Akira Slide

About

The Akira Slide, also known as the Akira Motorcycle / Bike Slide, is one of the most famous scenes from the 1988 Japanese animated movie Akira, when Kaneda brings his bike to a sliding stop. Its iconic composition, with the motorcycle getting away from the viewer as it is halted, was referenced in many other artworks, from official studios as well as from independent artists.

Origin

The scene first occurred in chapter 2 of the eponymous manga, published on January 3rd, 1983; in a panel, Kaneda is drawn in the background, power-sliding his motorcycle to a full stop. This action was put in the spotlight in the 1988 movie adaptation, resulting in the famous scene, where Kaneda power-slides away from the viewer, using his left foot for braking, and while looking in the viewer's direction, with sparks coming out of the bike's front.

Spread

This scene proved popular and has been referenced in many media works. The earliest known example was in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Robin's Reckoning (part 2)," released February 14th, 1993 (shown below, left). On September 21st, 2021, Badspler uploaded to YouTube^[1] a compilation of recreations of the iconic slide in popular movies, series, video games and music videos. This video gained over 3 million views and over 82000 likes in two years (shown below, right).

The Akira Slide also inspired many fan artists, who often go so far as to redraw the entirety of the animated scene. The earliest of such fan art pieces was posted on the Tumblr account Ask GothTwi^[2] on August 2013, and featured My Little Pony protagonist Twilight Sparkle. It wasn't particularly popular, however, only gaining more than 510 notes over the span of 10 years.

Among the most popular instances of this meme online is an animation made by TwistedGrim, featuring Link from The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. The clip was posted to Newgrounds^[3] and Tumblr^[4] on December 10th, 2017; the Newgrounds upload was viewed more than 30000 times and earned a 4.66/5 rating. On November 19th, 2022, SetiSpaghetti uploaded to Twitter^[5] an animation of the Akira Slide featuring Florian and Koraidon from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, commenting: "Can't believe this unfinished animation I abandoned became canon", in reference to one of the game's infamous bugs. His tweet gained more than 106800 likes and more than 20800 retweets.

From June 19th to July 30th, 2021, Newgrounds hosted the Bike Slide Collab^[6], encouraging animator artists to share their take on the Akira Slide scene. This resulted in the August 20th publication of a compilation^[7] featuring 59 animators, including LiteralHat, tomonaku, and SirLenward. This video was viewed more than 16,700 times and earned a 4.67/5 rating.

External References