Vampire On Titus
Member
Just watched it again. It's been a while since I saw it & I opted for the Pioneer dub which was surprisingly decent. Loved the movie all over again. Kaneda & Tetsuo's rivalry is as choice as I remembered and the progression of Tetsuo's psychological break remains a stand-out. One of the best things they achieved with the movie was that even amidst all the grandiose & life threatening fights; it still comes across like Tetsuo is trying to prove himself to Kaneda rather than kill him. He's impulsive, massively insecure and takes it too far. Which was always his downfall right from the start where he chased after the clowns on his own to try and impress everyone. The tragedy of his character is really impactful. It hurts so bad when he finally lets his guard down and asks Kaneda for help but by then it's far too late.
Tetsuo's hot-cold attitude with Kaori is a particularly gut-wrenching just because it's so obvious how ashamed he is of constantly failing her. Compounding all his feelings of inadequacy and intensifying his jealousy & resentment of Kaneda. The best display of this when Tetsuo is beating up one of the clowns having just been saved by the other members of the capsule gang. His temper is already flared up but he only really starts to lose his mind after he sees what he let happen to Kaori. Which of course results in possibly the most memorable of Tetsuo's psychological breakdowns. The world falling down around him in total silence.
It's easy to categorize that kind of thing as just cool animation. But animated characters give performances too. Especially in a movie that's as expressive & detailed as Akira. That scene does a lot for Tetsuo's character outside of the dialogue.
I couldn't speak to the experience of watching this film for the first time. The first time I saw it I think I was like 12 or 13. But it had been at least a few years and the plot wasn't hard to follow. Everyone is either trying to use Tetsuo to solve the mystery of Akira's incredible psychic powers or stop him (/ the govt from using him) because they think he'll trigger another atomic event. With Mr. Nezu's motivation differing slightly. It seems like he ultimately wants to destroy Neo-Tokyo because it's become too degenerate in his view. Describing it as a "saturated over-ripe fruit."
In any case I think for the most part everything is adequately explained. In fact I could do without the scene where Kei & Kaneda are talking about how Akira's power could be the result of tapping into the genetic memories of all life forms. Just not neccesary imo.
Tetsuo's hot-cold attitude with Kaori is a particularly gut-wrenching just because it's so obvious how ashamed he is of constantly failing her. Compounding all his feelings of inadequacy and intensifying his jealousy & resentment of Kaneda. The best display of this when Tetsuo is beating up one of the clowns having just been saved by the other members of the capsule gang. His temper is already flared up but he only really starts to lose his mind after he sees what he let happen to Kaori. Which of course results in possibly the most memorable of Tetsuo's psychological breakdowns. The world falling down around him in total silence.
It's easy to categorize that kind of thing as just cool animation. But animated characters give performances too. Especially in a movie that's as expressive & detailed as Akira. That scene does a lot for Tetsuo's character outside of the dialogue.
I couldn't speak to the experience of watching this film for the first time. The first time I saw it I think I was like 12 or 13. But it had been at least a few years and the plot wasn't hard to follow. Everyone is either trying to use Tetsuo to solve the mystery of Akira's incredible psychic powers or stop him (/ the govt from using him) because they think he'll trigger another atomic event. With Mr. Nezu's motivation differing slightly. It seems like he ultimately wants to destroy Neo-Tokyo because it's become too degenerate in his view. Describing it as a "saturated over-ripe fruit."
In any case I think for the most part everything is adequately explained. In fact I could do without the scene where Kei & Kaneda are talking about how Akira's power could be the result of tapping into the genetic memories of all life forms. Just not neccesary imo.