Shotaro Kaneda vs David Martinez (Akira vs Cyberpunk) VS Prediction Blog
Shotaro Kaneda, the rebel biker and leader of the Capsules of Neo Tokyo
David Martinez, the legendary Edgerunner hailing from Night City
While looking to the future can often be a source of optimism, cyberpunk as a genre shows that a future where technology is more prevalent in our lives may not be as bright. Hailing from series which helped to shape this genre, these two are teenage punks who ended up living on the edge of society and the law after losing their parents. They’d join a gang of like minded punks, they’d use their speed, scrappiness, and iconic jackets to make a name for themselves as legends. But when these two punks end up in a duel with each other, who will be the one to come out on top in this street race to the death?
Before We Begin
This blog will composite Kaneda between information and feats from both the original manga and the anime film, as his physical capabilities are fairly consistent between them despite the difference in story. I’ll also include some stuff from the NES and Amiga game adaptations, which are a thing if you didn’t know. But there will not be details from the Genesis game, as it was an unfinished and unreleased game, which means it isn’t an official part of the series.
As for David, this will be discussing the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series, along with supplemental information from other works in the series like Cyberpunk 2077 and the original tabletop game. Though David himself will not be getting any feats from when he was in the cyber skeleton he gets near the end of the series, for reasons I’ll discuss in the “Before the Verdict” section.
Finally, full spoiler warning for both series discussed here. Both also are from pretty mature series, and certain clips will contain depictions of gore and body horror, so if you’re squeamish towards that please keep vigilant.
Background
Shotaro Kaneda
“He's not your friend, he's ours! If somebody's gonna kill him, it should be us!”
On December 6th, 1992, at 2:17 PM, a new type of bomb exploded over Tokyo, Japan. Nine hours later, World War 3 began. 38 years later, in the ashes of this city would rise Neo Tokyo, which wasn’t exactly a fine place to be. Crime and violence ran rampant, the military had strict control over the population, and the youth of the city had turned to drugs and biker gang wars. One such gang was the Capsules, a group named for the symbol adorning the back of the jacket of their leader, Shotaro Kaneda.
Kaneda had grown up a bit jaded, with his mother abandoning him and his father turning to alcoholism from the stress needed to watch Kaneda and his younger disabled brother. Eventually, the government would deem his father unfit to be a guardian, leading to Kaneda getting tossed into an orphanage and separated from his family. While there, Kaneda would end up meeting another young child by the name of Tetsuo Shima, and after Kaneda stood up to some bullies, the two would form a kinship as they developed. Kaneda would end up falling into a bad crowd as he grew into adolescence, getting in trouble with law and eventually ending up at the Eighth District Youth Vocational Training School, a school meant to try and turn troubled youth into functional members of society.
This is when he would end up forming his biker gang, with Tetsuo as his second in command and meeting some other friends along the way. However, as this happened, resentment would begin bubbling in Tetsuo, as he felt envious of Kaneda’s strength and yearned to be superior. This all would come to a head one night when, in a race with the other Capsules, he’d end up overcompensating on his speed, and ended up veering out of control and crashing into a child that had been in the wrong place. Both miraculously survived, thanks to the child being an esper, a psionic super soldier that the government had been keeping under containment. This was due to one of them, the titular Akira, having actually been the one to cause the explosion which started World War Three. They’d take an interest in Tetsuo and took him in for experimentation, discovering he had his own potential for psychic powers, which they activated.
Kaneda, however, wasn’t aware of all of that, only knowing that his friend had been taken by the government for unknown reasons. He would end up finding and growing an infatuation with Kei, a member of the resistance which had attempted to free the esper, and after saving her life a few times, he’d end up joining forces with them to bust Tetsuo free. As he’d end up in the base, he’d get face to face with Tetsuo, who’s new abilities had also led to a heightened ego, believing Kaneda didn’t matter anymore. He’d then take over another gang and rampage through Neo Tokyo. Seeing what his former friend had turned into, Kaneda endeavored to put a stop to him.
The resistance would keep trying to oppose both the government and Tetsuo, with Kaneda doing his best to keep up. However, after Tetsuo freed the cryogenically frozen Akira, he would end up creating yet another blast that destroyed the city, seemingly taking Kaneda with it. Tetsuo would end up ruling these ruins as the leader of the Great Tokyo Empire. But after a battle ended with his power growing out of control again, Kaneda would end up resurfacing, as he had ended up sent through time, or trapped in another dimension, or something. It wasn’t really explained clearly.
