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Akira
Movie

Akira

1988 • Unknown

Woke Score
3.4
out of 10

Plot

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

Overall Series Review

Akira is a landmark cyberpunk film set in a corrupt, dystopian Neo-Tokyo decades after a catastrophic psychic event. The narrative is centered on the deeply flawed friendship between Kaneda and Tetsuo, two teenage biker gang members whose lives spiral into chaos after Tetsuo awakens destructive psychic powers. The film functions as a stark and complex critique of the failures of Japanese post-war institutions—specifically the government and the military—depicting them as arrogant, incompetent, and dangerously secretive. The youth are alienated and left to fend for themselves, with the state seen as the primary antagonist. The film explores themes of unchecked power, generational conflict, and humanity's cyclical need for a higher power in the face of scientific and social collapse. The moral landscape is primarily relativistic, with the heroes being delinquents and the villains being the establishment, leaving a sense of existential dread about the future of civilization itself.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The movie is an entirely Japanese production with Japanese characters, and the conflicts are based on class, power, and generational alienation. There is no focus on Western-style intersectional hierarchy, vilification of 'whiteness,' or forced insertion of diversity. Characters are judged by their actions and the power they wield, adhering to a universal meritocracy of ability.

Oikophobia7/10

The entire society of Neo-Tokyo is presented as morally and structurally rotten, controlled by corrupt politicians and a desperate, authoritarian military. The city is literally destroyed twice, symbolizing the catastrophic failure and self-hatred of the existing national and governmental institutions. The institutions are viewed as inherently hostile and dangerously incompetent, creating a clear indictment of the 'home culture's' leadership.

Feminism3/10

The core conflict is between male characters (Kaneda, Tetsuo, and the Colonel). The female characters, such as the resistance fighter Kei and the powerful esper Kiyoko, are competent and active participants in the plot. However, they are not portrayed as instantly perfect 'Mary Sues' and do not drive the main philosophical conflict. The film lacks any messaging about anti-natalism or career as the only fulfillment; thus, the score remains low, acknowledging strong female characters without a modern feminist lecturing theme.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative makes no attempt to center alternative sexualities, deconstruct the nuclear family as an ideological goal, or lecture on gender identity. Any disconnection from family structures is a result of the dystopian, orphaned reality of the characters rather than an ideological critique of the traditional family unit as an 'oppressive' structure. Sexuality is private and not a theme.

Anti-Theism5/10

Traditional religion, specifically Christianity, is not a central focus or target of vilification. However, the vacuum of spiritual meaning is a key theme, as people begin to worship Tetsuo and the psychic power Akira as a new, unstable god in response to the chaos. Morality is largely presented as subjective and defined by power dynamics, indicating a spiritual vacuum and the failure of purely scientific or secular government to provide a moral center.