Cormier Akira

So Akira is the first anime I've seen in YEARS. Haha. So overall, I'm happy that I enjoyed it. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Akira, out of all the characters in the anime, I think is the hardest to describe. To me, Akira seemed to be a human boy that was creation itself. I think it's possible that he was the cause of the nuclear explosed that happened in 1988 and in a way, Tetsuo became the new Akira. If that makes any sense.

There were a lot of thematic elements in Akira including adolescence and rebellion. Like we mentioned in class, the bicycle gangs are something that the teenagers identify themeselves through. In a place like Neo Tokyo where there doesn't seem to be many freedoms or even a sense of love between people, it's understandable that teenagers, especially, would come together to form some kind of compansionship to escape from loneliness or hardship. Tetsuo himself is like the weakling of his gang and both before and after his powers develop, he continuously tries to prove himself and his strength. Such as when he and his gang are pursing the Clowns, Tetsuo continues to chase after them even when Kaneda and the others have stopped. His action of "heroism" actually results in his kidnapping. Also, the government has censored the media and reacts violently against protestors, most of them adolescents.

Kaneda from Akira wielding a weapon

The government's use of genetic engineering has also stripped people of their freedoms including the three mutant children and Tetsuo. Though the General in the anime states that maybe it was wrong of the government to disturb or change nature, he still doesn't regret his decisions of using science to his advantage because he feels that it is necessary. This is kind of reminiscent of certain governments in the past and even today that have passed certain laws or permitted certain things to go on in their countries that may negatively impact groups of people but are still needed for the "greater good" of everyone.