In 1998 there was a huge explosion that destroyed the city of Tokyo and acted as the starting point for World War 3. In the year 2019 the city is rebuilt as Neo Tokyo, but it is on the brink of chaos. The streets are littered with riots between political protestors and the police, while the corrupt officials and politicians do little to resolve the situation. There are teenage motorcycle gangs who do motorised combat with rival gangs on the highways of the futuristic city.
During a battle with a rival gang, Tetsuo (one of the motorcyclers) crashes his bike into a strange looking little boy. As a result of the boys paranormal powers Tetsuo is seriously injured. The Military arrive to obtain their lost test subject and proceed to take Tetsuo away for treatment. The Military doctors find out that Tetsuo has some hidden powers of his own and so they submit him to their experiment to develop telekinetic humans.
While under the experiments Tetsuo learns about Akira, who was the first test subject and considered the most powerful. As Tetsuo's own powers begin to grow he becomes more and more corrupted by his newfound power. Tetsuo has always wanted to be the best and so he seeks to challenge Akira, even if it meant destroying the everything in the process.
Tetsuo proceeds through the city looking for Akira, while being pursued by the Military and destroying everything in his path. He turns against is old friends and threatens to destroy the city. There is only one person who could stop him. His best friend and leader of the motorcycle gang, also the guy with the coolest bike, Keneda.
Keneda learns about his friends predicament when he befriends Kay, a member of a terrorist organisation who are trying to uncover the secret of Akira Project, which the Military have kept Top Secret. As the battle moves towards the resting place of Akira, the three other test subject who are all young children try to stop Tetsuo but are unsuccessful in their attempt. In the end it is a battle between Tetsuo and Keneda. Can Keneda stop Tetsuo before it's too late? Or will Tetsuo's growing power end up destroying everything?