Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is just around the corner. With villains like Sandman, Mr. Negative, and Venom confirmed as antagonists in the story, everything points to this being the biggest and most epic adventure our beloved neighbor Spider-Man has ever had. Especially considering the excellent reception from critics. But before we can start playing it, Insomniac Games released a launch trailer. And with it, people have gone crazy. Not precisely because of Spider-Man or his villains.
The most impactful moment in the trailer is led by Mary Jane. Riding a motorcycle, at one point, she replicates an iconic scene from a famous anime movie. That movie is none other than Akira.
Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo in 1988, adapting his own manga of the same name, it’s a film that, to a large extent, opened the doors to manga and anime for a whole new generation in the West. The reasons were brilliant animation, spectacular action, and incredibly charismatic and interesting characters. This included a motorcycle scene where the protagonist, Kaneda, skidded his 200-horsepower motorcycle in the middle of the highway.
This scene is so iconic that it has been constantly replicated both inside and outside the anime world, almost becoming a cliché. With motorcycles, cars, even horses, performing the “Akira slide” has become very common in fiction. So what makes it impactful? Mary Jane attempts it… and fails.
This simple change makes the scene hilarious, but also memorable. The fact that she nods to it and is instantly recognizable, but quickly turns it into something else, subverting the viewer’s expectations, is what makes it brilliant. And it gives us hope for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. After all, what makes a game great are its small details. If they are all like this, then perhaps we are looking at one of the games of the year.
