'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/akirabodyhorror_8777.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[FromBadToWorse And it gets]] [[EldritchTransformation even worse.]]]]

Considered one of the greatest animated films of all time, ''AKIRA'' has left a lasting impact on audiences around the world. And their [[NeverSleepAgain sleeping patterns.]]

!!Film
* After Tetsuo first escapes from the lab and is rescued from the Clowns by Kaneda and crew, he gets assaulted by horrific hallucinations, including a nightmarish hallucination where he falls and hits the ground and spills his guts onto the ground and tries to scoop them back up.
* The scene where Tetsuo and Kaori get cornered by a group of [[JapaneseDelinquents Clowns]] can be pretty hard to watch. Especially the part where one of them rips open her shirt, [[WouldHitAGirl then punches her square in the face]], knocking her out on the ground face-first. Keep in mind, this is a frail-looking, terrified, 15-year-old girl being both physically and sexually assaulted by guys twice her size. And all of it is played disturbingly straight.
* The Espers themselves had been [[BodyHorror horrifically scarred]] by the government’s experiments, leaving them with the bodies of 12-year-olds despite being chronologically around their early 40's and with features of someone much older. Not to mention them having blue skin too. And it is drawn in [[GrossUpCloseUp horrific detail]] in both the film and the manga.
** The conditions in which they live are nightmarish in their own special way. They are forced to live in a giant playroom owned and operated by the Japanese government. Their existence in and of themselves is a secret among secrets, they are forbidden from leaving (even if they escape, they simply cannot survive on their own without supervision or medication) and they are [[CrapsaccharineWorld forbidden from enjoying any kind of exciting or thrilling entertainment]] out of fear that their emotions will [[PowerIncontinence trigger their powers.]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt_1qRVdIBs There's the nightmare scene.]] After undergoing the experiment, Tetsuo is left to recuperate in what looks like a child's bedroom. At first, he sees miniature versions of a teddy bear, stuffed bunny, and anthropomorphic car toy crawl onto his bed in an eerily human manner. After they vanish the second Tetsuo grabs them in his hand, he reels in horror as he watches all toys scattered across the floor assemble to form a gigantic teddy bear with a ravenous, fanged, green reptile for a right hand, a plush rabbit with fangs, and a toy car. All of which come straight out of the walls (which become giant LEGO bricks) trying to drown him with ''milk.''
** And the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcpFdngLi7Y soundtrack]] that's played is an eerie repeating humming of odd noises that start off quiet and small before [[HellIsThatNoise gradually becoming louder and more maddening as the piece progresses]]!
* Tetsuo's way of dealing with the hospital personnel in his way is one of the most decidedly spine-chilling examples of PowersDoTheFighting -- telekinetically squashing the poor bastards against the corridor walls with such force that they're reduced to '''red paste''', all the while Tetsuo simply walks past them in a half-dazed rage without raising a single finger.
** If you look closely at the scene where he obliterates the doctor and his security detail, you can see ''fingers'' falling down from the ceiling, having pulverized them with enough force to ''fuse their pulped bodies into the walls.''
* As Tetsuo proceeds with his rampage across Neo-Tokyo, he begins to experience withdrawal symptoms from the pills used to keep his powers in check. First, they manifest as crippling migraines. Then, crippling body pain. Then, his powers try to manifest themselves ''physically'' to keep themselves contained, as the wires in his prosthetic arm start trying to dig themselves into whatever they can find. Then, ''that'' scene of the movie begins...
* '''[[SignatureScene The mutation scene.]]''' The ''infamously'' disturbing scene where Tetsuo [[SuperpowerMeltdown loses control of his powers]] and [[BodyHorror transforms into]] a [[EldritchAbomination giant human-cyborg-fetus-amoeba]] that consumes everything it touches, including Kaori - who is tragically crushed to a bloody pulp inside of him while he ''feels her pain.''
** And that's just the tip of the iceberg, because in the manga, this sequence is much, MUCH longer and therefore depicted in ''[[NauseaFuel even greater detail]]'' than what we see here. And all of what is depicted in the film is just ''a mere fraction'' of what the manga depicts.
* Right after Tetsuo begins mutating in full force, there's a split-second shot of Kaneda losing the grip on his rifle with a look on his face like [[BringMyBrownPants he'd just shit his pants out of shock and horror.]]
-->''"Help me, Kaneda! Help, please!"''
* The official soundtrack for ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' is able to be frightening without words. Never try to listen to this at night with the lights off.
