Japan, 1988. An explosion caused by a young boy with psychic powers tears through the city of Tokyo and ignites the fuse that leads to World War III. In order to prevent any further destruction, he is captured and taken into custody, never to be heard from again. Now, in the year 2019, a restored version of the city known as Neo-Tokyo—an area rife with gang violence and terrorism against the current government—stands in its place. Here, Shoutarou Kaneda leads "the Capsules," a group of misfits known for riding large, custom motorcycles and being in constant conflict with their rivals "the Clowns." During one of these battles, Shoutarou's best friend Tetsuo Shima is caught up in an accident with an esper who finds himself in the streets of Tokyo after escaping confinement from a government institution. Through this encounter, Tetsuo begins to develop his own mysterious abilities, as the government seeks to quarantine this latest psychic in a desperate attempt to prevent him from unleashing the destructive power that could once again bring the city to its knees. In the year 2019, thirty-one years after World War III, the authority of Neo-Tokyo is waging a constant battle against Underground rebels. Caught in the middle is a motorcycle gang whose aim is just to make trouble. The gang leader Kaneda Shoutarou gets involved in more ways than one when an experimental psychic child escapes and results in gang member Shima Tetsuo's capture and subsequent experimentation. Tetsuo the bitter runt of the pack now has the power of Akira and soon escapes when everyone realises that his power can result in the total destruction of Neo-Tokyo.