Kaneda would join a group of survivors that were resisting the Empire, leading the charge to try and finish off Tetsuo once and for all. As this happened, however, Tetsuo’s powers had grown to become far more than what he could control. He’d mutate into a monstrosity of flesh, and his overwhelming power would threaten to consume everything. Kaneda would end up inadvertently absorbed into Tetsuo’s very being, experiencing his memories first hand, as well as learning the truth of the esper’s power. After this, the espers would end up ascending themselves to a higher plane of existence, believing their power was not something humanity was fit to control, as Kaneda was sent back to reality.
After this, Kaneda would end up taking his former friend’s place as the leader of Tokyo, now named the Great Akira Empire, splitting off from Japan due to not wanting to be subjugated by corrupt rule from anyone. Kaneda would then ride off into the city, picturing his passed comrades riding alongside him. His experience within Tetsuo had given him an understanding with Tetsuo, but now that the two were forever separated, he could do little to change their story besides learn from it.
David Martinez
Welcome to Night City. Originally founded in the 1990s in the wake of a mass collapse of the economy that plunged America into martial law, it was a city funded off the backs of various corporate backers, and was created to protect the citizens from the chaos of the world. However, criminal mobsters and rival companies alike would end up fighting for control of the city, and by 2076, the city had become a shell of itself, being overrun by corporations competing with each other, corruption in the government, organized crime selling drugs and people, and near constant gang violence. This is the city that David Martinez found himself growing up in.
Raised by his mother alone, David was seemingly on a fast track to climb into the corporate world from the slums he grew up in, mainly thanks to his mother overworking herself as an EMT to finance this. While David never felt at home in a corporate world, he still worked hard in his school in spite of his classmates viewing him as gutter trash. Things were looking up for him, at least until one fateful day, where he and his mother ended up caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout. While David managed to survive with minimal injuries, his mother would end up with far more serious injuries. A corporate Trauma Team would show up immediately after the crash, but left his mother there due to her not being covered, leading to her death from injuries they could have treated.
Now on his own, David was forced to scrounge around to make ends meet, and he ended up finding an experimental military device. This was a Sandvestian, an experimental implant taken from a cyber psycho, which his mother had taken to sell on the black market. Full of anger from his circumstances, rather than sell it, he’d demand it be installed into himself. While his Ripperdoc felt the device would be too extreme for him, it would turn out that David had an unusually high resistance to the dangerous effects it could bring. Believing this to be a sign he was special, he’d return to the academy and get revenge on the students that had bullied him, expelling him and cutting himself off from any chance of becoming a corporate shill.
As he returned home, he’d have a chance run in with Lucy, a netrunner who had been pickpocketing various people, who quickly recruited him as her trainee. This would end with David learning off his limits the hard way and collapsing, with Lucy taking him back to her place. They’d end up bonding with each other, and David even learned of Lucy’s dream to go to the moon. However, David would end up confronted by Lucy’s boss Maine, a leader of a band of mercenaries known as edgerunners. But upon learning of David’s situation, he’d end up joining their gang, getting a new family of allies. They’d pull off many jobs through the next couple weeks, and things were looking up for David.
However, during a job involving the kidnapping of a corporate head, Maine would end up growing more and more unstable. This was because of the massive amount of cybernetics he had given himself, but in spite of warnings to cool it, he’d ignore them. This resulted in him descending into cyberpsychosis, a state where too many cybernetics would strain a cyborg’s mind to the point of insanity, turning them into an unpredictable killing machine known as a cyberpsycho. Maine would end up going on a massacre, with one of his allies being caught up in the process. David would attempt to stay by Maine through this, but in a bout of lucidity, he would tell David to run, ultimately perishing in an explosion he set off shortly afterwards.
David would end up taking up Maine’s torch, becoming the leader of the Edgerunners and upgrading himself with many cybernetics. He’d gain fame through the next few months as a criminal leader, maturing a bit and even starting a relationship with Lucy. However, the upgrades were slowly taking a toll on his mental state, and much like Maine before him, he would ignore warnings to downgrade due to his pride, and even temporarily broke it off with Lucy due to this.
As this was going on, however, there were people above him plotting his downfall. A simple hit on a convey escalated into a full on stand off with a massive army, and David was forced to make one last upgrade: a massive cyber skeleton grafted over his body with control over gravity. Little did he know, however, this was playing directly into the hands of the creator of the suit, the Arisaka corporation. They had taken notice of David’s resistance to cyberware, and wanted to use him as a test subject for the skeleton. They had gotten a mole within his gang and Lucy had been kidnapped, with her unable to warn him of the fact until it was too late.
