Akima Kunimoto

Akima Kunimoto is the deuteragonist of Titan A.E. She is voiced by Drew Barrymore as an adult, and Kath Soucie as a child.

Early Life
Akima Kunimoto is a Female Human, born on Earth in 3023 but has very few vague memories of her home planet prior to its destruction. Akima is of Japanese descent.

During the Drej's attack on Earth in 3028, Akima left the planet with her grandmother at age five. Much of Akima's family had been split apart during the evacuation, with some family members (including her brother and parents) not making it off the planet in time. For many years Akima and her grandmother travelled through space searching for any surviving members of the Kunimoto family, first settling on the Houston colony, before moving to New Marrakech in 3035 after getting in contact with her uncle, Yoshi.

Growing up around other drifter Humans, Akima learned to appreciate the human race and its various cultures as each colony was filled with people of various ethnic backgrounds. From her days living on New Marrakech with her grandmother and united with Uncle Yoshi, Akima learnt to appreciate the good virtues in life, no matter how fewer they were, also developing a fondness for the few Earth artefacts that had been picked up during the evacuation. From her grandmother, Akima learned martial arts, and worked alongside her in a bakery that had been built out of an abandoned spacecraft.

Sadly, Akima lost her uncle Yoshi in 3036 (8 AE) due to pukra fever, with her grandmother following a year later. As a tribute to her grandmother, Akima cut her hair short using a Japanese wakazashi sword and placed it on her grandmother's burial grave during her funeral ceremony. Akima then went to live with a family friend, the scientist Mohammed Bourain, and his son, Ishaq.

Overcoming the grief of her grandmother's and uncle's recent departures, Akima enjoyed the company of her new adopted family. She would often help Mohammed with his studies and do errands for him. In 3038 (10 AE), Mohammed sent Akima on an errand to meet up with Joseph Korso, a cargo carrier who was briefly visiting New Marrakech on a delivery. Korso had a datacard for him containing the final log from Sam Tucker. Akima extended Mohammed's invitation to Korso to join the family for dinner, but Korso appeared to be in a great hurry. Not long after Korso departed the drifter colony in his ship, the Valkyrie, Drej Stingers suddenly appeared, devastating New Marrakech and claiming many innocent lives.

Leaving New Marrakech
While the Drej mercilessly laid waste on the residents of New Marrakech, Akima hurriedly ran and looked for Ishaq and Mohammed. After finding Ishaq in one of the alleyways, the two went looking for Mohammed, who finally emerged from a side-street. The three decided to get on the nearest departing ship, but Mohammed ran back to the house to retrieve a statue of Buddha, considered to be an important trinket to him. As Mohammed ran out of the house, a wall collapsed, seriously injuring the man. Akima and Ishaq carefully carried Mohammed out of the house, with medical ships approaching the drifter colony from Solbrecht. Akima tried to contact one of the ships from a moneylender's office, to be greeted by a human-weary Solbrecht medical orderly telling her to bring Mohammed to the ship with her own craft. With all escape crafts now departed from the colony, Akima resorted to using the old bakery house, which had formerly been a spacecraft. However, with no pilot training, and with the dilapidated bakery house in poor condition, Akima crashed the vessel. Mohammed succumbed to his wounds and passed away beside Ishaq and Akima.

Overcome with guilt of her failure to pilot the bakery vessel, Akima became determined to become a skilled pilot. In memory of Mohammed, Akima died the fronts of her fringe purple, which was Mohammed's favourite colour. She and Ishaq helped with the reconstruction of New Marrakesh, and decided to eventually get jobs as cargo carriers. Over time, the two saved up as many credits as they could by selling their possessions and Akima would spend time with the New Marrakech cargo pilots doing small runs while studying how to become a pilot. Finally, the two purchased a freight vessel called the Ronin from New Marrakesh spaceport, and landed their first job delivering herd-tracking transceiver tags to a Solbrecht businessman.

Encounter with Golbus and Meeting Stith
The ride to Solbrecht provided an educational joyride for Akima, with her even practising extravagant moves along the way. However, due to the weather on the planet, Akima crash landed the Ronin in a hilly area near the planet's capital city of Zechaat, but the damage was not irreparable. Akima's and Idhaq's problems on Solbrecht didn't end here. When the two delivered the freight to the desired pickup location, they were attacked by a group of native thugs. Akima's managed to fend off the attackers with her self-defense, but Ishaq's leg was broken by the attackers, and the cargo was taken away without the due payment.

