Shotaro Kaneda (Akira)

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Shotaro Kaneda
Akira character

Birthday:	September 5, 2003
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Height:	5 ft 6 in
Weight:	116 lb
Age:	16
Seiyu:	Mitsuo Iwata
1989 Voice Actor:	Cam Clarke
Spanish voice actor:	Irwin Daayan
2001 Voice Actor:	Johnny Yong Bosch

Shotaro Kaneda (金田正太郎 Kaneda Shōtarō) is the main protagonist of the famous cyberpunk anime movie Akira. The character also appears in the manga of the same name.

1 Character description
- 1.1 Status
- 1.2 Personality
2 Biography
3 Kaneda's bike
4 Trivia

[edit] Character description

[edit] Status

Known by his family name, 16-year-old Kaneda plays one of main roles in Akira. Definitely the best known character, he is famous for his custom bike and is envied for it; mainly by childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima. A streetwise punk who leads a gang of bikers (the Capsules) on the streets of Neo-Tokyo, he encounters several struggles in the movie, and ends up joining a group of militant anti-government guerrillas.

[edit] Personality

Kaneda is brave, independent, and defiant of the law and adult authority. He is rebellious, disobedient, uncooperative and tries to show off in everything he does. He is known to act before thinking things out fully, and he pays for this several times. The organizer and leader of a bike gang called the Capsules, he attends reform school in Neo-Tokyo and is perceived by his fellow students as more than a little egotistical.

[edit] Biography

He befriended Tetsuo at an orphanage when they were young and they remained friends up until the events of Akira. On the night of Tetsuo's accident, Kaneda and the rest of the gang are taken in for questioning. While there, he meets Kei, whom he'll eventually be teamed up with. He's unwillingly been thrown into the middle of a battle between the government and a resistance faction. Not interested in politics, but seemingly obsessed with playing the hero and winning the woman, Kaneda makes it his duty to keep Kei and Neo-Tokyo safe from the maniacal Tetsuo. Even though his goal is to bring Tetsuo down, he can't shake the fact that it's his best friend, and he still owes some allegiance to him. While at first glance he may seem to be the stereo-typical anime hero he has alot more depth to him. He is led by his heart more than his head. While this may seem largely detrimental, getting him caught up with Nezu's revolutionaries, it ultimately gives him the courage to face his best friend in a horrific battle, an experience that would render any normal person a gibbering wreck.

[edit] Kaneda's bike

One of the most memorable and iconic features of Akira is Kaneda's futuristic motorcycle, a high performance red racing bike of unspecified make and model (though a badge closely resembling the BMW logo is visible on its left hand side in the movie). The bike also bears the logos of Canon Inc., the Citizen Watch Co., and the roundel for the U.S. Air Force. As leader of the gang, Kaneda naturally has the best bike. Numerous models of the vehicle are available for purchase from toy and hobby suppliers. Some mechanically-inclined fans have even attempted to fabricate actual working models of this popular fantasy motorcycle. Kaneda's bike has a reverse function, as well as "Ceramic double-rotor two-wheel disk drive."

[edit] Trivia

The manga (later anime) story Tetsujin Nijū-hachi Gō, originally presented in the 1960s, also includes a major character of the same name. This manga was a significant influence on Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo.