Akira (film) - Characters

Characters

• Akira (アキラ?, codename #28) – The titular character. Akira was a young boy who developed transcendent psionic, god-like abilities when serving as a test subject for secret government ESP experiments in the 1980s. He subsequently lost control of this power and the ensuing blast completely annihilated Tokyo in a horrifying explosion in 1988. After the apocalyptic event, Akira was recovered and subjected to every test known to modern science, which proved unable to solve the mystery. He was dissected and placed within a cryonic chamber underneath the Neo-Tokyo Olympic Stadium.
• Shotaro Kaneda (金田 正太郎, Kaneda Shōtarō?) – A carefree gang leader who has a custom-modified motorcycle. Kaneda and Tetsuo have been best friends since early childhood. He is brash and not above teasing Tetsuo despite feeling affection for him as a younger brother. Upon rescuing Kei, Kaneda becomes involved in the activities of her group of anti-government guerrillas in hopes of locating Tetsuo.
• Tetsuo Shima (島 鉄雄, Shima Tetsuo?) – Kaneda's best friend since preschool and the second principal subject of the story's theme. Tetsuo is shown as a black sheep in the gang that he is part of and quietly suffers from a deeply rooted inferiority complex. Tetsuo admires Kaneda yet at the same time strongly resents his own reliance upon him. After his psychokinetic abilities manifest, Tetsuo quickly becomes Kaneda's nemesis; he desires Kaneda's motorcycle (a symbol of status and power) and seeks to prove himself supremely powerful, without need of protection. Eventually, his power overwhelms him.
• Kei (ケイ?) – A young revolutionary whom Kaneda meets and becomes enamored with on his quest to find Tetsuo. She is a member of an anti-government faction that Ryusaku and Nezu are also involved in. Initially, she does not possess any preternatural abilities, being manipulated by the Espers as a type of medium on several occasions, but upon coming in contact with the Espers' powers, due to their power constantly being channeled through her, she gains powers of her own.
• Colonel Shikishima (敷島大佐, Shikishima-taisa?) or simply known as The Colonel – The current head of the ongoing government project which was responsible for inadvertently unleashing Akira's power thirty years earlier. Appearing tough and ruthless, he is nevertheless pragmatic enough to recognize the danger Tetsuo's fledgling powers pose and cares genuinely for the three Espers under his supervision. Amongst the other government figures depicted in the film, he is shown to be the most principled, eschewing the corruption and hedonism that typifies Neo-Tokyo, adhering instead to a strict code of soldierly honour.
• The Espers – Masaru (マサル?, codename #27), Takashi (タカシ?, codename #26) and Kiyoko (キヨコ?, codename #25) – Akira's fellow psychic test subjects. They exhibit a variety of paranormal powers which they use to influence the course of events to the best of their ability. While individually of lesser strength than Akira or Tetsuo, their combined effort proves decisive in the story's final confrontation. Physically, they resemble children with wrinkled faces, white hair and blue-green skin.
• Nezu (根津?) – A government mole for the resistance movement, and member of Neo-Tokyo's parliamentary executive council. Responsible for Takashi's abduction by the resistance and supplying intelligence to the underground, he is nevertheless corrupt and unprincipled, and quickly turns against his erstwhile revolutionary allies in a fit of paranoia during the Colonel's coup.
• Yamagata (山形?) – One of the most prominent members of Kaneda's gang. He often chides Tetsuo playfully, resulting in his death when Tetsuo's powers begin to emerge.
• Kai (甲斐?) – Another member of Kaneda's gang, Kai plays a minor supporting role in the eventual battle against Tetsuo. He is close friends with Yamagata and they remain together when the gang breaks up, being one of the only members to survive.
• Kaori (カオリ?) – Tetsuo's girlfriend. She stands by Tetsuo even though he treats her abusively in the hopes of appearing tough to his friends. When Tetsuo begins his rampage through Neo-Tokyo, she follows him, and when his powers manifest and cause his body to warp and expand to grotesque proportions, she is engulfed in his flesh and crushed by his organs.