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Akira (movie).


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Kyle Smyth



Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 157
Location: Ontario, Canda
PostPosted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:52 pm Reply with quote


Akira (movie)

Genres: action, horror, psychological, science fiction, supernatural
Themes: cyberpunk, military, post-apocalyptic, psychics, superpowers

Plot Summary: In the year 2019, thirty-one years have passed since the outbreak of World War III. In Neo-Tokyo, all authority is waging a never-ending struggle against the underground that virtually rules the shattered city. A top-secret child with amazing powers of the minds breaks free from custody and accidentally gets a motorcycle gang involved in the project. The incident triggers psychic powers within one of the members, Tetsuo, and he is taken by the army and experimented on. His mind has been warped and is now on the path of war, exacting revenge on the society that once called him weak.
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I recently was watching Akira with one of friends. At the end of the movie just when the credits began he said "WTF kind of ending was that?! What the hell happened?!". I responded with my own opinion: Tetsuo became the center of the universe because the energy was so great he became essentially the energy of everything or Akira. Does anyone have anythoughts as what actually happened in the end of the movie?
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 1945
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 8:58 pm Reply with quote
Didn't the kids take him and Akira... somewhere?

Yeah, too much energy, so they dragged them somewhere... I'm assuming at the far end of the universe... or something

I'm a bit iffy, so I guess this makes for good discussion, what does everyone else think?
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remember love



Joined: 24 Sep 2005
Posts: 764
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:21 am Reply with quote
Well in my open I thought the kids went into tetsuo when he became that great energy and sent him to another place far from earth. From there he either became his own universe or galaxy or just another planet. Because you hear him say "I am Tetsuo" when a planet has appeared. In the akira I thought was suppose to mean what the doctor said I forget exactly but he was saying if my data is correct this means the beginning of the universe or something like that. So that's what I believe happened. That's the kind of ending that always leaves on to debate what truely happen and the only true answer would of been from the writer himself.
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 1945
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:27 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I noticed that even though the rest of the movie was rather straight-forward, Otomo left the ending a bit open to interpretation.

What I though though was that the big light was Akira and that he swallowed Tetsuo up since he was stronger.

It never occured to me before though up until seeing the re-releases, but the last words the kids say actually might be talking about their powers and how they may someday be able to truly control them (since humanity just isn't ready for such a thing yet).

And that process has technically "already begun."

Or it went something like that... I should see the movie again, it was a funny movie anyway
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remember love



Joined: 24 Sep 2005
Posts: 764
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:33 am Reply with quote
Quote:
kids say actually might be talking about their powers and how they may someday be able to truly control them


They were talking about Kai( the girl that Kaneda liked and was hitting on through otu the entire movie). She had the ability to control there powers while the kids weren't able to without there medicine they got from the hosipital. That's what they were talking about. Those power they possessed I a believe they were saying was the next step in evolution and they couldn't yet control it (kind of like X-men). So, that's what that part was all about.
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Old School



Joined: 24 Sep 2005
Posts: 20
Location: Oregon
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:44 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I Don't really know what happened either. I watched this show several years ago.

But from from what I do remember the cat that supposedly started taking on power, he pretty much burst from an overload.
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 1945
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:58 am Reply with quote
remember love wrote:


They were talking about Kai( the girl that Kaneda liked and was hitting on through otu the entire movie). She had the ability to control there powers while the kids weren't able to without there medicine they got from the hosipital. That's what they were talking about. Those power they possessed I a believe they were saying was the next step in evolution and they couldn't yet control it (kind of like X-men). So, that's what that part was all about.


OH! So is that why they got her assistance?

I thought it was mainly since they didn't want to do the "dirty stuff" themselves

But then, they realized in the end when Kaneda gets sucked in that he had nothing to do with the whole thing and that they should take responsibility themselves

... uhhh... you gotta be a little clearer on the second part though *or maybe I'm not reading it correctly*

Anyway, they say the line in the ending too, so I dunno
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remember love



Joined: 24 Sep 2005
Posts: 764
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:10 am Reply with quote
The second part? Are you talking about when I typed,
Quote:
Those power they possessed I believe they were saying was the next step in evolution and they couldn't yet control it (kind of like X-men). So, that's what that part was all about

?