** Some versions of Kaneda's theme like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB6Ch_VAfIk this one]] start out with the sound of motorbikes screeching in the background. To someone at home not expecting it and listening to it on headphones, it can be quite startling.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KvseLO2apA Battle against Clown]] is full of it. There's perhaps no other song in the OST that sounds more post-apocalyptic. The beginning consists of rhythmic, asthmatic heaving with terrifying clashing noises in the background. Not helping is that it plays during some of the most violent scenes in the film like the resistance member's death.
** Exodus from the Underground Fortress is perhaps the most upbeat track on the movie but even it can be overwhelming. There's a rather unsettling part in the song when it sounds like the instruments are all just piling up on each other. it only lasts a few seconds but its still pretty unnerving.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NpbLMvtEsU Shomyoh]]. Especially if you’re not used to listening to Buddhist chanting. Especially the first two minutes of the song where it's basically non-rhythmic chanting with creepy ancient percussions in the background (fortunately, it's just the musicians warming up). Let's not even get started on the second half of the song. Even people who are used to that kind of chanting can definitely feel terrified as the tone of the song starts to get more and more desperate.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcoYg2uUg84 “Illusion,”]] while peaceful, has chanting and music from a Noh play in its second half that gets increasingly frantic, punctuated with [[JumpScare startlingly loud]] gong crashes.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZYKOll6G7M Doll's Polyphony]] is in a league of its own. Even outside of its [[SurrealHorror signature scene]], it can be very unsettling. The song ''really'' starts getting creepy when the older, louder, ''booming'' voices start chanting.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fshgWIpcPeE “Mutation”]] takes the cake, runs away with the fork and stabs the baker when it comes to pure terror. Booming, ominous Buddhist chanting and distorted, binaural screaming makes Tetsuo’s already horrifying transformation all the more traumatic.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKvtbH8qUWU “Requiem”]] sounds less like a funeral procession and more like the '''end of the fucking world.'''
* The death of the spy escorting Takashi in the film is equally scary and [[TearJerker sad]] to watch, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill especially how ruthless the military are in gunning him down.]] Granted, he pulled his gun on them, arguably to get them to shoot him dead so they wouldn't be able to interrogate him and make him spill the beans, but still...
** To make things even worse, this is the first really big death in the film proper aside from the gunned-down dogs, and does a damn good job at hammering home that [[RRatedOpening THIS IS NOT FOR KIDS]].
* The fact that the Espers, including Akira, were once ordinary children who were taken in by the government and subjected to horrible experiments so they can become psychic weapons to be used for military and political purposes. In the manga, it was said that some children ended up physically handicapped (like Masaru and Kiyoko), or were so damaged that they ended up brain-dead. The anime doesn't help as in a flashback we see Takashi strapped to an operating table, while Kiyoko struggles against her bindings with a terrified expression as the doctors operating on her force a breathing mask full of anesthetic gas (used to calm patients during surgeries) onto her face.
* Seconds before the fateful crash that would change the fate of Neo-Tokyo forever, Tetsuo catches up to a Clown that wiped out on his bike and ''strikes'' him across the face at high speed with a ''rubber mallet.'' A FreezeFrameBonus onboard the army helicopter shows that the Clown was taken in alongside Testuo and, while it's almost miraculous that the impact didn't turn his head into cat food, the JSDF is so rightfully paranoid about their secret project that they were willing to take a ''corpse'' along with them just to make sure there were no witnesses.
* The realistic portions of the movie are pretty nasty as well. One of Kaneda's buddies makes the unfortunate choice of jumping on the front of the Clown's leader's bike. He gets headbutted off and flies under the wheels of the bike. You can hear the nasty sound of his arm shattering to pieces from being run over.
* [[ScaryBlackMan Joker,]] the leader of the Clowns. While his gang is indeed made up of crazed, psychopathic junkies, Joker himself is not to be messed with. He can headbutt a gang member unconscious while on his motorcycle. In the manga, he was attacked ''headfirst'' with a running motorcycle tire and he somehow kept his ''face intact.''
* The opening of the movie. It's a long shot of Tokyo that pans out, showing the city on July 16th, 1988. Then, the [[SphereOfDestruction black dome]] appears and vaporizes everything. Millions of people, just going on with their lives like normal, all gone in an instant. And the only sound during all of this is an eerie gust of a wind. It doesn't help that this scene is very reminiscent of a [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo nuclear explosion]], something that Japanese society is all too familiar with.
