Can anyone explain what happened at the end of Akira?
I mean, actually, explain it. I did I search, and there was a previous thread on this exact subject, but the question was never answered, with people getting bogged down in discussing differences between manga and movie, and stuff like that.
Well, no one can….
Ahh forget it! I will try:
I think it was supposed to be a movie with an ambivalent ending, but here is my impression:
The final energy blast is the result of unleashing the energy contained in Akira and all the other kids.
The kids release the blast not to destroy NeoTokio but to prevent the destruction of everything (and by that, I mean the whole world) by the uncontrolled Tetsuo.
When Kaneda is swallowed by the blast, inside we see other bubbles of light: entering them, Kaneda sees and experiences the history and even the emotions of all the kids, including Tetsuo.
I thing the implication in the end is that Tetsuo THEN learned to properly control the power thanks to the absorbed knowledge from the other kids, and his (their?) last act was to save Kaneda, I think it remains an open question if Tetsuo is still around.
I have seen other reviews, and I agree that we are seeing a Buddhist theme of rebirth, AFAIK a rebirth in that context is not like reincarnation, I suspect the movie is showing the end result of the combination of all the kids into a new being, that although it calls itself Tetsuo, it is not.
It is a new powerful being that keeps past memories in the hereafter (Or another dimension, whatever you believe, IMHO the big trouble of the afterlife is that we don’t keep our memories)
It is a new creature worried now by other concerns outside this world, with information that will enable it to make a better world elsewhere?
That is the undecided ending.
As a side note, you may want to read the (series of) graphic novels on which the movie was based. There’s a LOT more meat to them (the movie encompases about 1/4 of what happens in the storyline), and explains things a lot better. (Heck, the ending in question occurs about 1/2 way through the manga).
http://www.lool.net/Akira/FAQ.html
Helped explain a lot for me. Still a little kooky but I agree with ArrrMatey that the main problem with the movie is that it’s trying to fit a HUGE manga into a 2 hour movie, hence they leave out a whole lot of explanation.
If I’m not mistaken, Porky Pig comes onscreen and says “A-tha-a-tha-a-tha-a-tha-a-that’s all folks!”