Because your right at the end the kids said something "But some day, we ought be able to...." And then Kaneda yells out "You're talking about Kai, arent you?". So that's how I know they couldn't control there powers and the medicine they took also gave me more evidence for that because the evolution was to new but Kai developed the powers and could control them.

Kind of like X-men when the mutants got there new powers.The first mutants didn't know how to control them at first until they practiced but the newer mutants that were coming they could control there powers a little more without practice near.

So, Im just comparing the two didn't mean to confuse you. I think evolution has to try a couple times to get it right and I'm betting that's what the writer was trying to show in Akira.
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Guilhem



Joined: 14 Jun 2004
Posts: 181
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:24 am Reply with quote
I think the 'power' is something which grows constantly once the process has begun (in the case of Tetsuo I think this began when he encountered the first kid during the bike hunt at the beginning of the movie...): the technologies used by the military simply enhance this to a more or less great extent. When the power is too much important, the subject cannot be part of our 'reality' any more because he is too much more than human. Then he must go to another, superior, reality/continuum/bla-bla where he can expands accordingly to his new state: IMO Akira plays the role of a sort of gateway towards this other, 'next', dimension. This is where he sent Tetsuo when the power of this one became too much important to allow him lives into our reality...

Watched this movie about a decade ago, so I don't remember everything: sorry if this looks a bit confused Razz
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Assassin_



Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 154
Location: Manchester, England
PostPosted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:01 am Reply with quote
Akiras the sort of film thats open to individual interpretation reelly but i think Tetsuo became the center of HIS OWN, seperate universe, and what you saw at the end was the birth of that universe. It basically implies that our universe was created in a similar way, and that mabey Akira is at the centre of it. In other words, in Tetsuo's universe, the energy that in this universe is, according to the film, Akira's doing, is controled by Tetsuo. I dunno if I've explained that paticly well thogh.
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takuhii



Joined: 11 Mar 2005
Posts: 36
Location: Milton Keynes, UK
PostPosted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:44 am Reply with quote
Kyle Smyth wrote:
I recently was watching Akira with one of friends. At the end of the movie just when the credits began he said "WTF kind of ending was that?! What the hell happened?!". I responded with my own opinion: Tetsuo became the center of the universe because the energy was so great he became essentially the energy of everything or Akira. Does anyone have anythoughts as what actually happened in the end of the movie?


In a recent Interview, Katsuhiro Otomo actually admitted Akira was not the picture he imagined it to be and given the chance he would probably remake it (although he isn't going to). i think this was in an old issue of Neo Magazine in the UK (about the only decent magazine going in the UK that talks about Anime).

Also, he finished the film before he finished the Manga, and he has always wished that he'd finished the manga beofre finishing the film. Either way I would suggest you read the Manga as well, to explain a few of the short-comings of the film...
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Kyle Smyth



Joined: 29 Sep 2005
Posts: 157
Location: Ontario, Canda
PostPosted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:55 am Reply with quote
takuhii wrote:
Either way I would suggest you read the Manga as well, to explain a few of the short-comings of the film...


Speaking of which do you know what those short-comings are?

Spoilers are welcome.
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takuhii



Joined: 11 Mar 2005
Posts: 36
Location: Milton Keynes, UK
PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:31 am Reply with quote
I THINK one of the shortfalls of the film was the ending, I recall he had to "do it on the fly", becuase the manga wasn't finished. I got the feeling he was trying to imply everything had come full circle and (Neo) Tokyo was destroyed by a mysterious explosion again (remember the explosion at the beginning fo the film is VERY similar to the one generated by Akira at the end). I'm afraid I haven't got the issue to hand anymore, but I do remember parts of the interview, because I still consider Akira to be one of the major turning points in Anime, despite it's plot holes and short-falls. The Manga certainly explains some of them (I'm slowly plowing my way through it)...
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GospelX



Joined: 22 Jan 2005
Posts: 185
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:20 am Reply with quote
The most comprehensive information I can find on Akira (manga and anime) can be found here at the Akira FAQ: http://www.vanime.org/gioithieu/akirafaq.txt

Hope that helps everyone out.
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Assassin_



Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 154
Location: Manchester, England
PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:49 am Reply with quote
Quote:
i think this was in an old issue of Neo Magazine in the UK (about the only decent magazine going in the UK that talks about Anime).


Why is it that nowhere sells that magasine?[/quote]
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