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The Capsules
Shotaro Kaneda
Voiced by: Mitsuo Iwata (JP), Cam Clarke (EN, Streamline dub), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
The leader of the Capsules, one of Neo-Tokyo's biker gangs. He is a major protagonist who gets caught up in both the political schemes of Neo-Tokyo's government and his friend Tetsuo's increasing madness.
- Adaptational Heroism: While he's by no means perfect in the movie, many of Kaneda's nastier traits from the manga are suspiciously absent. While his jokester personality is still in the film, his laughing off his pregnant girlfriend's concerns as well as constant jokes on Kei are cut from the movie to make him a much more likable protagonist in a short runtime.
- Affectionate Pickpocket: See Adaptational Heroism above, but he tricks Kei into thinking he wants to sexually assault her, but in reality, he's just grabbing the key to the room so he can search for his bike.
- AM/FM Characterization: In the manga, there's a scene where Kaneda sings "Starry Starry Night" to himself in the bathroom.
- Badass Biker: Stands out as this because of his Cool Bike and riding skills.
- Badass Normal: Kaneda took on a fully powered Tetsuo with a laser gun and was winning. He actually would've killed him—something even the entire military was failing at—if the gun hadn't run out of energy.
- Big Eater: Lampshaded by Kei at one point:Kei: Is eating all you do?
- Butt-Monkey: Gets the most amount of punishment while never suffering anything really irreversible.
- Character Development: Goes from a selfish, womanizing jerk to a genuine hero who cares deeply for the woman he loves.
- Chivalrous Pervert: He's a total pervert to Kei at the start, but later grows fond of her.
- Averted big time, however, with the way he treats his first girlfriend in the manga. He doesn't really care about her much and only uses her for sex and to score drugs (she's doing some kind of internship with the school nurse) and when she tells him he may have gotten her pregnant he laughs about it.
- Cool Bike: His motorcycle is almost as iconic as his jacket.
- Deadpan Snarker: At one point in the anime, a Man In Black appears, and Kaneda immediately asks if he'd just come back from a funeral.
- Determinator: To Tetsuo's chagrin, Kaneda is very determined to help him—later kill him—no matter what. In the anime, he even runs up and gets caught inside him as Akira is building a new universe.
- Disappeared Dad: On both the receiving (He lived in the same orphanage as Tetsuo) and GIVING ends (assuming his ex and unborn child survived the events of the manga, which is hardly a guarantee).
- Expy: He is named after and physically based on the main character of Tetsujin 28-go, though their personalities are nothing alike.
- Iconic Outfit: The red motorcycle jacket with the Capsules' logo on the back.
- Japanese Delinquent: He fights, does drugs, and runs a biker gang. And he's still in high school.
- Jerkass: He starts out as a big one, especially in the manga. However…
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At the center of his being, he does have a heart. He genuinely cares about his friends and genuinely falls in love with Kei.
- Last-Name Basis: Always goes by Kaneda. Or Mister Kaneda if you piss him off.
- No One Should Survive That!: Kaneda is by far the luckiest character in the storyline. In fact, it could be argued that he didn't survive the obliteration of Neo Tokyo and only pulled through because of an odd application of the Timey-Wimey Ball.
- Only Friend: To Tetsuo in their childhood.
- Pinball Protagonist: He's not exactly the biggest player on the manga, and even gets Put on a Bus after the time skip.
- Red Hot Masculinity: Kaneda is a tough, cocky Japanese Delinquent who participates in street fights, does drugs, leads a biker gang, and tends to leap before he looks. He also wears a red motorcycle jacket and rides a red Cool Bike.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Tetsuo's red.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Tetsuo's, and later Kai's, Sensitive Guy.
- Supporting Protagonist: In the movie, he is less developed than Tetsuo or Kei.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Sure, he saves Neo-Tokyo, but he's still an obnoxious delinquent.
