wayvyiews -Akira
Akira is quite an interesting anime movie, one of the first animated films in the Western consciousness that tackled such mature topics. The writer of the original manga that the movie was based on, Katsuhiro Otomo was influenced greatly by the student revolts that took place, which are a prominent feature in the movie. Much like Sakuma, Colonel Shikishima seems to have high regards for styles of Western military might, but still with a Japanese, or Confucian basis for his morals. He expresses his disdain for the culture of hedonism that is prevalent in this futuristic Neo Tokyo and seeks to purge the city of its impurities.
The three main factions in the story, being the biker gangs, the religious fanatics, and the government harken back to earlier Japan, during the Tokugawa period. Christianity was outlawed, Christian missionaries were deported and the practice was not allowed to occur publicly. This reminds me of the scene where the religious fanatics are worshipping Akira publicly, awaiting his return and are swiftly set upon by the police. The government to me represents the samurai, organizing Japan but also, as mentioned in the Itagaki Taisuki reading, there was no sense of unity or patriotism among those that they ruled. This is evident in this movie, as people, like Tetsuo, are portrayed as selfish; seeking for their own gain with little regard for the state or even their neighbours. The biker gangs can be seen as the revolutionaries as Kaneda and his love interest are actively trying to dismantle the government by taking their most powerful weapons, being the psychic children. Much like how the samurai were gradually disenfranchised, losing their exclusive right to a family name, a family crest and bearing swords, their “weapons” both systematically and literally were stripped from them to make way for a new era of government, as cited in Chapter 7 of Global History.
I quite enjoyed this experience, and before watching didn’t anticipate that there would be so many parallels between this film and ancient modern Japan. I believe that because their history is so well documented, it gives their art much more context and potency, a potency that I rarely see in many other contemporary art forms coming from other countries.
