Episode 108: Akira

This one is technically the studio one for Super Punch, and the one over there is the one they got me for my house. I tried to shoot an audition. It knocked over and I broke the l C D on A three thousand. Yeah, so I'm rare. I was very I was who if you I'm It was so good that I rewatched Ada after that because I was in a space where I was so mad, and by the end of Acuta, I was like, well, nothing matters, nothing is real, Material possessions don't matter. All that matters

is friendship and the ones we hold dear. But yeah, it's it's one of those things where it's like I'll get it fixed, but we're in a time where we just can't go to a camera repair shop. Like if it was any other time I just today, i'd go to B NH, hand it to him and then pick it up when when it's ready. But now we're in a time where it's like that camera's broken until I don't know right right, I still feel like you could do a drop off and just like put it on

your doorstep or something and hope for the best. Yeah, this that's the one. It's so funny because I feel like this is the one time I really relate to you, Danny, because this and that's the only thing I'm type about is my electronics, where it's like I don't like knowing that it's broken. I need everything to be fixed so when I need to use it, it's ready. If it's

if it's broken, I don't care. I don't care that I have this one and it's perfect for right now and streaming and that we're probably who knows when we're going to be in the studio. I need the other one ready to go, and I was so ready to do cooking streams whatever. I've been talking too much. I think we should introduce our guest, uh man friend. We've known each other for so long, uh we've we've who I think it's been. It's five years this month, Yeah,

five years this month, holding it down. I mean you may have you've that that voice you here, you've heard everywhere. You've heard it in Final Fantasy seven remake, You've heard it in Sailor Moon, You've heard her on previous episodes. You know, hear her in so many video games. You know, she is starting to become one of the staple v A s that you here in a game and you're like, oh, oh, I know that voice. Uh, it is none other than the Erica Chi. How you doing. Hi. It's so good

to get to chat with you all. Thank you so much for inviting me for this, and I get to talk about one of my very favorite things in the world, my aesthetic, my sort of cool surreal identity, cyberpunk. Thank you. Oh yeah. Now this is a solid anime because it changed how anime was viewed in America. It came out January one one, just a month before I came into this world, a month before I started walking the Earth. It's it's almost like this this was my red carpet,

my red motorcycle to ride into this world. But yeah, and it's true. It was like a real, real cultural ambassador for uh all Japanese culture to the United States, which which is which is in some ways very terrifying. But yeah, it's eight. But then also the manga had started releasing in nineteen two, six years prior. Um And I don't know, like how how deep do I was only deep because I even want to talk about because so much to say, because I read, I've read through

all the manga. I have it um uh And but that was a little while ago. I think most folks are familiar with the movie from But then also everybody, whether they know it or not, is familiar with the cultural context it provided to cyberpunk to sci fi too,

like just the look of films since then. Oh yeah, and a lot of animation to like a lot of other um animated properties pay tribute to it a ton on top of the I was gonna stay on top of people like Jordan peel Ty, what td um, you know, Stephen Universe, like all those saying that it heavily influenced them.

It's very interesting too, like if if we just start from the influence of the manga, if you read through the manga, which is gorgeous, the line work is like there are some some line work because there, um here's there's so much to you, uh talk influence line but first we'll talk about the line work that is just

out of this world. And there's just some designs of the landscape in the cities where you can totally see how it might have influenced Toriyama once he gets to the sand saga, because it's like it very much has that same line work, especially like the car design, which I love Toriyama's design on cars. I love the short stocky cars. But even someone pointed out on Twitter and then I went and checked and even though this person was like one of those like nerd historians, so they

were on it. Uh that Akira. When Akira released the movie the January one eight and September seven is when Vegeta was introduced. So uh so when you look at Tetsuo, the like short stocky always in someone's shadow, you know, big big forehead, short king, and you look at the geta, you're like, oh, I could see I can see how you can see that in that shouldn't be like oh yeah, I'm a I think this person would be perfect to

counter Goku. Yeah, tom it was such an influence on the entire industry, and like Toyama, he did it almost all him himself, and he looked, I just the he had released Domo before this, which was an award winning comic again sort of like touching on the themes of like psychic you know, psychic powers and the Little Girl writers. Yeah, and it's it's so it's so bonkers, like the detailing

in it, like every single window in the building. And it was just him, although fun trivia effect um one of the he did get assistants um for some of the line work and some of and some of the I think for the marvel editions for uh from Satsikon, who is legendary anime director. He didn't Godfathers in Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, and so it's so cool when you're like, oh, these like cool selmis worked with each other. I want to touch on the plot, but I want

to touch on something fun about the plot. And what's something o Tomo he himself said, which if you get the Akiday Anniversary edition, you get to have this interview when he was interviewed right after the movie about Akida, and it's it's very interesting because this movie that is

so influential. The base of his story of Akida is uh based off of Tetsugen twenty eight, which if you don't remember, everyone remembers astro Boy, But Tetogen twenty eight is about this little boy who controls this giant robot numbered twenty eight actually have like a figure that's like based off of him. But uh, he was saying like he he was apt to do a sci fi story a cereal because he did like short stories for us a magazine called Weekly Young, which is like Shown and Jump,

but for older men. It's it's a target audience. Where wanted a fifty year olds. So Show and Jump is usually for young boys. And um and and I say targeted. Anyone can read it, but that's that's their target. And uh, he would do Weekly Young, and they asked him to do a serial, and he did a lot of sci

fi stuff. So he said when he was thinking of you know, ideas, he said, he said he wanted to Uh he was really inspired by Astro boyd Tetsu Tetogen twenty eight and so he uh did he wanted to base it, which is why Kanetta shares the same name as the little boy in Tetogen uh twenty eight, Like that's the exact same name. Um and yeah yeah, and

that's why Akira is number twenty eight. Uh yeah, so so so that so his this influential work was already influenced by something and and it kind of stops there because Tetogen twenty s got a more of a shown

in fun friendly. He also, you know, he also cited one of my favorite comic artists, uh, Mobius Jendrereau, like the French heated French sci fi um I think people might be from Valerian was based off of one of his comics, and it's just this beautiful detailed sci fi landscapes and and you could definitely see it in the work.

