Akira: Visions of a Future Past

When people think of Cyberpunk, alot of films tend to spring to mind, but there is one film that always makes its way onto the list. Akira is one of those types of films that is literally cooked in the fat from the genre in which it emerged. Akira is a very special and important film to the Cyberpunk genre as it not only conveys all of the conventions that make up the genre accurately, but it also manages to hone these characteristics and synch them with the world’s reaction towards a nuclear holocaust and Japan’s post-war economic revival. The realism that is brought to this movie, fused with the psychological and philosophical themes, truely allows for not only one of the most unique Cyberpunk experiences, but possibly one of the best cinematic experiences available.

Akira (アキラ) is a 1988 anime film written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his hit manga. The film is set in a futuristic and post-war city, Neo-Tokyo, in 2019. While most of the character designs and basic settings were adapted from the original 2182-page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the manga.

One of the most amazing things about Akira is how it presents revival as something that is synonymous with complete destruction. Otomo has no qualms about presenting man as the architect of his own demise. This is evident in the opening scene where the A-bomb kindly introduces us to the world of tomorrow, but amidst all of the chaos there is a promise of hope. Thankfully this is not ever fully defined, thus leaving the viewer in a position that they should always remain in (uncertain about the future). One of my favourite things about the film is how it manages to confront the rapidly accelarating nature of technology and how like a bomb, it can just hit the world completely out of nowhere. Even though the current threat of technology is more metaphysical, we must remember that our own minds are just as abstract as the technology that we now relate to and with. Inside this mode of thought there is a fear and a curiosity that not only makes this film vital viewing, but also constitutes to the processes that make us human.

It has recently come to my attention that there are rumours about an American remake of Akira to be released some time in 2013. I’m not even going to bother writing how I feel about this being even considered. What I will do instead is post a video that I feel summarises very well how I feel about the whole subject. Lets just hope that this is one of those films that remains in-development. It really would be a shame to see such a powerful film get tainted by the irony of America remaking a film, thats powers lie in how it uses Japan’s experience of nuclear attack as a tool in exploring a vision of the future.