Akira (アキラ) is a 1988 Japanese animated film co-written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on his manga of the same name. The film is set in a neon-lit futuristic post-apocalyptic Tokyo in 2019. While most of the character designs and basic settings were directly adapted from the original 2,182 page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the book. Akira is regarded by critics as one of the greatest animated films ever made.
The story begins in 1988 in Tokyo, just as the city is destroyed by what seems to be a nuclear explosion. Presumably due to international confusion following the incident, the explosion leads to the start of World War III.
Thirty-one years later, in the year 2019, the futuristic metropolis of Neo-Tokyo stands on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay. A gang of teenage bikers, led by smug 16-year-old delinquent Shotaro Kaneda, find themselves involved in a street fight with a rival gang called the Clowns. Tetsuo Shima, Kaneda's best friend, having chased two Clown members into the abandoned Tokyo, finds a child with wizened features blocking his path. The boy, Takashi, had been previously set free from a government facility by a member of the terrorist Resistance, but teleported to the highway after the rescuer was killed by soldiers during a riot. As Tetsuo tries to avoid Takashi, his bike inexplicably explodes. When the gang reaches the scene, several military helicopters also arrive. Led by Colonel Shikishima, armed soldiers take Takashi and the injured Tetsuo away while Kaneda and his friends are arrested.
The gang is brought in for questioning, but the interrogators are soon convinced the boys are not members of the Resistance. Among the other detainees, Kaneda recognizes a female Resistance member named Kei from an earlier-spied mugshot and, finding her attractive, gets the soldiers to release her by convincing them she is part of their gang. Kei abruptly leaves the scene, leaving a spurned Kaneda behind. When the boys are returned to their vocational training school, they are harshly disciplined by the school administration.
Meanwhile, Colonel Shikishima, engaged in discussion of a Supreme Executive Council inquiry into Takashi's escape, is summoned by Doctor Onishi, who is monitoring Tetsuo at the government lab. Tetsuo is displaying strong mental frequencies that are reminiscent of something called "Akira," which apparently had something to do with the explosion that destroyed Tokyo thirty-one years earlier. The Colonel orders the Doctor to kill Tetsuo without hesitation should his power grow beyond control.
Tetsuo escapes and meets up with his girlfriend, Kaori. Deciding to run away together, they steal Kaneda's bike, which stalls just as the two are leaving the city. They are immediately attacked by Clown members, who are about to destroy the bike when Kaneda and his gang show up and defeat them. Tetsuo and Kaneda then enter a confrontation during which Tetsuo declares his longstanding resentment for Kaneda. Tetsuo then has a painful headache accompanied by disturbing hallucinations. Scientists and bodyguards, acting on orders of the Doctor, sweep in to recapture Tetsuo and take him away.
That night, as the gang hangs out in the city, they are interrupted by a terrorist attack. Kaneda glimpses Kei and Ryu, and follows as they flee the scene. Kei separates from Ryu and enters the sewers, but is spotted by soldiers; In the scuffle, Kei shoots and kills a soldier. Kei and Kaneda flee the scene.
Meanwhile, Tetsuo remains hospitalized, dreaming of his childhood and having violent hallucinations. He suddenly wakes, his headache causing a nearby light to shatter.
At the government nursery, Kiyoko, a psionically gifted yet wizened child (an Esper), tells the Colonel that she dreamt of Akira and Neo-Tokyo's destruction. The Colonel and the Doctor agree that it might be Kiyoko's precognition at work, and the Doctor notes that the Supreme Executive Council will want to hear about it. The Colonel travels to Akira's underground cryonic storage chamber, finding all of its systems to be operating normally.
Kaneda and Kei make their way to the hideout of the Resistance. The group privately reviews their next assignment: to gain access to a government facility to rescue a new test subject named Tetsuo Shima. After being discovered eavesdropping, Kaneda explains to the suspicious group that he and Tetsuo are friends, and that he can help. After Ryu meets with the Resistance leader Nezu, and they both agree to use Kaneda as a decoy should there be any trouble, the group later decides to bring him along.
Appearing before the Supreme Executive Council, the Colonel is angered when the Council members scoff at his requests for further funding for the project, and question his sense of duty as a soldier. The Resistance leader Nezu is revealed to be a Council member and a government mole mentioned earlier in the story. Frustrated by the Council's arguing on better ways to spend the project's budget, the Colonel abruptly leaves the meeting.
