Written in February 2010 Wrote this while studying Otomo Katsuhiro's anime films in-depth. WARNING: Possible spoilers for the films!
From City to City: Otomo Katsuhiro and the Potential Desensitization of Humankind
Susan Napier has asserted that most anime titles contain three elements: the apocalyptic, matsuri (“festival”), and elegiac. Well-known Japanese director and screenwriter, Otomo Katsuhiro, who is most well known for his works Akira and Metropolis, incorporates all three elements into both of these films. However, he uses these elements, the apocalyptic element in particular, to express a common underlying thread throughout all of his works: the fear of desensitization that may lie in humankind’s future.
Otomo primarily utilizes the apocalyptic element to convey his message about the desensitization of humankind. He accomplishes this first through the setting of each film, and then through three related themes: the danger of rising technology, the acclimation to violence, and the destructive nature of mankind. Despite the rather bleak picture he paints in both of his films about where humans may be headed, he still leaves viewers with a sense of hope.
In Akira, one of the best known of Otomo’s works, the physical setting is a clear example of the apocalyptic element. At the very beginning of the film, the viewer is presented with a scene depicting the destruction of Tokyo by the titular character Akira himself. This destruction in turn leads to the dystopian world known as Neo-Tokyo that the main character Kaneda and others inhabit. Social norms with which the viewer is familiar have dissolved. The city is governed by corrupt politicians and military. And there is a tangible loss of order in scenes such as the interrogation of Kaneda and his gang, where the viewer witnesses abusive police officers beat suspects to a pulp to get the answers they need, as well as the scene at Kaneda’s school, where the insides, other than in the principal’s office, hardly resemble classrooms and no teaching appears to be done at all.
In Metropolis, the city does not seem to resemble the one in Akira initially. Unlike the first look viewers are given of Neo-Tokyo, which is a view overrun with waste and permeated with dark shadows, the city of Metropolis is first shown as brightly colored and animated. However, it soon becomes clear there is more to Metropolis than meets the eye, as the characters Kenichi and Detective Ban quickly learn when their tour of the city is violently interrupted with the swift extermination of a rogue robot.
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