And then also, uh so go Ishi e no relation to my knowledge that there's these punk films, you know, the idea of the we think of cyberpunk and we and dystopia, and we think of like the kid motorcycle gangs, and that comes not just from it definitely from Akida,

but there were punk films so far. It's sort of like talking about the bossoku culture, which is sort of like the youth bicycle gangs in Japan, and there were these punk films that so go Ishi e did, like Panic High School and Crazy thunder Road from the seventies and eighties that um Otomo definitely cites his influence. And so it's it's so cool to see all of the things, you know, all these seminal works that are sort of

homages to other previous seminal works. And yeah, and we can get into two, like the specific, very specific influences that Akida had on Western culture and movie making and sci fi and cyberpunk. Um. I actually, and I'm curious, and I'm sure your listeners might be able to weigh in on this. And I don't know if you guys know about this, but because two was when the manga started releasing, which means he was like working on it

for a long time before that. But also in the nineteen eighty two was when Blade Runner came out, And

there's always argument about which influence. But I don't understand how either could have influenced each other, I think, and I've seen sources that say, like he said he was influenced by Blade Runner, like maybe he saw that, but Erica, I feel like they could they could have all been influenced by something going on like at that time, because that's how when if he brought up a curetor Yama a curatory on actually started dr Slump in nineteen eight,

so and he was drawing those cars and stuff back then. So I think that they were all kind of similarly influenced by media, by manga that was coming out at that time. So I think they kind of give and

take from each other. It's kind of like nowadays when you have two movies that come out that are are semi similar, and even though you know that they didn't copy from each other, it was just like clearly something sparked in them this idea by seeing some of the news or things that were going on, or even um, some of the movies that were coming out about time

travel or just like the the futuristic look. I even think of that when I look at, uh, not the Incredibles, but essentially the mesh between mid century modern and futuristic type of like Jetsons type of stuff like the Jetsons and so um, yeah, I don't I don't to answer your question. I mean, and maybe people can weigh in, but I don't necessarily know if they one influenced the other as much as they might have been watching some of the same media that then spun off into their heads, right,

and I have. Okay, so cyberpunk is my thing. I've done just so much consumption of it and researched into it, and I think a lot about it. Um. One reason is because I am uh Asian American, I'm Chinese Japanese, and it's cyberpunk was the one place that I won't type of genre I saw growing up that was this mix of Western and Eastern. So the idea of sort of all the sort of Eastern aesthetic and and a

lot of themes sort of couching in Western terms. And now it's a little there's problems with it, you know. It's it's the idea is sort of like all this Asian aesthetic and sort of like Asian culture, and like there's there's why are there so many Japanese signs around if there are no Japanese people in yours? Like if I see if I hear your cast speaking Chinese, their damn well better be a Chinese person in it, um.

And And so now I'm seeing a lot more representation and that like just cultural in general, which is good, but like, yeah, it's it's and so it's interesting. I think one thing that definitely Blade Running, you saw a lot of uh sci fi and cyberpunk in the eighties. That because Japan was the world leader in technology at the time, and you know you see this in Akoda too,

and that I think gave the West a lot of anxiety. Um, the idea that in the future there'd be this dystopian future in which Japan ran any everything in America was no longer this world power. Um. So that's why there's the giant geisha on the billboards in in Blade Runner, because suddenly the standard of beauty is this Asian femininity as opposed to you know, blonde, and that was like supposed to be a little dystopian and scary to people. Or the idea of yeah, you know, like Marty McFly's

boss is, is this Japanese business man. You know, you see a lot of sort of like j or and like Naka Toomi. You know, yeah, I was a say that. So you see it sort of in the as the backdrop and a lot of films and and media in the eighties in the West. But in Ocada, like I have this huge right when they were saying, I don't know what was maybe like ten years ago almost now. They were gonna adapt Okada for the screens, but they

were gonna set it in Manhattan. And I was like, let me tell you why Okada is so uniquely Japanese a story. Um, there's so many themes that it like a lot of japan sci fi. It comes from anxieties about the bomb, like and it's always so called out you know. It is like Japan reconciling with youth culture, Japan reconciling with you know, sort of the the tech boom. And I like most other things, the Americans actually make an appearance in it. It's not in the film, but

in the manga. The American Navy is waiting outside of the harbor in Tokyo and they carpet bomb the city because they have this anxiety. They're like, oh, we're afraid of the growing power of these Japanese children. It's better to take them all out than to allow it to be a threat to the world. Um, And like that's you know, sort of honest. I don't know, Yeah, I want to I want to talk about yeah, yeah, I want to talk about that, but I will go into

the synopsis of the story. Yeah, we should explain we're talking about about, yeah, the movie, because there there's a lot of that, and I want to get into the changes between the manga and the movie because there are a lot All of it is very interesting. But first, if you if you've never seen Akuda, here's how it goes down the movie at least, and then we'll go even further detail when we talk about the difference, because it's like they take a lot of the you know,

components of the manga and just compressing. Yea, yeah, not to not to make all of our weaves listening angry, but I think it's safe to say most people have seen the movie because the movie is way easier to digest the manga series, which in its first volume is three hundred pages, and and Otomo is worthy. Adomo is dropping. It isn't like a easy, you know read where you're just going through. He's like explaining and laying out delicious exposition,

and I think it's worth reading if you haven't. It is pricey. I have all six volumes now and they're about twenty bucks each, So if you do that math, you're you're it's an investment. But Amazon they are shipping them right now you know they don't delay the shipping on the occult or there's a lot of there's a lot of independent bookstores that you should definitely check. I

mean definitely that. Yeah. I always that over it. I haven't been a like all of my spots, like I was trying to support, uh, just a quick quarantine corner Joy, which is one of my favorite restaurants out here. It's a Taiwanese restaurant. They shut their doors just they said, we'll be back after but we want to protect our employees. I was like, cool. So I've been like ordering from Donut Fran. I've been trying to order at the local spot.

