Childhood friends Tetsuo and Kaneda's motorcycle gang encounters a military operation to retrieve an escaped experimental subject. The military captures Tetsuo and conducts experiments on him that unleash his latent psychic ability, but when these new powers rage out of control, Tetsuo lashes out at the world that has oppressed him!
 
"Rightfully considered one of the greatest accomplishments in sci-fi storytelling."  Channel 4 Film
"An impressive achievement, often suggesting a weird expressionist blend of 2001, The Warriors, Blade Runner and Forbidden Planet."  Geoff Andrew, Time Out
"A phenomenal work of animation with all the hallmarks of an instant cult classic."  Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"Simply put, no Akira, no Matrix. It's that important."  Kim Newman, Empire
"...some kind of fever-dream masterpiece, easily the most breathtaking and kinetic anime ever made..."  Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice
"A furious spectacle of lush colors and dynamic movement."  Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
"...moves with such kinetic energy that you'll be hanging on for dear life..."  Richard Harrington, The Washington Post
 


Editor's Note

A landmark film that introduced much of the Western world to modern anim, AKIRA is a marvel of modern animation. Based on Katsuhiro Otomo's 2,000 page manga, AKIRA begins on July 16, 1988, when what was believed to be an atomic bomb was dropped on Tokyo, completely destroying the city and marking the beginning of WWIII. Thirty-one years later, Neo-Tokyo has sprung from the ruins of the old city and is experiencing a prolonged period of civil unrest caused by student uprisings, political instability, and, most destructively, biker gangs. One of the members of these biker gangs, Tetsuo, is detained by the military after a near accident with a strange young boy. After recognizing innate psychic ability in him, the military begins using Tetsuo as a test subject to channel Akira, a source of unimaginable power and the cause of the explosion that destroyed the original Tokyo. However, the military's plan backfires, and instead of locating the source of Akira's power, Tetsuo becomes a medium for it. Endowed with incredible psychic powers that make every one of his destructive impulses a reality, Tetsuo begins to go on a rampage that threatens to completely annihilate Neo Tokyo. Combining a complex science-fiction universe with intricately detailed animation and phantasmagoric images, AKIRA is a stunning visual experience and a disturbing vision of the future.


Plot Summary

In this landmark classic of Japanese animation, a race of children with special powers is being used by the government -- following the nuclear devastation of a world war.