Seeking medical help, Akima carried Ishaq through the mean streets of Zechaat, accidentally crashing into a large Mantrin. Introducing herself as Stith, a weapons expert, the Mantrin agreed to help Akima, taking Ishaq to one of her trusted contacts. Calling in a favour from Jemfuh, a local surgeon indebted to her, Stith informed Akima that her attackers worked on behalf of her client, the crime-lord Golbus. Golbus hated Humans on principle out of fear for the Drej, and was not above cheating or killing them. Having had her own turbulent history with Golbus, Stith agreed to help Akima with the intent of leaving Solbrecht for good. The two became fast friends.

Wanting to hit back at Golbus, Stith, Akima and Ishaq formulated a plan to get the Ronin repaired, refuelled and re-stocked at Golbus' expense. After their plan was successfully executed, Stith accompanied Akima and Ishaq on their flight out of Solbrecht. Persuaded by Stith's suggestions, Akima flew the Ronin to the planet Fauldro to study at the flight academy to brush up on her piloting skills. But first, the team briefly stopped over at Amblin II on the way for a lesson in weapons training from Stith.

Fauldro Flight Academy
Akima spent the next few weeks at the Flight Academy at Fauldro, slowly rising in the ranks despite being at the receiving end of many jokes for being a Human. As she progressed, Akima realised that the at times near-impossible study challenges set for her by Commander Jaxor (a Human-fearing Fauldran) were deliberate attempts to throw her off and make her fail the course. One by one, Akima succeeded at all of her flight tests, until her final test where her squadron had to follow the commander over tricky terrain. Despite being "randomly" granted a spacecraft designed for a four-armed species that was notorious for being temperamental, and coming to odds with a mysterious ace pilot named Dhornan, Akima passed the final test with honours. She was grudgingly handed her pilot qualification from Commander Jaxor, but later discovered to her horror that the top five pilots were to be given top preference for a job carrying freight for Golbus. Knowing she and her friends were once again in danger of their previous foe, Akima declined the job offer, and went to join Ishaq and Stith at the Fauldro storage containment facility.

Ishaq had just discovered the security codes for the storage unit, extracted from Mohammed's Buddha statue. The unit contained a large quantity of Earth's most important artefacts that had been collected during the evacuation in 3028. Akima marvelled at the collection of artefacts with her two friends, unaware that Glk, an agent of Golbus, had followed her to the unit. Golbus had discovered Akima's whereabouts after her job declination was messaged to him from Jaxor.

A Daring Escape
Later in the evening, Stith relayed to Akima that Jaxor had rallied an angry mob of Fauldrans using anti-Human propaganda to hunt for her and Ishaq. Thinking quickly, Akima took the Ronin out to the Storage Facility's vehicle port, and stole one of the containment carriers. This was the time Akima finally put her new-found pilot skills to practical use. Flying back to the container, she found herself being chased by the five flight aces that Golbus had personally recruited from the Academy, one of them being Dhornan. Akima managed to throw two of the pilots off, except for Dhornan, who kept on her tail no matter what evasive maneuver she pulled on him. The remaining two pilots began to close in on Akima from the front. About to admit defeat, Dhornan shot the two ships down. To Akima's surprise, Dhornan was a Qu'utian, a race of beings who had suffered a similar fate as the Earth to the Drej, and considered them allies. Dhornan encouraged Akima to move ahead, and revealed his true plans to destroy Golbus' criminal empire from the inside out. Akima thanked Dhornan, and flew on to save her friends.

Akima made it to the storage container just in time. She used the containment carrier's tractor beam to lift the storage container from the angry mob, with Ishaq and Stith inside. With her friends and Earth's artefacts safe, Akima rode the carrier away from Fauldro. On board, Akima recovered the datacard she had been given to from Joseph Korso containing Sam Tucker's final log. Through Sam's message, Akima learned that her team's recent safekeeping of Earth's artefacts were indeed an important piece of the process to restore humanity. Akima, Ishaq and Stith had become honorary members of the Titan Project.

Thanks to Dhornan, Akima managed to get the Ronin back from Fauldro. Ishaq and Akima parted ways, as Ishaq was to take the storag container to Qu'ut Minor, where it would be kept safe until it could have a permanent home on a new Human world. Missing Ishaq, Akima and Stith decided to move back to the Houston colony on a second attempt at starting a freight carrying business.

The Window Washer
Years passed, and Akima developed a reputation for herself as one of the best cargo pilots in Houston's surrounding areas. Her skills grabbed Joseph Korso's attention, who flew down to Houston colony in 15 AE to offer her a job. Stith and Akima met Korso and his two assistants, Preed and Gune at a Houston diner. Korso at first didn't recognise Akima from their first sighting, and Akima was disgusted by Preed's sleazy demeanour. When Korso mentioned that the pilot job was part of finding any remaining members of the Titan Project, as well as the Titan itself, Akima was keen to join. Needing a weapons expert, Korso also recruited Stith.

Akima became the chief pilot of Korso's ship, the Valkyrie, and impressed Korso with her piloting prowess. On Korso's order, she drove the Valkyrie crew to the salvage station Tau-14, the location of which Korso believed the keeper of the Titan's map was. While waiting for Korso to return to the ship, Akima saw a strange young man in front of her through the ship's windshield, who had fallen on it from his hovercraft. Noticing the strange man, Akima took to him with a stern glare. The man awkwardly responded by pretending to wash the Valkyrie's windshield. Akima dealt with the man by waving him a sarcastic goodbye, and shut the windshield's cover on him. The stillness in the Valkyrie was cut short when the Drej alert suddenly sounded. Akima alerted Korso to hurry on his search, and prepped the Valkyrie for a quick getaway. Akima caught Korso as he and his quarry had broken out of Tau-14, floating through space without suits. Maneuvering the Valkyrie, she scooped the two up in the ship's cargo bay.

Knowing that Korso's guest had fallen unconscious in the pick-up, Akima went to treat him in the Valkyrie's medical bay with Preed. To her astonishment, she found that the keeper of the Titan map, the son of Sam Tucker, was the "window washer" from earlier. Her first impression of Cale Tucker was not forthcoming; shocked by his demeanour and attitude toward drifter cultures.

Search for the Titan
Despite her disgusted first impression of Cale Tucker, Akima accepted him as an important asset in the search for the ''Titan. ''The crew made their way to the planet Sesharrim when they discovered it was a checkpoint on Cale's map. While walking across the surface of the planet, the crew were surrounded by a strange bat-like species, believing they were a threat. Before Korso or Stith could open fire on the army surrounding them, Akima deduced that they were indeed the Gaoul, the natives of Sesharrim who knew of the next step in the Titan hunt.

The meeting with the Gaoul was soon interrupted by yet another Drej attack. During the escape back to the Valkyrie, Cale and Akima were both abducted by a Drej Stinger. While being carried to the Drej Mothership Akima finally began to bond with Cale, educating him on the importance of the Titan and explaining that the reason the Drej blew up Earth was not about humanity having done something to offend the Drej first, but about the Drej fearing that humanity (plus any other alien race) might replace them as the most powerful species in the universe. The Drej Stinger finally arrived at the Mothership, and the Drej's energy beams separated the two from each other, with Akima finally being jettisoned into space within a pod. Around this time, Akima activated her homing device so that Korso could find her.

Akima's pod was intercepted by the trade ship Soros, where she was to be sold as a slave. Before Korso, Stith and Preed came to pick Akima up from the trade ship, Akima managed to break free from the pod and defeat all of the prying traders. The Valkyrie crew arrive at her cell just as Akima knocks out a trader that is just recovering and sarcastically asks Korso what kept him.

(in a deleted scene) To get Akima out of the cell where she is being held, Stith used her gun to blast the forcefield lock to the cell, which disabled the cell's forcefield and set off the alarm. Once out of the cell, Akima informs Korso that while the Drej did discard her, they've still got Cale. When Preed nervously points out that the guards haven't noticed the alarm going off, Akima, knowing that her escape will only provide a short lived distraction for the guards before they pursue her and her crew, states that she will create an even bigger distraction for them. With that, she takes Stith's gun, blasts the forcefield lock of the cell next door, and encourages the slaves in the cell (two humans and three aliens) to take advantage of their newfound freedom. Knowing that's not enough, she blasts the forcefield locks of a few more cells and turns the gun on the generator controlling the forcefield locks. With one single shot, Akima destroys the generator, thereby shutting off all the forcefields to all the cells on the Soros, and encourages all the slaves to take in their sudden freedom. Taking Akima's words to heart, the slaves escape their cells and successfully overpower the guards (including the one that Korso, Preed, and Stith tangled with earlier) and traders. As the Valkyrie leaves (now with Akima back on board), the slaves begin to lay waste to the Soros.

