Akira Summary

In 2019, following a world war triggered by the sudden destruction of

Tokyo on July 6, 1988, Neo-Tokyo is plagued by corruption, anti-govern-
ment protests, terrorism, and gang violence. During a violent protest,
the hot-headed Shōtarō Kaneda leads his vigilante bōsōzoku gang, the
Capsules, against the rival Clown gang. Kaneda's best friend Tetsuo
Shima inadvertently crashes his motorcycle into Takashi, an esper who
escaped from a government laboratory with the aid of a resistance orga-
nization. Assisted by fellow esper Masaru, Japan Self-Defense Forces
Colonel Shikishima recaptures Takashi, takes Tetsuo away, and arrests
the Capsules. While being interrogated by the police, Kaneda meets Kei,
an activist within the resistance movement, and tricks the authorities
into releasing her with his gang.
At a secret government facility, Shikishima and his head of research
Doctor Ōnishi discover that Tetsuo possesses powerful psychic abilities
similar to Akira, the esper responsible for the singularity that destroyed
Tokyo in 1988. Esper Kiyoko forewarns Shikishima of Neo-Tokyo's im-
pending destruction, but the city's parliament dismisses Shikishima's
concerns, leading him to consider killing Tetsuo to prevent another cata-
clysm. Meanwhile, Tetsuo escapes from the hospital, steals Kaneda's
motorcycle, and prepares to run away from Neo-Tokyo with his girl-
friend Kaori, but they are ambushed by the Clowns. The Capsules save
Tetsuo and Kaori, but Tetsuo begins suffering intense headaches and
hallucinations and is taken back to the hospital.

After overhearing their plan to rescue Tetsuo and the other espers,
Kaneda joins Kei's resistance cell. At the hospital, the espers try to assas-
sinate Tetsuo via hallucinations, but the attempt is thwarted. He then
searches for them in a fit of rage, easily killing any orderlies and militia-
men blocking his path. The resistance group infiltrates the hospital, and
Kiyoko draws Kei and Kaneda into Shikishima and the espers' futile at-
tempts to stop Tetsuo. Kiyoko tells Tetsuo that Akira, located in cryonic
storage beneath the Olympic Stadium's construction site, could help Tet-
suo with his powers. After rejecting everyone around him, especially
Kaneda, Tetsuo escapes the hospital and hunts for Akira.
Kei, used by Kiyoko as a medium to stop Tetsuo, breaks her and Kaneda
out of military custody. Shikishima stages a coup d'état against Neo-
Tokyo's government and directs all of its military forces to destroy Tet-
suo at any cost. At the Capsules' former hangout Harukiya Bar, Tetsuo
confronts gangmates Yamagata and Kai over Kaneda's bike and kills Ya-
magata after his protest. Kai relays the news to Kaneda, who vows to
avenge his friend, while Takashi brings Kei away. Tetsuo, mistaken for
Akira by cultists, rampages through Neo-Tokyo, arriving at Akira's cryo-
genic storage dewar under the stadium. Kei fights Tetsuo, but he defeats
her and exhumes Akira, only to find that his remains have been sealed in
jars for scientific research.
Kaneda duels Tetsuo with a laser rifle, and Shikishima fires an orbital
weapon at him. While the latter destroys his arm, neither is able to stop
him. Shikishima and Kaori approach the stadium, where Tetsuo, now
with a robotic arm, is in great pain and losing control over his powers.
Kaori attempts to restrain Tetsuo while Shikishima offers to return him
to the hospital, heal his injuries, and help control his abilities. Kaneda
arrives and continues his duel with Tetsuo who, weakened from the
missing arm, mutates into a gigantic mass of flesh, engulfing Kaneda
and killing Kaori. As the mass grows, the espers revive Akira to stop it.
After briefly reuniting with his friends upon his revival, Akira creates a
singularity, drawing Tetsuo and Kaneda into another dimension. The es-
pers teleport Shikishima to a safe distance as the singularity destroys
Neo-Tokyo in a mirror of Tokyo's previous destruction, and they agree to
rescue Kaneda, knowing that they will not be able to return to this di-
mension as a result.
In the singularity, Kaneda experiences Tetsuo and the espers' child-
hoods, including his and Tetsuo's friendship and the espers' psychic
training before Tokyo's destruction. The espers return Kaneda to Neo-
Tokyo, informing him that Akira will take Tetsuo to safety and that Kei is
developing psychic powers. After witnessing the birth of a universe,
Ōnishi's laboratory crushes him to death. After consuming most of Neo-
Tokyo, the singularity disappears and water floods the crater left in its
place. Kaneda, mourning the loss of Tetsuo, discovers that Kei and Kai
have survived, and they ride off into the ruins while Shikishima watches
the sunrise. Tetsuo humbly introduces himself at another unspecified
plane of life and triggers the creation of a universe, transcending the lim-
itations of human existence.

