A certain kind of child's dream

I can’t get over Katsuhiro Otomo. Akira is one of my all-time favourite novels. Graphic yes, but who cares— it’s over a thousand pages worth!

But before Akira there was Domu. Domu- or to be precise Domu; A Child’s Dream, can be seen a kind of forerunner to Akira, a short-story to its epic novel. All the themes are there; alienation amidst rapid urbanisation, the inherent evil of children, and explosive psychic powers.

The story is set almost entirely in a Tokyo apartment block. Not a little brown-brick seventies number like over here; this is an entire community stuffed into a non-descript concrete slab. It has its own infirmary, playground, you name it. So when people start dying, everyone’s involved. Detectives are called in, but it’s the battle between two psychic superpowers; a child and an old man that takes centre stage.

There is so much to like. Otomo’s drawings are staggering and his depiction of urban spaces is brilliant. So too his rendering of humans, all of them with decidedly human features. There are no moist-eyed, pointy chinned waifs here. It could almost be called realism, if there only there weren’t so much paranormal activity. If you cringe at the OTT style of manga, I suggest you try this.

But perhaps what impresses me most about this work is how ahead of its time it was, and still is. The recent craze for ‘urban fantasy’ – magical occurrences in every day places— is all here. So too is the recent craze for kick-ass (ahem) young heroines.