Akira: Difference between revisions
this is one of the most iconic anime films ever, only behind perhaps Your Name and Spirited Away. Akira is too mainstream to be a "cult classic".
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(this is one of the most iconic anime films ever, only behind perhaps Your Name and Spirited Away. Akira is too mainstream to be a "cult classic".) |
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In July 1988 (or at 2:17 P.M. on December 6th, 1992), a mysterious black-domed explosion destroys Tokyo and sets off World War III. Thirty-one (or thirty-eight, depending on whether it's the manga or the film you're dealing with) years later, the rebuilt city, now known as "Neo Tokyo" has fallen into decay.
Two rival biker gangs, the Capsules and the Clowns, are having a turf war one night, when one of the youngest Capsule members, Tetsuo, almost literally runs into an escaped government test subject. Moments later, the test subject is taken back into custody by the army. However, they also decide to take Tetsuo with them. He then becomes the newest test subject for the "Akira Project
There is an anime movie version and a manga version, both widely different sans the above mentioned premise and with varying reputations. The movie is primarily known for its great animation. It was one of the things that helped disprove the [[Animation Age Ghetto]], at least for [[Anime]] in the West. It has been dubbed twice into
Being over 2000 pages in six hefty volumes, the story the original manga tells is much longer than the film, more violent, more political
A Hollywood [[Live Action Adaptation]] has long been in the works, starting in 2002 when Warner Bros. acquired the rights.
Not to be mistaken with [[Akira Ishida]], [[Akira Toriyama]] (
{{tropelist}}
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* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: Neo-Tokyo's sewers are spacious enough to patrol them with flying craft.
* [[AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle]]: '''A'''-kira, not A-'''ki'''-ra. And Ka-'''ney'''-da, not Canada.
* [[After the End]]: We start with "old" Tokyo already nuked, then Neo-Tokyo gets nuked again, but the story continues anyway.
* [[Alternate Continuity]]: Though they have similar beginnings and underlying themes, the movie and the manga diverge rather early and become two different stories. Character origins, deaths
* [[Ambiguously Gay|Ambiguously]] [[Gayngster]]: Kaisuke is a short biker punk who tosses rival gang members twice his size through restaurant windows and dodges [[Kill Sat]] beams on his motorcycle. He's also one of the less scruffy-looking characters, has no girlfriend, and seems to be very concerned about the lives of his fellow Capsules. In both manga and anime, he actually glomps Kaneda upon learning he's still alive before Kei can get her hug in.
* [[Analog Punk]]: ''Akira'' takes place in 2019, yet newspapers and chunky computers without touch-screen are still in use. Considering [[The Tokyo Fireball]] likely held back a portion of technological evolution, it seems justified.
* [[Animal Motifs]]: Mr. Nezu (Japanese for "rat"), a small, greedy, cowardly man with big teeth.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Regional catastrophe.
* [[Apocalypse Wow]]: First, the prologue that depicts the destruction of "old" Tokyo. After that, the anime and manga diverge.
* [[Black Comedy]]: From time to time...
* [[Body Horror]]: Tetsuo's horrific mutation scene. And ''how''.
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Tetsuo gets a nice ton of [[Shout-Out
* [[Clipped-Wing Angel]]: The mutation scene at the end.
* [[Cool Bike]]: Essentially every member of the biker gangs have cool bikes but special mention has to go to Kaenda's souped-up red bike that has glowing wheels. It's often displayed on merchandise. Honorable mention goes to the leader of the Clown Gang who apparently has a motorcycle with cruise control and auto-steering.
* [[Crapsack World]]: Tokyo is a nuclear wasteland with roaming biker gangs, a corrupt near-facist government, mass riots
* [[Creepy Child]]: Kyoko, Takashi and Masaru. Made it creepier by their looks. Also, to some degree, Lady Miyako and her underlings Sakaki, Mozu and Miki in the manga. Akira himself.
* [[Cyberpunk]]: A [[Trope Codifier]].
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* [[Dramatic Chase Opening]]: The story starts with Kaneda's gang chasing the Clown Gang through Neo-Tokyo.
* [[Everything Is Better With Explosions]]: The movie ''starts'' with the mother of all kabooms, and it's not the last one.
