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Welcome to the first ADTRW Book Club / Manga of the Month / Simulread! The general idea of this is that we are going to take an existing and complete manga that people can read, preferably something of reasonable length and availability, and then read it a volume at a time! I've put a fair bit of consideration into how we should approach this. I've done some research. I've done some polling. I've underwent some deep introspection on the topic. I think I now have a pretty good idea about how we should approach this. That being said, what are we to read?   Akira (or AKIRA) is a manga by Katsuhiro Otomo, published in Kodansha's seinen Young Magazine from 1982 to 1990. Perhaps most known in the United States for the groundbreaking film adaptation that basically created the anime fandom over here, the original manga follows a much longer and complex narrative that has won awards and acclaim both in Japan and over here in the West. On December 6th, 1992, an apparent nuclear explosion destroys Tokyo and starts World War III. By 2019, its successor, Neo-Tokyo, has been reborn from its ashes on an artiifcial island in Tokyo Bay. However, Neo-Tokyo is gripped by anti-government terrorism and gang violence in the face of an increasingly totalitarian government. Tetsou Shima and Shotaro Kaneda are members of a a motorcycle gang known as The Capsules. Kaneda, brash and carefree, leads the Capsules. Tetsuo is Kaneda's best friend, but Tetsuo is envious of Kaneda's leadership of the gang. While riding in the ruins of old Tokyo, Tetsuo is injured when a mysterious entity blocks his path causing his bike to explode. The incident awakens something deep within Tetsuo, a latent and incredible potential that combines with his inferiority complex to lead Tetsuo towards the path of destruction, while attracting the attention of a secret government project... Akira is a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk story, and came to fruition right in the emergent first days of the cyberpunk genre in the mid 80s. The setting is very well realized and elaborated upon, though the manga is perhaps best known for its very strong evocative art, destructive imagery, and excellent depiction of movement. Akira was very pioneering when it came to detail and careful, deliberate motion of its characters across the page, which makes for very dynamic and engross action sequences and character interactions. Those of you who are fans of Naoki Urasawa will definitely appreciate Otomo's style and writing. Given that Akira is pretty much the definition of "a classic", I think it's a good choice for a first go at this type of arrangement. Even if it doesn't work out quite as planned, at least we'll have all read a really good manga! Akira's volumes are pretty meaty, so a volume a week should work well.     FAQ & Guidelines  Where can I get this Manga?
 How does the scheduling work? How does one participate?
Further, you also have the option to live post as you read on a page-to-page basis (e.g., you can "live blog" your reading), though I do request you not get this thread too spam-y. Here's how our schedule looks:   We are starting Monday, March 11th.  How are spoilers being handled?
At the end of this we may watch the movie, so please save movie talk until around that time.  Is there any way I can help with getting this ready?
Zorak fucked around with this message at Feb 26, 2013 around 06:32 |
| # ? Feb 26, 2013 05:32 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 06:17 |
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BUT ALSO: Not only are we doing this simulread, we're simultaneously doing another ADTRW Simulwatchathon!  click for motha fuckin medieval economics You should join in on that if you are interested! Additionally, as this is my (and thus collectively "our") first time doing this, any insight or advice / comments you have on improving this venture would be greatly appreciate. This is a bit of an experiment, so I'd like to know how it is working and how it can be made to work better. Additionally, we probably need to nail down a name for this thing so I can stop using a different name every sentence!
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 05:50 |
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And I watched the movie for the first time literally two days ago, what perfect timing. From what I was told, the manga is a little more...out there? It certainly sounded like there was a lot of weird stuff that didn't make the cut.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 06:05 |
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ooh, this is interesting, Ive thought a simulread would be fun for a while now but never really suggested it, so Im really glad someone managed to read my mind and get one off the ground.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 06:13 |
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Anyone worried about the daunting tomes these volumes may physically appear to be...don't worry. A lot of it is large spreads of beautiful art. There isn't a ton of text, so a week a piece is more than enough for each volume. They are very easy to fly through, yet they contain a hell of a lot more content than the film. Even then, I dunno if I will be able to do both this and Spice & Wolf. I've read Akira before (but it was over 10 years ago, when the Dark Horse paperbacks first came out) so I may shift my time toward Spice & Wolf if I can't handle both.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 06:37 |
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Once you started reading Akira, it's hard to stop.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 15:52 |
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Gils posted:And I watched the movie for the first time literally two days ago, what perfect timing. From what I was told, the manga is a little more...out there? It certainly sounded like there was a lot of weird stuff that didn't make the cut. The movie stops around the halfway point of the actual story. Even as a kid watching Akira I thought it felt weird, and ended up tracking this down later in life to read. It's a wonderful story! I'll have to dig my copies out and read along, it's been too long since I've read about the rad adventures of Canada and his scraper bike 
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 16:31 |
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I haven't read Akira, so this exciting! Have seen the movie but just never got around to bothering with the manga. We did something similiar to this though in one of my college English classes, with Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth and it was a lot of fun.
