Originally posted by: lordjedi
Well, I don't mean just the ending. I mean everything throughout. The "old" kids for one. It's not obvious, at least to me, what/who they are on the first viewing.

I thought the senile children were old test subjects that were unable (or unwilling) to achieve the same ascension process (towards ultimate evolution) that Tetsuo (and Akira before him) had achieved. At the time I didn't quite understand why the maker of Akira wanted an ass like Tetsuo to become the creator of a new, big-banged reality, but I'd now guess that he was trying to comment that only someone as immature as Tetsuo would want to become "God." If so, I'd guess he has a view of evolution that defines it as the ambition of an insecure mind.