* [[Flash Back]]: Tetsuo gets to experience ones from his own. Kaneda sees the Espers' points of view during the endings
* [[For Science!]]: The reason why the government started experimenting with psychic powers in the first place.
* [[Friendly Target]]: Yamagata.
* [[Goal-Oriented Evolution]]: The movie relegates this idea to a [[Hand Wave]].
* [[Government Conspiracy]]: The government engineers children with psychic near-godlike powers.
* [[Gray and Grey Morality]]: Most characters are at least a little sympathetic, even though they are all violent gang members, psychotic monsters
* [[Japanese Delinquents]]: The biker gangs.
* [[Kill Sat]]: SOL.
* [[Kill the Cutie]]: Poor, ''poor''
* [[La Résistance]]: Kei and Ryu's rebellion.
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: The theme of a rebellious biker living in a gritty technological area who ends up in opposition to the government and military, including characters who look much like those from ''Akira'', would be revisited in the miniseries ''[[Freedom Project]]''.
* [[Live Action Adaptation]]: According to [[Wikipedia]], In the early
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: [[The Movie]] wasn't exactly light on the amount of characters. The manga, however, takes the cake. Even minor movie characters have a greatly expanded role. On top of that, all are very much relevant to the overall plot and integral to how things work out.▼
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: {{spoiler|Nezu}}. This is more apparent in the manga, where he {{spoiler|betrays both Kaneda and co, Lady Miyako
▲* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] The Movie wasn't exactly light on the amount of characters. The manga however takes the cake. Even minor movie characters have a greatly expanded role. On top of that, all are very much relevant to the overall plot and integral to how things work out.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Nezu. {{spoiler|It means "rat"}}.
▲* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: {{spoiler|Nezu}}. This is more apparent in the manga, where he {{spoiler|betrays both Kaneda and co, Lady Miyako, and Ryu in order to get Akira}}. His plans backfire quite spectacularly in both versions, with the manga version having him {{spoiler|unsuccessfully trying to kill Akira so no-one else can use him.}}
* [[Mind Over Matter]]: The source of Tetsuo and Akira's powers.
* [[Mind Screw]]: The story is highly disturbing with many elements left up to interpretation.
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* [[Power Glows]]: Anything/anyone that makes things blow up tends to glow just before it happens.
* [[Pstandard Psychic Pstance]]: The three children more than Tetsuo or Akira.
* [[Psychic Powers]]: Akira, Tetsuo
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: Takashi, Kiyoko
* [[Say My Name]]: "KANEDAAAAA!" "TETSUOOOO!"
* [[Scenery Porn]]
* [[Schrödinger's Cast]]: Takashi lives in the movie, but dies in the manga. Meanwhile, Akira is alive in the manga, but is dead in the movie ([[Back from the Dead|though he briefly gets better]]).
* [[Science Is Bad]]: If it weren't for government scientists deciding to give people psychic powers, the story would not have happened.
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: The military's perception of Akira. Fairly accurate.
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* [[Berserk Button]]: "Grrr, [["Ma'am" Shock|Don't ever call me old man you little punk! You listen here kid; I'm only 25 years old, I'm not even married yet]]! So watch your mouth, get out of here!"
* [[Brick Joke]]: While Kaneda and his gang are at the police station, a fanatical member of [[La Résistance]] tries to bomb the place with a grenade. The grenade fizzles, and the resistance member gets beat up by police. After Kaneda leaves the station with Kei, the grenade goes off.
* [[Cyberpunk Is Techno]]: Next to ''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)
* {{spoiler|[[Dead All Along]]: Tetsuo digs up Akira's cryogenic capsule only to find out that he's nothing but preserved organs
* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]:
** From the Animaze dub: "Those are army helicopters! It's the army!"
** And Kaori's "we're slowing down, we're stopping now, we've stopped." Though it is kinda cute the way she says it.
* [[Demoted to Extra]]:
** Lady Miyako, a big key player in the fight against Tetsuo in the manga, gets roughly ten seconds of screen time in which she ''praises'' Tetsuo as the new Akira. And she has a man's voice... And then she's killed...
** The Joker gets this as well. Though he appears in one of the film's most memorable scenes battling Kaneda and his gang, that's the ''only'' scene he appears in, whereas in the manga, he becomes a fairly major character, being forced to deal with Tetsuo's antics when the latter usurps control of the Clown gang so he can get drugs and towards the end of the series becomes a valuable ally of the heroes.
