Review of Akira

Antiutopia, cacotopia, dystopia, synonyms from the ancient Greek 'dystopos' (difficult/bad place) that describe and/or represent a mentally conceived place, time or state in which one lives in the face of complete chaos, be it social, ethical, political, economic. Widely used in the literary field, its importance is given by the self-critical character they have. Dystopias awaken the human being to a deep reflection on the way in which society walks. With this in mind, the Japanese classic Akira (1988) tells us about a Japan that, after being destroyed by an explosion, saw its reconstruction happen in front of a dystopian cyberpunk scenario. In 1988, Japan is the victimof a disaster caused by a mysterious explosion that would culminate in the Third World War. The film takes us to accompany the remnant of Japanese society, dated in the year 2019, under the aegis of a capitalist, democratic and brutally technological society, which resides in the megalopolis built from the rubble of the explosion: Neo Tokyo.

Neo Tokyo is this city that will reach the height of economic and technological advancement. However, it was plunged into social chaos. Dispute between biker gangs, terrorist attacks as a form of protest against government actions, religious sects disseminating their ideas, corrupt political institutions. All of this culminated in a civilization that was collapsing by leaps and bounds.

In the midst of this scenario, the story takes us back to the main character, Tetsuo, and his best friend, Kaneda. Both belong to a biker gang. Tetsuo would eventually be taken by the army to be a guinea pig for scientific experiments.

These secret experiments were performed on esper children to improve their psychic powers in order to find the Akira Pattern, a factor of technological development. This factor would be found in the protagonist Tetsuo.

The current text aims to comment on the main ideas addressed in the animation. For this reason, I refrain from major spoilers or detailed scenes.

Among so many postmodern theories found in history, Akira, quite emphatically, exemplifies Deleuze's accelerationism.

Accelerationism is the philosophical theory in which government entities must intensify capitalist actions and precepts, as well as certain socio-technological processes, so that, by having these factors expanded, the deterioration of society would be accelerated. As these socio-technological changes are intensified by the advance of capitalism, society experiences a degradation process called deterritorialization.

According to this theory by Deleuze-Guattari, deterritorialization is the process by which the social relations called 'territory' suffer some kind of alteration, or even destruction, from some external factor.

Delleuze and Guattari understand the social individual as a being who undergoes alterations based on concepts of Freud's psyche, such as libido and polymorphous perversity. According to this idea, the individual has a strong tendency to succumb to these strong desires, thus being subject to changes in what they call the "materialistic psyche".

Deleuze understands capitalism as the fundamental factor to accelerate this process of change, deterritorialization. He identifies capitalism as this movement that elevates the individual to the extremes of his immoral desires, thus influencing the social environment, taking actions that alter, segregate and destroy society.

For the theory, it is necessary to "raise to the extremes" since, reaching the apex of mass deterritorialization, based on the tensions of the psyche, individuals can find a new process of reterritorialization. That is, a new orderly social relationship. This process is called Anti-Oedipus.

In Akira this is well observed, as social tensions are at their height. Extremist protests reaching the point of committing constant terrorist attacks, disputes between gangs that want to maintain their territorial domination power, armed conflicts between an anti-reformist population and the police force. Amidst this chaotic and degraded scenario, a new social relationship would emerge.

This new order comes at the expense of technological advancement.

History takes us to follow a new race of human beings with psychic powers that reached a new stage in the evolutionary scale.

Espers children are taken as guinea pigs for experiments by a government that seeks to reach the apex of technological evolution.

This representation of Deleuze's ideas, such as the concept of bodies without organs, is what directs the process of technological evolution beyond the constrictive horizon of capital as the new form of reterritorialization.

Akira was an esper child who had his technological factor standards raised beyond what he could handle. The boy loses control of his powers and causes the explosion that destroys Japan at the beginning of the story.

While Tetsuo emerges, after this process of destruction of the territory, as the new being capable of having his evolutionary patterns altered. So that the young person would stop being a mere human and become a transhumanist technological singularity.

The show manages to represent very faithfully the ideas of accelerationism once the evolutionary process is taken to the end of its instances.

The story ends with a Tetsuo becoming the technological singularity, that is, an unbridled evolutionary standard pattern, which would manage to rebuild the universe, as a kind of reterritorialization of social relations.

The illustrious final sentence "I am Tetsuo" refers to the figure of this new being that appears as a unique, singular point. As the maximum, the apex of the evolutionary scale.

The Planned Obsolescence of Accelerationism

Planned obsolescence is the deliberate decision by producers to manufacture and sell consumer products in such a way that they become obsolete, thus forcing the consumer to continue to buy new generations of a given product.

Likewise, many postmodern philosophical theories are based on the hypothesis of programmed human obsolescence. That is, in the idea that socio-technological advances will culminate in a necessary moral degradation, due to the passions of the individual, to obtain a new social order.

In contrast, the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, develops his idea in what he called Logotherapy: an approach that aims to seek a meaning behind all things.

His approach consists of reflections he had when he was a victim of Nazi concentration camps.

Even living in the midst of the chaos and despair that a concentration camp provided, Frankl imagined that there was a possibility for a person to find meaning in the face of that suffering.

Early in his captivity, while having the opportunity to flee the Nazis, Frankl remembered the teachings he received about 'honoring father and mother'. This gave him meaning to life, since he did not succumb to despair. These teachings were a driving force for him to take care of his family and those close to him.

By avoiding falling into despair he avoided the various vices of the human condition.

This natural idea of ​​giving in to passions conditioned by the human psyche found in postmodern theories couldn't be more wrong.

Human beings are endowed with reason and it is precisely the existence of this "logos" that enables them to find meaning in virtues and not succumb to the vices of a degraded life.

Akira manages to tackle such complex topics perfectly. No wonder it became this symbol.

Whether for plot or historical relevance, Akira is indisputably a masterpiece to behold.