And this is my personal curse on any and all the meat heads who have been hoarding weights plates and then trying to flip them online. I hope that you get a Charlie Horse while trying to hit a pep. You deserve it. You deserve it, you sniveling snake. Uh, but hope plateau. I hope you plateau and and just don't understand what's going on. Seriously, it was so hard to get a pull up bar. You don't even know, uh, but so I coulda opens and this gang led by Kanida.

The heroics are chas seemed to be chasing down a rival gang called the Clowns, and they get into it. It gets spicy, and we see Tetsuo and kind of have like a you know, a little brother older brother back and forth oftentimes and uh. And so Tetsuo speeds ahead of them to catch this last clown guy catches him, dwinks him on the head. Uh. And then there's a

creepy old baby. Uh. Intercut with this scene is a man who was shot with a creepy old baby, kind of walking through the city streets escaping, uh, escaping being chased by um, you know these dogs which are like canines and something that blew me. It was like, you don't see this in movies. He pops those dogs, both of them, and and it's it's it's interesting, which within

like this. This is why I love being a storytell This is why I like a creator, because it's interesting because it's an introduction to like this, like being like, yeah, this is an animated movie, but we're not pulling punches. Content content warning. It is very bloody. There's a lot of body horror, a little a little bit of you know, sexual violence that never gets to this is content warning. I was going to say, this is one of the most graphic animated movies I've ever seen in my life.

I was rewatching it, especially like unedited. I don't know if I remember watching it when I was younger, when it was edited. I don't know, probably, but when you were little, well yeah, I mean I would illegally, like most anime people watch things illegally. Um, But I don't know if I got like bits and pieces of it, so I don't remember, or maybe I just blacked out. I don't know, you know, like covered my or like just didn't fast forward through these parts. But yeah, yeah, sorry,

I'm meanna cut everyone body. Yeah, but within that scene, you see like the bystander children in Horror, So it's all it's acknowledging that this is a like a horrible thing, but like also being like, yo, this is this movie is about to go off. So anyway, the man who's trying to help this little creepy man escape uh gets shot up by the by the authorities, and the kid seems to disappear. Uh. And onlooking we see Ryu and k who we don't know their names at this time,

but they see the kid disappear. Now we were back to this race. Uh, Tetsuo's gonna jink this guy in the head jinks them, goes ahead, sees the same creepy kid who was on the other side of town, and he collides with him and there's a big explosion. Tetsuo's hurt. Uh and and then the government authorities come and not only do they get to there's a second creepy baby who comes who helps capture the first creepy baby and UH they also um, they also carry out Tetsuo with him,

and then they get arrested. And UH. In that time, also in the scene, there's a moment where the kid when UM, when I always forget the name of the babies, but the first baby, uh Takahashi, Yes, Takashi, And I remember Takashi because I remember being like, oh, there's no way Takashi six nine got his name from this. But Takashi sees uh the handler get killed, and he like makes an earthquake happen that causes this water tower to fall.

And that's actually a nod to UH in the Mango when Takashi first interacts with uh Kaneta and his gang the second time, UH, he makes that same water tower that's designed in the movie fall in the manga. But then we flat fast forward there in the there caught by the authorities. The authorities are like, these guys have

nothing to do. They weren't trying to get this baby. Uh, and they get uh in Kaneta sees k I was like, oh, she fine, I'm gonna help her to get out, helps her get out and they all kind of leave together. He's trying to do this weird uh sexist I saved you, so you owe me some buns uh type of thing and she and she and she's like thanks, no thanks, I'm out and she rolls out, and then Kanetta leaves with this group uh. And this in the in essentially this is the event that leads towards the kind of

a big event of the movie. Tetsuo interacting with Takashi. They discover that his brain patterns are or something they've never seen before. Um. Very different than why his brain patterns were different in the manga, But in the movie it's it's through interacting and they they figure he might become a strong esper, a psychic, like uh, this famed Akita that they keep mentioning and you here it feels like Akita's talking to Tetsuo win his head and he's

kind of kind of getting jittery. Uh. So this progresses the story down uh these multiple storylines where we follow Tetsuo in his interaction with the government, and then we follow Kanetta who is trying to uh figure out what's going on with Tetsuo because he's like, he comes back, he leaves, he and then when he comes back and leaves, he has this like he kind of freaks out because uh and he kind of yells because he yells at Kaneta because he feels like Canetta always feels like he

has to save them. So he gets captured by the government again. And then we're following k R You and they're like Benefactor who seems to be this movement who know about Akira and they're trying to expose it and the resistance movement. And then they are they are they have a mole inside this sort of uh government council who is the opposition leader and leverage them. Yeah, and it helped them and helped them like, um kind of

blow this a key ra thing out the water. And eventually this all leads down the road to probably the thing everyone remembers, which is the event in which Tetsuo is in the in the what would be the stadium for the Olympics at the time of Okay, yeah, by the way, Olympics in Tokyo, like that is, you know, and then except this disaster befalls and so they're not sure they might have to cancel it and everything, which is oh boy, yeah, I know right, I think it

is canceled. It is, it is, yeah, and it's just like it's so that's so scary that they that they did that. I don't know, So it's so spooky. And my man's Goku was a mascot, I know it would have been. Why was there in February and they were so excited about it, and you know they you know,