* [[Dies Wide Open]]: {{spoiler|Nezu and Ryu
* [[Due to the Dead]]: Kaneda ritually crashes {{spoiler|Yamagata}}'s bike, sending it to the afterlife after him, immediately after learning of his death at the hands of Tetsuo.
* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: Kaori shows up along with the girls dating the rest of Kaneda's Capsule gang in this version
* [[Engineer Exploited For Evil]]: Dr. Onishi. He ignores an order to shut down his work if Tetsuo's vital signs get out of hand. Tellingly, nobody ever blames him for [[Person of Mass Destruction|the outcome]].▼
* [[Everything's Worse with Bears]]: Giant, killer teddy bears in this case... and [[Hair-Raising Hare|giant, killer plush rabbits]]
* [[Foreshadowing]]: If you look carefully during the scene where Tetsuo first begins to hallucinate, you can see a series of events that happen later in the movie like
* [[A God Am I]]: Akira and Tetsuo to some degree;
* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: The jingling toy bells and squeaking as the killer toys attack.
* [[Jaw Drop]]: Kaneda and the Colonel each have noticeable, drawn out ones upon witnessing
* [[Lip Lock]]: The film's [[Mouth Flaps]] are unusually well animated for a Japanese cartoon, which has caused translators no shortage of grief. The original version went with a [[Hong Kong Dub]], while the later dub made a valiant attempt at following the animation more closely, resulting in some slightly awkward dialogue in places.
* [[Names to Know in Anime]]:
** [[Mitsuo Iwata]] (Kaneda), [[Nozomu Sasaki]] (Tetsuo), [[Mami Koyama]] (Kei), and [[Yuriko Fuchizaki]] (Kaori).
** The first dub featured [[Cam Clarke]] (Kaneda), [[Steve Kramer]] (Roy), [[Barbara Goodson]] (Takashi/Kaori), and [[Bob Bergen]] (Masaru/Kai).
** In the more recent dub, there's also [[Johnny Yong Bosch]] (Kaneda), [[Wendee Lee]] (Kei), [[Michelle Ruff]] (Kaori), and [[Jamieson Price]] (Colonel Shikishima).
* [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly]]: The film's soundtrack combines ancient Buddhist chants and instrumentals with futuristic techno. [[Crowning Music of Awesome|It works]].
* [[Non-Serial Movie]]: A sequel was never made, even though the manga continued long after the events of the anime.
* [[The Men in Black]]: Practically the quintessential definition of this trope appears briefly to intimidate the Capsules when Kaneda is being taken away a second time. Black suit, black tie, white shirt, black opaque glasses, mute, and seemingly 7 feet tall.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]:
** The juxtaposition of the happy cartoon dogs with the ravenous police dogs that get shot very messily in short order.
* [[Oh Crap]]: Doctor Onishi's reaction to {{spoiler| Akria's pattern overlapping Tetsuo's}} This was especially jarring as he didn't bat an eye at the potential danger Tetsuo could pose until it was too late. Whereas with this he is pretty much panicking. {{spoiler| It gets [[Up to Eleven]] when he witnesses data that is showing what he claims to be the birth of the universe. Of course being too close to the blast radius of Akira's explosion kills him before he could reveal it.}}▼
** For a film with so much hard violence and horror, Kaneda has a surprising number of slapstick comedy bits. That is also common in the manga.
▲* [[Oh Crap]]: Doctor Onishi's reaction to {{spoiler|
** [[Show Within a Show]] example:
{{quote|'''Newsreader:''' ''(over clips of protestors being beaten by police officers amidst burning vehicles)'' A skirmish has broken out between student protestors and riot police. There appear to be some casualties. Next!
'''Happy Cartoon Dog:''' Woof! ''(a cheery and bright-colored dog food commercial plays)''
** And then a juxtaposition back to the two snarling and vicious looking police dogs chasing the rebel down the street.
* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: The soundtrack, though technically it's Ominous Japanese chanting. There's some latin lyrics in [http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/akira/requiem.htm "Requiem"].
* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: Depending on who you ask, but, like the dubs, [[Internet Backdraft|it's better you don't
* [[R-Rated Opening]]: Within the first ten minutes, we get cursing, drug references
▲* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: Depending on who you ask, but, like the dubs, [[Internet Backdraft|it's better you don't.]]
▲* [[R-Rated Opening]]: Within the first ten minutes, we get cursing, drug references, and plenty of blood from the gangs or the rebel that gets gunned down in the opening by [[No Kill Like Overkill|a handful of soldiers with machine guns]]. In fact, Tokyo explodes before the credits are even finished.
▲* [[Engineer Exploited For Evil]]: Dr. Onishi. He ignores an order to shut down his work if Tetsuo's vital signs get out of hand. Tellingly, nobody ever blames him for [[Person of Mass Destruction|the outcome]].
* [[Recurring Riff]]: Tetsuo's [[Leitmotif]] begins with a few hard notes, and develops into something way more [[Badass]].
* [[Reveal Shot]]: The police station where the biker gang is being held looks like one corridor and one questioning room. As they go to leave, the camera pans out revealing that there are dozens of interrogation rooms where suspects are being questioned or beaten.
* [[Rocket Ride]]: The hovercrafts in the sewers.
* [[Say My Name]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4COLV6CleU "KANNNEEEEDDDAAA!!" and "TETTTTTSUUUUOOO!!" make up most of it
* [[Snowy Screen of Death]]: The TV coverage of the military's takeover of Neo-Tokyo.
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: The end credits in the 2001 edition feature the song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_jf6FUh-U Tokyo Shoe Shine Boy]" (briefly heard in the background during one scene in the movie) over the second portion of the end credits.
* [[Space Is Noisy]]: Averted.
* [[They Call Me Mister Tibbs]]: "That's ''Mister'' Kaneda to you, punk!"
* [[Viewers are Morons]]: Handy instant exposition by Kaisuke for those viewers who weren't really paying attention
{{quote|'''Kaisuke:''' So, the army's working with the police... To hunt down anti-government groups, or so it seems. ''(beat)'' yeah, that's it. ''(nobody responds)''}}
== Manga Only ==
* [[Action Survivor]]: Kaisuke lacks the fighting skill and grit of most other characters, but is one of the few characters to survive the entire story.
* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: {{spoiler|Takashi, as he kills Mozu in self-defense
{{quote|"I'm sorry, but you don't leave me another choice..."}}
* [[Attempted Rape]]: Kei is ambushed by Empire soldiers, who immediately try to rape her. Emphasis on ''attempted''. It takes [[Action Girl|Kei]] and [[Badass|Chiyoko]] less than five minutes to take them out.
* [[Badass]]: Chiyoko. [[Improvised Weapon|She uses bazooka rockets as clubs
* [[Big Good]]: Lady Miyako.
* [[Blind Seer]]: Miyako.
* [[Decompressed Comic]]
* [[Deface of the Moon]]: To impress his empire, Tetsuo blows a hole in the moon. The tides are affected, as in not every case of this trope.
* [[Determinator]]: Chiyoko. The lengths she goes to save the esper children...
* [[Divided States of America
* [[Doorstopper]]: Six volumes the size of phone books, a collective 2182 pages.
* [[Extraordinarily Empowered Girl]]: Sakaki, Mozu and Miki.
* [[For Science!]]: The Juvenile-A team study the events in Neo Tokyo mostly out of scientific curiosity.
* [[Freeze-Frame Bonus]]: A rare comic book example. When the agent is hospitalized and being debriefed, pay attention to the painting above the bed. Now look up the cover of Otomo's other work ''Domu''. See any similarities? ''Domu'' shares themes with ''AKIRA'' and came out before he started working on the ''AKIRA'' story.
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Subverted with Joker. Kaneda marvels at the bikes that Joker has restored, saying that he never expected Joker to be a mechanical whiz, but Kaisuke confides that Joker had help. Though he gerry-rigs a flying platform, it spends as much time broken down as actually flying.
* [[Genre Shift]]: The second half goes from cyberpunk to {{spoiler|post-apocalypse}}.
* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted during the attack on Miyako's Temple, when one of Tetsuo's followers shoots a young boy trying to protect his mother.