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| # ? Feb 26, 2013 17:36 |
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I haven't even seen the movie so this should be fun. Price tag stings a little but it'll probably be worth it since it seems like akira is pretty renowned.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 00:26 |
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I'm definitely in for this, Akira has been a to-read for me for years. I've started on a couple Simulwatches before, but I'm way more of a reader than a watcher. Putting the first couple volumes on hold through my library right now!
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 00:43 |
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I've been ready for this for years now (no seriously, it's pretty cool I don't have to wait to pick up volumes for this, it's been a favorite for a long time) bubblegumbo0 posted:Once you started reading Akira, it's hard to stop. Satorr posted:Anyone worried about the daunting tomes these volumes may physically appear to be...don't worry. A lot of it is large spreads of beautiful art. There isn't a ton of text, so a week a piece is more than enough for each volume. They are very easy to fly through, yet they contain a hell of a lot more content than the film. Both of these statement are very true, it's a great read and the artwork is consistently great. I'm due for a re-read anyway and I'll definitely enjoy seeing people's first time reactions to it.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 01:54 |
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lil baby anime posted:I haven't even seen the movie so this should be fun. Price tag stings a little but it'll probably be worth it since it seems like akira is pretty renowned. Don't worry man, it is. I've already seen Spice and Wolf as well as read Akira but I'm more interested in revisiting the latter so I'm down for this. The thing that still sticks out in my mind is the sheer scale of - the destruction, yeah - but really everything. Otomo forever.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 02:09 |
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Whoa whoa whoa. Satoshi Kon worked on the art along with Otomo? Holy crap I had no idea.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 03:51 |
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a kitten posted:Whoa whoa whoa. He used to work as an assistant for Otomo, I think. EDIT: Yeah, looking it up he got his start working for Otomo. While I can't find anything on short notice confirming that Satoshi Kon did work on Akira, it would make sense if he did some of the artwork at some point for the middle volumes. jonjonaug fucked around with this message at Feb 27, 2013 around 05:29 |
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 05:25 |
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a kitten posted:I've been ready for this for years now (no seriously, it's pretty cool I don't have to wait to pick up volumes for this, it's been a favorite for a long time) Another fun part of the AKIRA manga is noticing that characters tend to disappear for exactly a volume or two (by the new 6 volume compilation ordering) and then make a dramatic return. It's pretty amusing once you pick up on it. Other notable non-spoiler differences: Kei and Kaori and The Colonel are better characters, and Chiyoko and Miyako weren't even in the anime, for obvious reasons. Cardboard Box A fucked around with this message at Feb 27, 2013 around 10:41 |
| # ? Feb 27, 2013 10:37 |
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Yesss I am so up for this. Akira is so good that I wouldn't mind reading it over and over again.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 11:34 |
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As a proud owner of the rerelease, I am so very down with this.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 15:29 |
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I think that during this readthrough, I will look a bit more in-depth to the symbolism and emotions behind Akira. If we end up watching the film, I've got some things to say about the musical score too.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 17:04 |
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I've never read manga, looks like now is a good time to start. After seeing that picture above, I may also buy Nausicaa 
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 02:04 |
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Nausicaa will be the biggest thing on your bookshelf but it's so worth it.
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 02:09 |
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oilatsnep posted:I've never read manga, looks like now is a good time to start. You should totally buy Nausicaa, the new edition owns.  Amazon looks like they're sold out, barnes and noble has it for $34.66 right now (regularly 60 bucks).
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 02:10 |
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We may be doing Nausicaa in the future 
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 02:59 |
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a kitten posted:You should totally buy Nausicaa, the new edition owns. And thank YOU for informing me, amazon wanted to charge some ludicrous 100$+ price.
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 03:10 |
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a kitten posted:You should totally buy Nausicaa, the new edition owns. Fuuuuuuuck. Looks like everyone is out of stock. Righstuf lists it as a returning item after an expected reprint date of April 9th. B&N website lists that it will have more in stock and begin shipping on April 26th. One B&N store near me listed it as in-stock but when I called they didn't have it  The guy on the phone mentioned that not many had been printed. He mentioned that he'd heard about a reprint, though.I've seen B&N drop the ball many times on expected ship dates for items that are absent between printings, so I'm gonna order it from Rightstuf and hope that reprint date is accurate. Twice, my mom ordered temporarily out of stock books from B&N and when it was back in stock (which they never notified her of, she had to to discover this herself) they wouldn't ship it to her. They told her both times to cancel the order and make a new one. Satorr fucked around with this message at Feb 28, 2013 around 05:14 |
| # ? Feb 28, 2013 05:10 |
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Yeah I can get Nausicaa from a local(Australian) website for $65, but alas no Akira. They only have the movie. I'll have to use Amazon and hope the delivery time isn't over a month to ship it here...