Akira storyline Analysis

Akira and Japan culture

Akira explores themes of disaffected youth, corruption in gov-

ernment, rampant religious zealotry, nuclear-energy-caused
telekinesis, destruction, and rebirth.

Akira is an expression of post-World War II anxieties, mirroring Japan’s

warped and disorientated state following the bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, which America’s history books tell me weren’t even that
bad. As in real life, the film’s Neo-Tokyo is suspended in a power
struggle between new religious zealots, corrupt capitalists, and
aimless, violent, oddly parentless youth.
More specifically, the character Tetsuo personifies Japan’s post-
war struggles. Tetsuo’s psychic powers and bizarre mutations
are reminiscent of the deformations the Japanese suffered due
to radiation poisoning.
Additionally, Tetsuo goes from punching bag to omnipotence in a
matter of hours. Similarly, Japan went from a country in sham-
bles to one of the most advanced economies in the world by the
1980s, just in time for the cocaine boom. The grotesque nature of Tetsuo’s
transformation juxtaposed with his enormous power suggests that al-
though Japan took pride in their new position among world powers, they
were also afraid of it -- afraid it would completely consume their cultural
identity and turn them
into douchebags. The film suggests that Akira takes Tetsuo to some
kind of alternate dimension, where he creates his own universe
-- without even looking at the instructions. This is the new begin-
ning Japan yearned for, free from the burdens of the past.
The final battle takes place at the Olympic Stadium, where Tokyo held
the 1964 Summer X-Games. Traditionally considered a symbol for
Japan’s incredible resurgence after the war, the stadium’s destruc-
tion seems to symbolise a rejection of all Western influence. Especially
when you consider there was probably a Mickey D’s in there.

Nuclear Annhilation

The legacy of Japan’s 1945 nuclear annihilation is a core theme of

Akira. The film opens over an immense crater. Other nods to Word
War II include the bomb; the militant Colonel; and the prematurely
aged esper children, symbols of Japan’s wartime experiments.
Given Japan’s unique experience of nuclear devastation, Frieda Fried-
berg writes that these repeated references to the war aim to elicit the
deeply held fear of “collective incineration and extinction” within the Ja-
panese consciousness.
Meanwhile, Tokyo 2019 in Akira closely resembles Tokyo as we
find it today with its imposing cityscape and dazzling lights.  Dr
Marcos Pablo Centeno Martín agrees that Akira depicts Japan’s linger-
ing memories and contemporary fears of nuclear annihilation in a recog-
nisable, yet futuristic, Tokyo. This creates an unsettling ‘double optic’
which blurs the lines between history and the present. Akira encourages
viewers to contemplate the implications that Japan’s underlying survival
anxieties have for its future.

Economic Transformation

Akira was released when Japan’s economy was surging in the 1980s.
Japan’s economic ascension is reflected in a neo Tokyo, shock-
ing in its brilliance. Its neon lights are overwhelming whilst mammoth
skyscrapers occlude the stars. Yet within this metropolis lie symbols of
the decline that would follow: alleyways filled with rubbish and
the rioting masses of unemployed people.
Although the Japan was exhibiting unparalleled growth when Akira was
released, it also experienced unforeseen social changes as a result. As
people moved into cities, an entire generation found itself being raised
in previously non-existent urban environments. The resultant youth
alienation threatened to fracture Japan’s newly found confidence in the
1980s, as Japan’s ageing population currently threatens its newly found
prosperity in 2019.