Akira and Persepolis: A Fight Against the Corrupt

Paper by Julia Dal Pozzo.

War and corruption has stayed the same throughout human history in all cultures. Depictions of war in the media tend to represent similar stories of their violence, tragedies, and warnings against them in many different art forms. Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi; 2007) and Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo; 1988) are two films that share similar stories of coming of age and loss of innocence, rebellion, government/political corruption, and the consequences of war. Both films were adapted into animation based on graphic novels of the same titles, directed by the authors who wrote them. Persepolis is a French/Iranian post-revolutionary animated autobiographical film that tells the story of Marjane Satrapi’s life growing up and facing oppression in Iran after the Islamic Revolution highlighting the power of propaganda, nationalism, censorship, and the evils of war. Akira is a science fiction Japanese anime cyberpunk film that follows a young delinquent biker gang as they attempt to save their friend
from corruption after being subjected to a secret military experiment, reflecting Katsuhiro Otomo’s experiences living in Japanese society post World War II. The two films are critically acclaimed within the film and animation industry, are thematically very similar while historically and stylistically very different, and both use unique animation and film styles to tell their stories.

While sharing similar themes, Persepolis and Akira have very different historical
contexts that are important to understand first. Persepolis’ graphic novel was published in 2000
through 2003, while the film was released in 2007. The story’s setting takes place in Iran in the
1970s and 1980s. Persepolis follows the true story of author and director Marjane Satrapi’s life
growing up during this time in Iran under the tyrannical rule of the Shah, and then under the
control and censorship of a corrupt regime after the Islamic Revolution. The Islamic Revolution
was an uprising in Iran from 1978 to 1979 “resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on February
11, 1979, and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic” (Janet Afary, Britannica).
However, this did not mean freedom from tyranny for the Iranian people. A new government
regime took power, and “took political vengeance, with hundreds of people who had worked for
the shah’s regime reportedly executed. The remaining domestic opposition was then suppressed,
its members being systematically imprisoned or killed. Iranian women were required to wear the
veil, Western music and alcohol were banned, and the punishments prescribed by Islamic law
were reinstated” (Afary, Britannica). Iranian society became increasingly oppressive, full of
censorship, and lacked much freedom for its citizens. This is shown in Persepolis, as Marjane is
forced to wear the veil herself, buy music illegally, and her family must dump their alcohol into
the toilet out of fear of being thrown in prison. On the other hand, the Akira manga began
serialization in 1982 and ended in 1990, the film was released in 1988. The setting of Akira
actually takes place in a futuristic Japan, 31 years after a fictional World War III in the year 2019.
The film focuses on the story of mainly two boys, Kaneda, the leader of a rebellious teenage
biker gang called The Capsules, and his best friend Tetsuo, who ends up as a victim of secret
government experimentation. In the opening sequence of the film, there is an aerial shot of
Tokyo as a large explosion levels the city. This mirrors the end of World War II and the atomic
bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan. However, much of the rest of the
film seems to “resemble real political actors and actions in Japanese history: the Colonel leads a
coup that suggests Japan’s prewar militarization or postwar remilitarization; graphic images of
street demonstrations recall the massive public protests of the 1950s and 1960s, whose targets
included Japan’s support for U.S. military policy; and a vaguely defined group of “urban
guerrillas” suggests the Japanese Red Army terrorism of the 1960s and 1970s” (Christopher
Bolton, From Ground Zero to Degree Zero: Akira from Origin to Oblivion). Akira seems to
combine 50 years of political struggles in Japan since World War II into the Cold War along with
society’s responses to those struggles.