Tetsuo Shima
Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (JP), Jan Rabson (EN, Streamline dub), Joshua Seth (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
Kaneda's childhood friend, and a member of the Capsules. Despite his friendship with Kaneda, he suffers from an inferiority complex and deeply resents Kaneda. Following a motorcycle accident involving an escaped Takashi, he awakens to strong psychic powers beyond his dreams and quickly goes on a rampage against a world he believes had wronged him.
- Abstract Apotheosis: To some degree, by the end, Tetsuo becomes more the personification of his own power than the character he began as.
- Adaptational Heroism: While he isn't a hero by any definition in the movie either, Tetsuo is significantly more sympathetic and takes a much longer time to take a flying leap off the slippery slope than he did in the manga.
- A God Am I: To some degree.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Particularly in the manga. The death of Kaori saps much of Tetsuo's will to fight, and even as his body instinctively reacts to danger and grows into a Blob Monster he clearly just wants the pain to stop. Ultimately he's a victim to his own power, poor decision making, and Lady Miyako's manipulation, even if it is to save the world. When Kaneda sees him in the dimension they're transported to, he assumes the form of a child and fondly acknowledges Kaneda as the one friend he'd managed to make before he passes on to... wherever he goes.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Implied to be Tetsuo's fate at the end of the anime film, as his enormous psychic abilities led to him being the god of a new universe.
- Artificial Limbs: He loses an arm to the Kill Sat then telekinetically builds himself a robotic one out of pieces of scrap metal. In the manga, it eventually grows back. In the anime, it doesn't stop growing.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Kaori in the manga. Even if Tetsuo is cruel towards her, they still let each other sleep on their laps and loses control over his power after Kaori dies.
- Ax-Crazy: Moreso in the manga.
- Badass Cape: In both manga and the anime film.
- Berserk Button: He will get angry when somebody treats him as if he is weak.
- Beware the Superman: A fair few undertones of this, given that his extraordinary power ends up destroying the lives of nearly everyone he comes into contact with.
- Big Bad: While Tetsuo starts off just as confused as everybody else, he becomes the main antagonist eventually.
- Blob Monster: His mutated form is a flesh version of this.
- Body Horror: One of the most iconic scenes from the anime involves this. Due to a Super-Power Meltdown, his body starts to mutate into the epitome of this trope. He also suffers from this in the manga, but for a long time while trying to regain control.
- Bridal Carry: A tragic version. Tetsuo carries Kaori this way all over Neo-Tokyo after she is shot to death by his own supporters.
- Bullet Catch: Tetsuo manages to stop not a bullet, but a freaking tank shell with his psychokinesis.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: His fetus-thing transformation is terribly strong, but he doesn't have any control of it so attacks at random, making it less dangerous. Also, it slowly and painfully kills him.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the superhero. His story plays out much like an origin story in how he develops supernatural abilities that he has to learn how to control, and he even dons a cape. But being an already bitter teenage delinquent with a (presumably) non-existent family life, he does not use his powers to help anyone, but to lash out at everyone who's ever wronged him in his mind. When Neo-Tokyo is destroyed, Tetsuo then uses his powers to rule over a faction of survivors with impunity.
- Despair Event Horizon: After Kaori is killed. He goes to Akira's chamber without clear intentions, but seems to be tired of everything and loses control of his powers by the last time.
- Dismemberment Is Cheap: Get your arm blasted off by an orbital laser? No big deal! Just make yourself a new robotic arm! Not so much in the anime, however, wherein it begins your monstrous transformation.
- Driven by Envy: His motivation for lashing out against everyone and even his childhood friend Kaneda.
- Eldritch Transformation: The sheer amount of Body Horror caused by his Superpower Meltdown at the end turns him into an amoeba that consumes anything it touches. The only thing that could stop him was Akira's resurrection and the subsequent birth of a new universe, which definitely adds Eldritch points.
- Empowered Badass Normal: After discovering his powers.
