My Top 5 Problems with Akira (the movie)

Greetings ladies and gentlemen of the Internet!  Welcome to another Talkative Thursday!  If you read my review from Sunday, you could probably tell I wasn't all that excited about Re:Zero.  And I'll kind of admit, this week's topic might not be all that chipper either...especially if you're a fan of Akira.  Granted, if you read the title you'd know that by now.  Still, I'm actually very excited to do this post.  And it's not just because it's something I've wanted to talk about.  What actually brought this up was a bit of inspiration from one of my favorite YouTubers.

It may or may not have been mentioned in the past, but I love The Nostalgia Critic.  I was a big fan of his videos when I was younger, and have fallen in love themall over again having recently re-discovered them.  Among one of his newer videos to come out in the past few years was a countdown of the top eleven dumbest moments from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.  I liked the idea of taking a beloved film series and looking at its flaws.  It takes the theory that there is no perfect film and gives examples of how that's true.  I loved this idea!  And for this Talkative Thursday, I decided to do the same with one of my favorite anime films of all time, Akira.

If you've read my blog in the past, this is something that's pretty well known.  In fact, it's actually going to be one of my starred reviews.  Not only that, this movie has one of my all-time favorite anime characters.  But having watched the film hundreds of times, I started to notice a couple of things that could have been either changed, added, or omitted completely.  Part of this not only comes from watching the film but also from reading the manga.  Most of these problems are comparisons to the manga itself.  But let me be clear on something when I say that; taking a 2,000-page, six volume manga series and condensing it into an hour and a half long movie is impossible to do.  And I'm certainly not saying that it should have been exactly like the manga-on the contrary, it's actually still a wonderful movie even though it's not exactly like manga series.  Again, these are characters, scenes, or story elements that should have been added, changed, or taken out of the movie.  Curious to know what these problems are?  Well then, let's talk about my top five problems I have with Akira.

#5: Kaneda

Yeah, I know this is an odd one to start with, but I'm kind of disappointed no one really talks about this.  And this problem comes directly from the manga.  We all know that Kaneda is the main character who often acts like an average teenager (you know, goofy and horny).  But the film seems to drag out the goofy part of Kaneda's personality a bit too long.  Don't get me wrong, Kaneda in both the film and the manga are exactly the same in personality.  But the two portrayals start to differ when it comes to how quickly Kaneda develops.  In the manga, the development into a more mature person with the motivation to kill Tetsuo is a lot quicker.  In the movie, it takes almost the entire movie for Kaneda to get to that point.  If Kaneda is supposed to be the main character, why is he getting so little development to the point where he's just seen as the comic relief?  Plus, where's this motivation to stop Tetsuo at all costs?

My theory on why this is a problem comes from one moment in the overall story: Yamagata's death.  Yamagata was one of the members of Kaneda's biker gang, the Capsules.  In both versions, he's killed by Tetsuo.  However, in the manga, Kaneda actually watches Yamagata die.  It's after this moment that Kaneda starts to realize that Tetsuo is a serious threat that needs to be dealt with.  On the other hand, in the film, Kaneda doesn't witness this event.  In fact, Yamagata is killed off-screen, and Kaneda only hears about it through Kai, another Capsule member.  Now there may be some people out there who would argue and say that Kaneda had every intent to kill Tetsuo after this point, but here's a question that argues that argument: if Kaneda planned to kill Tetsuo at the site of the underground lab, why would Kaneda just casually start a conversation with him?  Again, someone somewhere could question this, but you can't deny that Kaneda didn't attack until Tetsuo made the first move.  Honestly, we don't see any intent to kill until the end when he fights Tetsuo at the Olympic Stadium.  Up until that point, we have to put up with Kaneda being an idiot the majority of the film.  And it gets annoying pretty fast.

But again, Kaneda is supposed to be an idiot.  What I take issue with though is that he acted like an idiot longer than he should have, almost to the point where he's not taken seriously.  Again, Kaneda gets so little development in the movie that he's portrayed as the comic relief.  Don't believe me?  Here's a fun fact:  Johnny Yong Bosch- who voiced Kaneda in the 2001 redub- was nominated for an award for his performance in the film...as a comedic role.  Wow.  If that doesn't tell how downplayed Kaneda is in this movie, I don't know what will.  Sure, Kaneda may be the lead, but I think he should have acted more like a badass than a class clown.