At that point, David snapped, using the skeleton to wipe out the forces trapping them, with the intention of rescuing Lucy himself. However, this extreme display ended up pushing his resistances over the line, falling into cyberpsychosis himself. He’d rampage to Arisaka’s headquarters, destroying many soldiers attempting to stop him, and he even managed to briefly come back to sanity thanks to rescuing Lucy. However, Arisaka’s greatest asset, the dangerous cyborg known as Adam Smasher, would end up being called in to deal with David.
You might have expected this to be the part where he pushed past these impossible odds and win, but Adam was not someone David was remotely prepared to take on. While he managed to buy enough time for Lucy to get away, he’d ultimately lose to the superior cyborg. While he did manage to put up a decent fight and go down in a blaze of glory, Night City simply isn’t a place where the underdog wins against the corporate overlord. And with Adam delivering a final bullet to his head, David’s story would end.
While David’s time was short, he had managed to secure a place in the city as a legend, and he would ultimately provide an example to follow for a certain samurai that had John Wick living in his head, which took to the streets just a year after his death. But as for David’s girlfriend, Lucy would end up accomplishing her dream and go to the moon. However, as she did this, she would get a vision of David there with her. While David had been focused on the needs of others, he did not realize her dream had changed. Without anyone to share this dream with, Lucy ultimately was left with nothing but a bittersweet feeling. No matter how hard you fight for something, sometimes you may not notice what you really want until it’s too late.
Intelligence & Skill
Shotaro Kaneda
While Kaneda was apparently getting above average grades in the past, by the present he’s far from a model student, often clearly not paying attention in class. But in terms of skill in a fight, he shows a lot of that. He was the head of a pretty infamous gang, which was able to keep up with gangs full of older men, and he regularly shows good skill in outwitting trained military members. He’s shown good adaptability, able to deduce out Sakaki’s fighting strategy and catch them mid flip with a kick. And he can get pretty manipulative with his tactics, such as when he was able to trick a tank driver into firing by pretending to be his navigator.
David Martinez
While David didn’t have too much in terms of notable achievements before the series besides a decent set of grades in school, over the course of the series he grows to be quite the skilled fighter. He was able to quickly adapt to the use of the Sandvestian just on the same day he installed it, and he later managed to keep up a car chase on a highway against several bikers, despite the fact it was his first time driving. Later, he was able to keep up fights and outmaneuver large groups of armed goons, and later led the Edgerunners through many successful jobs. Finally, despite dipping in and out of cyberpsychosis due to the cyber skeleton, he still showed enough skill to blast through hordes of armed forces coming for him while mass disarming them, as well as keep up with Adam Smasher himself for a time.
Equipment
Shotaro Kaneda
Jacket & Bike
Kaneda’s Bike is a futuristic, high-tech motorcycle. It has a reverse function, as well as a ceramic, double-rotor, two-wheel disk drive. The bike is also noted as having electronically controlled anti-lock brakes and 200 horsepower, and seems to have a turbine-electric hybrid engine, given its electric emissions. His jacket looks cool, and that’s about it.
Pistol
A pistol he got from the resistance members, and later used to threaten Tetsuo in their first real confrontation.
Pipe
A weapon he used to give a beatdown to a weakened Tetsuo, which was presumably just lying around somewhere.
Machine Gun
Kaneda grabbed one of these in his escape from the military base after Tetsuo’s escape. It promptly disappeared after he escaped from the facility.
Shotgun
Another gun he grabbed, this time from a guard at Nezu’s compound when he was rescuing Akira from them.
Assault Rifle
He gained access to one of these during his trip through the post-apocalyptic city, initially being given one for protection by Colonel Shikishima. Though he never actually used it to shoot at anything despite the emphasis put on it.
ARASAKA HLR-12X Heavy Laser Rifle
An experimental laser cannon he picked up while in a military facility, this is a laser cannon which fires beams of light. It’s powerful enough to blow up large portions of debris and concrete, and was noted to be the one weapon which could put down Tetsuo for good. Though it does rely on a battery pack, so if the battery runs out of power or the cord connecting it to the laser is cut, the laser will become useless. Kaneda lost the initial cannon, but ended up getting a second one right before the final battle. It’s also in Borderlands meaning he scales to that verse fr.
Grenade
From the not very good Amiga game, these are explosives which he can toss from his bike to blow up obstacles in his path.
David Martinez
Jacket
Originally an EMT jacket worn by his mother, David would wear it, adding a logo of the Edgerunners after joining them to its back. It doesn’t offer much special resistance on its own, but it does feature 2 mod slots to add special effects to it. Though we also don’t know if or what he put in there.
Kusanagi CT-3X
Developed by the Japanese bike company Yaiba, this bike’s sleek and aerodynamic frame conceals a powerful engine. It also looks oddly familiar for some reason…
HJKE-11 Yukimura
This is a small, compact pistol which can hold 30 rounds, which are placed horizontally in the clip. It’s also equipped with a Smart targeting system, allowing for locking on to targets and permitting shots to be fired with minimal aiming required from its user.
