I'm not survival expert, but if I have to look for someway to survive, I would look up for how military does it. It's also not 100% true, since you don't send your man to the wind, fight bear and snake,... you're here to fight. But as survive is also one of their requirement, some of their gear help.
Other from utility knife, another thing I can recommend is buttpack. It's a great gear for when you want to carry light, for short mission. Depend on your load, you can fill it to the top and gets back heavy, or fill it reasonable. You can get stuff like: A poncho, 2 canteens pouch, some food can, a machete for bush clearing (which is illegal in normal life), underwear, small stuffs for cleaning yourself, sewing, anti mosquito,.. Why poncho? you have ton of way to use a poncho. You also have to keep yourself clean, otherwise you can get your foot rotten.
So, machete is out of option, but you still need to clear bush. What can you do? Well, I recommend you a shovel instead. A shovel that can split wood, clearing bush.
Of course, like how Akira did, he uses knife to start fire. Knife is also be use for can opening, as a hammer, stab, slice,... So knife is still needed.
I get it that you want to be lightweight, for the sake of moving in long distance. But you won't go anywhere if you don't survive. So, you have it folk.