The Technological Effects on Authority

  

Technology has the capability to enhance the physical and mental abilities of humans. This can lead to an abuse of power, which would be consequential for regular people. This occurs in Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga Akira, where Tetsuo takes advantage of his powers and confronts Kaneda about him always trying to be the leader. Otomo portrays the superiority of Tetsuo in this scene through intense dialogue and descriptive artistry within the panels.

                                   

The font size and the dialogue itself within these panels portray the fearlessness and rage of Tetsuo and his power over Kaneda. In the top panel of the left page, it highlights Tetsuo’s feelings over Kaneda. He always thought that Kaneda tried to control him, and he was angry. Otomo depicts Tetsuo’s anger by making the font thicker and adding exclamations points. This adds an emphasis on how serious Tetsuo was. Kaneda continues to mock Tetsuo, and Tetsuo screams out Kaneda’s name, which implies that Kaneda was crossing the line and there was going to be consequences if Kaneda did not stop. Kaneda pulls out a gun, and in the top panel of the right page, Tetsuo asks Kaneda what he has in his hand, but he does not seem concerned. The dialogue in that panel has a normal font size, so that signifies that Tetsuo said this in a calm manner. Otomo does this to convey that Tetsuo was not worried because Tetsuo knew that he could easily hurt Kaneda if he wanted to. Additionally, Tetsuo knew that Kaneda considers him a close friend, which shows Tetsuo’s power over Kaneda.

            

The drawings within the panels represent the irritated emotions of Tetsuo and Kaneda, and it conveys the dominance of Tetsuo. Tetsuo finally told Kaneda how he felt, and he did it with no hesitation. Otomo wanted the reader to know that Tetsuo did not have any fear in standing up to Kaneda. In almost all the panels in this scene, it only shows one character at a time given that this confrontation was only between Tetsuo and Kaneda. The little details within the panels like the sweat on Tetsuo’s and Kaneda’s faces help increase the intensity between the two. The top panel on the right has a drawing of Tetsuo smiling when Kaneda pulled out the gun. Tetsuo’s facial expression lets Kaneda know that Tetsuo is unfazed. The technology that enhanced Tetsuo’s telekinetic ability is what gave him confidence, and he knew what he was capable of. Although Kaneda does not seem afraid in this scene, he does take a moment to decide whether to shoot Tetsuo or not, and that is because Tetsuo had authority over him.

Tetsuo always thought that Kaneda had power over him, but he never said anything because he was intimidated by him. However, now that Tetsuo had superhuman abilities, it was the opposite. Otomo portrayed Tetsuo’s power in this scene by changing the size of the words, expressing dramatic dialogue, and drawing specific details on the faces of Tetsuo and Kaneda. Technology can be used for anything. A person can certainly use technology to have an edge on others, and this can lead to control. Otomo wants to inform the audience on the consequences of experimenting with things that can be dangerous.                  

                                                                   Works Cited          

Ōtomo Katsuhiro. Akira. Kodansha Comics, 2009.