- Evil Laugh: "UWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-A-AAH"!
- Fetus Terrible: His mutated form resembles this.
- Forehead of Doom: Gains a very noticeable one after he gains powerful psychic abilities.
- Freudian Excuse: Poor Tetsuo had to deal with bullies of various sorts his entire life until he discovered his powers and there is also the fact that he was rejected by his parents and left in an orphanage.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: From an insignificant bullied kid with a severe inferiority complex to an insane teenage monstrosity with godlike psychic powers lashing out at everyone who put him through hell. And that's not getting into the Body Horror parts...
- Going Cold Turkey: Tetsuo goes through agonizing withdrawal to quit the pills the scientists gave him to keep him from losing control of the Power.
- Gone Horribly Right: The military succeeded too well in unlocking Tetsuo's powers.
- Healing Factor: To wit, Tetsuo survives multiple shootings, an overdose of medicine, an assassination attempt by Kei, his arm blown off by a Kill Sat, gassing with a specially-engineered biological weapon, and a missile landing on him. Dr. Onishi and the Colonel discuss his remarkable resilience.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: In Tetsuo's Mental World, Kaneda stumbles upon a scene of a younger Tetsuo, alone in a courtyard. When Tetsuo begins running away, Kaneda calls out, "All I wanted was to be your friend," and Tetsuo turns back and smiles. Note that all this is after Kaneda discovers a memory of Tetsuo and Kaneda first becoming friends in their orphanage, implying that Tetsuo had seen himself as so inferior to Kaneda that he never truly saw them as friends.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Tetsuo's driven by a desire to surpass Kaneda, even after literally obtaining godlike power.
- Japanese Delinquents: He was a member of the Capsules, a biker gang consisting of disaffected youths.
- Jerkass: After getting his powers, he becomes more Ax-Crazy, cruel and maniacal. He barely has any empathy towards other people.
- Lima Syndrome: In the manga, Tetsuo comes to feel some degree of sympathy for Kaori, the girl he had abducted and tried to make into his sex slave, even letting her take a nap with her head on his lap.
- No-Sell: When a Japanese-American soldier tries assassinating him with a new experimental weapon, it not only completely fails to take out Tetsuo, but also heals him from the Superpower Meltdown he was suffering from.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Yamagata recognizes the Tetsuo he's seeing in the wreck that was once the Haruki-ya bar is not the Tetsuo he'd known for years when he disses Kaneda's bike—you know, the same one he had coveted earlier in the movie.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: As a child, Tetsuo has a locket with a woman's picture in it and he tells people it's a keepsake from his mother. He actually found it in the street and just pretends it's her in order to feel some connection with his parents.
- Out of the Inferno: Right before he starts fighting the military in the movie.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Tetsuo is a deconstruction of this, he developed a massive inferiority complex over how Kaneda excels over him. So much that he became the Tragic Monster he is now.
- Parental Abandonment: He did have parents, once upon a time, but it's implied they dumped him in a daycare orphanage and never came back for him. No wonder he became so screwed up later in life.
- Person of Mass Destruction: At one point Colonel Shikishima refers to him as "another Akira".
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: During the story, his hair becomes longer and spikier. At the end he himself becomes larger and blobbier.
- Psychotic Smirk
- Put on a Bus: In the manga. After getting his arm shot off by the SOL satellite at the end of the second volume, Tetsuo flies off and is not seen again until the end of Volume 3.
- Reality Warper: Tetsuo became powerful enough to create his own universe in an alternate dimension and merged with it in the end, therefore he counts.
- Red Hot Masculinity: Tetsuo starts wearing a red cape after he becomes more arrogant and violent.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Kaneda's blue.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In the manga after Kaori is shot to death.
- Screaming Warrior: Throughout the movie when he gains his powers and starts attacking anyone in his way he lets out a giant scream.
- Seeking Ultimate Strength: Tetsuo Shima begins as an arrogant member of a biker gang, whose sense of self-importance skyrockets after he gains powerful psychic abilities. Despite becoming effectively the king of the ruined Tokyo, he is still obsessed with power due to personal insecurities.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Kaneda's Manly Man.
- Shadow Dictator: Akira is made a ruler of the empire in the manga, but he nothing more than a puppet. Tetsuo is the one running the game behind the scenes.
- Shrinking Violet: Tetsuo was very introverted as a child.
- Slasher Smile: It's pretty much his default expression after he gets his powers.
- The Sociopath: Reads like a checklist for Antisocial Personality Disorder: little to no empathy towards other people, lack of consideration of the consequences of his actions, and having a god-complex mixing in with his reckless and maniacal behavior.
- Sorcerous Overlord: Tetsuo after the third book. Just replace magic with psychic powers.
- Superpower Meltdown: One of the most infamous cases in all of anime if not in all of media. Eventually, he overtaxes his abilities and ends up uncontrollably mutating into a giant Blob Monster.
- Teens Are Monsters: Tetsuo's lack of hesitation in drive-by clotheslining a rival biker's brains out with a hammer, downright splattering hapless doctors into goddamned puree all over the hallway walls, and tearing through everything the military throws at him without breaking a sweat makes him a mighty fine example of this trope.
- Took a Level in Badass: Thanks to his newly awakened powers!
- Tragic Monster: In both continuities.
- Transhuman Abomination: Once his powers start running away from him.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He never appreciates Kaneda's attempts to help him or save him from trouble. Being rescued only drives his inferiority complex even further.
- Unstoppable Rage: He causes a lot of destruction when he rampages through the city.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Young Tetsuo was meek and socially withdrawn. It's implied he was abandoned by his parents and bullied by other kids.
- Villain Ball: He could easily kill Kaneda in all of their confrontations, but doesn't. At first, it's hinted at first that he wants to humiliate and toy with him. But the final book of the manga implies that in the end, he either simply never wanted to kill him in the first place or never had the guts to, but hated being in his shadow all the time.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Kaori is shot to death in the manga, Tetsuo goes on a massive Roaring Rampage of Revenge. It is relatively brief, however, and he soon comes to his senses.
- Villain Protagonist: While Kaneda is the "good guy" of the story, Tetsuo drives the plot far more, and ultimately focuses on the development of his powers and his descent into villainy.
- Who's Laughing Now?: He was treated as the weak link in his old gang, and he constantly felt inferior to Kaneda. The moment he gets psychic powers, he immediately begins putting it to work to surpass his old friend and rival.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Tetsuo goes crazy due to his severe inferiority complex being combined with psychic power beyond his wildest dreams.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He started out as a meek and shy kid who was constantly bullied by others. Then he fell into the hard life of a biker, had an unfortunate run-in with an esper, got kidnapped and tortured by the government, and painfully awakened to his latent psychic abilities. Having felt inferior and like a victim his entire life, he used his newly-awakened powers to lash out at the world and take what he wanted.
- You Are Number 6: In the manga, after he was captured by the government scientists, they refer to him as "Number 41".
Kaisuke "Kai"
Voiced by: Takeshi Kusao (JP), Bob Bergen (EN, Streamline dub), Anthony Pulcini (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
A member of the Capsules and one of Kaneda's friends.
- Action Survivor: He manages to survive the entire manga, and in the movie, is one of the four main survivors alongside Kaneda, Kei, and the Colonel. Perhaps most impressively, he somehow survives Tetsuo's wrath after witnessing the murder of Yamagata.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: His role is mostly relegated to comic relief outside of the opening bike scene and after Yamagata's murder.
- Ambiguously Gay: When reunited with Kaneda after thinking that he had died, Kai grabs his shoulders and begins to cry, embracing him and saying how glad he is that he's alive. The manga plays this scene for laughs after the second destruction, where he intercepts a hug that Kaneda meant to give Kei. He's also the only member of the gang who is shown without any girlfriend—all the others apparently have a girlfriend at some point in the manga or the anime.
