The
Story
On July 16, 1988, a new type of bomb is dropped on Tokyo.
During the next 35 years, Neo-Tokyo is constructed around
the crater that was once Tokyo.
Kaneda and his friends, a bunch of juvenile delinquents,
rumble with a rival group of bikers. Meanwhile, a man
holding what looks like a 100-year-old child attempts,
unsuccessfully, to elude the police. When the man is shot
and killed, the child (named Takashi) screams and shatters
the buildings around him. The child escapes in the
confusion while Kay and Ryu, the dead man's friends, watch
in amazement. The Colonel sets out with Masaru, another of
these strange children, to find Takashi. While rioting
crowds are subdued by the police with tear gas, Kaneda's
rumble continues. Tetsuo takes the lead and, after
disposing of his opponents, nearly runs down Takashi.
Tetsuo's bike suddenly explodes. First Kaneda, then the
Colonel arrive. Takashi and Tetsuo are taken while the rest
of the bikers are arrested.
While Kaneda and his friends are being processed, he
notices Kay's picture in a book of wanted criminals After
his interview, Kaneda spots Kay, who has yet to be
processed, in the hallway. He manages to convince the
officer to let him take her with him. Kaneda is begining to
introduce himself when Kay spots Ryu, who has also been
arrested. She eludes Kaneda so she can help her friend
escape.
While analysing him, the army doctors discover that
Tetsuo's mind is psychically active. The Colonel orders
Tetsuo to be held and taught to develop his power.
After being disciplined by the gym teacher, Kaneda and his
friends are joined by their girlfriends. Kaori asks where
Tetsuo is, but Kaneda can only tell her that the army took
him. Later that night, Tetsuo escapes and meets Kaori. The
next day, they steal Kaneda's bike and go for a ride. They
are spotted by a rival gang and pursued. Tetsuo and Kaori
are caught but fortunately, Kaneda and his friends show up
before anything happens. They capture one of the bikers,
and Tetsuo beats the crap out of him. Kaneda tries to stop
his friend before he kills the guy. Tetsuo whirls on him
and demands to know why Kaneda didn't help him escape from
the hospital. Suddenly, Tetsuo suffers from a strange fit.
The army shows up and carries him off again.
Later Kaneda sees Ryu and Kay after they have performed an
act of terrorism. He follows and helps Kay elude her army
pursuers.
While Tetsuo suffers nightmares in the hospital, yet
another one of these strange children meets the Colonel.
The girl, Kyoko, says she had a dream in which she foresaw
that Akira will awaken very soon. This prompts the general
to pay a visit to Akira, who is frozen at 5 degrees Kelvin.
Kay takes Kaneda back to her hideout. Kaneda is still going
through his "come-on" lines. Ryu arrives and locks Kaneda
up, believing him to be an army spy. They go into one of
the other rooms where Ryu receives forged ID cards which
will allow them to pass the hospital security. They are
planning to break into the hospital and kidnap another of
the children. Meanwhile, Kaneda is caught while trying to
escape and Ryu accuses him of spying on their meeting
Ryu meets with his boss, who is a member of the ruling
council. While they discuss the planned attack, they
observe a group of young people involved in a religious
ceremony worshipping Akira.
Later, at the council meeting, the Colonel meets with the
other members. They are a bunch of petty politicians.They
tell the Colonel that he is spending too much money. They
have funded the Akira Project for four years and there have
been no Results. The Colonel tells them that he is already
at his minimum expenditure and warns of the dire
consequences if they cut any further. The council ignores
him, and he storms out.
While Kaneda, Kay, and her group infiltrate the hospital,
Tetsuo's head begins throbbing again. He is assaulted by a
series of illusions created by the Children for the purpose
of heightening his emotional distress and thereby bringing
forth his psychic powers. Tetsuo cuts his foot and the
gruesomeness of the scene breaks the children's
concentration. Tetsuo, now really pissed, wants to find the
Children. Suddenly, he knows how to find them. While Tetsuo
makes his way to Room A, Kay and her friends are attacked
in the sewers. With help, she and Kaneda steal one of the
floating platforms. They set off the find the children.
Tetsuo battles his way to Room A. Meanwhile, Kyoko tells
Kaneda, through Kay, the location of Room A. Takashi and
Masaru engage Tetsuo in an indecisive psychic combat when
the Colonel appears. Tetsuo's head begins pounding again,
and the doctor tells him that if he would just cooperate,
they could fix it.
Tetsuo doesn't believe him. Kyoko tells Tetsuo that the
most powerful of them, Akira, had the same problem, but he
found peace at last. Tetsuo demands to know where Akira is,
and begins tearing the place apart to find him. Kaneda
arrives and tells Tetsuo that he's come to rescue him
Tetsuo, resentful of Kaneda's usual bad treatment, laughs
at him. He tells Kaneda that the only help that he needs is
to have his head fixed He then confronts Kyoko and pulls
Akira's location, under the Olympic Stadium, from her mind.
He then teleports himself out of the hospital.