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"Oh, flames of purity, raze this corrupt city!"
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This article contains plot details about the source material.

Takashi (タカシ), designated No. 26, is a major supporting character in the animated movie Akira. He is a member of the Espers, a trio of psychic children cared for by the Japanese government of Neo-Tokyo.

Appearance[]

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Takashi seen in the Espers’ flashback, before the explosion of Akira.

Takashi has pale turquoise wrinkled skin and short hair. Despite having the body of a child, he has prematurely aged.

While he was in the outside world, Takashi wore a red-yellow jacket with a dark green circle with a capital 'B' on the left front of his jacket; a dark blue shirt with a yellow collar; dark blue pants; and a pair of normal shoes. His clothes were most likely supplied to him by members of the Resistance who mistook him for Akira.

While living in the Nursery, Takashi wore short-sleeved hospital scrubs with closed-toe slippers worn by medical patients. His outfit is the same as Masaru's, which only the color was different (Takashi's outfit being green).

In the Espers' flashback, he has dark hair and healthy skin, and he wears a collared purple shirt with green short suspenders, shoes, and socks. After the psychic experiments began, he wore the hospital scrubs that he would wear in Neo Tokyo. He wearing a white cap to concentrate his psychic powers.

Personality[]

Takashi is very shy and humble, and a bit of a soft-spoken person. Though he's very reluctant to fight and tries to avoid confrontation if possible, he is a very compassionate person and often feels obliged to help if there are people in danger. Towards the end of the movie, he jumped into a psychic explosion generated by Akira to save Kaneda from being absorbed.

Takashi is close friends with the Espers. While he maintains a good relationship with all of them, he is closest to Kiyoko, a fellow Esper, relying on her for guidance. Because of her physical frailty, Takashi is very protective of Kiyoko, and her safety is seen as the first priority above all else.

History[]

Sometime before the events of the movie, Takashi was younger. He and a group of forty other children were acquired as wards of the Japanese government of the original Tokyo. It is likely that Takashi is an orphan. At the time, the Japanese government was spearheading a secret parapsychology project that focused on the development of psychic powers, possibly for militaristic and political purposes. During this time, Takashi befriended Kiyoko, Masaru, and Akira.

Out of the original children, only Kiyoko, Masaru, Takashi, and Akira survived the government's horrible experiments and showed more promise, so the government devoted more of their time on them. One day, Akira grew too powerful and unleashed a psychic explosion that obliterated the original Tokyo. To prevent a future incident from happening, Takashi and his remaining friends - now called "The Espers" - were put in prolonged isolation together, routinely fed drugs that both suppressed their psychic powers and caused premature aging. He was the only one to have no physical handicaps as the result of these drugs, but Kiyoko and Masaru weren't as lucky, having had become bedridden and afflicted with polio, respectively.

One day, Takashi was kidnapped from the Nursery where he lived with his friends by members of an anti-government resistance group, who mistook him for the fabled Akira and hoped to use him to bring down Neo-Tokyo's heavily corrupt government. One of these members, while escorting Takashi, was brutally shot down by riot police before the boy's eyes. Takashi was immensely frightened by the man’s death, his psychic powers reacting and causing untold destruction as well as city-wide panic.

While wandering alone on a highway, Takashi had a chance run-in with Tetsuo Shima, a rookie member of the Capsules. The Capsules at the time were involved in a violent gang dispute with the Clowns. In an attempt to prove himself to the Capsule's leader, Shotaro Kaneda, Tetsuo did not see Takashi standing in the middle of the road. Takashi put psychokinetic shields around himself in self-defense, but he ended up grievously injuring Tetsuo, being directly responsible for his motorcycle accident and resulting injuries.

Later he attacked with the others Tetsuo with the purpose of killing him because he saw him as the one who would awaken him, which would be disastrous. The attack failed and he, together with the others, later awaken Akira, who takes Tetsuo with him. He also goes with Akira together with the others.

Abilities[]

Takashi's main special ability is telekinesis, which is instrumental in moving the plot of AKIRA. He can use it to fly and manipulate objects, moving or making them explode like Tetsuo's motorcycle. He can also use it to fight someone or defend a friend. His telekinetic abilities are accompanied by his ability to teleport, which he used to bring Kei to the Espers, and can communicate through telepathy.

Etymology[]

  • The name Takashi is written in katakana (タカシ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (孝, 隆, 崇 or 尊), it could possibly mean:
    • 孝 - "filial piety, obedience".
    • 隆 - "noble, prosperous".
    • 崇 - "esteem, honor, venerate".
    • 尊 - "revered, valuable, precious, noble, exalted".

Trivia[]

  • Unlike his manga incarnation, Takashi is shown to be alive throughout the entire movie, as the movie had abridged the (then unfinished) original manga; thus the scene where Nezu accidentally shot him was left out
  • He appears to be the one responsible for the whole series, after he explodes Tetsuo's bike, Tetsuo becomes the main antagonist, having powers, then killing everyone.
  • In a mashup of the manga Akira with The Simpsons, Takashis role is played by Wendell Borton
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