Akira can be said to be the heavyweight work of the world's science fiction film and television, at the same time the pioneer of Japanese cyberpunk, the artwork of the golden age of Japanese animation. After reading Akira, I organized my thoughts into a short article. In general, I talked about the influence of Akira in the world, the cyberpunk culture, the background of the times, my praise for Akira's music, setting and painting, as well as the extension from Akira A little thought.
1. Akira's influence Rick and Morty S4E01 pays tribute to Akira. In that episode Morty relied on Rick's gear as an "Akira-Type Boy". This is just the tip of the iceberg of Akira's global reach. After watching this episode, I am again interested in Akira's influence in the world. In fact, most of the inventories and summaries of the world's science fiction film history are inseparable from cyberpunk, and when it comes to cyberpunk, Akira and Ghost in the Shell, two works born in the eastern island country, are bound to be mentioned. s work. These two works came out in the era of the rise of cyberpunk culture, and they also followed the trend of the times and made great contributions to the prosperity of this culture.
2. My evaluation From the current point of view, in terms of the plot itself, Akira is actually a typical Japanese-style middle-aged boy who masters superpowers and destroys it. To blow Akira, I don't think the plot is a very good point. But that doesn't mean I feel "Aguilar has fallen from the altar". On the one hand, evaluation works must be combined with the background of the times. Akira's influence is inextricably linked to the open and rebellious era in which it came out - both the United States and Japan. Students painted slogans all over the school, rammed teachers, raced cars on the street, fought, and got caught in the chant... This kind of scenery is probably hard to see now. Without such a background of the times, the influence of Akira in those days can only be glimpsed from the current written records, and after all, it is impossible to have a personal experience.
On the other hand, Akira has pioneering grounds that cannot be ignored in the history of cyberpunk development, and it can even be said further-in the history of world science fiction films. If you think that Akira is not worthy of the name because of the "old-fashioned story", then I am afraid that a large number of masterpieces in the world's film history (such as the same type of Blade Runner as Akira) will fall to the altar for the same reason. In the end, the plot is very important to a movie but not everything. Ideas, characterization, sets, settings, music, and shooting techniques are also very important. And Akira's performance in music, setting, painting, etc. are all excellent. The music, all I can say, is its unique style—violent, full of industrial power (of course that's only part of it)—impressive. The video research in January 2020 used a lot of techniques of using vocals as BGM. I wonder if there is a factor to pay tribute to Akira. In short, for the interpretation of music, let’s look at the comments of more professional critics. Here we briefly talk about the latter two. Let's talk about the settings first. Comparing Akira with Blade Runner (and Blade Runner 2049) and The Matrix, it is clear to see the difference between Japanese cyberpunk and American cyberpunk in near-future style: the main impression of the former is chaos and violence , the latter is rainy and decadent. This can be said to be a pessimistic prediction of the near future for each of the two cultures. Akira was born after the ebb of the Red Army, but the deep imprints left by the violence, disorder and madness of the Red Army era on the society were probably also brought into Akira by Otomo Keyang. In the film, there are corrupt upper classes, rioting lower classes, rampant bikers, parade streets, schools full of slogans, magnificent huge buildings, rancid sewers, and advanced technology. These elements are mixed together to form Otomo's pessimistic prediction of Japan's future, which has become an obvious feature of Japanese cyberpunk.
Finally, let's talk about painting. It is said that in the production of Akira, the ruffian and Masujiki Kigami participated in the painting. Needless to say, there are exquisite celluloid paintings with rich atmosphere everywhere, magnificent industrial buildings, complex and exquisite machinery, tangled pipelines, huge inclined elevators, computers with paper tape output, cathode tube monitors... All remind the audience of the golden age of Japanese animation in the continuous development of art and technology.
3. A little thought derived from Akira (which has little to do with the Akira movie itself) Rainbow fart is put here, and finally a less harmonious topic derived from Akira. If you don't like political topics, don't read it.
If Akira insists on me picking something wrong, it is that the plot (so my criticism is only focused on the plot aspect) is suspected of beautifying the army. The story line of the Japanese colonel in the film reminds people of the February 26 Incident. It can be seen from Akira that in the 1980s, Japan’s understanding of the political environment did not seem to be much different from that in the 1930s. An honest soldier who hates evil deeds. So in Akira, we saw a successful 226 event. When I saw the colonel's mutiny, trying to "save the people from fire and water and cleanse the country's sins", many barrages expressed the same emotion as me: Shang Ke is really an ancestral talent of the Japanese army. A work of fiction after all, the colonel in Akira seems to have the moral advantage. Otomo Keyang can be said to be very beautifying to the colonel. The colonel is concerned about the country and the people, and he cares about the children who are experimental subjects. He acts decisively, and even when it comes to human experiments, he does not forget to arrange "the colonel warns scientists to strictly control risks". bridge section. But when you think about it, the glossy appearance of this layer of decoration can't actually stand up to scrutiny, and it will be broken when you poke it. Isn't the military responsible for carrying out human experiments in the film? Don't the direct executors of the human experiment, the technicians, carry out the experiments under the command of the army? Tie Xiong is just an ordinary child, how could he become an experiment in the hands of the army? (How are you so skilled?! How many ordinary children have you caught for experiments?!) Akira is also a child, who approved him to be dismembered? After all, isn't it the consensus of the army and the government to use children to carry out human experiments as the basis for Japan's revival (military reserves)? No matter how much the colonel washes, he can't wash off this sass. Otomo Keyang avoided these questions. The colonel has always been the leader of the army, but he has never made any decisions that would damage his positive image. But this kind of high-level image that can be created makes people feel awkward. But if I had to choose, the New Tokyo in the film would be destroyed, and I would have to support the Colonel's coup. But in reality, since the Meiji Restoration, it was under the impetus of the soldiers that Japan started a series of foreign wars, such as the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, the War of aggression against China, and the Pacific War, and it was gradually impossible to turn back on the road of militarism. . Soldiers who think they care about the country and the people, and who have contributed to the society, provoked mutinies one after another, assassinated dignitaries, and went their own way overseas (the most typical are the assassination of Zhang Zuolin and the September 18th Incident, which completely disrupted the Japanese government's strategy for managing the Northeast, but the In a sense, it may be a good thing for China), gradually tying the country and all citizens to the military Nationalist chariot. The beautification of the soldiers in Akira seems to indicate that the economic take-off after World War II has gradually healed the scars of the Japanese and forgotten the pain. This has to be said to be a red flag. In short, I have always hated military intervention in politics. Because of this, there are quite a few criticisms about the beautification of the military's interference in politics in the works of art. After all, Zunhuang or Zuomu? Dominion faction or imperial faction? A rotten cabinet or a fanatical army? The Japanese seem to be very keen on this pointless alternative. If you choose the cabinet, you will get irreconcilable class contradictions; if you choose the army, you will get uncontrollable militarism. Perhaps we should be thankful for the Heisei Depression. After the bubble burst, Japan seems to have lost the lofty ambitions of the 1960s and 1980s, and also lost the ideological foundation to go to extremes. But culture is engraved in the genes of a nation. If the Japanese economy takes off again, will this nation show its fangs and claws again? No one can give an answer.
(Finish)
View more about Akira reviews