I mean Japan in Tokyo's it's so beautiful. Um. But although I saw somebody posted because I was looking up a kira um like the hashtag on Instagram, and I guess it came out in theaters recently, like you could see it again in theaters, um, And somebody posted a picture of their ticket and I was like, what what was this? And it was April four, and I was like what I don't know if it was in Japan. They might have been, They might have been quarantined differently

than US. Oh yeah, Japan was not. They did not quarantine until a lot later. Partially some people think it might be because of the Olympics. Yeah, so this is all taking a place against the backdrop of preparations for

the Olympics in Japan, which is wild. And what eventually happens is that the psychic energy that his body is producing after a string of events where Tetsuo just kind of owes off and he starts lashing out against the government, and there's like these like, um, what what's the word I'm looking for? Like the end of times folk who have been claiming a doomsday cult. There's a doomsday cult about Akira And there that's the word I was looking for.

And they're following see them in the background, which again we'll get to this later, but they play a huge role in they're not even named, like this character you see isn't even named in the movie, but plays a

huge role in the manga. And that's what was interesting, you know, reading the manga after watching it, as you can tell that because Otomo he was talking about it in the interview that it was so hard to fit all of that movie, and he knew, and he and he and he showed like his notebook of where he was like, Okay, this is what we can fit, this is what we can't. And so I think it was very smart to like be like, Okay, I'm gonna give these nods for people who have read it, so they'll

they'll know. But the story itself is son how do you see. It's a lot of it is added to sort of the backdrop, so you know, the political machinations and the sort of doomsday cole and the civil unrest and all of that that actually plays a bigger role in the manga is framed as just a backdrop. Yeah, the anime, and I think it works really well. But yeah, yeah, it's one of and it's one of those things were watching it where I totally a thousand percent agree with

why we uh we You can't just remake it. You can't set it in New York if you do. And we're going to get into the final kind of chapter of the movie and then start our open discussion about

the comparison right after these messages. Hey, everyone, welcome back to Nerdificent it's your boy if you are the way in the virtual stew with Danny Fernandez Erica Eachi and we're talking about Akita and before we were setting up kind of like the first uh tuish acts of the movie, and the final act is probably I think one of the most memorable because there's something very poetic, and movies do this, I think, uh we've seen this done in a lot of like the Marvel movies and all this,

but like I love when you kind of set a stage for a final scene and it's a stage that's kind of been hinted at this this Olympic arena, Olympic Arena, and you and in this Olympic arena, there's this like almost throne there and what happened was and this isn't as clear in the movie as it is in the book, but the government planned on having a secret base under where the Olympics were being planned, and that's where Occuda was being held. So Tetsuo ends up going there because

he wants to face Acda. He's hearing about this guy. He wants to face it. He finds out that the Acuda isn't a person, it's a collection of his body parts from when they stopped him. And then one of the coolest scenes to happen ends, which is they use this weapon called the Soul shoot down on Tetsuo and it takes it was it's because it's beautiful because there's this moment, uh, kind of Do's gun runs out of battery.

They're kind of facing each other, and then you just see this blue lights around Tetsuo and you just see his skin start to like flare up, and then they shoot it down, but it isn't enough to take take him out. It was, oh man, this from this movie. It just goes full throttle, um and uh. And there's just like Canada is able to retreat, try and recharge his batteries, and in this time, Tetsuo creates a metal arm. Well, he creates a metal arm from the rubble, and now

he's inside the stadium, sitting in the street. His girlfriend from before comes to him to kind of consult with him. But at this point Tetsuo is mad with power, not really making any sense. Um, it's sorry, not really making any sense. And and now it's it's the final stage because now his body and we find out why he's had so much headaches, but his power is so much that his body can't contain the how much his UH

power is growing. And that's when we get into one of the often thought about, often reference to Akira body horror scenes where his body just starts to mutate. It's it's just it really that from that I think that sequence, from when his body starts to mutate until the end of it, to me, it it like moves like an ariaster horror because there is no real the The only suspense isn't the is Tetsuo gonna kill this person? Is It's like, oh my gosh, what like how can he

contain this? And he his body is growing, He's crying

out for Canada. He just totally flipped, see like he it's almost like he reverted back to his old self because there is a change the moment he starts to have power, he starts to be really cocky and and now he's like begging for help from Canada and he's like yeah, yeah, and he's like and then they like and the body is morphing into this giant, grotesque baby, and he like he trushes his girlfriend and Canada like gets out at the last second, and eventually the creepy

babies all work together, and they they um because Canada was too close to what because they bring back Akira first. So Akita comes back and and they're like, yo, hey, we they straight up this is they straight up pulled a dragon ball z where they're like, hey, we prayed to your body parts, brought you back because we need you to fight this big, big thing. And Ocuda is like bet And then so the Acuda creates this um it seems like, well, how would you describe it, Erica,

because I'm still how would you describe that? Like light explosion? I mean, and I mean light in the sense of like the well, the way it looks and not like it's not like it's stomic explosion, you know, it's it's supposedly and in the beginning um in eight or something, I think, uh, supposedly Akada caused World War three and set off this giant explosion, this sort of atomic blast that kicked off World War three. And now this was sort of another like sort of the follow up to that.