* [[It Got Worse]]: Arguably happens to the citizens of Neo Tokyo in pretty much all of the second half of the manga after Akira destroys most of Neo Tokyo. By the end of the manga, things are only looking up slightly, the general attitude being that the survivors know how much worse it could really be (and on the whole they're better people and a bunch of jerks get what they deserve).
* [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]]
* [[Kick the Dog]]: Tetsuo taking young and pretty girls to be his sex slaves, and encouraging them to take drugs that will most likely kill them.
* [[Mama Bear]]: Chiyoko. Start praying to God if you happen to hurt anyone in her care.
* [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore]]: The second half of the story. Ignoring the ''numerous'' changes in the individual characters, {{spoiler|the conflict has become a post-apocalyptic showdown between the followers of Lady Miyako and Akira. Also of note is foreign involvement}}.▼
* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: Tetsuo was really the one performing Akira's "miracles".
* [[Mauve Shirt]]: George Yamada, leader of the U.S Marines sent to assassinate Tetsuo and Akira.
* [[Mooks]]: The Great Tokyo Empire.
▲* [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore]]: The second half of the story. Ignoring the ''numerous'' changes in the individual characters, {{spoiler|the conflict has become a post-apocalyptic showdown between the followers of Lady Miyako and Akira. Also of note is foreign involvement}}.
▲** [[Elite Mooks]]: Tetsuo's telekinetic [[Mooks]] such as Birdman and Eggman.
▲** [[Faceless Goons]]: The non-psychic [[Mooks]].
** [[The Starscream]]: Tetsuo's Aide, who stages a coup toward the end of the story. Justified due to Tetsuo's [[Ax Crazy]]-ness.▼
* [[Path of Inspiration]]: The Akira cult. It's only there so Tetsuo can rule the city.
* [[Pietà Plagiarism]]: {{spoiler|Tetsuo carried Kaori's lifeless body around after she's shot to death
* [[Psycho Serum]]: A drug that either kills or awakens psychic powers, but also {{spoiler|holds them back from developing too far, as Miyako reveals to Tetsuo. He quits them
* [[Put on a Bus]]:
** {{spoiler|Kaneda after the timeskip. He is assumed to be dead after falling into Akira's psychic blast at the end of
** Also happens to Tetsuo in Volume 3.
* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Tetsuo's reaction when {{spoiler|Kaori}} was shot by his own [[Mooks]].
* [[Shout-Out]]: When Tetsuo {{spoiler|attacks the moon itself}}, one of the citizens of the Empire screams out "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!", a reference to ''[[King Lear]]''.
* [[Sleep Cute]]: Subverted. Yes, {{spoiler|Kaori}} looks sweet and peaceful when she sleeps with her head on {{spoiler|Tetsuo}}'s lap, but then we see that
* [[Spider Tank]]: The government deploy a number of small robotic spider tanks to enforce martial law after Akira is released.
* [[Split-Screen Reaction]]
▲
* [[Team Mom]]:
** Miyako is a quite dark example.
** Kaori tries to be one as she becomes {{spoiler|Akira}}'s caretaker per Tetsuo's orders.
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{{reflist}}
{{Wizard top 50 anime}}
[[Category:TMS Entertainment]]▼
[[Category:
[[Category:Steve Kramer]]▼
[[Category:Science Fiction Animated Films]]▼
[[Category:Trans Arts]]▼
[[Category:Animal Ya]]
[[Category:Animated Films
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Toshihiko Masuda]]▼
[[Category:Asahi Production]]
[[Category:Manga]]▼
[[Category:Dark Horse Comics]]▼
[[Category:Studio Fantasia]]▼
[[Category:Akira]]▼
[[Category:Magic Bus (studio)]]▼
[[Category:The Criterion Collection (LaserDisc)]]
▲[[Category:Dark Horse Comics]]
[[Category:Epic Movie]]
[[Category:Essential Anime]]
[[Category:Films Based on Manga]]
[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
▲[[Category:Magic Bus (studio)]]
▲[[Category:Manga]]
[[Category:Memetic Works]]
[[Category:Nakamura Productions]]
▲[[Category:Science Fiction Animated Films]]
▲[[Category:Steve Kramer]]
▲[[Category:Studio Fantasia]]
▲[[Category:TMS Entertainment]]
▲[[Category:Toshihiko Masuda]]
▲[[Category:Trans Arts]]
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