#4: Kei's "Powers"

Out of all the subplots in the movie, this one was the most grossly misrepresented.  Believe it or not, Kei actually develops psychic powers.  The manga confirms this in the second half of the series, but the film seems to hint at it.  While implying that she gets psychic abilities is not bad, it's how it's presented in the movie that is.  In comparing the fight scene between her and Tetsuo, the managa shows Kei has some substantial power to hold her own in not one but two battles.  The movie, on the other hand, makes it look like Kei is being possessed by the Espers.  In that same fight with Tetsuo, you kind of get the idea that her actions during the scene are not her own, like she has no powers at all.  This was something that got very little development even though it was a crucial moment in the Akira story as a whole.  Again, this is a big problem.  Plus, think of what light it paints the Espers in.

In watching the film and reading the manga, I never got the impression that the Espers were evil.  They were more desperate to try and stop Tetsuo from awakening Akira more than anything.  But when you take into account that Kei acts more like she's possesed, the film makes these kids look pretty cruel and heartless.  In fact, if you watch the movie again, there's a scene where the three of them talk about how since Kei was used to help her and Kaneda reach Tetsuo, they may as well use her to fight Tetsuo in their place.  Holy crap!  All of a sudden these three little kids look like a bunch of sick little bastards!  Granted, the Espers do possess Kei in the manga to go after Tetsuo, but it's only once.  In the film, you see it happen several times. 

So yeah, the way they represented Kei's sort-of powers wasn't done all that well and ultimately made the Espers look worse than they were.  And speaking of the Espers...

#3: The Program...or Lack There Of

          You remember that evil secret government organization in the movie?  You know, the one that takes kids and experiments on them for ESP?  The one that takes Tetsuo?  Guess what?  IT HAS A NAME!  And it's called The Program...it sounds kind of lame, but that's what it's called!

To give a little backstory, The Program was a fictional organization within the Japanese government that conducted experiments on children to see if they could produce psychic abilities.  It lasted a pretty long time, even after Akira destroyed Tokyo.  In fact, the Espers (Kiyoko, Masaru, and Takashi) were some of the oldest living test subjects and were in the same group as Akira.  This also explains the numbers 24, 25, 26, and 28 as they were the designated numbers for each them.  There are a lot more details to The Program that I could elaborate on, but I'll leave you to look at the manga for those.

I know that you could make the argument that there wouldn't have been enough time to flesh this part of the Akira story out like with Kei's powers, but in my opinion, there was no excuse to leave so much of this out.  When you really think about it, The Program could be considered the real villain!  It was responsible for Akira and the destruction of Tokyo and for the creation of Neo Tokyo itself!  This was such an important element to the story, and what all do we get to hear about it?  We hear Kei briefly mention the incident with Akira in a jail cell and we get a flashback of the Espers' past towards the end of the movie.  Some could say that this gave us the basics, but given how much information and visuals we got thrown at us about this group, what we got was not enough.

 With this group playing such a huge and uncredited role in all of the conflict in the movie, even to the point where its own name isn't mentioned, then you something was done wrong.

#2: Joker and Lady Miyako's Cameos

Every Akira fan talks about these two characters and their appearances in the movie.  And of course, so am I...but for different reasons.  I'm not saying these cameos were bad- Joker actually had a  great cameo.   I just think they need better and more frequent appearances.  And while I think Lady Miyako's cameo was the worse-even though we see her more-Joker tends to be a fan favorite, so I'll start with him.

Joker is the leader of the biker gang called the Clowns and is Kaneda's rival before Tetsuo.  The fact that he's Kaneda's rival alone gives him reason to be in the film a little more.  Again, I thought his cameo at the beginning of the movie was good.  But still, wouldn't have been better if we saw him just a little more?  Like instead of Tetsuo going to the bar after he escape's The Program's facilities, he goes to the Clowns' hideout for revenge?  Speaking of revenge, what if Joker himself was there when those renegade Clown members attack Tetsuo and Kaori?  Although, I think if he were there, that attempted rape scene with Kaori would have gone all the way to rape...with Joker probably doing the act himself (sorry to put that image in your head).  Still, given that Joker was the first rival of Kaneda that we see before Tetsuo even becomes the villain, it would make sense to give him a little more screen time.  And then there's Lady Miyako.