M-76e Omaha
Another pistol, this one being a semi-automatic, simple and compact model. It has 9 rounds in the chamber and each round fired will split up into three smaller projectiles that are arranged in a triangular pattern.
M-10AF Lexington
Another pistol, this is a fully automatic 9mm handgun with a twenty one round magazine that’s the official handgun of Night City’s police.
Overture
Yet another pistol, which is seen on the right. This is a powerful double-action revolver that can hold six .42 caliber rounds in its cylinder.
Crusher
This is not a pistol, but rather a fully automatic shotgun with a 12-round magazine that holds 8-gauge shells, each of which contain 5 pellets. The Crusher can also be operated with a single hand, allowing the other hand to be used for other actions.
L-69 Zhuo
Another shotgun, this one is a Smart shotgun loaded with four cartridges that contain 8 Smart projectiles each, that are fired simultaneously in a rectangular pattern. Each projectile can lock onto its own individual target, making it particularly devastating against groups.
Immunoblockers
These are a set of drugs which David is able to take in order to subside the mental effects of overusing his cyberware. While they can bring him down from cyberpsychosis back to normal, they’re not a complete solution to the problem, as he’s able to fall into it again. And if he runs out of them, then he’s stuck at the point of no return.
Abilities
Shotaro Kaneda
Weapon Mastery
Despite not really using guns much before the events of the series, he shows a good amount of adaptability in picking up and utilizing weaponry he finds, even including the aforementioned laser cannon. He’s also pretty scrappy, willing to improvise melee weapons, go for gun butting, and even using his own vomit to his advantage (gross).
Vehicular Mastery
Kaneda shows a lot of skill in driving vehicles. He naturally has shown a lot of skill in riding his bike, as he’s able to maneuver around other biker gangs, get away from police, and ride around destroying terrain, even as it’s in the middle of being destroyed. He’s also shown good driving skills in a truck, and was able to adapt to more unusual forms of transport, as he was able to quickly get to grips with maneuvering in hoverbikes known as flying platforms, jury rigged riot control bots, and even weird spider tank things.
Resistances
Extreme Cold - Was able to survive being near Akira’s chamber with little protection for a short amount of time. These chambers were noted to be kept at extremely low temperatures.
David Martinez
Cybernetic Physiology
Much like others in his world, David is a cyborg. He’s able to directly interface with technology through his mind, and he’s also upgraded himself using various implants known as Cyberware. Some of the options he ended up equipping includes:
Heavy Duty Neural Processor - A device which gives a neural link to all his cybernetics, which was specifically heavy duty in load due to his Sandevistan being military grade.
Cyberaudio - A system connected to his ears and brain, this can allow him to access the internet and take calls mentally like telepathy, enhance his hearing and allow it to zero in on specific noises, detect bugs and other spyware, and detect the stress in someone’s voice to see if they’re lying.
Kiroshi Cyberoptics - Replacing his normal eyes, these give him enhanced vision, able to see in infrared, zoom in on faraway or microscope items, and compensate for bright flashes or darkness.
Syn-Lungs - An upgrade to his normal lungs which increases his stamina regeneration.
Subdermal Armor - Metal put over skin which can increase his physical defense, and was shown to essentially make him bulletproof.
EMP Threading - Was rumored to be able to protect from electromagnetic interference from implanted cyberware and radiation, but is basically just worn as a decoration.
Fortified Ankles - An upgrade to his ankles which allows him to perform a charged jump that gives greater height than normal.
Cyberlegs - Gives enhanced maneuverability in comparison to a normal human.
Gorilla Arms - Arm implants which drastically increase his physical strength, enabling him to do physically demanding tasks far easier. They also have the special ability where, for every melee attack performed, charges are built up to deal increased damage with your next strong attack
Sandevistan
David’s most notable cyberware is this device, a military grade operating system which was taken from the corpse of an army officer who turned into a cyberpsycho. When activated, it slows down time from his perspective, enabling him to move around at speeds that look near instant to anyone not also possessing one. It also increases his damage and crit chance when active, as well as creating after images. Though overuse of it can lead to it taking a strain on his body.
Projectile Launch System
Another notable upgrade, which was taken from his boss, Maine. This is a hidden wrist mounted cannon which can launch an explosive round. At close range it’s powerful enough to completely explode other cyborg’s heads. It is also capable of smart-targeting enemies, like some of his guns.
Feats
Shotaro Kaneda
Overall
Leader of the Capsules
Outmaneuvered other bikers, cops, military soldiers, and Tetsuo’s militia members.
