The 1988 film Akira directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto takes place in a rebuilt Tokyo called Neo-Toyko, Japan around 31 years after World War III in the year 2019. Prior to the current story setting, the government in Japan have been conducting a variety of experiments upon people in the 1960s called The Project with the intention of demonstrating how humans are capable of obtaining psychic abilities. One subject named Akira ended up losing control of his own power and caused an explosion that foeign nations mistaken it as a nuclear detonation, evolving into a third world war. The government in Neo-Tokyo proceeded to conduct more experiments on the remaining subjects, in hopes of finding more about the psychic abilities with advanced technology that people could one day obtain as well.
The dynamic of a utopian society where science and technology have advanced could result in
creating the destruction of mankind, as shown in Akira. The situation that transpired in the film has fortified this concern by showing how an individual named Tetsuo discovered his psychic abilities after experiencing a psychedelic trips in the hospital that was conducted by other people, specifically these green skin pigmented people called “Espers” who have psychic abilities to create realistic illusions. His discovery that the illusions were caused after an attack from an Esper leading him to share the same abilities and rapidly adjust to his own abilities to use it as a leverage for independence with a new sense of superiority. The feeling of being inferior is not a foreign expression to Tetsuo, since all his life he had his friend Kaneda helping him with good intentions such as the scene in the beginning of the film where he gets involved in a dispute with a member from another bike gang after seeing Tetsuo on the floor unable
to defend himself. Although Kaneda wanted to help a friend out, this only angered Tetsuo who refused any help, wanting to stand up for himself without depending on anyone and show signs of weakness. To suddenly gain abilties that other humans dont have and the government struggles to monitor over, the delusional fantasy of power would drive anyone to be reckless with their decisions without facing tough consequences.
The new power that Tetsuo discovered symbolized the damaging impacts of advanced science and technology could have to society, followed with the film continuing to show how Tetsuo loses touch with reality and falls into a mindset where he only seeks power and creates more destruction in Neo-Tokyo. He searches for a powerful Esper named Akira. While combating with Kaneda, Tetsuo’s own abilities has erupted that he was no longer able to handle it, resulting in his body to expand and injure others. Scientists have warned him about overusing his psychic abilities leading to damages beyond repair on his own body. This scene showed how creating a power that is still unable to be handled by the government should have been a warning sign that what they are experimenting could cause detrimental effects to society. The following scene his body then erupts and a mass explosion occurred. Flashbacks from Tetsuo’s past comes up as the Espers transcend him into another plane of existence. Tetsuo comes into full control of his powers as Akira transports his spirit into the universe, saying “I am Tetsuo”. The government was left with the failed experiments as the Espers and Tetsuo leave to create another universe. The government had set themselves up for failure for creating god-like power to a mortal human will only make them be selfish and ultimately destroy the universe, as what Tetsuo attempted to do.
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