One of the most hailed and revered animated films in history is the 1988 Japanese film Akira, written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, who based on his manga (Japanese graphic novel) series of the same name. The film is about a future Neo Tokyo, which rose from Old Tokyo, destroyed by an atomic blast during World War III on July 16, 1988. Neo Tokyo is ruled by motorcycle gangs, known culturally as Bōsōzoku gangs, and is in a constant state of rioting and political unrest. In this way, the film is a post apocalyptic look at society after a massive catastrophe.
The opening scene spans 31 years, and is deliberately paced by Mr. Otomo. The first image the audience sees is Old Tokyo, a bustling city in 1988. The sounds of the city drown out as the camera pulls from a wide shot to an extremely wide shot, tilting upward as it zooms out. Then, an atomic blast occurs, slowly engulfing the entire frame, as the sound fades into silence. The atomic blast itself is heightened by the stillness of the shot - the mushroom cloud seems almost monstrous, devouring the city beneath it, and the lack of sound makes the blast itself linger in the viewer’s mind, showing the viewer the devastation the city underwent. This shocking image is used to prepare the viewer for the gritty, seedy, and disturbing Neo Tokyo.
After the blast, Mr. Otomo’s credit appears against the white background, which cross fades into a red tinted image of an island, almost organic looking in nature, in another extreme wide shot.. As the camera zooms in very slowly, it suddenly stops, with the title announcing that the island is indeed Neo Tokyo, 31 years after the initial explosion. A loud tribal drum is hit, which jump cuts into a black screen. The rhythmic, slow, disturbing drum beat is played as the camera is pulled out, showing that the black screen is in reality a crater, from where the bomb exploded 31 years ago. Suddenly, the film’s title is superimposed, in time with the drum beating. This, combined with the previous image of old Tokyo, is quite shocking. The devastation of the blast is seen in how anemic the city itself seems - the drum beat, which recalls a funeral march, only helps to darken and add power to Mr. Otomo’s imagery. The city itself has died, and it still has a gaping hole in its center.
Immediately after this scene, a flickering light is seen in a medium shot. The sign is rusted, dirty, and disgusting looking. The camera then cuts to a wide shot of a man walking towards a door on a dilapitated city street, against a beat up car, in the dead of night. The city is asleep for now, but this man still has business. The camera then cuts to the shady man in a long shot from the rear, walking down a flight of steps. His face is obscured in darkness or by the frame up until this point. After he’s out of frame, the camera jump cuts to a television being flickered in and out, as if someone is changing channels. The images range from a pop video to a wrestling match to several advertisements, ending finally on a news report on a group of businessmen being found not guilty of tax evasion. Midway through the report, there is a medium shot of a man leaning against a chair, watching the television with an exasperated yawn. The shady man then enters in a wide shot of the two of them, with the man watching television, a bartender, on one corner of the frame, while the shady man is on the opposite corner. As he closes the door, the bartender begins to get up, while the camera cuts to a close up of the shady man, who checks his glasses, and then walks sneakily off frame. The camera then cuts to a wide shot, dollying across the bar as the audience sees a few teenagers - one at an arcade machine, two in booths having a drink, and a couple kissing. As the dolly occurs, the camera cuts to a medium shot of the young man at the arcade machine, Kaneda, his leather jacket clearly visible. Another wide shot shows the two drinking teenagers having a smoke. Another cut, and a tight medium shot of the bartender and the shady man is shown, and the camera is tilted at a dutch angle. The bartender asks him what he wants, to which the shady man replies in a close up shot, “Give me some free peanuts,” code for a drug. Kaneda turns around in close up, glaring at the man, but then promptly returns to his game.
Then, a quick cut is shown of someone running down the stairs into the bar in a tight long shot, his breath staggered and his steps loud. Then, a medium shot of the bartender and the shady man is shown from an over the shoulder perspective of the shady man. As the bartender pulls out the package, the camera quickly cuts to a point of view shot of the bartender as a young man storms into the bar, the shady man spits his water as the bartender grabs the drugs out of sight. A quick close up is shown of the kid walking across frame, glaring at the shady man. He is then show from the knee down in two medium shots, passing by the shady man and the teenage couple, who react in fear of him. A medium shot is then shown of Kaneda as the young man walks up to him, leaning against the machine. He says that another gang is patrolling on route 5 that night, to which Kaneda starts to get up from his game. The camera then cuts to a shot of Kaneda turning off the machine in close up of his hands. The camera then cuts to Kaneda walking in front of the bar counter, in a wide angle shot. This is intercut with the record on the jukebox changing, as the bartender yells at Kaneda and his friend to get out, to which Kaneda’s friend replies, “You wouldn’t be so jumpy if you didn’t do anything illegal.” After their spat, which occurs in dutch angled medium shots of the two, the scene ends.
The opening scene is spartan with its sound, using sound in the bar to establish that people are in it. The dialogue and the sounds of the friend running and ultimately slamming the door are the loudest parts of the scene, which give impact and meaning to their corresponding visuals. The visuals themselves are dimly lit and grungy, giving the bar a seedy feel to which the main characters adopt themselves. In particular, Kaneda is not shown in a single direct close up of his face. This gives the character mystery as well as menace. He is the leader of the gang, and this is obvious by the way Mr. Otomo frames him in the bar scene. He is never seen in full light, and never directly head on. His power is shown from his importance in the frames he occupies.
The scene overall is a powerful set of images by Mr. Otomo which establishes the personalities of the main protagonist, Kaneda, and the world in which he lives - a seedy, run down, post apocalyptic nightmare of a city, run down to its bare essentials in an environment of virtual anarchy. The visuals linger and last in the audience’s mind because of the way the director holds his shots - they are long takes, in which the viewer can process a large amount of detail in a short period of time. From this, the effect on the audience is clear - that the film itself is an unnerving, unrelenting set of visuals, which showcase a city of horror in a nuclear age. The sequence perfectly matches the dystopian tone that Otomo reaches for throughout the rest of the film.
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