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| Taken from Nerdreactor.com |
For the average American viewer, Akira is a weird and disturbing movie. Even for an American otaku, Akira can seem strange; however, we can also appreciate it for the masterpiece it is. The anime movie Akira revolves around a series of complex issues, and cultural references that people who are not native to Japan would not understand. In Japan, media censorship is not a new idea. The government does not want to upset the Japanese people with unpleasant news. In Akira, the government is not censoring the media for the sake of their people, but for their own sake. To keep the people from finding out what the government and military are doing on their own. They are trying to control what the people know about the resistance and the genetic experiments they perform on helpless children. The military is in-charge of the scientist who performs the experiments on the children. I believe this is a major indicator of military intent to use the children as their weapons and tools against Akira, and possibly the resistance. The experiments age the children dramatically in physical features, which make them look like small, old people. The drugs the scientist use boost the physic powers of the children, which is most likely the cause of their rapid aging. These kids did not go through these tests willingly; they were, most likely, taken off the street like one of the main characters, Tetsuo. Tetsuo is in a motorcycle gang with the other main character, and his best friend, Kaneda. Both of them take a part in the teen-age rebellion against the government and war, just in a different way than the people in the resistance army. Kaneda and his gang are more concerned with resisting authority and rebelling against the adults who look down on them. The people in the resistance army are more concerned with government and military action/control in the country. Most of the action in the movie revolves around a person named Akira. Akira is never seen until the very end, and even then, he is just chopped up body parts. Akira seems to be the manifestation of hope and terror in the people in Tokyo. Hope for the oppressed, and terror for the oppressors. Akira is believed to be the bringer of justice and judgment, like a type of new god. I believe Akira was a young boy with great power that went out of control and destroyed everything. I think Akira was made into a bigger phenomenon than he actually was.
I enjoyed how you pointed out how Akira deals with many complex issues because that's really true. It's dealing with a government that has many horrible secrets, and the whole film centers around them trying to cover them up. The military wants power and they aren't against using children to gain that power. Their greed has caused them to do unspeakable things against people too young to really fight back. I also liked how you pointed out that Kaneda and his gang are more focused on resisting authority and fighting against adult figures than actually changing the government. I think it highlights how young they are in this big mess they find themselves in. I agree with you about Akira, too. He seems to inspire both fear and hope in many of the individuals in the movie. I really enjoyed your post and your insight about the film and characters.
ReplyDeleteYeah you are very right about Akira being a very weird and disturbing movie. A lot of the time I was like what the heck is going on. I like how you pointed out the fact that the military and government censor out the media so that the people of Japan do not know what is going on. I know we talked in class about the movie and I remember people saying that they don’t see the general as a bad guy. In my opinion I think he is, and you pointed out some good points, saying that he used the helpless children as experiments and how he used them as weapons. For those who do not think he is a bad guy, how you think that? Look how he is using those kids and how he is trying to keep them a secret. I also like how you pointed out the motorcycle gangs and how they are rebellious and not trying to change the government. That’s a good point that I didn’t even think about until I read your blog. Your blog was very informational in pointing out very important parts of the movie.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I don't think the general is a completely bad person. His intention was to protect the Japanese people from another Akira incident. The way he went about it was very wrong, which also brings about the age-old question, "does the end justify the means?" I personally don't think so, but there are others who would argue that it does. I also think he is the lest corrupted official in the movie. In the scene where all the council members are arguing about money, he seems to be the only one concerned with protecting the city from the vision the little girl had. When they went to arrest him, he turned around and had all the council members arrested so they would stay out of his way while he set out to stop Tetsuo from getting to Akira. So at most, I think the general was a mix of good and bad, like most people.
DeleteHey Lovie! Yes, Akira is definitely a wierd and disturbing movie. I totally agree with you, when you say that the government and military are trying to control what the people know about the resistance and genetic experimentation. To me, they seem like they are acting out of greed because they just want the power for themselves. I also can definitely agree with you on Tetsuo and Kaneda’s way of rebelling against the government and war. They do just try to resist the authority, like in the scene where the boys were in the principal’s office, at least I think that was where they were, I was a little confused at this part of the movie. I fully agree that Akira is the bringer of justice and judgment and is like a God. I actually came to sort to the same conclusion. I said that Akira was energy and to me God is energy. I see where you’re coming from when you say that Akira was made into a bigger phenomenon than he actually was, it actually makes me think of why they made him seem this way. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts on these issues about the film!
ReplyDeleteOh my Lovie, I really like how you look past the surface on this movie. You actually grasp the actual meaning and put into words what it means. You stated things how they were in the movie and you compared it to how Americans would view the movie and how the Japanese would view the movie. I also like how you stated that Akira was both a manifestation of hope and of terror for the people of Japan. It shows the difference in the people living in Japan in that movie. The oppressed and the oppressors have opposing views of Akira. I agree with you though, I believe Akira was made into a bigger phenomenon than what he truly was. Just because Akira was a being of so much power it did not he was the answer and hope for the people. Perhaps if they had just lived their lives normally and allowed other citizens, like Tetsuo and the little kids, to live normally none of this would have happened.
ReplyDeleteDo you believe that the character Akira was the cause of the initial destruction in Tokyo that happened before the move begins? I believe that Akira represents the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki while the destruction and civil unrest represents the nation of Japan after the bombing. This disturbing movie begins with the government and army against its people and the young of their society growing up in orphanages because of Akira which represents the bombing and the Second World War. It is trying to say that the problem with society is that the past generation had nothing to use as a role model besides drugs and alcohol which as represented by their biker club bar and each other which was represented by their bike gang? I do agree with you that the movie was hard to follow and kind of disturbing for the otaku inside of me but I still could not find out what the significance of the Olympic stadium was, do you have any ideas?
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