Why end on that note?

Hey guys!

Emily here! Akira was amazing - I actually think I like it better than Princess Mononoke... The grotesque mutations and apocalyptic setting were both haunting and mesmerizing. As someone who thoroughly appreciates and enjoys the artistic interest of body horror and mutation, this film captured it perfectly.

There's something special about the film that ties all the confusion, destruction, and experimentation all together. Let's explore the very last line in the film, shall we?

"I am Tetsuo."

Alright, who said it? It wasn't any voice we'd heard in the film before - even though it did resemble one of the psychic-mutant children. It wasn't Kaneda, or Kei, or Tetsuo himself. Was it Akira? Possibly.

Akira, as revealed at the end of the film, seemed to be in the same age range as the psychic-mutant children, and the voice that spoke the line seemed to be very young. Tetuso himself mutated and collapsed into himself, manifesting into a small energy ball that Kaneda caught and released. The children are gone, Akira is gone, Tetsuo is gone - but none of them are dead. When the scientist suggested that a new universe was born, the audience assumes that that's where they ended up. In the ending sequence and throughout the rolling of the ending credits a universe is animated being born in the background.

But, what does this line mean? Why is it important, and why did it start the beginning of a new universe for the children and Akira to live in? Why did it end there?

There had to be a resolve to the film, of course, but why was this the resolve? In Napier's book Akira through Howl's Moving Castle, she actually suggests that Tetsuo is the one the admit those final words, creating "a new world order"(45) in an entirely new universe after his "rebirth" through all the grotesque mutations. The pink-fleshy baby Tetsuo mutates into is absorbed into the white light that eventually becomes the new universe - his birth creates and becomes the new world order... but if Akira is God, the one with the most power, the one who was able to wrangle and capture Tetsuo in order to subdue him and create the new universe in the first place, doesn't that suggest that Tetsuo and Akira are one and the same? Did Akira absorb Tetsuo, or is it the other way around?

It would make more sense for Akira to absorb Tetsuo as according to their power-hierarchy, but for the sake of the story it would make more sense for Tetsuo to absorb Akira and become the new "God", creating that new universe. I'm still unsure.

But why is this important? Well, the entire story is based on power relation. Authority vs. Rebellion, Government vs. Civilians, Teenagers vs. Adults, and even Tetsuo vs. Kaneda. It's about power-relation and struggle, and most importantly - which is why it was told through the eyes of a teenager (a quite inferior one at that) - being a misfit. Tetsuo was very obviously the weakest member of the biker gang, and always had to be rescued by Kaneda whenever he got into trouble. Tetsuo resented this - as would anyone who's insecure about their flaws and inferiorities, especially if they're pointed out and planned around in order for everyone else to be happy. Tetsuo, who's felt like the weakling his entire life, is bestowed an unimaginable power. What does he do with it? Destroy. Everything. Then escape to a world all his own, where he rules, and where no one can pick on him ever again.

What do you guys think?