- In the anime he appears to have a crush on Yamagata more than Kaneda, showing considerable emotion when he gets killed.
- Keet: Downplayed. While he is mainly very perky and sensitive, he can still take on a good deal of Clowns on his own.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Yamagata's, and later Kaneda's, Manly Man.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He's more cleanly dressed than his fellow Capsule gangsters, including wearing a tie with his outfit.
- Shorter Means Smarter: He's perhaps the only gang member shorter than Tetsuo, but is no slouch on his bike and manages to pull out of some pretty dangerous scraps when shit hits the fan.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In the movie, all vomiting gallons of blood gets him is a slap on the back of the head by Yamagata.
Yamagata
Voiced by: Masaaki Ōkura (JP), Tony Mozdy (EN, Streamline dub), Michael Lindsay (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
A member of the Capsules and one of Kaneda's friends.
- Back for the Finale: His spirit appears driving alongside Kaneda as he rides off in the final chapter of the manga.
- Big Guy: The tallest and seemingly most muscular member of the Capsules, and usually the most eager to throw down.
- Cool Bike: This is pretty much a given; it may not be as impressive as Kaneda's but his lowrider still stands out among the rest in his gang's lineup. After Yamagata is killed, Kaneda destroys it as a final sendoff to his friend.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the anime, instead of having his head blown up, he is simply knocked dead by Tetsuo's psychic powers.
- Kill Him Already!: In the Manga. Having seen the monster Tetsuo has become, Yamagata shouts at Kaneda to shoot Tetsuo as he crawls out of the warehouse. Kaneda can't bring himself to do it. Yamagata manages to get the gun but Tetsuo explodes his head first. Understanding that Tetsuo has changed, with the dead Yamagata still holding the gun, Kaneda uses it to shoot him.
- The Lancer: He's Kaneda's right-hand man in the Capsule gang, and much more Hot-Blooded and aggressive than his leader.
- Malaproper: Has trouble with big words. He still uses them to try to look smart.I can't control my indigestion!
- Pipe Pain: Weapon of choice.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Kai's Sensitive Guy.
- Viking Funeral: Yamagata gets the bosozoku version of this in the anime, with Kaneda deliberately crashing his bike.Kaneda: I'm gonna send Yamagata his wheels...
- Your Head Asplode: In the manga, Tetsuo psychically explodes his head when he tries to shoot him.
Neo-Tokyo Resistance
Kei
Voiced by: Mami Koyama (JP), Lara Cody (EN, Streamline dub), Wendee Lee (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
"What if there were some mistake and the progression went wrong, and something like an amoeba were given power like a human?"
A young member of the Neo-Tokyo Resistance whom Kaneda has taken a liking to. She later becomes psychically connected to the Espers.
- Action Girl: Shown when she fights Tetsuo.
- Badass Longcoat: As seen in the image, she sometimes wears an outfit consisting of a somewhat short light-colored longcoat over a darker-colored jumpsuit.
- Character Development: Begins the manga as a hardened militant who has no problem killing to achieve her group's objectives. As the story progresses, she turns away from violence and tries to spare lives when she can.
- La Résistance: A member of this.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In the movie, she shoots a soldier to save Kaneda, and completely freezes up afterward. It's implied that she's never killed before.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Her Streamline voice actress's British accent is retained for this role, most notably visible in the line "You be careful, too!"
- Powers via Possession: By allowing the Espers to possess her, Kei is able to use all their powers.
- Willing Channeler: She can serve as a spiritual conduit for the Espers, allowing her to use their Psychic Powers and do things the Espers themselves cannot. In the manga, it is shown more explicitly; at one point, she had to cleanse herself in a ritual bath to get rid of all physical and mental impurities before using her powers. She appears less in control of it in the film adaptation, however, at least before fighting Tetsuo.
