caspis
01-28-2007, 05:57 PM
I've seen the movie countless times, but up until now I've never actually read the graphic novel.
First off... I had no idea it was so long!
The chapters are between 280-400 pages long, and there are 6 chapters.
Still, the movie did a pretty good job of following the first chapter. It's an impressive feat to adapt such a massive story at all.
However, after the first chapter there are obviously some huge deviations from the movie's plot. Don't read the following spoilers unless you're really curious about what the differences between the anime and novel are...
(they are spoilers in the truest sense... so again, don't read if you don't want to be, err.... spoiled )
When Tetsuo escapes from the hospital after the chief scientist awakens his psycic powers, he is confronted by members of the clown gang and kills one of them by crushing their head with his abilities. After seeing this the gang members take him to "Joker"; their boss, who declares Tetsuo their new leader (after some "convincing" )
The anime largely ignores the significance of the "capsules" (pills). In the novel, they are critical in both the process of awakening latent psychic abilites, and in suppressing the powers of someone who has already begun to realize them. The pills are VERY important to Tetsuo, since without them his headaches would be unbearable and his powers would go completely out of control.
In the movie scientists dissected Akira to the point that there were only a handful of canisters containing some of his bodily organs and tissue. In the novel Akira was kept in cryogetic storage below the olympic dome and Tetsuo frees him. From that point on he is an actual character in the rest of the story.
In the movie, Kaori was Tetsuo's girlfriend from the biker gang. In the novel, she isn't introduced as a character until late in the story, and she isn't his girlfriend. Instead, she takes care of Akira, and Tetsuo to a lesser degree. From the beginning she hates Tetsuo but later she begins to respect/pity him and doesn't want to see him die.
The strange fortune-teller lady with the 'fro plays a rather small role in anime, mainly preaching the end of the world before Tetsuo begins to seriously raise hell. In the novel she is a VERY important character who works directly with the "children" and Kei (the girl that Kaneda likes) to try and stop Tetsuo.
In the novel, there are quite a few people with minor psychic abilites.
The Sol cannon is never destroyed. It continues to play a role in the story after desintegrating.
Overall though, a truly awesome graphic novel. If you liked the anime (and if you're in the Anime Discussion Forum that's a pretty safe bet... ) then you may well be in for a treat by picking up the novel (or downloading it... but that would be illegal, of course...).
First off... I had no idea it was so long!
The chapters are between 280-400 pages long, and there are 6 chapters.
Still, the movie did a pretty good job of following the first chapter. It's an impressive feat to adapt such a massive story at all.
However, after the first chapter there are obviously some huge deviations from the movie's plot. Don't read the following spoilers unless you're really curious about what the differences between the anime and novel are...
(they are spoilers in the truest sense... so again, don't read if you don't want to be, err.... spoiled )
When Tetsuo escapes from the hospital after the chief scientist awakens his psycic powers, he is confronted by members of the clown gang and kills one of them by crushing their head with his abilities. After seeing this the gang members take him to "Joker"; their boss, who declares Tetsuo their new leader (after some "convincing" )
The anime largely ignores the significance of the "capsules" (pills). In the novel, they are critical in both the process of awakening latent psychic abilites, and in suppressing the powers of someone who has already begun to realize them. The pills are VERY important to Tetsuo, since without them his headaches would be unbearable and his powers would go completely out of control.
In the movie scientists dissected Akira to the point that there were only a handful of canisters containing some of his bodily organs and tissue. In the novel Akira was kept in cryogetic storage below the olympic dome and Tetsuo frees him. From that point on he is an actual character in the rest of the story.
In the movie, Kaori was Tetsuo's girlfriend from the biker gang. In the novel, she isn't introduced as a character until late in the story, and she isn't his girlfriend. Instead, she takes care of Akira, and Tetsuo to a lesser degree. From the beginning she hates Tetsuo but later she begins to respect/pity him and doesn't want to see him die.
The strange fortune-teller lady with the 'fro plays a rather small role in anime, mainly preaching the end of the world before Tetsuo begins to seriously raise hell. In the novel she is a VERY important character who works directly with the "children" and Kei (the girl that Kaneda likes) to try and stop Tetsuo.
In the novel, there are quite a few people with minor psychic abilites.
The Sol cannon is never destroyed. It continues to play a role in the story after desintegrating.
Overall though, a truly awesome graphic novel. If you liked the anime (and if you're in the Anime Discussion Forum that's a pretty safe bet... ) then you may well be in for a treat by picking up the novel (or downloading it... but that would be illegal, of course...).