I think that's the one you're talking about, the big yeah, the growing explosion that of light in the nick and they referenced it as being like the beginning of the universe and there's like it gets very philosophical at the end, like it really and that's what I love is a movie that has me just kind of trying to pick away at like, Okay, what is because when they're like what happened to uh Tetsuu and like, uh, Canada's like, I don't know, but I think we'll see him again,

like he said, you know, he says right, and that left It's all left very sort of ambiguous, which is really interesting and it work works very well from the because in the manga is it's more clear manga there is a definite ending and I don't know again spoiler alert for anybody who wants to still read, I would

highly recommend reading it. But in the in the manga, at the end, it's a very definitive that all of the espers that like the psychic kids, the babies that the psychic babies that if he was talking about, and Okada and Tetsuo all ascend to a higher plane of existence. And they've sort of been hinting at this throughout the entire manga is that this is sort of the natural evolution of humans of it's it's a very classic cyberpunk theme of transhumanism, and so they send to a higher

plane in some ways that sort of tetso's at peace. Um. Then the U n comes in and provides aid to just like in post World War two, the United the sort of United Nations are the nations come in and um provide aid to Japan, uh, Kannada and k and the rest of the resistance fighters established like so that I forget what they call it, but um, it's this new order order like the Kingdom of New Kingdom of

Japan essentially and declare independence. Um. And they warn the United Nations, Um, hey we still have our friends, the psychic friends that we had, the ones that destroyed a ton of stuff, like, we still have them in our hearts.

So watch out, Um, we're independent now. And then you see sort of at the end, like also the Joker biker gang at some point like starts helping they they have joined up with the revolutionaries and everybody sort of unites at the and and um, they start a new world order with this sort of bike gang that's built peace and peaceful society. And so there's a very definite

happy ending today. Yeah, I know, that's that's what's so interesting, not to cut you off, but I really want us to really uh talk about because this is this movie is so interesting and beautifully political because like we were talking about the initial Akira explosion, I get an explosion which is very much the fault of the Japanese government because they were doing these experiments into this world war, which assumes that they kind of didn't take ownership of

it and allowed it to become this huge thing. And I think that's a take. And then on top of the take, with the manga of that, that's a very important thing because it's something I think that that like when it's brought up, I never like how it's brought up, because usually it's brought up by a um i'm a just aloud to say, a white person, and it's usually

brought up in an insulting way. But yeah, after World War two, uh, the US like invaded Japan and like didn't allow them to have a military and kind of like just kind of like forced themselves onto that country. And I feel like that ending in the manga is a response to that. That's that's I feel like a Tomo giving his thoughts about that of being like you

can help us. There there was a lot of sort of aid that came into Japan afterwards, you know, a lot of help with rebuilding, but definitely you know, Japan was demilitarized and you know, they weren't allowed to have an army. They they you know, they lost the war

in such a devastating huge way. I mean, you know the bombs, when the bombs were dropped, that can you even we we cannot comprehend what that was, you know, like right now living in this time, like it is so much bigger than anybody thinks of now, like for even for which is like I remember in physics we learned about, you know, just really the devastating effects of a nuclear blast and like how huge it was, and it really it just devastated Japan and there was It's

in every all of their media since then, you know, in in so many ways, a lot of media like Astro Boy and and you know, just so much came from that the bomb and and this is no exception, and yeah, there was definitely a political statement there, like and I I don't know, like it's it's been a while since I've read all the manga, but I just remember the idea of the the American Navy sitting off shore, which also actually mirrors what happened when they first forced

Japan out of isolationism in the eighteen hundreds. Admiral Perry and his navy sat off shore and was like, Hey, you're gonna open up trade with us, otherwise we will bomb the hell out of you. Um. And so it's it's sort of an I imagine would be a nod to that, and I it's so it's there's all of these anxieties in it and themes in it that are very tied up in the history of Japan. Yeah, And I want to talk about that because it's something that's

always bugged me. Maybe it's it's and I've said a statement like this before and I think I think I set this on who shots and not nereifficent about you know, um when when when when you are you know, taking in a media from a country, you essentially, in short, if you're taking a media from a country, if you're obsessing over you should also uh know what's going on there,

and you should also like want to support it. And it's always bugged me this idea because when you think about the end of World War two and one, the fact that uh, the bombs were chosen to drop on Japan obviously, just the the bitterness about you know, Pearl Harbor whatever, but even then to choose to only do it in Japan, and to choose to demilitarize Japan, like you you didn't you didn't have those sanctions put on

anyone else. Uh, and then for it to still be technically upholded, there's like there's like the article has not been amended yet. There's been I was just looking it up to make sure, but like, um, they didn't amend the constitution itself, but they they gave more powers to

the Japan Self Defense Force. But that article needs to just be gone like that, like like why are we like you know, just I don't know, I just have this this weird moral sense of things of just like um, like even though I know the world isn't fair, it's just like there's just clear basic things that I think, like it should be like, Okay, enough time has passed, We're we're good because we weren't. Only Japan wasn't the only country we went up against, and we've only shows

one to demilitarize. Yeah, well, you know, I mean it's interesting because out of that post world War two deal militarism, demilitarization. You know, it can be argued that Japan became a world leader um in tech, especially in the eighties because a lot of their you know, they literally melted down

their their guns into plowshares. You know, a lot of the scrap metal from their military operations, from from their weaponry went directly into tech manufacture, UM and toy making, and so you know it in the eighties, it was a world power and that led to a lot of sort of economic economic anxiety in the West. A lot of people, like Japanese was being taught as the language of you know, business in all the business schools, UM. And you know that's definitely in the background in Okada,

like in terms of cultural context. You know, it's because you can always you can always view media on certain levels, and you know, on a surface level, this is about psychic kids. And but you know also you see in the background, you know, the the unrest against the current political uh powers. Well, we've brought this up before as

far as UM. Whenever people which we get often tweet at us and say, like, um, keep politics out of it, like politics into it, and it's like, UM, I always bring up that Marvel and d C are Western American comic books have covered every single war since their inception, has been a part of influenced the writers and uh with the storylines of these characters. So it's it's fascinating to me that you would want And again it's kind of like what we were talking about is like what

influenced what? Well, a lot of these artists are all looking at the same events at the same time. They're seeing the same news store ra's and and you know, seeing the government knocking down you know, people's doors and and um, people being pulled out of their home like things like that, and it's like, well, this is going to create kind of like in what we are in now. But hopefully we don't get twenty billion shows about coronavirus.