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 07:44 |
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a kitten posted:You should totally buy Nausicaa, the new edition owns. I already have the 7 softcover volumes, but this looks pretty sick. And now I have an excuse to track down the right version of vol. 6 of Akira.
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| # ? Feb 28, 2013 22:24 |
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Oh dear. I was about to order all volumes from a single place on Amazon but the shipping was crazy expensive! I ain't paying over $150 for shipping Time to email some local comic/book stores. Edit: OK, so if I just choose the Amazon "seller" the shipping cost is much better. Phew. oilatsnep fucked around with this message at Mar 1, 2013 around 02:44 |
| # ? Mar 1, 2013 02:33 |
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I haven't seen Akira in years, and I've been wanting to pick up the manga for a while now. This might be the best time to do so, while I can discuss the craziness with others who are reading at the same time. I hope I have enough in my bank account for this...  Edit: Nope. The entire set is too much at this point in time. Looks like I'll have to wait until the next simulread. In the meantime, though, I can get my Spice and Wolf on! geeksauce fucked around with this message at Mar 4, 2013 around 06:46 |
| # ? Mar 4, 2013 06:22 |
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A question regarding the spoiler rules posted in the OP. Are we to use spoiler tags for everything in the books for the entirety of the thread? Or can we, say, drop spoiler tags for volume 1 once the week for volume 2 has begun?
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 06:32 |
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Satorr posted:A question regarding the spoiler rules posted in the OP. The spoiler rules basically mean you don't need to use tags at all. When volume 1 has started, you just talk about volume 1. The assumption is that once we are in Volume 1 land, everything's fair game for it. The spoiler rules here just request you don't talk about future volumes yet.
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 06:38 |
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I'll definitely be reading along. I've had these books for a long time, but I haven't read them in years.
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 07:11 |
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Zorak posted:The spoiler rules basically mean you don't need to use tags at all. When volume 1 has started, you just talk about volume 1. The assumption is that once we are in Volume 1 land, everything's fair game for it. Righto. Thanks.
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 15:41 |
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Just got the first two volumes from the library today. Excited to get started as soon as I finish Mizuki Shigeru's Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths. I've been meaning to read this for just about a decade.
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 00:10 |
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I'm all set up for the first month. All three came in pretty quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. I'm not sure why I never thought about reading this series before, but I'm glad we had this thread to make me think about it a little harder. Looking forward to this.
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 07:45 |
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Kusaru posted:Just got the first two volumes from the library today. I forgot about the library! I'll go pay my fine off tomorrow, and I will be joining along.
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| # ? Mar 7, 2013 08:02 |
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The first 3 volumes have been sitting in my room for a week now. I've had to stop myself from starting to read them early more than once now. ...Soon
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 05:03 |
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Reminder that Volume 1 discussion begins in just a few hours time!
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 02:57 |
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You know, there's something that happens when you don't read something as good as Akira for a few years. You know you loved it and you can still bring up your favorite scenes but the impact fades. God drat I forgot how good Akira is. Going to be hard holding off on volume two.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 04:53 |
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Right, now's the time, aye? One of my favourite things about Akira is how well it creates a sense of a city. Otomo is honestly one of the three or four guys in comics who can do that for me. I wouldn't say Neo-Tokyo is necessarily realistic, but it feels real, y'know? It feels like a place where people live and eat and sleep and poo poo and so many things in the manga, whether it's the graffiti or the alleyways or the sewers or the crowds (oh man, the crowds) reinforce that. And the buildings! There will never be anyone who draws buildings as well as Otomo 
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 05:07 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 06:17 |
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Yes, volume 1 discussion, however you want to approach it, is go. The thing that sticks out the most for me from volume 1 really is just how much of a shithead Kaneda is. Like yes, he's the protagonist and he's a punk and a kid, but he really is a huge shithead who, frankly, I find really hard to like at this point. He's going up against obstensibly a government that is even more of a shithead than he is, sure, and his youthful never-give-up spunk is a thing, but man is he an rear end. He's an rear end to Kei, he's an rear end to his nurse girlfriend (who he apparently may have got pregnant, which is weird when you consider she's probably well above his age too). Ultimately he's only not an rear end to Tetsuo, who is the one character who ultimately turns against him DESPITE him not being an rear end to him. It makes sense internally; I'm not criticizing the characterization or motivations or anything, but it's really sort of outstanding about how much the character manages to seem unlikeable to me despite being, without a question, the protagonist. I presume that's the point by volume 1, since even Kei etc is kind of "wow Kaneda you are a total poo poo but potentially useful if you'd stop being so."
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 05:26 |
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