TOONAMI ADULT SWIM
AKIRA
Director: Katsuhiro Otomo
Year of Release: 1988
Genre: Cyberpunk, Action, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic / Post-apocalyptic
In the aftermath of World War III occurring after Tokyo is destroyed by a psychic event, the sprawling megalopolis of Neo-Tokyo suffers from the threat of insurrection from its own population while violent crimes and gang violence have skyrocketed. The Capsules biker gang, led by reluctant protagonist Shōtarō Kaneda, along with his friend Tetsuo Shima cruise for trouble against other rival gangs.
Tetsuo swerves aside to avoid a strange child with elderly features, which is revealed as Takashi, an escaped psychic from a government compound. Police subdue and apprehend both the Capsules and their rivals; the Clowns, where Kaneda is interrogated and Tetsuo is hospitalized for his injuries from the crash. Takashi is spirited back to the military compound and placed back again under government surveillance.
During his convalescence at the hospital, staff discover that Tetsuo has latent psionic abilities like the psychic that destroyed Tokyo and started World War III; Akira. Tetsuo escapes, and Kaneda is apprehended under suspicion of assisting in his disappearance from medical observation. Anti-government insurrectionists led by the beautiful Kei rescue Kaneda, but Takashi and a larger group of child psychics escape again to seek out Kaneda and ask for his help in stopping Tetsuo before he uncovers Akira and triggers a new apocalypse.
REFERENCES: Lillard, K. (2007) "American Anime Awards". Newtype USA. 5 p. 20. ISSN 1541-4817.
FILM PLOT
MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE?
Director: Shoji Kawamori
Year of Release: 1984
Genre: Space Opera, Science Fiction, Action, Romance
Beginning in the midst of a heated space flight from planet Earth with the gigantic space fortress known as the Macross trying to escape the oncoming hordes of the alien Zentradi. The Macross carries over ten thousand civilians to relative safety on first day of the Zentradi invasion of Earth, where during this escape, the fast-rising pop star Lynn Minmay is rescued by rookie pilot Hikaru Ichijyo.
Even after their respective careers demand more of them against the backdrop of interstellar war, the one meeting and rescue has led both Ichijyo – Minmay’s number one fan and Minmay herself to develop strong feelings that lead to relationship. As the war rages on, the Zentradi High Command realize that Human music – spefically Lynn Minmay’s heartfelt pop numbers – are interfering with the Zentradi rank-and-file, a form of unintentional psychological warfare with Minmay’s songs advocating peace and love over war.
The Zentradi Military Leader, Gorg Boddole Zer; orders that Lynn Minmay be brought to the Zentradi so they can use her as a morale booster to the flagging Zentradi armada. Hikaru and Lynn are captured when Hikaru brings Lynn joyriding around Saturn’s rings in his Valkyrie fighter. When he fails to respond, Hikaru’s senior flight commander Roy Focker goes after him but is also captured. Now, the three of them must find a way to escape and recover their Valkyrie fighters before the Zentradi armada wipes out the last of humanity scattered across the stars, beginning with the ever-elusive fortress starship Macross.
REFERENCE: Barder, O. (2015). Shoji Kawamori, The Creator Hollywood Copies but Never Credits. Forbes.com. Retrieved 15.01.17
FILM PLOT
5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Year of Release: 2007
Genre: Romance, Drama
Takaki Tōno quickly befriends Akari Shinohara during their elementary school in Tokyo. They grow closer to one another with their similar interests and attitudes, resulting in them forming a strong bond. When Akari moves to nearby Tochigi, they keep in touch by writing letters but the two start to drift apart. When Takaki hears his family planning to move to Kagoshima on the other side of Japan, he decides to see Akari one last time, before they become too far away from each other.
He prepares a letter for Akari confessing his feelings for her, but Takaki loses the letter on his way to the train station while the ensuing snowstorm delays his train for several hours. When Akari and Takaki finally meet, they share their first kiss together, and Takaki is brought into perspective in his mind’s eye that they will never be together again. Akari and Takaki promise to continue writing to each other when they must leave the next morning, but for the next few years, Takaki will be hung up and haunted by the absence of Akari while other girls are interested in him.
In the present day, Akari is preparing for her marriage with another man. Still longing and consumed in his thoughts and memories of Akari despite his good job and beautiful but soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, Takaki takes to the streets and wanders Tokyo till sunrise, while Akari uncovers a letter that she had addressed to Takaki herself. Going out after dawn for her morning walk, Takaki and Akari meet at the train tracks across each other, but fail to see the other due to the passing train separating them.
REFERENCE: Schilling, M. (2007). "A budding talent's delicate vision". The Japan Times. Retrieved 13.01.15.