Akira
...and ominous feel to the setting. Order is maintained due to the powerful military force that enforces the laws of the city. There are numerous scenes in Akira that show the advanced technology of Neo-Tokyo. The motorbike of one of the main characters ‘Kaneda’ is very advanced when compared to the other motorbikes used in the anime. It has features that rival even a car e.g. abs brakes, traction control system, A reverse gear. The motor bikes don’t seem to use fuel, they are electrically powered, and this is proved when a battery powered laser cannon requires recharging and one of the gang member’s motorbike is used to charge it. Also, the motorbikes didn’t make sounds like a combustion engine, which further proves that the engines were electrically powered. There is also a device, used as transportation for one of the characters who is a paraplegic, that hovered over the ground, but it used a propulsion system that was completely silent. This anti-gravity effect negated any terrain and made the device very maneuverable. The weaponry used in the movie is somewhat similar to what is currently used today, with a few exceptions. As mentioned above, there are battery powered laser cannons, that cut through anything in the path of the beam, but for these to work the batteries have an extremely high energy output but have a relatively compact size (about half the size of a car battery). There is also an extremely high powered satellite laser that is used to strike targets from orbit with devastating accuracy. The only feasible way to power this weapon would be to harness the energy from the sun’s rays. Although the title of the anime is Akira, the character corresponding to that name does not appear till the very end. Ironically, the story is based on this one character and all through the anime, the other characters struggle to find out who Akira really is. Akira was actually a small boy that possessed extraordinary and extremely powerful powers, and perhaps one of the first of the next evolutionary step of humans. Akira and a few others(all children) are captured and studied by scientists, in an attempt to discover the source of their powers. The scientists discover little about their power, yet foolishly, they attempt to duplicate and control it. ...