Ryu
Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (JP)Other Languages
A member of the Neo-Tokyo Resistance.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, he's crushed to death by falling debris after he shoots Akira while the boy's in the middle of using his psychic powers. In the anime, he's shot by Nezu on the mistaken assumption that he ratted him out to loyalist government forces. He slowly bleeds to death and finally dies shortly after Nezu while witnessing the citizens of Neo-Tokyo staging an uprising.
- Drowning My Sorrows: In the manga, he does this to cope with the deaths of his friends.
- Libation for the Dead: Ryu pours out his flask for a fallen comrade at the scene of his death.
- Lovable Coward: In the manga, he jokes that he'll be right behind you running into danger and just ahead of you running from it. This is probably just Self-Deprecation, because he shows plenty of courage.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: "Ryu" is short for "Ryusaku"
- Unwitting Pawn: Pretty much anyone who follows him becomes this, as he's working to fulfill Nezu's agenda.
- Would Hurt a Child: In the manga, Ryo threatens to kill Kaneda after he catches him listening in on a secret meeting to infiltrate the hospital where Tetsuo is held, though he lets go once Kaneda explains. In the final book of the manga, he shoots Akira to prevent an impending psychic explosion that would have been powerful enough to destroy the world. Though it was clear that he was very reluctant in doing the act.
Neo-Tokyo Government
Colonel Shikishima
Voiced by: Taro Ishida (JP), Tony Mozdy (EN, Streamline dub), Jamieson Price (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
"My job isn't to believe or disbelieve. It is to act or not act!"
The militant leader of the Neo-Tokyo government, and the caretaker of the Espers and later Tetsuo.
- Action Survivor: In The Movie, he is one of the only four survivors that are shown. He also survives everything in the manga, though not unscathed.
- Anti-Villain: Despite being the head of the Project and an initial antagonist, the Colonel isn't an evil person at all. In fact, his whole aim is to prevent what happened to the original Tokyo from happening again — it's just that his goals happen to run crosswise with Kaneda's. Even his more extreme actions, like launching a coup, were done out of desperation because the government wasn't willing to do squat to address Akira's revival.
- The Atoner: In the later part of the manga, after he sees firsthand what his actions have done to the nation he swore to protect.
- Badass Normal: Arguably even more than Kaneda because he knocks Tetsuo on his arse using a normal handgun.
- Blood Knight: While he is the Only Sane Man in either the military or the government, Shikishima does not hesitate to enjoy a good fight, as being a soldier is the one thing he can do best. In the latter half of the manga, after his organization is gone and he is isolated from the rest of the military due to Neo-Tokyo's destruction, he engages in numerous battles himself.
- Colonel Badass: In the anime, he tries taking on a rampaging Tetsuo after the guy underwent insane amounts of Body Horror, and turns out to be the only person in Neo-Tokyo's government not to be heavily corrupt. In the manga, he survives Akira's destruction of Neo-Tokyo and once he sees the consequences of his actions, he starts owning up like a man and becomes a valuable ally to Kaneda and friends. There's a reason why he has the word "Colonel" in his name.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: More apparent in the movie where he's shown to be kind to the Espers, and genuinely cares the citizens of Neo-Tokyo. He becomes this in the manga after the Time Skip after Akira destroys Neo Tokyo.
- Last-Name Basis: His full name is Colonel Shikishima, but he's referred to by rank.
- Only Sane Man: The movie can give this impression of him, given that he is dealing with heavily corrupt politicians on one side and researchers who don't seem willing to balance the potential benefits of their research against the demonstrably severe risks. He's trying to run the research program while also trying to minimize the risk to the surrounding city and the world.
- Papa Wolf: To the Espers, and also to Kaori in the movie. Because Tetsuo was advancing on her, he was the only one aside from Kaneda to score a hit with his gun.
