Synopsis :
In 1988, Tokyo is destroyed by an apparent nuclear explosion that leads to the start of World War III. Thirty-one years later, Neo-Tokyo, a metropolis built on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, is troubled by political strife and gang violence. Shotaro Kaneda leads his motorcycle gang, including Yamagata, Kaneda’s right-hand man, Kai, and Tetsuo Shima, Kaneda’s best friend, in a war with another gang called the Clowns. As Kaneda and Tetsuo battle a pair of Clowns on a highway, Tetsuo almost runs into a child with wizened features (Takashi) and is injured when his bike suddenly explodes. Tetsuo and the child are taken away by armed soldiers. Kaneda and his gang are taken in for questioning, where Kaneda unsuccessfully flirts with a young girl named Kei, and the group are later released.
Tetsuo, under watch by Colonel Shikishima and Doctor Onishi, is discovered to have mental frequencies similar to “Akira”, a boy with powerful, almost god-like, mental abilities. Akira was the cause of the explosion that started World War III thirty-one years earlier. Aware that another gifted child, Kiyoko, has had visions of Neo-Tokyo’s destruction in the same manner, the Colonel orders the doctor to kill Tetsuo should the powers manifest any further. Tetsuo escapes and meets up with his girlfriend Kaori and steals Kaneda’s motorcycle. They are attacked by Clowns who attempt to sexually assault Kaori, but Kaneda and the gang show up and defeat the Clowns. As Kaneda helps Tetsuo and Kaori recover, Tetsuo begins to suffer a very painful headache and experience terrifying hallucinations of falling and of his organs falling out. A government van monitoring him arrives to take him away, refusing to answer Kaneda’s questions. Later that evening, Kaneda sees Kei, helps her avoid arrest, and goes with her to the Resistance headquarters. Kaneda offers to help after they reveal their plan to infiltrate the hospital that Tetsuo was taken to.
That night, Tetsuo is attacked by the three psychics Espers, Takashi, Kiyoko and Masaru, causing his powers to manifest further, killing a doctor and damaging the hospital in his attempts to find them. In the Espers’ room, Tetsuo learns that Akira was a young boy with similar powers, now in cryogenic storage below the new Stadium being built for the upcoming Olympics, and that he may be able to help Tetsuo remove his pain. The Colonel, Kei, and Kaneda, converging on the Espers’ room, learn that Tetsuo is heading for the Stadium to meet Akira. Kei and Kaneda are detained, but Kiyoko, speaking through Kei, explains that Tetsuo must be stopped, and helps them escape. That night, Tetsuo attacks his fellow gang members, killing Yamagata for whom he harbored a bitter hatred. He then departs for the stadium. Tetsuo fends off attacks by the army, including a helicopter, a tank, and soldiers using laser rifles, on his way to the Olympic Stadium. At the Stadium, Tetsuo unearths the Akira chamber to find it empty except for the organs of Akira stored in jars. Kaneda, having learned of Yamagata’s death from Kai, uses Tetsuo’s moment of confusion to fight him with a laser rifle, but Tetsuo is able to dodge the attacks. The Colonel tries to shoot Tetsuo using an orbital laser weapon, managing only to sever his right arm. Tetsuo takes off into orbit and destroys the weapon, then spends the night recovering at the Stadium, psychically forging himself a new arm from inorganic material. His girlfriend Kaori arrives and tries to calm him down as his powers create immense physical pain.
The Colonel pleads with Tetsuo to return to the lab, but Tetsuo thinks it is a trick to kill him and attacks the Colonel. When the Colonel fires back, with Kaneda (protected by the Espers) joining the fray, Tetsuo is unable to keep control any longer, and his body begins to transform into a gigantic mass that crushes and kills Kaori. The Espers, watching from afar, realize the only way to stop Tetsuo is to call forth Akira, his life force contained in the body parts in the chamber under the stadium. Akira’s manifestation causes another explosion, and the Espers teleport the Colonel to safety. Studying the wavelengths of the explosion, Doctor Ōnishi concludes that it is the beginning of the universe and shortly after dies when the explosion vanishes and the inrush of air destroys his van and crushes him to death. Despite warnings from the Espers that entering the field will prevent Kaneda from being saved, Kaneda enters the field to try to save Tetsuo. The Espers agree to sacrifice themselves to save Kaneda, and also enter the field. Kaneda experiences Tetsuo’s and the Espers’ memories, including how much Tetsuo trusted Kaneda as a friend and how the children obtained their powers. The Espers remove Kaneda from the field and tell him that Akira will be taking Tetsuo “away” and to find somewhere safe to ride out the explosion. The explosion engulfs much of Neo-Tokyo, and when it disappears, leaves a void that is quickly filled by the nearby ocean. Kaneda wakes up to find that Kei and Kai are safe, and they drive away from the ruined stadium and the dying city. The credits begins with a Big Bang and Tetsuo saying three last words, “I am Tetsuo”.
Starring :
Mitsuo Iwata … Shôtarô Kaneda (voice)
Nozomu Sasaki … Tetsuo Shima (voice)
Mami Koyama … Kei (voice)
Tesshô Genda … Ryûsaku (voice) (as Tetsusho Genda)
Hiroshi Ôtake … Nezu (voice)
Kôichi Kitamura … Priestess Miyako / Council A (voice)
Michihiro Ikemizu … Inspector / Council I (voice)
Yuriko Fuchizaki … Kaori (voice)
Masaaki Ôkura … Yamagata (voice)
Tarô Arakawa … Eiichi Watanabe / Council G / Army (voice)
Yôsuke Akimoto … Harukiya Bartender (voice)
Masato Hirano … Yûji Takeyama / Spy / Council F (voice)
Director :
Katsuhiro Ôtomo
