For this extra credit assignment, I decided to watch Akira. Akira is an early anime action sci-fi thriller film directed by Katsuhiro Ôtomo and released in 1988. Starring Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, and Mami Koyama this film was premiered solely in Japan and sold $439,162 during its original release. Since 1988, the film has been re-released in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and Hong Kong raking in a total of $2,529,802. Although this film was not a hit upon launch, the film has garnered millions of streams across the globe and a score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. In Rachel Wagner’s ‘Indie-mation Club Week 2: ‘Akira’ Review’ she praises the movie for its exceptional picture, sequence, and sound while analyzing its scenes and states that “Watching Akira, you get to see things you’ve never seen before and will never see again”
Akira is a film riddled with toxic-masculinity. Akira is a film that revolves around a group of teenagers that discover the energy driving the world as Tetsuo gains control of Akira’s power. Growing up an orphan, Tetsuo would constantly change school and was bullied until Kaneda, an orphan who saw his pain took him under his wing and protected him. Tetsuo was seen as a weak klutz until he met Kaneda and joined his drug-dealing biker gang. Tetsuo was insecure about his weakness and began to detest Kaneda who was always saving him. This insecurity drove his aggression resulting in actions that can only be explained by toxic masculinity. He would constantly seek to harm Kaneda to get back at him and prove his toughness. Another example of toxic masculinity in the film is when some girls attempted to pursue the troublemakers after school. After the gang had conflict with rival bikers, one of the girls asked Yamagata “What happened to your cheek?” (24:49) and was answered by a tough and unbothered Yamagata who shouted “Shut the hell up.” (24:52). Kaneda later exclaims “Shut up I've had enough of your damn flirting.” (25:20) as they hop on their bikes and take off. This shows toxic masculinity as the gang members have to live up to the expected behavior of a masculine tough gangster. Tatsuo reminds me of The Lion King’s Scar. Like Scar is jealous of his brother, Tatsuo is jealous of Kaneda. Both are examples of the product of toxic masculinity.
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