Every week I'm going to review a classic anime film and then go through some of the themes, elements, and issues that present themselves in the film. While I won't give a summary or so to speak, I will warn you though that there WILL be spoilers for most, if not all of the movies I feature on this blog. I repeat: There WILL BE SPOILERS.
Now that we've got that out of the way....
This week I'm going to talk about one of the most groundbreaking, mind boggling, and visually captivating anime films of all time: Akira.
Akira Movie Poster
If you're like me, the first time you saw this movie, you may have been slightly confused, to say the least. Or this movie may have scarred you instead, and you probably sat down afterwards for an hour or so and just tries to put together what the hell you just watched.It was probably the latter.
The truth is, that this movie is filled with many different issues such as free will, adolescence, and social injustice, just to name a few. However, for the rest of this post to make any bit of sense at all, I think that I will start by explaining the titular character, Akira. While he is not the main character, and does not make many appearances in the movie, he is one of the most important characters. He was once a boy used as a guinea pig in an experiment in which he was given psychic powers. He is quickly able to harness his powers and they increase exponentially as a result, but soon, he loses control of these powers and destroys Tokyo along with himself in a nuclear explosion. Fast forward forty years later to the year of 2019, and in post-apocalyptic Japan, Akira is now more of an abstract idea, a god-like figure with a cult following. It is even said that Akira lives in everybody.
Now lets look at life in this post-apocalyptic 2019 Japan. As I mentioned before, there are many issues and social injustices. Towards the beginning of the movie, there are scenes of student protests being beat down and killed by police forces. The city is dominated by rival biker gangs and corruption is everywhere and so are the surveillance cameras. Overall, it is not a stretch to call it an Orwellian society. Adult presence also seems to be very limited, and as a result, the youth run the city. These biker gangs that are ever-so-present are constantly fighting one another for control and power over the city, and this is what I'll focus on for this post.
Tetsuo, a member of one of the bike gangs and one of the main characters, is particularly interested in gaining power. All his life he had been bullied and picked on and then saved by Kanneda, the other main character. As a result he develops a serious inferiority complex and a desire to try to stand out and rid himself of his black sheep image. One scene in particular that comes to mind is the first big bike scene where Tetsuo breaks out of the hospital, and steals Kanneda's bike, the most powerful bike of the gang. He initially is able to work it, but soon afterwards the bike slowly begins to stop, and stops working for him. This scene is very symbolic of Tetsuo's fate later on in the movie. Once Tetsuo figures out his powers given to him, he thoroughly enjoys them, because he had never had such power before. But soon he loses control of this power, and exactly like Akira, destroys himself and the city.
Before I leave, here is a Pioneer's 2001 re-dub, Tetsuo's mutation scene:
Okay then, see you all next week!
Nia, I like that little point you made in the end. The bike could be a symbol of Tetsuo's search for power and acceptance. In the beginning you see Tetsuo messing around with Kaneda's bike; from that point you can see that Tetsuo is the pipsqueak of the group and he wants to move up and be respected. In a way, he wants to be like Kaneda, if not actually BE Kaneda, as shown by Tetsuo's messing around with the bike. As Tetsuo gains his power, he wants to prove to the whole gang that he is the one in control and that things are going to play by his rules therefore he steals Kaneda's bike. However, the fact that Kanedas bike breaks down shows us that not only he is not destined to be on the top, but that the power he briefly acquired is bound to turn on him and break down.
ReplyDeleteJust some food for thought. Personally I love finding that kind of stuff in books and anime and movies.
See you later!! :)
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ReplyDeleteThe bike could also be a symbol of Tetsuo's emerging sexuality. Adolescence is the period of sexual maturation, and motorcycles have always been phallic symbols.
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