My biggest surprise in this fourth volume of Katsuhiro Otomo's groundbreaking manga, 'Akira', is that the title character hardly does anything within it. In earlier books, that made sense, because he was a mystery. In the first volume, he was just a name, an enigma sought by Kei and Ryu for the mysterious Nezu, but not found. In the second, he took shape but was still a MacGuffin, the object of Tetsuo's search now, finally freed at the end. In the third, he was a constant, a football bounced between factions frequently but not yet fully awake. However, that book ended with awakening, a particularly impactful one given that it wiped out Neo-Tokyo.

Here, he's awake from the outset, sitting in his broken throne twice a day in front of the masses of the Great Tokyo Empire, one of two major forces that constitute a new order in a devastated city. Almost everything we see in this volume unfolds against the ruins of that megalopolis, vast empty buildings damaged in obvious fashion, often tilting to pose further threat, maybe leaning against each other in the precarious dance of architectural death. But he just sits there as Tetsuo dazzles the faithful with miracles. We wonder what his game is.

We also wonder why he's awake in the first of two volumes named for Kei when he wasn't for two that were named for him. Kei has lost Kaneda, who's conspicuous by his absence, but is still with a majestic Chiyoko, who continues to battle her way through all enemies. She doesn't emerge from those battles unscathed but she emerges nonetheless and continues on. As they have Masaru and Kiyoko, who appear to be significantly weakened, and the latter tells them to go to number 19 for help, that's the initial quest.

It isn't a particularly unexpected quest, given that number 19 is Lady Miyako, who constitutes the other major force in this new order, but initially it's just to receive medicine for the numbers and return. After that, the Great Tokyo Empire becomes enough of a threat that it transforms into the similar quest of getting Masaru and Kiyoko to Lady Miyako, a tough challenge given that they are two people up against an army and that army has already grabbed Masaru. Kei enforces a strong presence in this volume, appropriately given that it's named for her, but Chiyoko arguably does a lot more.

The Colonel is still around, but in disguise, listening to what's going down in the rubble. Tellingly, when a member of his own forces realises who he is and pledges allegiance, he shrugs him off. “It's too late,” he says. However, he eventually connects with Chiyoko and helps her with her part of the quest. Ryu is floating around too but I didn't understand his scenes because it seems like there's some sort of romantic connection between him and Kei, which really doesn't gel with them being siblings. It seems natural enough, so maybe I mistook that detail in the first book.

And there are new characters, who presumably will gain importance as the series runs through its second half. One is Kaori, the one girl to survive a weird evening with Tetsuo that leaves the other two dead in his bed after a particularly strong dream sequence. She seems very passive, but takes care of both Lord Akira and Master Tetsuo in gentle fashion, which both seem to appreciate. Her first scene is exploitative, but Tetsuo seems to move past that with her. The other new character is a mystery and has no name, listed in the cast simply as Captain.

He's presumably a spy, sent into the ruins of Neo-Tokyo to find out what's going on with Akira. The suggestion is that the world hasn't taken this unorthodox superscience project seriously, even in the wake of the destruction of Tokyo and the resulting World War III. Maybe the Colonel kept that secret enough that they don't realise that Akira caused it. However, now he's done it again, and it seems that he may be ruling the ruins, only in part now but maybe in full soon enough. That's what the Great Tokyo Empire seem to be planning.

There are fewer standoffs here than in the previous volume but they tend to be bigger standoffs, building up to the inevitable clash between the two powers, the Great Tokyo Empire taking on the monks of Lady Miyako's temple. That battleground is conspicuously full of injured people because the Empire is simply building power while number 19 is actively trying to help just as many people as she can. When the city is already in ruins, another deadly battle between the people left is not the best use of resources, but when only one side cares about that, it falls aside.

With the action more decentralised than before, the threads splintered off, even if they do meet up and interact on occasion, it's hard to identify a lead. Akira doesn't seem to want it, only doing anything if actively pushed into it, most notably by Tetsuo. Tetsuo is a much better candidate for lead, as he gains a new growth arc after visiting Lady Miyako. He has new powers now, if he's able to resist the drugs that brought him much of what he had. Lady Miyako gets a bunch of important conversations, not just with Tetsuo. Like Akira, she doesn't leap into action here but, unlike Akira, she organises and orchestrates much.

However, the volume is named for Kei, who's a strong character but not so much that she justifies the lead. Chiyoko fights alongside her but seems to get more solo opportunity. Both Masaru and Kiyoko are pretty much out of the fight at this point, though they may not stay that way. Captain, who I still think of as the spy, has a lot of potential, but he doesn't live up to it here. He could well in the next volume, but then that's named for Kei too. Kaori surely has more in here than she has here. This is just an introduction for her, just as it's a reintroduction for Kai, of Kaneda's old gang, who recognises Kei and gloms onto her from there.

Most surprisingly, given how prominent he's been throughout the first three volumes, Kaneda is mostly absent here. He does pop in at one point, flickering in to Kei like he's made of flame, but I didn't get the impression that we knew about where he went after volume three. Lady Miyako is of the opinion that he's outside this world, but she doesn't expand on that. I'm sure we'll learn a lot more in volume five. And I'm eager to dive into that one straight away because a lot happens in this volume and it builds considerably. Volume two was just balls-to-the wall action and volume three had a lot of that, too. This feels much more carefully constructed and Katsuhiro Otomo is on a very deliberate path. I want to know what it is. ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles by Katsuhiro Otomo click here