Herring --- Akira

In the Japanese animated film “Akira”, we were bombarded with ideas, representation, and symbolism. As the movie began, the opening scene showed the dropping of a bomb in Japan. This could be possible foreshadowing, setting the mood for the rest of the film. It could also very well be representative of the atomic bombings of Japan during WWII, depicting Japan’s misery and destruction they suffered during the war. But if you had no prior knowledge of this movie, you may perceive it as an introduction of the plotline, of a society being obliterated.

                As the movie goes on, you are introduced to the two main protagonists: Kaneda and Tetsuo. These characters are two rebellious teenage boys that are part of a bosozuko (biker gang), who have grown up in the same orphanage together and have a relationship as though they are brothers. Kaneda plays the role of “big brother”, looking after Tetsuo, making sure he stays out of harm’s way and protecting him when necessary. Tetsuo views their relationship differently. Tetsuo feels as though Kaneda shelters him, treating him like an infant and oppressing his ability to be a strong, powerful leader. Their relationship, although brotherly, is almost like that of an endearing, overprotective father and an angst-filled child who wishes to be viewed as an independent individual. This tension between Kaneda and Tetsuo’s relationship builds as the movie goes on.

                Not long after the introduction, Kaneda and Tetsuo get into a fight with a rival bosozuko which leads to Tetsuo crashing and getting seriously injured. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, the military steps in and ships Tetsuo away. They begin conducting experiments on him and ultimately turn Tetsuo into a human filled with an almost god-like power, if you will.

                I would like to pause for a moment to discuss the moral issues occurring in the plotline so far. The immediate thought I got when watching “Akira” was that the people were like lab-rats, living without purpose and only by instinct, all free will to think was lost, and running on a never-ending wheel of blinded guidance. The hand of the military and scientists reach in and pluck humans from the masses as they please, controlling their every moves and experimenting on them as they see fit. This is completely and utterly immoral. No one is meant to play God, the power is too consuming for any single human being. You cannot take a human being and alter them as you wish, plainly out of greed for knowledge and curiosity. Man is not meant to hold that power, which is why we are called “Men” and not “Gods”.

                Back to Tetsuo and his newly gained powers. Now that the “runt” has been granted with all of the powers he could possibly imagine, he chooses to hold them over Kaneda and those who had oppressed him and get revenge for the humiliation of being viewed as a weakling. As his powers inflate to corruptive levels, Tetsuo’s soul is consumed by the intensity and hatred he is now able unleash. Tetsuo becomes lost within his god-like capabilities and does not realize the damage he has done to everything around him and himself until it’s too late. After getting everything he wanted, Tetsuo begins to panic as he realizes his once beautiful tools of destruction are devouring him and reaches out for those he had feverishly pushed away. Kaneda attempts to save Tetsuo, but these two characters are locked in a battle against an evil that they will realistically never defeat, and only in death will they be released from conflict. Here steps in “Deus ex Machina”: God in the Machine. This simply means that some magical machine (Akira, possibly?) has a god-like presence and saves the almost doomed hero. As Kaneda and Tetsuo slowly realize they are eventually going to die, by the grace of god, a miracle happens: Tetsuo and three other telepathic children are consumed by a blinding white light, and they disappear into the unknown. These characters were meant to die, but for some strange reason, they had been spared.

                Ironically, the beginning and end of this movie are almost exactly alike. These explosions might represent rebirth through destruction, “a phoenix born from the ashes”. Even the scientist at the end of the movie said “Is this…the birth of the universe?” As he said this, a small ball of light fell into Kaneda’s hand and faded away. Could this be representing the birth of a new society? Whatever it means, all we know is that “Akira” ends on a hopeful note, and in a place that is no place, a voice is heard: I am Tetsuo.

I got this image from here.