Akira the Leviathan Editorial, Typography[Personal] Type III
2021
Typographic publication on the striking relevances between Katsuhiro Otomo’s animated cyberpunk film, Akira [1988], and Thomas Hobbes’s politically acclaimed work, Leviathan [1651].
Visually, Otomo’s cyberpunk Neo-Tokyo sets the aesthetic tone of this publication. Manipulated film stills, manga illustrations, and newspaper grids pay homage to both works. 

Conceptually, both dissertations align to comment on mutual treatises of self, nature, religion, power, and science.
The Macro text: 
Written in 1988, Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira projects a futuristic city following total obliteration, catalyzed by Akira, a government, psychic test subject. Sudden telekinetic awakening in friend-turned-foe, Tetsuo Shima, unravels a second crescendo of institutional corruption, rebellion, destruction, and rebirth. 
The Micro Text:
17th century philosopher, Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan adresses modern politics, a Leviathan[1] in itself. The commonwealth, absolute monarchy, and the laws of nature are famously discussed in his ‘social contract’ theory. 

1. [n.] Leviathan is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology; extremely large and difficult to control, and which you find rather frightening.