The 2021 Tokyo Olympics commenced today after a year-long postponement. While protesters demanded cancellation, the opening ceremony unfolded in a dull demonstration of ritual in front a mostly empty stadium. Several Tokyo organizers have being let go of this year due to past jokes or comments - some as old as thirty years - yet despite this the International Olympic committee has pledged to punish any display of racial, political or gender propaganda during main events. Several athletes have stated they wanted to burn the American flag on the podium and others refuse to acknowledge the country they perform for. So while some are concerned over perceived social injustices relating to race or gender, and others over virus restrictions, there is no mention that for hundreds of years no woman was allowed to participate in the games, that para-olympian Becca Myers had to drop out because she couldn't bring an aid despite being deaf and blind, and that Japan is still dealing with a disastrous nuclear that has had devastating consequences.
Simmering underneath it all is an eerie connection between the 2021 games and a 1988 Japanese anime called Akira. In the film, set in 2019, the Olympic stadium is being build in Tokyo with a sign that says there were only 147 days left until the games. Graffitied below was a statement reading, 'just cancel it'. It also just so happens to be that 147 days prior to the 2020 games news outlets began calling to cancel the games. In March of 2020, PM of Japan did just that. Even though the games continue in 2021, they lack the flare and energy of a true sport, showing once again that even the bread and circuses of the old world are to be burned on the alter of the new gods.

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