"Thirty years ago, Akira predicted the chaos of 2020" Topic

"Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, one of the most groundbreaking and influential animated films of all time, opens with an iconic motorcycle chase through the neon streets of Neo-Tokyo, a beautiful cyberpunk Metropolis built on the ruins of old Tokyo. The rest of the city, as explained in the opening text, was wiped out in an apparent nuclear blast in 1988 that plunged the planet into another devastating World War. The main events of Akira take place decades later, just ahead of 2020, but the impact left by the war quietly hangs over everything that happens in the movie in a way that feels surprisingly relevant to what's going on in our very real 2020.

This is most obvious in a weirdly prescient bit of scenery first shown immediately after the violent bike chase, which ends with main protagonist Shotaro Kaneda and his friends getting arrested while his injured childhood buddy Tetsuo is taken "to a hospital" by mysterious government agents. On a sign in front of a construction site, Akira teases that Neo-Tokyo will be the site of the 2020 Olympic Games, just like how regular Tokyo in the real world was going to be the site of the 2020 Olympics until they were postponed because of COVID-19. In Akira, the sign promoting the Olympics also has a message in Japanese advocating for unity: "With everyone's support, let's make this a success." People don't seem to be buying that, though, because underneath is some graffiti that reads "Just cancel it"—another parallel to our 2020, and one that reflects a deeper connection between Akira and what we're going through…"
Main page

link

Amicalement
Armand

Not really. That show is set in Japan after a world war.

Someone's found some really good weed before they wrote this :D

Akira is a great piece of animation in any case. When you watch it now and realize everything was drawn by hand!

rvandusen hits it on the head. It's amazing work.

Nuclear devastation is so yesterday. It was the thing until the Soviet Union collapsed. Then we got involved in the Middle East and then 911 happened and the thing was global terrorism. Now the thing is pandemic and social unrest. What's the next thing, any predictions? I'm guessing sometime in the next 20 years whatever the big thing is, it will involve China.

The next big thing is going to take everyone by surprise. Violent environmental extremists get most herbicides outlawed. Then mutated strands of poison ivy run rampant over the countryside!! Flame resistant and tough enough to dull most weed whackers, they spread across the nations causing blisters and itchy rashes for everyone. This prompts the formation of a one world government that can only agree on getting rid of the blight, but not how. The ensuing political stalemate and lack of calamine lotion causes massive civil unrest and a descent into chaos. etc. etc.

The world is a lot more like the Simpsons

but I wish it was like Macross. C'mon alien spaceship..

Stryderg, sounds like either a game/module waiting to be written or a novel/short story.

Coming to a town near you!!!
I hope not, poison ivy sucks.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I'm thinking either a zombie apocalypse, or the Spanish Inquisition, because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Dude…! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Well there is Japanese Knotweed….

Akira was bogus after the first ten minutes. Animation was good, but as usual, the rest devolved into this kaleidoscopic acid adventure.

yeah agree with Augustus. Akira to me is overrated and I'm a big old school anime fan.

Not sure what Augustus means by "as usual" though?

I have the CAV LD set of Akira too and it looks and sounds amazing. The story devolves at the end though, I always thought it was a highly unsatisfying ending. I also was not a huge fan of the character designs.