Plot
In Neo-Tokyo, 2019, Shotaro Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata) leads the Capsules, his bōsōzoku gang, to fight against the rival gang known as the Clowns. However, Kaneda's best friend Tetsuo Shima (Nozomu Sasaki) is injured when he almost crashes his motorcycle into Takashi (Tatsuhiko Nakamura), a small esper sprung from a secret government laboratory by a dissident underground revolutionary organization. Takashi is captured by armed soldiers and Tetsuo is hospitalized. When Kaneda and his gang are interrogated, he encounters Kei (Mami Koyama), a member of the revolutionary group, and arranges her release along with his own gang.
Meanwhile, Colonel Shikishima (Taro Ishida) and Doctor Onishi (Mizuho Suzuki) discover that Tetsuo possesses psychic capabilities similar to Akira, a young esper who caused Tokyo's destruction 31 years earlier. Kiyoko (Fukue Ito), another esper, has visions of Neo-Tokyo's destruction, and the Colonel tells Onishi to kill Tetsuo if he thinks the power may get out of control. Tetsuo flees from the hospital and meets up with his girlfriend, Kaori (Yuriko Fuchizaki), and they steal Kaneda's motorcycle. When Tetsuo and Kaori are confronted by the Clowns, Kaneda and the Capsules save them both. Tetsuo begins to suffer a psychic migraine, and Doctor Onishi has Tetsuo taken back to the hospital.
Saving Kei from being captured after a guerilla attack, Kaneda is led to the rebels' headquarters and cooperates with them after overhearing their plans to kidnap Tetsuo. Meanwhile, Takashi, Kiyoko and Masaru (Kazuhiro Kamafuji) — another Esper — unsuccessfully attempt to kill Tetsuo. Tetsuo eventually goes on a violent rampage through the hospital, intent on killing the espers. Kaneda, Kei, and the Colonel unsuccessfully try to stop Tetsuo's rampage. Discovering that Akira is in cryonic storage below Neo-Tokyo's new Olympic Stadium, Tetsuo flees.
Kei and Kaneda are detained, but Kiyoko — using Kei as a medium — explains that Tetsuo must be stopped, and facilitates the youths' escape before taking the girl away to combat Tetsuo. Desperate to find Tetsuo, the Colonel places Neo-Tokyo under martial law. Tetsuo confronts and kills Yamagata (Masaaki Okura), a member of the Capsules. He then proceeds to destroy the city as he makes his way to the Stadium, brutally dispatching the military forces who attempt to stand in his way. Upon learning of Yamagata's death from his friend Kai (Takeshi Kusao), Kaneda follows Tetsuo to the stadium, seeking revenge. When Tetsuo arrives at Akira's cryonic dewar flask, he defeats Kei and exhumes the Akira vault from the ground, but discovers all that is left of Akira are glass canisters filled with his remains, his body having been subjected to numerous scientific experiments.
Kaneda confronts and unsuccessfully tries to defeat Tetsuo with an experimental laser weapon, while the Colonel uses an orbital laser to sever Tetsuo's right arm. Tetsuo pulls the orbital weapon into the atmosphere and synthesizes an artificial arm from the remains while studying Akira's organs. When Kaori arrives, Tetsuo's psychokinetic powers have begun to cause him immense pain. The Colonel explains that the espers' migraine-controlling drugs administered to Tetsuo are to stunt the evolution of uncontrollable abilities. Despite the Colonel's pleas for Tetsuo to return to the hospital, Tetsuo nearly kills the Colonel, but Kaneda confronts him. Unable to control his powers, Tetsuo's body begins to transform into a giant mass, engulfing Kaneda and crushing Kaori to death.
The espers awaken Akira, who had merely grown beyond the requirement of a coherent biological form. Manifesting himself from the canisters, Akira reunites with his friends. Akira uses his psychic powers to create a blinding ball of light that engulfs the city, which he uses to contain Tetsuo. As Akira confronts Tetsuo, the espers hurry to teleport the Colonel to safety and — over Masaru and Kiyoko's objections — Takashi jumps into the light to rescue Kaneda. The other espers join Takashi, deciding that it will take all three of them to save Kaneda, aware they likely will not be able to return. Kaneda experiences Tetsuo's and the espers' childhood memories, including how much Tetsuo trusted Kaneda as a friend and how the children were first studied before Tokyo's destruction.
The espers remove Kaneda from the destruction and tell him that Akira will be taking Tetsuo to safety; Kiyoko implies that Kei is beginning to develop her own psychic powers, and this is confirmed when Kei calls Kaneda out telepathically. Akira's psychic power destroys most of Neo-Tokyo, and — after disappearing — leaves a void that is quickly filled by the ocean. Doctor Onishi is killed when his research laboratory is crushed. Kaneda awakens to discover that Kei and Kai have survived, and they drive away into the city. The Colonel walks out of the tunnel that the espers teleported him to and watches the sun rising over the destroyed city. Tetsuo comes into full control of his powers as he initiates a Big Bang in another dimension, uttering the words: "I am Tetsuo".
Read more about this topic: Akira (film)
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“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)