In his hospital room at the government facility that night, Tetsuo is attacked by the Espers -- Takashi, Kiyoko, and a third child, Masaru -- who pose as gigantic toys and destroy the room, leaking milk the whole time. Tetsuo steps on a glass and cuts his foot which scares away the Espers, who are apparently frightened at the sight of blood. Tetsuo then discovers the location of their nursery nearby. After breaking out of his room, Tetsuo begins traveling to the nursery, killing soldiers and wreaking destruction.
Meanwhile, the Resistance group, having made it into the facility disguised as cable workers, is spotted sneaking in the sewers and a chase ensues. During the violent shootout, Kaneda manages to hijack a "flying platform" -- a small aerial vehicle flown by soldiers -- and takes Kei as they flee the scene. Kiyoko possesses Kei and leads Kaneda to the government nursery, where Tetsuo has already arrived. Tetsuo has begun using his mind to attack both the Colonel's army and the Espers. He has learned about Akira and is eager to find out what it is, hoping to make his headaches stop. Using his new powers, Tetsuo escapes and heads for Akira's location beneath the city's Olympic Stadium, currently under construction.
Kei and Kaneda are locked in a holding cell. Kiyoko speaks through Kei once again, warning of Tetsuo's immense power. The cell door becomes unlocked and the two escape.
The Colonel, having initiated a coup d'etat, mobilizes his men to the stadium, and also has the members of the Supreme Executive Council arrested. Upon hearing this at his home, the mole Nezu murders his staff. When Ryu arrives to inform him of the mission's failure, Nezu shoots him and leaves with a briefcase full of money. In an alley, Nezu later dies of a heart attack. Ryu, having followed Nezu, also dies from his wounds.
Tetsuo is now wreaking havoc across Neo-Tokyo on his way to the Olympic Stadium, destroying tanks and helicopters. Kei, again possessed by Kiyoko, attempts to fight him but is soon thrown aside. When Tetsuo tears Akira's entire cryonic chamber from underground and opens it, he finds nothing left of except dissected body parts housed in canisters.
Making his way though wreckage of the scene, Kaneda, now armed with a laser cannon, confronts Tetsuo, and they begin to fight. In the middle of the skirmish, the Colonel activates an orbital weapon called SOL, and its beam severs Tetsuo's right arm in the process. An enraged Tetsuo flies into space and pulls SOL out of orbit, causing it to disintegrate in the atmosphere.
That night, Tetsuo hides out at the Olympic Stadium, where Kaori finds him screaming in pain. He has fashioned a new, apparently mechanical arm, which seems to throb with a life of its own. The Colonel soon appears, asking Tetsuo to come back to the lab with him, but Tetsuo attacks him. When the Colonel shoots back, Tetsuo's arm transforms into a horrific blob that attempts to swallow the Colonel. Kaneda arrives and shoots the monstrous appendage, causing it to recede. Meanwhile, the Espers have arrived at the stadium and seem to be communicating with the canisters that Tetsuo took from the cryonic chamber.
As Tetsuo and Kaneda fight again, Tetsuo's body swells into a huge protoplasmic mutation. Tetsuo's gruesome form grabs and kills Kaori, and nearly kills Kaneda before he can escape.
Akira suddenly appears, revealed to be a young boy without a physical body. His arrival triggers another explosion. Kiyoko touches the Colonel, instantly teleporting him to safety. The explosive energy sphere starts to absorb Tetsuo, who pleads for Kaneda's help. Kaneda, desperate to save his friend in need, follows Tetsuo into the energy sphere. In an effort to save Kaneda, the Espers decide to enter as well, intending to use their combined powers to free him. The Espers tell Tetsuo that Akira will be sending him "away" (to an undisclosed destination). Kaneda then seems to be ejected from the inside of Akira's onslaught, awakening outside the explosion upon hearing Kei's voice calling his name, perhaps telepathically communicated by the Espers.
Neo-Tokyo is destroyed by the violently expanding sphere; streets are gutted and flooded by the event, and Doctor Onishi is killed when his laboratory collapses. Kaneda survives, as do Kei, Kaisuke (one of Kaneda's gang), and the Colonel. The former three meet up at the ruins of the Olympic Stadium, wondering if Tetsuo is truly dead. They then ride their damaged bikes across a bridge into the ruined city to start a new beginning.
Somewhere, a stylized "big bang" breaches the cosmic darkness and Tetsuo's voice says "I am Tetsuo." This may imply that Tetsuo is now a god-like entity residing in his own universe.
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