As the crew begins to go off to rescue Cale, Cale (having escaped the Drej all by himself) returned to the ship in a stolen Drej Stinger ship. Relieved to see Cale, Akima greeted him warmly and the two embraced each other, awkwardly retreating after being seen by the eyes of the crew. Akima began to develop feelings for Cale.

Flight of the Phoenix
The following morning, Akima docked the Valkyrie with the New Bangkok drifter colony for refuelling and supplies. Cale and her were in the middle of collecting goods to trade for Earth artefacts, when they overheard Korso talking to the Drej Queen about his true intentions to betray the Titan. She suddenly found herself at gunpoint from Preed. Fighting Preed off and being chased by Korso, Akima and Cale escaped from the ''Valkyrie. ''Before reaching the New Bangkok docking bay, Akima took gunfire to her shoulder. Cale carried her over to the drifter colony where she received medical attention.

Akima woke up several hours later, to find Cale at an observation deck. Cale told her of his plan to beat Korso to the ''Titan. ''Dubious at first, Cale showed Akima an old tower on the colony that had been built out of an old spacecraft. Akima and Cale then spent the next day refurbishing the old ship, renaming it the Phoenix. Akima then launched the craft out of New Bangkok, flying it toward for the Ice Rings of Tigrin in the Andali Nebula, the final hiding place of the Titan.

It wasn't long before Akima caught up with the Valkyrie, and cleverly used the Ice Rings' reflective surfaces to evade capture by Korso and Preed. She was able to maintain altitude of the Phoenix even after losing one of its rocket fins. After finally evading the Valkyrie, Akima and Cale found the Titan and docked the Phoenix with it.

The Final Conflict
Akima accompanied Cale inside the Titan as the latter looked for a way to activate it. In the middle of watching Sam Tucker's stored message on the Titan's control deck, Akima and Cale found themselves surrounded by Korso and Preed. Akima then watched as Preed suddenly betrayed Korso for his own end. A small fight then ensued, which led to the death of Preed by Korso's hand, and Korso seemingly falling to his death.

Stith then joined Akima and Cale on the control deck. With the Drej approaching, Akima decided that the Titan was soon to be doomed and the best option now was to depart from it and survive. However, Cale convinced her that he could harness the Drej's energy to power the Titan. Cale then found out that one of the Titan's circuit breakers had malfunctioned, so Akima and Stith agreed to fend off the Drej with the Titan's gun turrets while Cale went outside to a maintenance hatch. One by one, all the gun turrets got destroyed by the Drej Stingers. Just as all hope seemed lost with the Titan now defenseless, Gune helped Akima and Stith by shooting Drej Stingers from the Valkyrie.

Finally, thanks to the combined efforts of Akima, Stith, Cale, Gune and a repentant Korso, the Titan got to work, absorbing the Drej's lifeforce as fuel. The Titan began using the Ice Rings of Tigrin to build a new planet, both creating a new home for the Human race and vanquishing the Spiral Arm's common enemy.

New Earth
After a terraformation period of seven days, the New Earth was finally born. Akima and Cale landed on the young planet, marvelling at what the new creation.

Akima asked Cale what he wanted to call the new planet, to which he jokingly replied with "Bob". Akima laughingly mocked his name choice, and the two embraced each other with a long kiss.

With the Humans approaching the New Earth from their drifter colonies, Gune and Stith departed from the planet in the Valkyrie. Akima waved goodbye to her friends as they departed into the sunset, now with a positive and secure future ahead of the Human race.

Personality and Skills
Akima is shown to be a very strong female character. She is assertive, witty, courageous, and is able to hold her own in a fight. In contrast to the cynical Cale Tucker, Akima is passionate about preserving and restoring her human heritage.

Akima's greatest skill is her ability to pilot almost any spacecraft, from her training at the Fauldro Flight Academy. She is also very adept at martial arts, using firearms, as well as a few technical and medical skills.

Appearances
Akima's Story

Titan AE

Trivia

 * Drew Barrymore is know for her roles as Gertie from E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, Maggie Dunlop from Curious George, Davidson's receptionist from Freddy Got Fingered, and Dylan Sanders from Charlie's Angels and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.