made by water (Figure 3). “ONGONONG” is seemingly never-ending, filling the width of the entire page much like the continuous rush of the water. It’s written in a soft-edged font, reminiscent of water’s fluidity. By comparison, “SPLASH” looks more crunched together, emphasizing a abruptness of the sound. The edges of the font are pointed and crisp like the sound itself. Otomo is also able to depict sound using the word bubble (Figure 4). To show the sound of an alarm, he simulates it in the jagged, outward points of the word bubble. The font of “AOOGA” emphasises the change in tone of the alarm from loud to louder with the increasing and decreasing size of the letters. Likewise, he represents an abrasive announcement by creating a jagged outline of the word bubble. The uniform uppercase font creates a sense of formality and urgency in the tone of the speaker. Unlike other popular Manga that create most of their emotions through symbols, Otomo stays true to his realistic portrayal of the human face. He is able to depict all emotion through facial expressions without resorting to symbols (McCloud 130). He overcomes symbols by reverting the background to a single colour and using lines to draw emphasis to the face, thus focusing on the expression (Figure 5). He does this sparingly to great effect. Staying true to the Manga idiom, Otomo uses what McCloud refers to as “subjective motion” to create movement (114). During scenes of action, he depicts speed by focusing on the object and blurring or streaking the background (Figure 6).

Structure Though many comics’ structures include narrative text - if only to identify the passing of time “Later that day…” - Otomo resists. He is able to show the passage of time using panel sizes, shapes and layout (McCloud 117). To avoid using time-indicating text during scene-to-scene transitions, he never introduces a new scene mid-page (McCloud 70). His scene transitions only occur as the reader turns the page. Otomo strategically uses a large establishing shot to introduce a new scene (Figure 7). The majority of Otomo’s transitions fall in the action-to-action and subject-to-subject categories (McCloud 70-71). Perhaps this is another way he keeps the reader in the story - by keeping the flow of the story moving forward at a quick pace. This however places more implied action in the gutter (McCloud 67). In doing this, Otomo runs the risk of stalling an amateur reader who struggles to fill in the gutter and achieve closure between scenes. This is more likely to occur between scenes of detailed background (McCloud 90-91). Otomo also uses the layout to manipulate time in the story. In order to slow down the passing of time, Otomo often simplifies the background within a frame while increasing its size and negative space (Figure 8). Regardless of the distance or position of the character in relation to the frame, Otomo uses this technique to depict the intimacy of a long reflective moment. Katsuhiro Otomo’s word-picture balance is slanted towards a picture dominance (McCloud 155). Though there are arguably three or four instances of word-specific frames, there are one hundred and sixteen picture-specific frames(McCloud 53). The rest fall primarily into the interdependent or additive categories (McCloud 54). These word-picture proportions further demonstrate Otomo’s ability to show a story through pictures. Katsuhiro Otomo’s concentration on form gave life to his ideas. With a slant towards the use of pictures over text and adherence to realistic drawing style, Akira is a testament to Otomo’s genius in showing a story

Works Cited

Katsuhiro, Otomo. "Swept Away." Graphic Novel. Akira. 28th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Epic Comics, 1991. Print.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperCollins, Inc., 1994. Print.

McNeil, Sheena. "What Is Manga." Sequential Art. 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 9 Sept. 2009. .