But uh really don't need that, just like I didn't and didn't get we didn't need don't need twenty shows about nine eleven. I don't need twenty shows about coronavirus. But however, I think that it can still affect and influence, Uh, what horrors come out the idea of isolation, the ideas of you know, digital the rise of digital technology, like the change in the workforce. Yeah, there's just going to be all these themes that I know will make it

into things. And that's that's how it is. I mean, yeah, to your to your point Anny about Marvel and d C. It's just like it's absurd to think like that. You know, every major superhero and all of the teams has has been straighted punching Hitler like yeah, surgery, you know, and X Men is supposed to be an allegory for the civil rights movement and straight up possible for you know,

we don't create art in a vacuum. Yeah, now that's what I was gonna say Before I go on, though, I do need to clarify that Germany was demilitarized to while they're occupying in Germany, they were demilitarized, So they just want to clear that up before someone starts to say some stuff. It is funny that's sort of different treatments that that, you know, we did. I don't know,

there's a there's a lot about that. You know, like only one group of American citizens of cultural heritage was was really interned in on math in the US, and yeah, it's Okada is So it's so rife with all these incredible interesting themes and for a while, and we see it in a lot of jack Needs media. Um, the idea of the old struggling with the new. There the fear of youth culture in Battle Royal, in the idea of like the sort of creepy ring girl or like why for a while we were seeing so many horror

films that featured children Japan. Yeah, well, I guess that that do. But definitely specifically in Japan. You know, there's the idea of youth culture that we're rejecting cultural norms.

And you know there's the Bossoku gangs, which is the sort of um, the bicycle the bike gangs in Japan, and and the the sukaban Oh my gosh, if you don't know about to givon, it's the sort of girl the schoolgirl gangs, and they'd have all the schoolgirl uniforms, but they like mod them out and like put patches on them, and you know that sort of and ended up turning into so the go Go Yubari style a

teen girl assassin robe, but in in Okada. And this is my read on it, and I'm sure that there are there are, you know, academic studies about this idea of the children being the ones to inherit this these powers, that the next evolution of humanity and the the destruction they caused with them is is definitely points to sort of a fear of youth culture and you and the

next generation. And that's not unique to Japan. You know, we're always these kids in their TikTok's and they're you know, well, I wanted to say, what UM spilling over into Western culture stranger things. The Duffer brothers made Eleven, who was a child who escapes from a government facility and learns that she possesses spirit spiritual natural powers, said that the influence of this movie was quote obviously a big one

on them. Ryan Johnson also said he was influence UM when he made Looper, which features a child who's able to kill his would be assassin using only his mind. So like you were saying it clearly, and then obviously Kanye West um Stronger had multiple shot for shot remakes of key scenes from from the film. Um. But that's just some of the people, some of the art of the Western artists that have been heavily influenced. Oh yeah,

I mean, it's it's beyond Western art. I mean it influenced the acceptance of anime because this was the first time you've kind of seen an anime that took on adult themes in the way and they didn't even get as adult as they got in the manga and the manga Connecta did drugs. Connecta was smashing. Connecta got someone pregnant, and it's and it's very interesting because that that may

not seem extreme now, but definitely in Japan. I think another good way to kind of like, I've been watching a lot of gain Tama, which is a I think the best way I've heard it describe so far is like if it's always sunny meets anime. It's very like cultural references, very like, but it still has like they're still wholesome, like they're they're they're the worse until someone

they feel needs to be protected is protected. But there's so many direct cultural references, and it's also interesting to see just how like how they still uphold like you know of if a woman sleeps with a man before she's married, it's still such a taboo thing and and that's a running joke that they have because something they showed throughout the movie that was kind of like all this world's going to to blank is like they they always had shots of people like making out and feeling

each other up in the background, and that was like such supposed to be such a like, oh my gosh, taboo thing when that's just if a night at Tendance of the Trees. Uh, that's a local l a bar reference. Um, physical cool affection is not very public. Yeah, there it is still you know how I love talking about people filling each other up, um, which we will get into more after these messages. Gosh and we are back. Who

was talking about filling up? I do think that that's really funny, Iffy, that that is, Uh, that's how we show that everything is going to hell, is people like making out and whatnot. Why it's it's it is really interesting because it you know, as we were talking about, like, did just just briefly touch on a couple of things that didn't make it into the film that we're in the manga, we're yeah, like this sort of storyline with k and the revolutionaries and uh, Lady Miako who is

the leader of the doomsday cult. Um you see her very briefly in the movie, but there's a whole storyline with her in the manga UM, you know, just themes of you know what was interesting and all all sci fi, UM and cyberpunk is um retrofuturistic because it reflects the esthetic and the anxieties and the themes that are popular at a given time that will eventually go out of fashion. And sometimes it gets things right for the future. Uh, sometimes it's way off because that was just what was