Played a major role in the ultimate defeat of Tetsuo
Became head of the Great Akira Empire
His bike slide is one of the most iconic and referenced shots in anime
Power
Kicked Takashi hard enough to send him flying a decent distance
Knocked down Tetsuo, though he was weakened due to power incontinence
Should be comparable to:
Pre-Awakening Tetsuo killed a guy wearing a helmet with a pipe to the head
Yamagata smashed Tetsuo with a helmet hard enough to seemingly shatter it
Kei shoved into a soldier hard enough to send him back, before knocking out another with an elbow strike
His Laser Gun is able to annihilate a wide amount of concrete, and can harm Tetsuo, who can survive blasts from the SOL’s laser. (402.78 Tons of TNT)
Speed
May have dodged minigun fire from floating platforms, though could just be them missing
Jumped onto a motorcycle speeding towards him and kicked it’s rider off it
Durability
Survived being in the whiplash of a building exploding (314,546.177 Joules)
Was caught up in Takashi using his powers to displace a large amount of sewage
Was fine after diving through a window and falling two stories
Fell a decent distance into a sewage back first and was fine
Lost grip on a flying speeder and fell a decent distance into some sewage, and was fine
Was inside of a warehouse as it collapsed, though it’s a bit unclear how much of the destruction he actually endured
Fell through a skylight and down several stories, smashing through a tree in the process, and was fine
Survived being among various skyscrapers falling to the ground violently
Should be comparable to:
David Martinez
Overall
Became a legend in Night City
Leader of the Edgerunners
Defeated gangsters, police, and Arisaka security forces
Put up a good enough fight against Adam Smasher for the latter to give him respect
Got a lot of people to play Cyberpunk 2077 just to avenge him
Power
Punched Katsuo hard enough to smash a screen behind him and break his nose
Rammed into a gangster hard enough to shove him back and shatter his scabbard
Cyborgs are generally able to easily crush metal, wood, plastic, and glass
Due to possessing Gorilla Arms
Speed
Easily steals chipsets from people as Lucy ejects them from their necks
Steals a chipset from an intoxicated person by blitzing them without them noticing
Gets to and drives on the opposite side of traffic, using his Sandevistan to aid his reaction
Steals a collection of of chipsets from people’s necks almost instantly
Gets Rebecca out of the way of enemies that surrounded her without them noticing
Saves Rebecca again as she’s tied up in a safe, surrounded by people
Massively outpaces another person with a Sandevistan, jumping behind him and shooting him
Comparable to various instances of cyborgs being able to dodge close range bullets (Mach 1.49 - 7.36)
Travels from one moving car to another, and then back instantly (Mach 201.64)
Managed to outpace several drones firing at him (1.832% - 2.555% c)
Durability
Took a massive beating from Katsuo, who used cybernetics that enhanced his strength
Remained conscious for a time during cybernetics installation, which is a surgery that replaced his spine and lungs
Takes a hit from a bat swing that dented the metal door frame around him
Weaknesses
Shotaro Kaneda
Kaneda is, physically speaking, a normal human, meaning anything that could put down a normal guy would certainly do so on him. He also can be pretty hotheaded, often rushing into situations with little plan or backup, and he arguably only survived the events of the series due to dumb luck. And while his laser cannon is powerful, it has a limited battery life, and when it’s low on power it’s effectiveness is notably lower. It also can be deactivated by cutting the cord to the battery.
David Martinez
Much like his competition, David has a tendency to get a bit hot headed and prideful, which has launched him into danger several times. He’s also pretty reliant on the Sandevistan to get the speed edge over his opponent, and can get caught out if the opponent is able to counter its use, something that ultimately led to his death to Adam Smasher. Finally, overuse of his cybernetics do still take a toll on his body and sanity, and can leave him in a state of physical exhaustion or push him into cyberpsychosis without proper treatment. He does have a higher resistance to this, but he’s not outright immune, and he tends to overestimate his own limits, which was another factor in what pushed him to his death.
Before the Verdict
Kaneda scaling to Tetsuo
Considering the story of AKIRA mainly centers around these two going at each other, the idea of how much Kaneda scales to Tetsuo is an important discussion point. First of all, I do feel it’s reasonable to scale him to feats done by Tetsuo before he awakened his powers, as they were both physically normal humans, and Kaneda was seen as above Tetsuo at the time. However, after Tetsuo gained his psychic abilities, the question becomes more complicated. Obviously Kaneda should not compare to any display of Tetsuo’s raw strength, as he does not have any psychic powers, and any instances of him being in the area when Tetsuo used his powers were clearly not instances where Tetsuo was putting his all into it. Durability is also likely not scalable for Kaneda himself, given any instances of Tetsuo surviving destruction with Kaneda present had Kaneda only take the very edge of the attack, when he didn’t outright dodge being caught up in the destruction in the first place. Though given Kaneda’s cannon was directly stated to be able to harm Tetsuo, it’s fair to assume its AP is somewhat comparable to Tetsuo’s durability. Finally in terms of speed, Kaneda does notably manage to tag Tetsuo several times. However, this doesn’t necessarily indicate he’s faster, as in every instance of Kaneda tagging Tetsuo, he either was weakened due to experiencing power incontinence at the time, was attacking using a cannon that he can’t scale to the speed of, firing it in an arc moving side to side, firing at a massive blob of flesh that he would have to be actively trying to miss, or some combination of the above. This all paints a pretty clear picture in that Kaneda really can’t compete with Tetsuo’s relativistic speed feats himself. So overall, while his gun is capable of tagging Tetsuo and harming him, Tetsuo pretty clearly is completely out of Kaneda’s range physically speaking.
Kaneda Outliers
There are two notable feats worth acknowledging here that I’m considering to be inapplicable outliers for Kaneda’s stats, as they both outright contradict Kaneda’s capabilities within the original manga. First of all, there’s a moment in the movie where Kaneda is in close proximity to one of the SOL’s blasts going off. However, in the manga he’s pretty consistently depicted as only surviving similar bombardments by outright avoiding the blasts. And later in the film, he similarly only survives them due to either Tetsuo blocking it or outrunning the blasts as they happen, aiding in the interpretation of this moment being an outlier. Secondly, in the Amiga title, he is able to dodge what seem to be lasers from soldiers. However, the Amiga game is a pretty loose adaptation of a source that was already taking several liberties, and there’s nothing in this game’s continuity directly stating these are meant to be lasers, not even the manual. These laser cannons are also inconsistently depicted in comparison to other Akira media, as they shoot in brief blasts instead of a full beam like the cannons in the manga and film, meaning the same justification for Akira lasers being the speed of light in those mediums would not apply to these blasts.
Why I’m not using the Cyber Skeleton
This is a very significant part of David’s arsenal, and it can be seen as the ultimate culmination of David’s power, given the last two episodes feature him in it for a while. However, there are several reasons not to include it in the context of a Death Battle scenario. First of all, it’s not really something I could see being considered a standard part of his arsenal. He needed to use a device within an Arisaka truck to even equip the thing, and he was only given access to the truck in the first place due to Arisaka specifically wanting him to field test it. In a VS situation with no outside help, David would realistically not be able to get access to it. Secondly, it’s not really a “form” he can easily swap into in the traditional sense. He had to spend a sizable amount of time inside the device that installed it, during which his vitals had to be monitored by Rebecca, and the only reason the army outside didn’t try to stop the process was because they were under specific orders not to. If David were to hypothetically try to swap into the skeleton in a fight like this, he’d essentially be forcing himself to stay completely still and helpless for several minutes, and I don’t think I need to spell out why that would be a bad idea for him to do in the middle of a battle. Finally, there’s the more meta issue of the fact it’s not really indicative of his portrayal in the rest of the series. Instead of being a scrappy fighter who uses his gunplay and speed to get an advantage, it makes him into a juggernaut that uses overwhelming brute strength and gravity powers to tear through armies. That’s cool, but if you were to focus on it, you’d be ignoring how he’s portrayed in every episode besides the last 2, and a massive amount of his other capabilities, mainly his arsenal, are essentially irrelevant. As such, I feel including it would not really be in the spirit of using David himself or this match in particular, so it’s not on the table.
Verdict
Stats
In terms of pure brute strength, David definitely has the edge. Kaneda does have several displays of strength that are impressive for someone so grounded, but he’s never really demonstrated anything that could really put him too far above a normal human. Not only does David have enhancements that definitively put him above a normal human, David’s ability to hold on to a harpoon hard enough to flip two vehicles at once is far more impressive than any of Kaneda’s displays of brute strength.
In terms of durability, though, Kaneda has a pretty sizable edge. David does have some notable instances of taking pain, but the best he could get in terms of force would be the striking strength of Gorilla Arms, which clocks in at about 420 Kilojoules. This is a bit better than the best feat Kaneda himself has, which would be surviving the whiplash of a building exploding at about 314 Kilojoules, but through scaling Kaneda is likely comparable to Tetsuo’s motorcycle explosion, which clocked in at 29,288 Kilojoules. I do think it is fairly reasonable to scale Kaneda to this feat, as at the time this occurred Tetsuo did not have powers and was considered a wimp in comparison to Kaneda, so it’s likely he’s at least comparable. This would make Kaneda about 70 times more durable than the best feat David could dish out.
Finally, speed. And uh, this is a lot more stacked in David’s favor. Kaneda doesn’t have a whole lot in terms of calculable feats, with his most notable being able to dodge close range gun fire, which could put him in the supersonic to hypersonic range. However, David is capable of far outspeeding this. The Sandvestian already allows him to blitz cyborgs that are capable of the same kind of speeds, but at its fastest moment it was able to hit sub-relativistic speeds. This would make it at least 100 times faster than Kaneda’s best speed feats.
So David is a bit stronger and far faster, while Kaneda is far tougher on his own. Though he does have a notable way to close this gap, which I will get to in the section on…
Arsenal & Abilities
When you stack up their standard weapons, David overall has the edge. Kaneda does have a wider variety in gun types, in that he’s packing several machine guns while David just has pistols and shotguns, but David’s guns are higher in number, and several of them are equipped with smart bullets that can shoot homing bullets. I will note that it was unconfirmed if David has the implant which allows the bullets to home in, but given he specifically chose these guns when given the option, I feel it’s safe to assume he did. Both also have explosive options in Kaneda’s grenades and David’s arm cannon, but I would say David’s would likely be more effective. Not only can he directly launch his explosive that can home in on the target as opposed to slowly tossing it in an arc, he’s also shown to have the skill to outright shoot grenades out of the air before, meaning it’d be unlikely for Kaneda’s grenades to explode on him.
But all this is ignoring Kaneda’s big ace in the hole: the laser cannon. It’s capable of launching a beam that’s outright moving at the speed of light, which David is only capable of moving at the fraction of the speed of. And it had enough power to harm Tetsuo, who can tank far greater damage than anything David could scale to. The exact strength of it is a bit hard to gauge, given Tetsuo’s fluctuating power levels, but this shows it would certainly have the power to significantly injure or even kill David in one shot.
A final detail of their arsenals to compare would be their bikes. It’s a bit hard to gauge how fast or maneuverable either are, especially in comparison to each other, given their specs aren’t exactly easy to find as they both are fictitious. However, both are noted to be top of the line within their worlds, and out of universe David’s bike is outright directly based on Kaneda’s as a reference. So I feel it’s safe to assume both are roughly comparable.
As for abilities, well, only one of them really has anything to note here. Kaneda has a couple skills, but David just has a lot more to him due to being a cyborg. He has enhanced eyesight and hearing, better stamina than any normal human, and his legs and the ability to jump super high mean he’s far more mobile that Kaneda is on foot. And I already mentioned how his Sandvestian boosts his speed to frankly ludicrous levels. So yeah, David is definitely taking the ability camp.
So David does take this category overall, but Kaneda’s ace in the hole in the laser cannon is something that definitely would overwhelm David if given the chance.
Tertiary Factors
Now in terms of experience, that’s a bit of a complicated question. Both were noted to be decent students in their past, and are both capable of outwitting plenty of comparable foes, like cops, gangsters, and military soldiers. But Kaneda is actually the guy I would say has better combat experience here. Kaneda had been leading the Capsules for several years before the events of Akira, unlike David, who did not seem to have any combat experience from before the events of his series, and only was active for a couple months before his death. Kaneda also generally shows a more notable history of being a skilled fighter who improvises, along with being the better biker.
That’s not to say David is lacking in either of these factors, but his tendency to rely on the Sandvestian would likely be something Kaneda could pick up on. And while Kaneda doesn’t have any real experience in fighting cyborgs specifically, he was able to adapt to fighting espers pretty quickly, so I feel that wouldn’t really be too big of a stretch for him to keep up here. Finally, while David’s cyberware does give him a massive edge in physiology, it also carries a massive risk in that he would be potentially likely to break down physically or mentally as the fight goes on, whereas Kaneda doesn’t really have a similar thing holding him back. David does have his drugs which can temporarily subside the effects of this, but they are in a limited number, meaning he’s essentially going to be running on a time limit.
Now, at first glance this might seem like a pretty clear cut win for Kaneda. He’s durable enough to take any hit from David, he’s more skilled as a fighter and driver, he doesn’t have as debilitating a weakness, and his laser cannon is fast enough to outspeed David and strong enough to potentially one shot him. So, he’s the guy that wins right?
