Akira (Infernal Tokyo)
Akira is a character that appears in Shin Megami Tensei IV. He is the leader of a small base in Kasumigaseki (from Infernal Tokyo) and his objective is to become the new king of Tokyo during the reign of Kenji.
Profile
The Infernal version of Akira is a demonoid who was human 25 years before the the current time of the game. He is known for having a boisterous and sarcastic attitude, giving nicknames to many of the characters near him[1][2], as well as braging, specially when he is drunk. However, he is also known for keeping his promises[3] and suppressing his feelings[4].
Appearence wise, he is a tall, skinny and clothless demon whose skin is mostly burnt umber color, with light beige tones in his face, his pointy ears, hands and feet. There are red stright and curvy lines in his neck, arms, under his chest, the upper part of his thighs and legs. There is dark brown in his disheveled hair, nose and nails. He also has a red scar in his left cheek.
Game Appearances
Shin Megami Tensei IV
This section contains spoilers. (Skip Section)
Akira appears for the first time when Flynn, Walter and Jonathan arrive to the Infernal Tokyo timeline, where Flynn's past incarnation, fought alongside Kenji against the angels but died by the hands of a demon. The three get to the Counter-Demon Force base, where they meet him in one of the rooms in the base.
The decision of Akira of giving up his human body and becoming a demonoid, as well as his wish of becoming the king of Tokyo comes from his wish of wanting to do something for his older sister, who was found dead and rotten in the cocoon after the angels were defeated and God's plan was prevented. This was suspected by other demonoids. While living in a Tokyo ruled by demons and Kenji, where there are no laws except the stronger rule over the weaker, he has come to the conclusion that order and equality is needed, despite not being into rules. [5]
While in his base he is a quite respected leader among the demonoids from his base, almost everyone outside of Kasumigaseki looks down on him (including neurishers from leading bases). He usually goes to scavage trash, mainly in the bases of Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro. But in order to do it, he first does a favor to the entrance guard of the base. [6][7] He also visits the grave of his sister when picking up trash.
25 years after Kenji became the king of Tokyo, he recieves a message from The White in his dream, telling him that he will meet three intruders from another world who want the remote of the Yamato Perpetual reactor. After some time he meets Flynn, Jonathan and Walter. Believing that these three are the intruders the White talked about, he offers them to make them get the remote while in one piece in exchage of making him become king. That is because for both objectives to be compleated, Kenji has to be taken down. He nicknames Jonathan and Walter and tells them that first they need to take over Shinjuku in order to be prepared to take down Kenji.
When they arrive to Shinjuku, Akira meets the demon guarding the entrance who demands him to pay him as usual, but this time giving the money with his teeth. Walter, who cannot stand seeing Akira letting himself humiliate in front of a guard when he is in his quest to become king, forces Akira to take Shinjuku by force, which proceeds in Akira cowardly hide behind the three samurai after making the demon furious. After the demon is taking down only by the samurai, Akira brags and spits over the dead corpse. Inside the underground district of Shinjuku, they meet the boss of the base, who has never heard of Akira and while Akira tries to threaten him frightenedly about taking over Shinjuku, the boss finds it just as a foolish action. Akira tells him that he will not fight him but the samurai. After he is downed, Akira joyfully celebrates it and brings his people from Kasumigaseki to Shinjuku, who force the demons that previously owned Shinjuku to move out.
After a while, Akira tells the samurai about the message The White gave about the messiahs and that they wanted the remote. Then, knowing that he was right about the three samurai being them, he asks them if they want to return home (implying that he wants them to stay in Tokyo) and lets them know that he admits not only that he lacks power but also that he will probably die in no time once they are gone, which the samurai admit they have the duty to serve their homeland. He also mentions that Kenji is in Ichigaya and that he will be waiting for them in there.
After that, a few positive changes can be seen in the underground district in Shinjuku, mainly with the neurishers, who start reconsidering their former thoughts on him.
When the samurai arrive to Ichigaya, Akira, who has been waiting for them is asked what are his plans once he becomes king, which he embarassedly answers with wanting to make Tokyo a place where everyone is treated equally.
If the player reaches to Akira after defeating Kenji, Akira starts refering the samurai as "masters" [8] and tells them that he has everything in control.
If the player revisits Infernal Tokyo after the Monochrome forest (this will not be allowed if the player is aligned with law), there will be noticeable improvements in the city, such as equal distribution of neurishers in every district [9] and laws that benefit the neurishers. With Akira making many sudden changes that reinforce equallity, it has become common to talk about him and the word "equality" [10]. However, while there are many who support Akira, there are also others who oppose to Akira. Not only that, many of these people that oppose him, are being killed by demonoids who were previously from Kasumigaseki [11].
Additionally, some neurishers were picked by Akira and were given the role of "becoming an offering in order to build the ideal Tokyo". While the neurishers feel greatful of it, Akira deeply apologizes them for that. [12]
As for Akira, he finds being king harder than a punch in the gut, since he has to think for everyone. He already wants to ditch it off but after telling it to his sister, he feels he has to stand strong.
- End of spoilers.
Nomenclature
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese
|
アキラ | Akira |
References
- ↑ "Akira: Don't rush me goody-two-shoes. There's an order to everything." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Akira: Exactly, bad boy." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Female Demonoid: When Akira starts to get drunk around his people, he always rambles on about his dream... He says he doesn't want his people cooped up in this tiny base. He wants to set them up in central Tokyo. But that guy's all talk. He's got no muscle to back it up. Then again, he's also a guy who keeps his promises..." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Female neurisher: I just heard King Akira's voice. He's good at suppressing his real feelings...He probably had to force himself to toughen up and fight after he became a demoniod..." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Akira: Rules have never been my thing. Frankly, I wanna make Tokyo a place where we can all be equal." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Demonoid: Whatever, I'm bored right now. Be my sandbag like usual." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Demonoid: ...Oh, it's you, Akira. Why are you in Ikebukuro? Is today trash day? Oh well. I just stepped on a dead demon over there. Can you lick my foot clean like usual?" Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Akira: Oh, my dear masters! I thought you had all gone back to your own world" Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Demonoid woman: King Akira's going around all the cities and counting the neurishers. He'll send more to any that need them." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Demonoid man: I remember... That word used to mean a lot to me when I was human." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Demonoid man: A bunch of the guys who were here got killed by the ones who come from Kasumigaseki. They swore up and down that they'd never bow to a guy like Akira, afterall... They may be Akira's old friends, but wasn't that going a little far? They acted more like fanatics." Shin Megami Tensei IV.
- ↑ "Female neurisher: King Akira is apologizing to me from the bottom of his heart. But I'm actually greatful to him. He gave me--someone who existed only to be food-- a role in life." Shin Megami Tensei IV.