The Wachowskis cited Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988) as the direct visual blueprint for the climax—the massive battle between Neo and Smith featuring energy bursts, flying debris, cities transforming into abstractions. The final confrontation between Kaneda and Tetsuo in Akira, two characters whose powers unmake reality itself, became the template for digital resurrection and the dissolution of the boundary between code and consciousness.