An anime (Japanese cartoon) is said to have predicted the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 decades ago.

The anime “Akira” from 1988 is said to precisely prophesy the current events surrounding the new coronavirus:

The meme about "Akira" and the new coronavirus
The meme about “Akira” and the new coronavirus

Translated into German, the meme reads:

“Akira” is a 1988 film about an apocalyptic event that took place months before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It shows the WHO advising Japan to postpone the Olympics because of the risk of a pandemic.

The realization that Tokyo is the host of the Olympic Games in 2020.

The coronavirus appears months before the start of the Olympic Games.

WHO advises Japan to postpone Olympics due to pandemic risk.

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The pictures

These have no connection to “Akira”, but show the character Chika Fujiwara from the anime “ Kaguya-sama – Love is War ”.
However, this should only be mentioned in addition; The images are used for numerous memes, but the statements on the meme are more important.

The anime

The anime is based on the manga of the same name, which was published from 1982 to 1990. The film was released in 1988 .

The Plot:
On July 16, 1988, Tokyo is rocked by a violent explosion that virtually wipes out the city and triggers World War III. 31 years later, in 2019, the city was rebuilt as Neo-Tokyo. Rival gangs fight each other in the futuristic city, including the psychically gifted protagonists Tetsuo and the eponymous Akira, who caused the explosion in 1988 with his powers.

Here is a German trailer for the anime:

The claims

The apocalyptic event

It was a supernaturally triggered explosion in 1988 ( 1982 in the manga ), not 2019 or 2020.

The Olympic games

In fact, the Olympic Games in the anime also take place in Tokyo in 2020, and the action takes place several months before the games.
At least this is a happy “prediction” that also works out mathematically: The games take place every four years, the action takes place in 2019, the next games will therefore take place in 2020, and of course these will take place in the newly rebuilt Tokyo to celebrate this.

The WHO

In the manga (not the anime) there is a panel that talks about the WHO:

There you will find the word伝染病 (pronounced: densenbyou), which means “epidemic”, which fortunately SARS-CoV-2 is not at this point. Overall, the sentence in the manga is " WHO criticizes [Neo-Tokyo's] epidemic countermeasures ."

In fact, the WHO is advising Tokyo on the upcoming Olympic Games, but there is no talk of postponing or even canceling them. The WHO has no influence on this, but can only act in an advisory capacity.

The manga used the general fear of epidemics in the 1980s and 1990s to depict a dystopian world in which diseases can spread very quickly, but there was no warning about a specific disease.

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Summary

  • The meme is a mix of misinformation and truth.
  • The apocalyptic event in the anime took place in 1988, not 2019 or 2020.
  • Tokyo has repeatedly applied for the Olympic Games. The fact that they actually take place there like in the 2020 anime is a happy coincidence.
  • The WHO advises the Olympic Committee, but did not recommend a postponement or cancellation (they have no influence on that)
  • The WHO also warns not of a specific epidemic in the manga (not the anime), but of the general danger of disease outbreaks in dystopian neo-Tokyo

the bottom line is that the meme contains a grain of truth with a lot of exaggeration and misinterpretation.

On the subject:


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )