…seems to be paved with disaster no matter what reality you’re in.
In the real world, it was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Akira (1988), it didn’t take place due to the destruction of the Olympic Stadium (and of Neo Tokyo).
“Tokyo Olympics – 147 Days Until the Opening Ceremonies”
In the opening chapter of Dance in the Vampire Bund II: Scarlet Order (2013), a terrorist attack interrupted the opening ceremonies that the vampire queen Mina Tepes was presiding over.
When it comes to explaining the latter discrepancy, I suggested in a social media post from April 18, 2020 that Mina’s special ops force, Beowulf, may have secretly contained the COVID-19 pandemic before it had a chance to spread and tagged series creator, Nozumu Tamaki, in it. Considering that he ended up liking the tweet, I guess that’s as close to official explanation as you’re ever going to get. 🙂
The Raging Fanboy 