Well, when you break things down a bit more, things aren’t quite that clear cut. First of all, it’s important to note that anything in Kaneda’s arsenal except the laser cannon would not be effective on David. His bulletproof skin means the rest of Kaneda’s guns are essentially useless, and as mentioned, his grenades are something David has easily dealt with. Sure, Kaneda might have a better history of fighting up close and personal, but the fact that David is able to completely blitz him and has far superior mobility means that if the fight went up close it would be unlikely for him to be able to land a hit on him. Whereas between this aforementioned blitzing and his homing attacks, David is going to be able to land hits far more consistently. And sure, Kaneda’s durability is still far higher than David in terms of brute force, but he’s still clearly not totally invulnerable, as many other humans in his world and even Tetsuo have shown that basic bullets are still fully capable of putting them down.
Now to go over the laser cannon, yes it would be fast enough to hit David and strong enough to fuck him up. The problem is that it’s not an automatic cannon that can just automatically launch at opponents. Kaneda still needs to perceive where his opponent is and pull the trigger. Against an opponent far faster than him, Kaneda wouldn’t have the reaction speed needed to consistently land a hit on David even with the beam’s speed, as David could easily just zip out of the way the second he notices Kaneda’s aiming it at him. Kaneda would also need to land his first shot on David here, as if it misses, David would take note of the beam’s danger to him and instantly do everything he can to not give Kaneda any breathing room. But Kaneda doesn’t exactly have a reliable way to make that attack land. As mentioned, David is easily able to escape any sort of aim dodge scenario, and if Kaneda tried a sweeping shot, it would be far slower as an attack, as the beam was already fired and David would only need to react as fast as Kaneda could move his arms. The only way I could see him landing the hit is if he were to somehow get the drop on David, but considering David’s very aggressive fighting style, I doubt he would conceivably get the opportunity to slip away in the first place.
Finally, while the cannon is certainly a powerful weapon, it’s still got a share of drawbacks. The battery charge means that if Kaneda wastes too many shots, the cannon is going to stop working entirely, which would be bad for Kaneda given it’s really his only weapon that would be able to put down David, leaving him wide open for David to finish him off. David could also conceivably shoot at the cannon’s supply cord to sever it, which would be similarly effective in making the cannon a non issue. There’s also the possibility that David ends up disarming Kaneda of the cannon and using it himself, which is a tactic he’s used at several points. And in that case, not only does Kaneda lose the gun that could win him the fight, he’s now facing the gun that can shoot faster than he could react and one shot him, at which point it would be game over for him.
There’s a couple things I feel like noting here to support this conclusion. Yes, David does still have to deal with the effects of overusing his cyberware, but he is likely to end the fight before that can hamper him too much. On his first day with the Sandvestian, it took 9 uses of it before he started showing any ill effects to it, and he only got more skilled as the series went on, so it’s likely that the amount he’d need to use it to be hampered by it would be more than what’s needed to win. Yes, Kaneda could be seen as stronger if you scale his personal AP to his durability, meaning he could conceivably punch David once to do serious damage, but as mentioned the speed gap means him getting that punch is even less likely than the laser. And yeah, Kaneda is more experienced, but as mentioned, David’s hardly lacking in that area, and neither really rely on complicated tactics in the first place, meaning this wouldn’t come down to some 4D chess battle of wits or anything.
Finally, just to note this, if I were to include David’s cyberskeleton, this turns from “close win for David” to “overwhelming stomp for David”. It can output far more power than Kaneda has ever demonstrated durability to, meaning it would completely splatter him in one shot, David’s still present speed edge means Kaneda has no real way to dodge its attack, and even if Kaneda by some miracle managed to pull out the cannon, the skeleton’s ability to just take weapons away from people means he would have absolutely no shot of firing it at all. So yeah, a lot more unbalanced.
Conclusion
“You called for me, didn't you? And I heard you.”
Advantages:
Far more durable
Better experience and driving skill
Laser cannon could put David down…
Less potentially debilitating weaknesses
Disadvantages:
Far slower and less mobile
Still a human physically speaking
…but Kaneda was unlikely to consistently land a hit with it
Less effective arsenal otherwise
Imagine being less iconic as a character than your jacket and bike
“I’m gonna take you there myself, fly you to the moon. That’s a promise!”
Advantages:
Far faster and more mobile
Cybernetics put him above normal human limitations
Far more effective arsenal
Has the better drip, yeah I said it
Disadvantages:
Far less durable
Less experienced and skilled at driving
Has more potentially debilitating weaknesses
Could be taken down by laser cannon
Overall this match is pretty close, as both do have several big points in their favor, and I could see this swinging either way. But ultimately, I feel David’s superior speed, cybernetics, and arsenal would be enough to overcome Kaneda’s greater durability and experience. Looks like Kaneda couldn’t ride the edge to a win.
The winner is David Martinez.
Next Time
Scott Pilgrim vs Travis Touchdown
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