AKIRA: Motorcycle Slides are Cool.
Like with the "Enhance" sequence on my Blade Runner page, this bike scene from Akira is ICONIC. I'd argue there are few other texts where motorcycles are as plot or character relevant as one of the most famous anime movies in all of animation history. This scene, this moment, is just one example of the mastery of animation and storytelling that comes from this movie. However, I'm focusing on this one action - the bike slide - for a reason.
Whether another anime like on the right, the 1990s animated Batman series on the left, or the first version of Star Wars: The Clone Wars tv series, this bike slide is a repeated visual in animation. While this is an example of an allusion - specifically an homage - that's originally more of an Easter Egg than one that carries thematic or character information, there's a better way to look at this allusion: Japanese Anime does impact animation on a global scale. And the West can recognize a dope visual when it's seen. This also means that Akira was a popular enough movie globally to be imitated in various animated shows and films since it's release in 1988, and it's still being imitated.
Want some more? Click here for a brief sampling of homages to Akira's bike slide.
So, care to enter into a discussion about global entertainment? The influence non-Western entertainment can have on global entertainment? How wicked the bike slide is as a halting move showing the biker's skill?