important to people at this given period of time. And Okada, I think, is such an enduring has such an enduring legacy because there were these themes that just really resonated with people and and a lot of those made it into the film and into Western culture and pop culture from then on. You know, the idea of the child motorcycle gangs and this dystopian landscape, civil unrest, you know, versus corrupt governments. Danny mentioned some very specific examples of

you know, things that I didn't. I didn't. I was like, oh, of course that makes sense that that's that. But even the very famous motorcycle slide, Like every time I see it, I was specifically thinking of, um, I know, Stephen Universe, Rebecca Sugar, they like actively said that they put it

in there, but also um Lelo and Stitch. Do you remember when Yeah, do you remember when she was trying to Stitch was trying to get off the island and kept like like, it's just such an iconic I'm sure it's like step one in animation school or maybe Matt when you get your master's step two. Yeah, I was gonna say it's pretty hard. Maybe I said, maybe when you get your masters then it's uh, that's the first

step is learning that animation style. But do the bouncing ball exercise and then you do the occulta motorcycle slide. I can guarantee you've seen it. And there's this great there's a couple of great gifts that compile all of the really popular ones. Yeah, just the look of it, and and you know, as I said, sort of Blade Runner happened concurrently, but Okada is for sure that city landscape, that Dystupian cyberpunk landscape is so influential. And in terms

of fashion, that's like it's definitely hot right now. The sort of the red leather jacket, oh oh in a Godzilla what's the things? Uh John c Riley's jacket, it has the pill he has the pill jacket, says like uh for good for good health on it and just yeah, it definitely influenced my aesthetic with this sort of bold like I mean, red is my favorite color. I love it. I've always been a fan of motorcycles. It was super dope.

But also one thing I like about the motorcycle is we off we we were talking about how it's this you know, the the time that this movie came out, you know, there's this like fear of how fast you know, Japan is developing their technology. The bike itself is a flex Cannon is a Japanese company, Citizen is a Japanese watchmaker. Show like it It's it's not only this dope bike, but it has stickers from these prominent Japanese companies that

are still around and kicking till this day. So so like and I just feel that because like it's it's it's there's so many like layers to it, because I feel like that is what it's like being, you know, a part of a culture which you you you can make a criticism of it, but you also want to make a point to be like, this isn't an invitation

to like look down on us. This is just to let you know that while we have our problems, we still out here and and it's and that's one thing I love about the bike, and it's probably why I put stickers on everything so much, because I just love it. But also, yeah, I'm the same. This movie was real bad for me because I all already my post team purchase that some people are either vehemently against or vehemently

for is a motorcycle. And this was the worst movie to watch because you got a motorcycle, well not yet, I was. I was kind of playing it. I asked, I asked Instagram should I get a motorcycle? And so many people. I had so many messages. My favorite has been multiple people being like, you have a daughter. I was like, and I have a car to driver around and I have I think they mean that your odds of not anyways, I'm not going to say my mom

would be very disappointed in you. Oh yeah, but I have This isn't once in a while I think about it, and it's ocus fault, mostly like because like I think about it, like the wind in my hair, like barreling down the road and my awesome leather jackets and on this red bike, and I think about it so much and you know in l A. It's kind of a death sentence, like, yeah, well, it was so funny. One of the people, one of the people who were four, it was like, look, Manna, I'm gonna keep it funky.

What you send me a paragraphs? Like it's the one of the best, Like it's the best experience I have. I love driving to work, wind going through my hair. I have been in three accidents. If everybody I know with a bike, it's like it's the best thing in the world, but you've got to know that it's a

very good chance you will die. Yeah. Yeah, well it's it's so funny because it's like it's it's it's it really is the specific l A driving style, which is the style that people are driving like they're the only car on the road. There's no self awareness, like even in a car, there's like you have to think about it. You really have to think about the fact that in normal days in l A, there is an accident every day. That's not normal. Every man they're like, yeah, yeah, that's true.

It's not just one. They're they're over a dozen accidents every day on the same stretch of road we have. I mean, it's it's yeah, I was gonna say the other place though, if you that a lot of people have motorcycles that I lived in, its Texas, and the same thing everybody in everybody in Texas drives the same way, like you're the only one on the road. Um, and yeah, it's just it's you do you though, you know, we'll see.

I don't know, I might end up getting a whole bunch of tweets after this episode, people begging me not Uh yeah, I wanted. Yeah, let's let's you know, geek out about Also the animation. I didn't mean to stop that combo. But one thing I noticed that was really cool and something that I've that you see a lot that has to be influenced by this is the light trails, uh, you know, like the way the tail light trails and

that throughout this movie during the motorcycle scenes. I wish there was a serialized anime to just have just the biker portions of this. And I think that's the only remake that I'm interested in, is like a remake that is a an anime redone. Yeah, there's a lot to add to it. I think that that could be beneficial. Normally, I am I feel like if you have something to say and to add to it, that is when you're

allowed to do remake or reboot. But you know that being said, for a while, uh, live action was very much you know underway, uh supposedly and produce. You know, pre production was starting to kick off and Tachot, one of my favorite director in the world, was helming it, and you know that got shelved um when he started

to work on Thor. So I do know that they were into it, but now uh postponed indefinitely because it was postponed indefinitely, well because Thor and because he has other projects, and also they were saying they really do want to have Asian and Japanese actors in it, which I really respect, but Hollywood has not did a good job of cultivating those that are well known enough. Honestly though, I I feel like that's uh just such a cop out because there's so many movies that are released you know,

luckily I do who shot you? And there are so many major movies that are released with unknowns avatar, you know, in that rid of like you know, I'm sure we've all seen it, the threat of people who passed on stuff. And I think Avatar. They wanted Ben afflecked they were going to give him ten percent of the movie. He said no, and they gave it to an unknown. You went from Affleck to unknown. And I feel like that doesn't happen for people of color. It has to be

