I didn’t find the connection you found with Tetsuo in the story. The point you make about Columbine is an excellent one. But I maintain Tetsuo is not of an ethnic minority—he, like all of the characters, is Japanese. He’s an orphan, which is another thing, but it’s why I didn’t think of him that way. There are ethnic minorities in Tokyo, Korean, for example, who, if represented, would be more like the inner city scene you describe. Tetsuo’s American equivalent would be lower class to working class white.

It’s interesting that you describe Tetsuo as the psychic version of a school shooter, which is an apt description in many ways. But when you take that, and combine it with the poor upbringing, there is something that many American audiences can relate to. You know me, Alex, so you know a little more about how I grew up. Predominantly black, low-to-middle class neighborhood. When my middle school heard about Columbine, our main reaction was ‘This kind of violence has been happening in the inner city for years and no one cared.’ I think of Tetsuo as an inner city gangsta (classic case of the father who ran out on the family) and the school shooter as you would describe it, combined. The Columbine school shooters had parents. Tetsuo didn’t. Even though you never hear about the inner city gangstas shooting up the school in the news, for many people, the person in that situation might be easier to relate to than the school shooters at more affluent communities. But I still contend that you don’t need to grow up in the inner city to sympathize with Kaneda and Tetsuo.

You say, “The entire narrative basically says that enormous devastation and loss of life is an acceptable price for the maintaining of a status quo for a very few.” Exactly what status quo is maintained here? The main character loses his best friend and is forced to grow up. In essence, the tragic destruction of Tokyo is a consequence of a government that wants to experiment with children to create a weapon of mass destruction to go to war with. If there is anything the film says to me, it’s “Don’t treat children like crap either through negligence or maltreatment, whether you’re a parent, a government, a cop, or a member of society.” That does not continue the oppression the film rebels against in any way. A very simple message told in a very complex way. Perhaps the message itself is not the stuff of great literature, but I think to ignore that message entirely is an injustice to the work.