Is Lucy the next Akira?

Greetings, people of Earth!  Welcome back for Part Two of Akira Month!  For this week, I’ll be talking about a Hollywood blockbuster that may be doing a little more than paying tribute to Akira.  Many of you may remember last summer the release of the film Lucy.  The movie came out on DVD earlier this year, and I watched it myself a few months back.  When the credits started rolling, the first thing I said was, “That was great!  Too bad it was already done in 1988 with Akira.”  Now there have been other films over the years like The Matrix trilogy and Chronicle that have been considered rip-offs of Akira.  Though I’m not saying that Lucy is a rip-off of Akira, I do think that Lucy’s plot was just a little too similar. 

Bottom line, this post will be talking about some of the similarities between the two films, and then you, the reader, make the call on whether or not it’s a rip-off.  So, let’s get going!

Before I Start…

So before I begin, let’s talk a little bit about the film Lucy.

Lucy is a 2014 suspense, action-thriller starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman.  The film is about a woman named Lucy (played by Johansson) who gains psychic abilities after unwillingly becoming involved in a Korean drug smuggling ring. 

Lucy Trailer

And if you’ve been following my Akira Month posts or have read my Akira review or have already seen the film, you know what it is about.  So I won’t be going over the plot for Akira.  You may notice at this point that much of the comparisons in this post will involve Lucy and Tetsuo.

A Few Differences between the Two

And one more thing before I start, there are some significant differences between both films that I think are worth mentioning.

Obviously, the setting is different; Lucy takes place in the present day and primarily in Taiwan and Paris while Akira takes place in 2018 Neo-Tokyo-dystopian Tokyo.  In Akira, a secret organization doing research on ESP takes an interest in movie’s psychic antagonist Tetsuo while Lucy’s primary researcher is Professor Samuel Norman, a renowned scientist known for studying the brain and its possible capacities.  Also, Lucy’s concept does rely on some actual neurological science, while Akira’s concept is a little more fantastic.  Oh, and there are some notable differences between the two characters I’ll be comparing; Lucy is the title female protagonist for Lucy while Tetsuo is the male antagonist for Akira.

So now, with all of that out of the way, I can get started on this post.

Both Lucy and Tetsuo Gain the Powers by Accident

Starting from the beginning, let’s look at how Lucy and Tetsuo gained their psychic abilities.

In Akira, Tetsuo gains his psychic abilities after being involved in a motorcycle accident with a test subject from the government organization doing telekinetic research.  It’s not long after this accident that Tetsuo’s powers begin to emerge.

In Lucy, Lucy gains her powers in a less violent way.  After being implanted with the drug CPH4, the bag leaks within Lucy’s body, and allowing the drug to take effect.  This allows Lucy to gradually gain more control of brain, unlocking psychic powers in the process.

Although both cases occurred in two different circumstances, it can’t be denied that both Lucy and Tetsuo gained their powers by horrible accidents.

Their Personalities Change

Another part of their newfound abilities, both characters go through some serious personality changes during both films.

Tetsuo becomes extremely aggressive, and dare I say crazy, once obtaining his psychic powers.  Tetsuo also develops an inferiority complex involving him and his former best friend and Akira protagonist Kaneda.

Unlike Tetsuo, Lucy seems to lose all emotion.  The last moment the audience seems to get of any kind of emotion is in the scene where Lucy is calling her mother as she is having the bag of CPH4 surgically removed from her body.  I should also note that in the manga  Akira, Tetsuo goes through a similar change in the later half of the manga series.  But manga aside, just like Lucy, Tetsuo slowly loses his humanity bit by bit in Akira.

Both characters go through this change because of their increasing powers, which only grow as both films progress.

Both Characters go on a Rampage

…more or less for Lucy anyway.  

In Lucy’s case, Lucy tries to find the other drug carriers involved in the smuggling, take the CPH4 implanted within them, and take the drugs to Professor Norman.

Tetsuo’s case is certainly more of a rampage.  After learning about the child psychic Akira, Tetsuo escapes the government organization and tears through Neo-Tokyo to find the facility keeping Akira.

This was a weak comparison at best, but both characters do share a common interest, they’re both after someone or something and are willing to take down anyone they can to get to that person/thing.

Both Characters go through Some Sort of Transformation

This was one that I found especially shocking in Lucy.  I certainly was not expecting it and it is definitely one of the most glaring similarities.

After finding the remaining CPH4 and giving it to Professor Norman, Lucy tells Professor Norman everything she now knows.  However, when the Korean drug lord cuts their time short, Lucy decides to hand out her information another way.  In order to do this, she transforms herself into a giant super computer.  From there, she is able to transfer her information onto a thumb drive device which she creates.

Tetsuo’s transformation is not only more graphic, but also the result of Tetsuo’s lack of control.  In Akira, Tetsuo retreats inside the destroyed Olympic Stadium with Akira’s remains after a fight with his former friend Kaneda and the military.  When Kaneda returns to fight Tetsuo again, Tetsuo loses control of his powers and begins to mutate during their fight.

Again, the transformation in Lucy was definitely a shock.  But this scene was much similar to Tetsuo’s mutation in Akira.  Why?  Because both scenes show both characters entering the climax of their psychic powers.

A Time Traveling Intermission

Another glaring similarity between the two films was a little bit of time traveling.

The instance of time traveling in Lucy results from Lucy’s abilities continuing to grow.  This scene eventually leads to Lucy’s cerebral capacities reaching 100% and to the end of the film, which we’ll get to later.

Akira also has a time traveling scene-so to speak- towards the end, but it actually involves Kaneda.  By this point in the film, Tetsuo has been absorbed in the explosion caused by the awakened Akira, and has managed to take Kaneda with him.  During this scene, Kaneda is taken to another dimension where he encounters Tetsuo and the Esper’s memories.  Among the most significant of these memories was when he and Tetsuo first met.

And it’s both of these moments that lead to the ultimate conclusion to both films and to both characters in their growing powers.

Both Lucy and Tetsuo Obtain a Higher Form of Existence

Probably the most significant of similarities was what happened to both Lucy and Tetsuo at the very end of both films.

When she is finally able access 100% percent of her brain’s functioning capabilities, Lucy vanishes, and a local police officer who had been working with her during the film receives a mysterious text message saying, “ I AM EVERYWHERE.”

Akira comes to an end following Neo-Tokyo’s destruction with the creation of a new universe.  During this process, Tetsuo’s voice is heard saying, “I am Tetsuo.”

Both conclusions show how Lucy and Tetsuo become omnipresent entities with ultimate power.  In other words, they become energy itself.  You could say in the end they become gods.  By reaching as far as they could go in their abilities, Lucy and Tetsuo obtain great power beyond imagination.

Though I won’t ask which one you thought was better, I will ask what your thoughts are on this discussion post.  Do you think Lucy is too similar to Akira?  Where there other similarities that I missed?  Common people!  I wanna hear what you have to say!  Anyways, that concludes my two part Akira Month series.  Be sure to tune in next week when I reveal Hanime on Anime’s Character of the Month!  And with that, I’m out!

-Hanime on Anime