'Akira' takes us to the year 2019 in Neo-Tokyo, a city built on the ancient Japanese capital destroyed after World War. Japan is a country on the brink of collapse faced in ongoing political crisis. Secretly, a team of scientists has reactivated by order of the army an experiment to find subjects that can control the ultimate weapon: a force called "absolute power". But the inhabitants of Neo-Tokyo have other things to worry about. One is Kaneda, a young gang leader of a gang of bikers. During a fight, his best friend, Tetsuo suffers a freak accident and ends joined some military installations. Scientists discover that there is the possessor of absolute power. But Tetsuo not resign itself to become a guinea pig ... and very soon become the greatest threat the world has ever known.