With historical context, the themes in Persepolis and Akira become much more clear.
The most notable themes that the two films have in common is the focus on the corruption of the
government and the suppression of the people and society. There are similar scenes of protestors
in both films that are dealt with by the government using force that show the citizen’s attempts to
fight back against the corruption of the government. During the opening scene in Akira, a
background news broadcast provides context on how unemployed workers are protesting new tax
reforms put in place by the former Japanese prime minister. This is something that can be easily
missed by the viewer if they aren’t paying attention, but is a clever way the film adds to its world
building without being too direct. The protest turns into a riot between student protestors and
police. The protestors can be seen knocking over police vehicles and setting things on fire, while
the police are shown beating protestors with batons and shooting them with tear gas canisters.
This is shown as a montage or almost like a transitional scene in between scenes featuring the
main characters and story. This causes the viewer to understand that the issues in the city are
much larger than the issues the main characters are facing, yet still affects their story. Protestors
and anti-government revolutionaries are labeled as terrorists by the government. The government
is unable to compromise, as throughout the film they are depicted as constantly disagreeing and
fighting within themselves and unable to find a way to lead their country. In Persepolis, there is a
protest scene that is shown in a flashback sequence, with only blacked out silhouettes of the
characters. It shows unarmed protestors trying to fight back against tanks and masked officers
wearing gas masks under a heavy fog or mist. The use of the silhouette makes the scene feel
more sinister and dehumanizing of the protestors as if they are just one movement and not people
with their own lives. In the same way it dehumanizes the officers and makes them seem like a
monster hunting its prey. The scene shows a close up shot of a man who is shot by the officers as
he falls on the ground with blood pouring out of him as many hands reach for him and lift him
into the air. In that moment he becomes a martyr of the revolution and a symbol of the people’s
disdain for the government and its oppression of them. Similar to Akira, the protestors are
dehumanized, but the film represents that through the way it is animated with silhouettes,
whereas in Akira, the protestors are dehumanized through the narrative by the government
labeling them as terrorists. Both films depict a corrupt government versus a fed up society.

Another theme that both films explore is the distrust of the government and lack of
respect for authority from the youth. In the beginning of Akira there are many establishing shots
where the viewer is introduced to the setting of Neo-Tokyo with run-down streets covered in
graffiti full of profanities, trash, and a sleazy bar that sells illegal drugs and alcohol to minors.
This setting in the city and even the school remains consistent throughout the film. These
establishing shots tell the viewer a lot about the state of the city and the people who live there
without any other exposition. There are similar establishing aerial shots in Persepolis of the city
with cars driving through like it’s a normal day, but with views of buildings that have been
destroyed by bombings, rubble on the streets, and anti-American graffiti showing how the fear of
violence and impending danger that hangs over the citizen’s heads. Following this scene,
Marjane walks through a group of men all wearing long black coats offering to sell her
contraband. She is caught by two old women who begin to question her about her veil and
threaten to turn her in. The two women are animated to move like snakes with limbs hidden by
their clothes in a way that makes them feel creepy and untrustworthy to the viewer. Their
snake-like movements are symbolic in a way of how it would be a betrayal to Marjane for two
women who are oppressed like her to turn her in for the way she wears her veil. Marjane lies and
begins to cry to escape which works for her. She then happily listens to her illegal rock music as
scenes of the war begin to play out. This scene shows how Marjane is rebelling against an
extremely oppressive and controlling government in one of the few ways she can, and also how
she has learned to easily lie to those who have authority over her. In Akira, rebellious youth is the
central focus, but the reaction to their outburst is much more telling. After getting into a violent
brawl with a rival biker gang and being arrested by police, Kaneda’s gang returns to their run
down trade school for troubled teenagers. There are multiple wide establishing shots showing the
school covered in trash and graffiti, kids smoking, fighting, sleeping on the ground, and more.

These shots are all shown while the viewer can hear off screen dialogue of a teacher yelling at
the gang telling them if they mess up again their lives will be over and they are otherwise
basically worthless. The camera then shows the gang as the principal sits at his desk as the
teacher punches each boy in the face yelling “DISCIPLINE!” The viewer takes in all of these
things at one time and is forced to realize that the students aren’t the problem, but the school is
too as the imagery implies that it doesn’t attempt to motivate or even help the kids. They are
punished with violence and only behave through fear. This is emphasized by a shot of an empty
trash filled hallway outside of the principal’s office where the only thing heard is the muffled
voices of gang off screen telling the principal “Yes sir!”, even if the gang doesn’t respect the
principal or teachers at all. This scene represents how the youth is rebelling in a society that has
been neglected by a government that has basically given up on its citizens all together, and they
only feel forced to comply out of the fear of violence. Also in Persepolis, there is a scene of
young boys being told they will be given the keys to paradise if they die in war for their country.

Another scene shows Marjane’s mother’s fear that Marjane will be jailed and raped after she
questions the government and authority in class. The government is manipulating them through
fear, violence, and education. In Akira, the government experiments on children attempting to
turn one into a super weapon they can control, including Tetsuo, which ends up with his
psychological decline. The Colonel does not care about Tetsuo’s wellbeing, but instead if they
will be able to control his power. The government does not care about the youth and only their
own gain of power. No authority in either film attempts to help society and especially the youth
and leaves them to figure out the unforgiving world they live in on their own.

Persepolis and Akira also share the similarity of being animated films, but they are very
distinct in the stylistic choices made during the animation and filmmaking process. Persepolis
and Akira were both animated using traditional hand drawn cell animation techniques. Akira’s
use of this technique was a product of its time, and actually was considered extremely innovative
in the animation techniques it used. The film was the result of extreme talent and hard work by
68 key animators who hand drew and hand painted every frame at the rate of 24 frames per
second which was a high standard at the time. Persepolis’ use of this technique was in an attempt
to reflect the original hand drawn style of the graphic novel. The film’s animators also utilized
techniques that attempted to mimic Japanese manga which was actually popularized in the west
by the success of Akira and similar projects. Another extremely notable stylistic difference in
both films is the use of color. In film and especially animation, color is a very intentional and
important element that helps convey a specific mood or feeling to the viewer. Persepolis was
animated in black and white to reflect the original style of the graphic novel, similar to the reason
it was hand drawn, and Akira is known for its innovative use of color. According to an interview
with Marjane Satrapi conducted by Jean-Pierre Lavoignat, she stated “The novels have been a
worldwide success because the drawings are abstract, black-and-white. I think this helped
everybody to relate to it, whether in China, Israel, Chile, or Korea; it’s a universal story.

Persepolis has dreamlike moments; the drawings help us to maintain cohesion and consistency,
and the black-and-white also helped in this respect, as did the abstraction of the setting and
location” (Animation World Network). Marjane Satrapi explains that the film was animated in
black and white because the characters become someone the viewer can see themself in and the
story stops being foreign or unreachable for people who would otherwise disregard it due to their
unconscious or conscious bias and or prejudice. Akira is well known for its use of color as it used
a record-breaking 327 different color shades and is noted for inventing 50 colors specifically for
the film. This was because of the fact that a majority of the film took place at night, along with
Otomo’s decision of wanting to create a moody and dark atmosphere to help convey the dark
grittiness of the story. The darkness of the city was highlighted by the bright neon colors of the
lights that truly made it feel alive in a distant cyberpunk future. Every choice made in the
animation process of both of these films was distinctly intentional and important in conveying
the stories they were meant to.

The two films also had very unique receptions to them. Persepolis is technically a
contemporary Iranian post-revolutionary film, which is characterized by their innovativeness to
combat censorship by the Iranian government. In the early days of the revolution, “entertainers,
actors, and film-makers were also subjected to ‘purification’ involving legal charges,
incarceration, expropriation of their possessions, and various types of censorship including
barring of their faces, voices, and bodies from the screen” (The Oxford History of World
Cinema, 675). Due to the fear by the government that films could be used to spread political and
social propaganda, they were heavily censored, and foreign films were banned altogether. Many
Iranian filmmakers were inspired by foreign filmmakers, specifically those in France and other
countries and the techniques they used. A lot of Iranian films are produced in foreign countries
so that they can avoid censorship altogether. Despite the commercial success of Iranian films
changing the film industry to be more lenient, films still faced heavy censorship. Persepolis won
the grand-jury award at the Cannes film festival in May 2007, but was denounced by the Iranian
government and was not allowed to be featured in the Bangkok International Film Festival. In a
letter sent to the French cultural attaché in Tehran, “Farabi [Cinema Foundation] managing
director Alireza Rezadad accused “Persepolis” of presenting “an unreal picture of the outcomes
and achievements of the Islamic revolution.” (Ali Jaafar, Variety). However, Satrapi was only
telling the story of her life and the truth of the reality she lived. Internationally however,
Persepolis was very well received “as a French-language, 2-D, black-and-white animated film
that deals with social, political and cultural issues, Persepolis already [stood] apart from the CG,
full-color animated movies that dominate the market” (Animation World Network). According to
IMDb, the film has a total of 58 award nominations and 30 wins, including a nomination for Best
Animated Feature at the 2008 Academy Awards. Despite facing censorship in the country that
inspired its story, Persepolis is a highly acclaimed film that is highly regarded for its animation,
cinematography, and storytelling.

