Corrected entry: Near the end, the satellite SOL shoots its first blast to Tetsuo and harms him very badly despite his great powers (he even loses his right arm). But Kaneda, who is only a couple of meters away from Tetsuo and has no special powers, manages to survive in perfect condition.
Akira (1988)
1 corrected entry
Directed by: Katsuhiro Ohtomo, Katsuhiro Otomo
Starring: Mami Koyama, Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Tessho Genda
Continuity mistake: When Kaneda shoots Tetsuo with his laser gun, it makes a hole on his shirt. In the next scenes, the hole is gone.
Kei (2001 Pioneer dub): Amoebas don't build houses and bridges, they only eat.
Trivia: The movie takes place in 2019, and features an Olympic stadium in Neo-Tokyo. Material in the film also hints that Neo-Tokyo will be hosting the 2020 Olympic games. In real life, Tokyo was actually supposed to host the 2020 Olympic games, before they were delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Question: Can anyone explain the significance of Tetsuo's transformation towards the end of the film? I've been told it supposed to symbolise something but I can't figure out what.
Answer: In effect, it should symbolize (just as the other psionics say) that humanity is not yet ready to control such power; we are mentally not 'mature' enough. And since we are mere 'children', we tend to play with that power without any real sense of responsibility, and before we know it, it goes out of control. In effect, it mirrors the lack of sense that we demonstrate in our real world, with our technical and political power.
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Correction: The blast was directly on Tetsuo, so Kaneda probably got lucky and was sheilded by flying debris from the actual "power" of the blast.