Keanu Reeves‘ continued presence in Hollywood reflects the enduring popularity of his films. He’s currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity with the John Wick franchise, which is still going strong thanks to the spinoff film From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. But the movie Reeves is best known for is The Matrix, which remains one of the most iconic science fiction films in history. It turns out that before Reeves stepped on the set of The Matrix, he had to watch two iconic anime movies. At San Diego Comic Con 2022, Reeves talked about how he was exposed to anime and revealed that Lana and Lily Wachowski made him watch Akira and Ghost in the Shell. “I was watching anime on channel 79, and I didn’t even know what it was,” Reeves said. “And then when I worked with the Wachowskis on The Matrix, they were like, ‘You need to watch these.’ So it was Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and that’s pretty much the start of it.” It turns out that the Wachowskis had a specific reason for making Reeves watch those two movies.
‘Akira’ and ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Shaped the World of ‘The Matrix’
Akira is often regarded as the film that kick-started the rise of anime in America, and as a result, it’s been referenced across cinema multiple times. If you’ve seen any action, sci-fi, or animated movie, you’ve probably seen a reference to the “Akira slide“. It’s no surprise that The Matrix would pay homage to it in multiple ways. The film’s cyberpunk setting is more or less similar to the desolate landscape of Neo-Tokyo in Akira, and visual effects supervisor John Gaeta listed Akira as an influence on The Matrix‘s infamous “bullet time” sequences, which slowed down, then ramped up the action in the film. The biggest way that Akira influenced The Matrix lies in Neo’s psychic powers. Akira also features multiple characters with psychic powers, including Kaneda (Johnny Yong Bosch). However, unlike Neo using his powers to fight the forces of the Matrix, Kaneda’s abilities slowly drive him insane.
That’s nothing compared to the major influence that Ghost in the Shell had on The Matrix. One of the biggest concepts of The Matrix involves Neo and his companions uploading their consciousness into virtual reality. Ghost in the Shell features a similar concept where people are “cyberized”, replacing most of their body with robot parts. In the case of Major Motoko Kusanagi, her entire body is cyberized, leading her to question her own existence. A similar scene happens in The Matrix when Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) offers Neo a choice whether or not to take a red pill and learn the truth about the Matrix, or take a blue pill and return to blissful ignorance. The biggest element from Ghost in the Shell that influenced The Matrix is that both films utilize a bright green computer code, representing the blending of technology and the human spirit. Producer Joel Silver gave a special mention to Ghost in the Shell in a behind-the-scenes featurette for The Matrix, saying that the Wachowskis showed it to him and it inspired him: “We want to do that for real.“
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Keanu Reeves Wrote a Comic That Will Have Its Own Anime Adaptation
While Keanu Reeves admitted that he doesn’t watch much anime, he’s actually inspired an anime project that’s currently in the works. In 2021, Reeves launched BRZRKR, a BOOM! Studios comic that he co-created with Matt Kindt and Ron Garney. BRZRKR centers on Unute, a.k.a “B”, an immortal warrior that carries out black ops missions while attempting to find a way to become mortal. After the release of BRZRKR #1, it was announced that a feature film and anime series based on the comic would be coming to Netflix, wtih Reeves starring in and producing both. While the BRZRKR movie will adapt the main comic series, the anime will explore more of B’s 80,000-year-old history. The BRZRKR anime recently began production with Mattson Tomlin (Terminator Zero) attached in a writing capacity, and it remains to be seen if it will draw inspiration from other anime projects like The Matrix did, or if it’ll lead Reeves to check out more anime.