!!Manga
* While the anime is pretty famous for its NightmareFuel, the original manga which the anime was adapted from was pretty nightmarish, too. For one, the characters live in a CrapsackWorld where there's lots of people dying left and right in brutal ways, unruly and savage teenagers who run vicious ''bōsōzoku'' gangs, brutal policemen, a shady and corrupt government whose members engage in all sorts of clandestine activities, powerful psychics, and of course, the titular child whose psychic awakening was responsible for the destruction of not one city, but ''two''! And the world they live in is still reeling from World War III and is thrust into the brink of another World War by the events in the manga.
* Shortly after Akira is revived, Nezu attempts to shoot him...and he misses, killing Takashi. Akira, seeing one of his only friends killed in front of him, has an emotional meltdown that turns into a ''psychic'' one. Cut to millions of Neo-Tokyo's residents living their lives like they would on any other day, only to have it ''[[SphereOfDestruction annihilated]]'' by Akira's dome of destruction.
* Tetsuo's utter lack of human decency is placed front and center stage, where he has a harem of sex slaves taken from Neo-Tokyo's refugee population and a coterie of psychic bodyguards who [[TheSpartanWay earned their place]] beside him simply by ''surviving'' the pills used to awaken their latent abilities. And that's not including his natural incompetence as the Great Tokyo Empire's "Prime Minister", allowing famine and anarchy to run rampant through the ruined city. He even goes so far as to drug the entire food supply with amphetamines to keep his followers as loyal and fanatical as possible, literally addicted to his regime. He even prohibits food that ''hasn't'' been tampered with. Who would have thought a 15-year-old gangster with an inferiority complex would be so bad at leading a rogue nation?
* The scene in the manga where a group of Tetsuo's thugs try to force themselves on Kei. Fortunately, [[MamaBear her aunt]] rushes in to save her by caving in her assailant's head with an ''RPG round.''
* After escaping from the hospital in the manga, Tetsuo is found and cornered by a group of Clowns that recognize him, ready and eager to bash his head in with an improvised flail. Tetsuo's migraine intensifies until his would-be murderer [[YourHeadAsplode gets an even worse migraine than his.]]
-->'''Joker:''' What do you mean Chip's head exploded?!
* Hell, the ''pills'' used by the Japanese government to keep the Espers' psychic powers from evolving out of control is nightmare fuel in and of themselves. A single ''grain'' of one of those capsules is five times more potent than an entire bag of amphetamines. The first thing Tetsuo does after becoming the Clowns' new leader is gulp down enough drugs to kill a rhinoceros just to get rid of his ''withdrawal symptoms'', plus a vial of meth that is ''75% pure.''
-->'''Clown:''' ¥350,000 worth of dope. Gone like that.
* Tetsuo hides in a warehouse after being cornered by both his gang and the JSDF, throwing everything from crates to scaffolding to ''forklifts'' at both sides in a withdrawal-fueled psychic rage. Just as Kaneda manages to shoot Tetsuo in the gut, Tetsuo throws Yamagata towards him and [[YourHeadAsplode bursts his head wide open]] right in Kaneda's ''face,'' leaving him to cradle his former friend in his arms, sans head and splattered with blood. Even the Colonel's men are taken aback by the scene's brutality.
-->'''Soldier:''' Grossest thing I've ever seen...
* When Tetsuo reveals that he has the government-issued pill in his possession, Colonel Shikishima is understandably freaked out and ''demands'' him to spit it out. [[TooDumbToLive Tetsuo swallows it]] and goes into violent convulsions almost immediately before becoming unresponsive several seconds later. While the army scrambles to recover the dead and wounded while waiting on Doctor Onishi to arrive, Tetsuo ''jolts back to life'' like a board on a spring. Had the Colonel not offered Tetsuo greater power in exchange for being brought back to military custody willingly, he would have been annihilated where he stood.
-->'''Kaneda:''' [[YouBastard THEY THREW YOU OUT OF HELL!!!]]
* The conflict between the Allied forces and the Great Tokyo Empire deteriorates to such an insane degree that the admiral of the American fleet gives the order to [[TheOnlyWayToBeSure bomb what is left of Neo-Tokyo into oblivion.]] The Empire’s starving “citizens” excitedly hail the incoming planes as a sign of relief, only to quickly realize that the “care packages” are actually bombs.
* Tetsuo escapes from the aircraft carrier by ''absorbing himself'' into one of the fighter jets. Cue the pilot practically shitting himself as he sees Tetsuo ''grow'' out of the fuselage.
* A JSDF assassin is deployed to kill both Akira and Tetsuo with a dart containing a specially-designed biotoxin. As soon as he crosses paths with Tetsuo, his head [[YourHeadAsplode bursts like a bad melon.]]




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