The reception of Akira was very different from that of Persepolis. Akira had a huge
impact on the animation industry in not only Japan but also Western cinema. What made many
Japanese films unique was that for all genres of film “since the mid-1980s, many major
companies’ films had depended on manga (Japanese comics) as their story sources. By adapting
the story of manga printed in weekly magazines, a certain measure of box-office profit is assured
because of the already tremendous popularity of the story-line and characters” (The Oxford
History of World Cinema, 721). Akira is one such film that was animated as an adaptation from a
Japanese manga series. The manga series was already popular and well known in Japan which
provided the film with a strong foundation for the film’s success. Japan has created animated
films since the 1910s during the silent era, but there was a rise in animation when film
companies began to “[emphasize] the production of feature-length animated films. Many
animated films have been made for television in Japan, the majority for children. However the
situation changed in the 1980s, with feature-length animation for a broader audience being
produced” (The Oxford History of World Cinema, 721). The success of Akira was a major
contributor to this change. Akira is a major example of a film that contributed to the rise of
anime and “its place in the history of narrative film has been assured by a number of anime
features that approach or exceed their live-action counterparts in subtlety and sophistication of
form…The best anime features evince a structural complexity, a visual density, and a richness of
theme that give them a legitimate place within the history of Japanese narrative film” (David
Cook, A History of Narrative Film). Akira not only had an impact on animation and film, but
also in Western pop culture as well where “it kicked down the door for animated films with
mature themes, paving the way for renegade animation from directors like Satoshi Kon. Its
legacy is such that it continues to reverberate in pop culture’s echo chamber, occasionally
reappearing in properties clearly influenced by its stunning visuals. Without Akira, we wouldn’t
have The Matrix, Looper, Chronicle, or Inception” (Trey Taylor, Dazed). Akira received a cult
following and high critical acclaim on its international release. The film is still widely regarded
and referenced today throughout pop culture and other media as it is considered one of the most
influential anime films ever made.

Persepolis and Akira are two animated films that touch on very dark topics in a unique
and compelling way. One is a true story of a young girl’s life facing oppression and violence in
her everyday life, and the other is a story of what the future could be like if the corrupt are left
unchecked. Both films are completely separate from one another in their creation, and still
manage to warn against similar ideas of a corrupt government showing how the desire for power
and violence can easily become a part of human nature. Both also show how animation as a
medium is more than just entertainment for children and is actually a very unique form of story
telling that represents emotions and stories in a way that live action cannot. Both Akira and
Persepolis are highly acclaimed and have made their mark on animation, film, and storytelling as
a whole and will continue to do so.

References
Janet Afary Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara.
Author of The Iranian Constitutional Revolution. “Iranian Revolution.” Encyclopædia
Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 5 Nov. 2025,
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Bolton, Christopher. “From Ground Zero to Degree Zero: Akira from Origin to
Oblivion.” Mechademia: Second Arc, vol. 9, 2014, pp. 295–315. JSTOR,
https://doi.org/10.5749/mech.9.2014.0295. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
Naficy, Hamid. “Iranian Cinema.” The Oxford History of World Cinema, Oxford University
Press USA – OSO, Oxford, 1999, pp. 672–677.
Komatsu, Hiroshi. “The Modernization of Japanese Film.” The Oxford History of World
Cinema, Oxford University Press USA – OSO, Oxford, 1999, pp. 714–721.
Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.
Jaafar, Ali. “Satrapi Blasts Iran’s ‘persepolis’ Protest.” Variety, Variety, 24 May 2007,
variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/satrapi-blasts-iran-s-persepolis-protest-1117965713/.
Hetherington, Janet. “‘Persepolis’ in Motion.” Animation World Network, 2007,
www.awn.com/animationworld/persepolis-motion.
Taylor, Trey. “How Akira Sent Shockwaves Through Pop Culture and Changed It.” Dazed, 31
May 2016,
www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/31328/1/akira-anime-studio-ghibli-kanye-west-mic
hael-jackson-pop-culture.