MovieChat Forums > Akira (1988) Discussion > Harassing Tetsuo at night, why?

Harassing Tetsuo at night, why?

posted 13 years ago by oudorper
14 replies | jump to latest

Just saw the movie for the first time and gone through the whole forum but no answer.

But why in the hell were the Espers harassing Tetsuo at night???

My best guess was to scare him so he would stay at the hospital but c'mon thats a crap plan.

Glad i didnt see this at twelve years old btw, a melting teddybear? Dang...im 28 and i was like wtf this is some mental *beep*

ps: didnt understand why Kei had powers btw but i reccon i will catch up to that in the manga.

[–] Miller0700 13 years ago

They were trying to kill him.

[–] Ghost the Lost Soul 13 years ago

I think that scene had a plot hole after it ended. They were trying to kill him, yes, but after Tetsuo accidentally steps on the glass and cuts himself, they start freaking out and leave. Why did they have a problem seeing blood when they were about to murder Tetsuo in the form of nightmarish toys come to life?

EDIT/ADD: @Oudorper: Kei didn't have psychic powers per se. The Espers were using her against her will to fight Tetsuo.

---------------
People of the IMDB forums: Please learn how to type!

[–] Brokenail22 13 years ago

Kei does have power. She's some sort of psychic and that's why the little ugly kids that look like Di Caprio could use their power through her.

They were trying to scare Tetsuo or to drive him crazy. But they haven't been exposed to violence during their all life and they remain kids.

[–] Ghost the Lost Soul 13 years ago

I'm pretty sure that the Espers were just using Kei as a puppet to fight against Tetsuo with. I might have to watch the movie again just to make sure. By the way, I love the DiCaprio joke you made, considering he's a part of the problem in the creation of Hollywood's on-hiatus adaptation (read: clusterf---) of the live-action Akira remake.

---------------
People of the IMDB forums: Please learn how to type!

[–] Doc_Roliday 12 years ago

They were able to use her as a puppet because she had psychic powers.

Kiyoko even references her to Kaneda in the end while they are inside the supernova: "it already began - your friend..."

[–] jephiachantharath 12 years ago

Actually, since these are children, I guessed that there idea of killing or disposing is something like erase Tetsuo from exestince (Just by thinking of that person going away, it'll happen because they thought so.sort of like vaporizing). I don't know, I giving too much forgivness. I actually have an interesting thought: These children have been around for a while and have been trained to control their powers and not go out of control, Tetsuo however is new to his powers and therefor does not have complete perfection of it like the children do.

Now heres my thought: The children knew about how bloody people may look like after using it on them, so they try to not do that (that could explain why Masaru just did a little push attack on Tetsuo) But since Tetsuo has such a violent personality, he doesn't care about how bloody his victims are.

So basically, these children are more mature than Tetsuo.

[–] theknucklejoe 12 years ago

Ha. I was 12 when I first saw this. This and Heavy Metal. Good times. As for that other stuff, I dunno. I never understood that scene myself.

Stay classy psychotic nerds. -Thradar

[–] Dream_Demon 12 years ago

The way I see it, the three espers weren't used to seeing blood and despite being at least 40 years old (or around that age), they are still children in mind and stature. They intended to kill Tetsuo but freaked out because of the blood.

As for Kei, I take it that she initially did not have psychic powers but instead started to develop them thanks to being possessed so many times by the female esper. That's how I see it.

Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

[–] Ehrgeiz 11 years ago

In the manga it is stated that Kei is some kind of medium who can be controlled by the espers but other people with psychic powers as well.

[–] TheSolarSailor 12 years ago

My best guess was to scare him so he would stay at the hospital but c'mon thats a crap plan. >>> They were trying to kill Tetsuo, as Kiyoko has a precognitive vision that he would unleash Akira and lead to another psionic explosion that would kill many people and destroy the city. The Espers felt that disposing of Tetsuo would prevent this vision from coming true. Unfortunately for them, Tetsuo was already too powerful at that point and they failed.

- - - - - - -
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] Etherdave 12 years ago

The visitation is a mind control exercise, to induce Tetsuo to accept help, namely the drug therapy that will at least slow down the dangerous pace of his developing powers. They are visiting him as soon as possible, at a time of day when there are the least number of innocent bystanders. Unfortunately the broken glass breaks the Espers' concentration, and Tetsuo's paranoid and tormented personality all but precludes any happy outcome.

[–] raduz123 12 years ago

I think it was a mixture of them wanting him to stay and the simple fact they are children, they are resorting to essentially bullying by asserting their more honed mental abilities. I don't think they were trying to kill him at this point as it would have been relatively easy for them to do so. It is obvious they are aware of how potentially dangerous he is though. The reaction to the blood again is a childlike overreaction.

[–] the_mad_guitarist 12 years ago

They were trying to kill him, but you have to realize that these are kids with weapons. They have been forced to control their abilities, which means shutting them off from the world and making their youth stand still. They feared Kiyoko's vision would come true if they didn't kill Tetsuo. So, disguising themselves, they tried to attack him. Tetsuo's power was already greater than they imagined, and the glass in his foot scared them. The Espers are essentially kids that age as the film goes on. Their attempted assassination was foiled by mere blood- they didn't know what they were doing. It took the sequence of events that happened in the ending for them to realize what they could do to stop Tetsuo. They matured. For the first time, they experienced life.

"All those moments will be lost in time.. like tears in rain. Time to die."

[–] Ghost the Lost Soul 12 years ago

Good analysis!

---------------
People of the IMDB forums: Please learn how to type!