For nearly four decades, one image has echoed through animation and pop culture: Kaneda’s sleek motorcycle slide from the anime film Akira. That single moment has informed the visual language of hundreds of creators, and countless cartoons—both Japanese and Western—have riffed on the maneuver, from fan and creator homages on YouTube to episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, Pokémon, and Steven Universe.
While the Akira slide is ubiquitous in animation and gaming—turning up in titles like Rocket League, Tekken 8, and Overwatch 2—direct homages in live-action are comparatively rare. Jordan Peele’s Nope briefly channels the move (Peele famously passed on directing an adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s landmark film), but examples beyond that are limited.
Tron: Ares is one of the few recent live-action efforts to intentionally translate the Akira slide to real-world choreography. Director Joachim Rønning says the sequence is deliberate: the film’s antagonist, Ares (portrayed by Jared Leto), executes a variation of the slide during an intense light-cycle pursuit of Eve Kim (Greta Lee). For Rønning, the reference felt organic and appropriate to the scene’s energy.
Rønning points out an aesthetic kinship between Akira and the original Tron, calling them kindred influences shaped by designers like Syd Mead. Mead’s futuristic vehicle concepts helped define a visual vocabulary that connected both worlds—something Otomo has acknowledged when discussing the origins of Kaneda’s bike.
Leto, who also served as a producer on Ares, places Tron alongside science-fiction cornerstones such as Blade Runner and Aliens, noting the shared lineage of visionary designers like Mead who helped shape those franchises. That sense of lineage informed the decision to weave a visual nod to Akira into the film.
For Rønning, the inclusion was both homage and authorship: a way to honor the films that inspired him while staking out his own contribution to the franchise. “The original Tron and Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy are masterpieces,” he says. “Creating a new chapter felt daunting—I wanted to pay respect with Easter eggs and callbacks, but also push the universe forward.”
He adds that the Tron fandom is discerning, so his goal was to balance reverence with novelty. Ideally, that means there’s something in the film for long-time fans, newcomers, and admirers of works like Akira.
Source: Polygon
