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 wi...