Oh, poor Lady Miyako.  While Joker had a great cameo but little screen time, Lady Miyako had an awful cameo and more screen time.  Of the two, Lady Miyako was one of my favorite secondary characters that had a cameo in the movie.  And as you can probably tell, I'm pretty pissed off about her cameo.  In the manga, Lady Miyako was the leader of cult that worships Akira-not too far off from her role in the movie.  But she was the leader of the terrorist organization that Kei is a part of, too.  What's more, Lady Miyako was a former experiment in The Program!  That's right, she has psychic powers, too!  She was such an awesome character in the manga.  And what do we get in the movie?  A raving cult leader.  The 2001 redub took the disrespect for this character even further by having her voiced by a man.  Now all of a sudden we go from badass psychic terrorist cult leader to Bill Dauterive in an Afro wig!  There was so much that could have been better in Lady Miyako's cameo, I can't even begin to list all the possibilities.  But if nothing else, I think it would have been nice to see Lady Miyako’s ties with the terrorist group, like have the cult leader thing be something of a front to help fund or sponsor their raids.  Just anything better than what we got.

So when it comes down to it, these were some pretty controversial characters.  One had a great cameo, the other one didn't.  But good or bad, these were some characters that definitely deserved some better moments in the movie.

#1:  TOO MUCH TETSUO!

I started with a weird complaint, and now I’m ending on one.  And I know what you're thinking; Tetsuo is the focal point of both the movie and the manga.  You'd be right to assume this because it is true.  But that doesn't mean we need to focus on this plot point less.  On the contrary, I think it's very well done in how detailed, tragic, and dark it is.    Plus, I love Tetsuo and have no problem admitting it repeatedly.  I love every moment of screen time he gets, too.  Tetsuo’s developing powers are a huge part of the movie.  Well, that’s precisely the problem in that it's the only major plot point in the movie. 

Tetsuo’s plot maybe a huge part of the film, but have you ever noticed that Tetsuo is the most well-developed character in the entire movie?  We watch this kid do a complete personality change from beginning to end, evolving from a frustrated wimp to a power-hungry psycho.  And yet, nobody else in the movie gets this kind of development.  Everyone almost remains stagnant in their personality, with maybe the exception of Kaneda and Kei.  In fact, the more you think about it, all of these problems can be contributed to this.  The fact that Tetsuo’s growing powers takes up the whole movie’s plot leaves very little else to be developed.  It’s why we don’t see Kaneda mature.  It’s why we don’t get to see Kei actually use her new powers.  It's why we don't hear or learn more about The Program.  It could even be argued that it’s why we don’t get the decent Joker and Lady Miyako cameos fans of the manga want.  And of course, this leads to the film’s namesake.

Many of you reading this may be thinking why Akira barely being in the film is not even a concern.  Well, to some extent, it is.  But for the most part, what the film did with Akira wasn't bad.  Now hear me out for a second.  I’m not going to act like I wanted to see more of Akira  I did.  But here’s the thing.  Akira plays a huge role in the manga as he himself appears in person and becomes a major antagonist.  If the film were to do the same, it would have called for Akira to have some development.  And at that point where he was supposed to come in would not have allowed for any kind of development.  So in the end, I think what the movie did with his appearance was fine.  Again, maybe to have a few more glimpses of him in Tetsuo’s hallucinations or visions would have been called for, but it was still fine in the end.  But even if Akira were in it more, the film takes too much time focusing on Tetsuo that we can’t focus on any other plot point.  Heck, the film may as well have been called Tetsuo: the Movie.

But again, to reiterate, I love Tetsuo.  I love watching his story unfold.  I love watching him develop into this villainous character.  I love how we focus on that a little more than our protagonist cause it's not often done in film.  I'll even admit that I love the ending when everything goes wrong.  It's what makes Tetsuo interesting.  It's what makes the movie great!  But at the end of the day, Tetsuo seemed to take up the spotlight a little too much, and that is my number one problem with Akira the movie.

So what do you think?  What were some things you thought could have been better in Akira?  Was there something else I missed?  And who wants Tetsuo's red cape?  Uh, ok, ignore that last one.  Let me know what you guys think! 

Now before I go, I do have a quick announcement to make.  As many of you may or may not know, every year about this time, I do my annual Flashback February announcement.  However, while I normally try to do a video announcement, this year due to time restraints, I won't be doing that.  So most likely, this coming Sunday, along with my Character of the Month post, I might also be making that announcement there.  If not, it will most likely be featured in a special Talkative Thursday post.  It's still up in the air right now, so stay tuned till then!  And stay tuned this Sunday when I announce January's Character of the Month, and the first of 2018  I might add!

-Hanime on Anime