a name people of color. But if you and I'm gonna just flower say it because I know I have the facts behind me that you can go and look up movies that in major films, I'm talking about multimillion dollar films, they feel so comfortable letting white unknown actors get roles, but if you're a person of color, you

have to have a name. But there's no it's it's it's it's a trap because if you create no opportunities for people of color, but then set this rule that if you want people a person of color to elite, they have to be a known you set a trap. It's it's that's that's a play that you would do in magic to screw over someone to be like, ah, yes, you have to you have to. Uh will only accept

people of color if they have roles. Ah. But but I feel like, you know, we've talked about so many of the movies that did like slum dog millionaire, like you know, nobody knew anybody there and now and now

we have our king. We have a brown king that we get to you know, you know, I love that he's doing all the historical British rules like oh yeah, but but that's also like uh to, that's a slum slum dog millionaire story because you know, like yeah, like because um with um how cash I used to know his name like this, but from Captain Phillips, you know, after that he was still driving taxicabs like you it's

very hard for you to jump in. Then um our Man's from Aladdin, who was complaining about totally advancing, like you can have a banger film and it still is like you still have to convince, You still have to convince. I mean, you know, has anyone heard from Jalizzapparricio from Roma? No, Like she was literally nominated for an Academy Award, and where is she? She was on the cover of every

magazine and everyone has forgotten about her. I think she might be in like a couple of things, like one or two things, but I don't see anyone talking about her anymore. I did not recognize that it was dev Patel who did slump Yeah, Dev Patel, Gosh, he's yeah. But if anybody so so Erica, I completely agree. I think that it has to be. I think it would be disrespectful if it wasn't a Japanese or Asian America. I mean specifically if it should be Japanese. Yeah, that's

how I feel too about DBZ. I'm like, I don't care if Goku's an alien. He means so much to these people that it's almost disrespectful to not have them be and so kind of like what what if? But these are huge iconic properties that I think you can put someone unknown and I think at least someone like Taiko Wa Titi or another person of color like Jordan Peel who passed on it. However, who knows what's going forward.

They would not f it up. I don't think. I think it's you have if you can, why wouldn't you you know? It's it's these are these there are these opportunities, and I'm seeing it a lot in anime and in you know, sort of cyberpunk stuff where it is a lot of stories from Asian countries from Japan and there they don't cast many they have like you know, Lana Condor is like the token Asian that ends up in

all of these things, and then that's it. Um And so I really just would love to see these stories, uh, you know, incorporate people of color. Yeah, and I think you're I think you're right, and I think here here's the thing. We we have to come to terms with the fact that Hollywood will always try and americanize it. And it's not always their fault. There's just some people who are like, like the same reason people were like

are waiting for a parasite remake. But here's the thing, put more thought into it than doing Uh, New York. New York is not like Tokyo like I have. I was supposed to go this year, but unfortunately I won't be going. But I can tell you just off of just looking at it alone. And also if you're trying to target the themes, then you're gonna have to make this a hyper futurized version of i'd say, like a San Francisco a tech hub, because you want somewhere where

people are experimenting. But that's only if you know that's that's only if you for some reason, why not Tokyo. Tokyo is such a fun place. I means someone in this episode actually had the fun of shooting in Tokyo, so they could tell you how how how beautiful and how fun and how many great shots you can get from Tokyo alone. It's incredible. Yeah, it's it's so incredible. I love Tokyo. I have to we have to hamp this down. We've we've got the the they said five

minutes left. We've been talking. I can talk about Akita forever. I can. I can just and I like doing movies, uh, because there's just it's kind of concise. So I'm probably that's probably gonna be all my picks is gonna be anime movies. Uh. And we're going to keep the high throttle going because the next one I'm probably gonna want to do is Redline, which has our friend Liam O'Brien. Yeah. That one is so beautiful and again definitely influenced again, huge,

hugely influenced by Akada. Yeah, if you haven't seen the Okada movie, it is kind of like when you see it, it's it's like goes in the show. When you see you're like, oh, well that's where that came. Yeah. Uh. So highly recommends Super Love it. I'm excited to see what happens in the future with it, with either with live action or you know, they were there was talk of more sort of media coming out surrounding it. And thanks for letting me talk with you guys about it.

Of course, talking with you all just always such a treat. All right, Well, where can people find you? Erica? Thanks for coming on. Where where have you got anything to plug? Tell us, give us give it. I am at Erica ishi E on Twitter and at the Erica ishi E on Instagram. There there's something that might be coming out soon that I'm in, but you know, I can never you can't really say, just in case it gets pushed these days, but yeah, thank you. Just keep up with me.

I'm I'm on social media a lot, all right, and you know me if you add the way on Twitter and Instagram, if he's on Twitch, super Punch is gonna be back. If you're listening to this now, that means Super Punch is officially back. It also was Naomi's birthday, so May third, but we're back. Tune in. It's going down live and direct. I am at Miss Danny Fernandez and all the things I wanted to give a huge shout out to our friends at the Perky Nerd. We had Tiffany if you remember on she was the shop

owner on for a Captain Marvel episode. They are still taking orders and desperately need them. Their site is up. Remember to UH to support your local comic book shops. She again is one of the few female owned comic book shops in the state. Actually, um so, I want to want to keep up with our lady business owners. Uh. They're also doing I'm going to be doing a live makeup tutorial with them. They like have slots where they're

teaching you superhero makeup. So I think they're doing like a Black Widow and a couple of other inspired looks. Um so you can buy a slot for that. Just want to keep their lights on. I want to make sure that Tiffany stays in business, So hit up the Perky Nerd. You can follow them on all their socials and like we always say, stay nerdy.