Berthier - Akira

Akira was an anime film made in 1988 set in a post-modernistic society in Tokyo, Japan.  The year is 2019 and the world is in pure shambles. The movie starts off with a large explosion and then the camera angle dives into the city of Tokyo with very fast moving camera editing as well as dark backgrounds and odd camera angles. By doing this, the director does a very good job of setting up the illusion of chaos throughout the film as well as creating chaos to be a surrounding theme within the plot. In the way of introducing characters, the director seems very sporadic and vague as each different character comes into play. This I can only perceive as another deliberate move by the director creating the awareness of confusion and instability throughout the city of Tokyo and possibly the world.

            I immediately fell in love with the characters in the film. Not necessarily for who they were but what they represented. After watching the whole film it was easy to assume that Kaneda, the leader of the bozozuko was like a father to the main character, Tetsuo. When Tetsuo gains telekinetic powers and has the ability to destroy all of mankind, he starts to resent Kaneda and lash out towards the idea of being a cog in the biker gang and wants to gain his independence. This represents the idea of Japanese family values and family values in general and how after a certain amount of time the young ones want to rise up and be there own independent being.

            I’ll admit, after watching the film for the first time I was needless to say, baffled. The ending scene when Tetsuo turns into a large blob and explodes and one of the mutant children goes on to explain “it has begun,” was one of the most mind blowing endings for a film I had ever witnessed.  After watching it a few times, I realized more and more how the over bearing message was that power can really corrupt people and no matter what circumstance, too much power is never a good thing. This message was extremely relevant for the time the movie was made because in 1988 Tokyo was ran purely by corporations.  Overall, I really enjoyed the film and would watch it again.