- Took a Level in Badass: After the time skip in the manga. Before, he's a very angry Elite Mook who spends his whole time shouting conflicting orders. After, he's a much more thoughtful and outright heroic character who shows that he's a very badass fighter who's not to be messed with as time goes on, leading up to him attempting to take out Tetsuo head-on.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's willing to do anything to protect his country, including starting/participating in a secret project that uses psychic children as military weapons, and using a government-owned laser satellite to kill a psychic teenager. He also overthrows the government in a military coup right before Neo-Tokyo's destruction.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He delivers one to Onishi upon realizing the doctor hadn't terminated Tetsuo as soon as his power started to go out of control, yelling at him and throwing him against the wall of his mobile lab.
Doctor Onishi
Voiced by: Mizuho Suzuki (JP), Lewis Arquette (EN, Streamline Dub), Simon Prescott (EN, Animaze Dub)Other Languages
A scientist working for Colonel Shikishima on the Esper program.
- Death by Irony: In both versions of the story, the Doctor spends his career studying the mysteries of Akira, only to be present for and indirectly killed by Akira’s reawakening. In the anime, the debris from Akira’s singularity hits the Doctor’s mobile lab and crushes him inside it, while in the manga, he freezes to death when Tetsuo opens Akira’s cryogenic chamber.
- Einstein Hair: He rocks some wild gray hair, fit for a scienist dealing with runaway power.
- For Science!: His constant motivation for everything he does in the Esper program. He’s genuinely fascinated by Akira and the Espers in general and dedicates his life to studying them.
- Gone Horribly Right: It was his idea to unlock Tetsuo’s psychic powers in the first place after noticing how similar Tetsuo’s brain pattern was to Akira’s. Onishi hoped that studying Tetsuo would help to explain Akira’s power. In the anime, this eventually means hanging around long enough to see Tetsuo’s brain patterns go off the charts and recognize the Espers’ creation of a new universe just before the blast kills him and destroys all his lab equipment.
- Mad Scientist: He’s focused on studying the Espers and unlocking the secrets of the universe through them, to the point of never stopping to consider the ethical ramifications.
- Number Two: To the Colonel, who employs Onishi as his head researcher and science advisor.
- Skewed Priorities: In the film, the Doctor doesn’t seem to care about the damage or the human cost of Tetsuo’s rampage, instead focusing on Tetsuo’s brain patterns and data. This is ultimately what gets him killed—he stays in the mobile lab reading the data for so long that he doesn’t think to get himself or his lab away from the stadium, and the debris from the blast causes the lab to collapse on itself, crushing him in the process.
The Espers/Numbers
General
- Afraid of Blood: In the anime, the three are terrified when Tetsuo accidentally steps on a shard of glass, causing him to bleed. It actually foils their attempt to assassinate him.
- Animal Motifs: Kiyoko is represented by a rabbit because she is physically weaker than her friends and relies on them to protect her. Takashi is represented by a bear because of his generally pacifistic nature, but he will reveal his claws if he has no other choice.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Possibly what happens to the Espers in the manga and the anime.
- Big Brother Instinct: Kiyoko is physically weaker and constantly bedridden, thus unable to defend herself. Takashi and Masaru, who are healthier by comparison, are very protective of her and are willing to shield Kiyoko from anything they perceive to be a threat.
- Creepy Child: All three can come across as this, due to their wizened appearance and their Wise Beyond Their Years behavior.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The Espers were part of a group of children who were taken in by the government of the original Tokyo, and subjected to horrific experiments that left many dead and the survivors with severe physical/mental disabilities. The only comfort they had was their Psychic Powers allowing them to befriend each other in the form of a Psychic Link. Then one of their friends, Akira, inexplicably causes a psychic explosion that destroys the original Tokyo, which the Espers survived, but led to them becoming physically wizened from all the drugs they had to take to keep themselves from becoming as powerful as Akira.
- Delicate and Sickly:
- Kiyoko is bedridden and has weaker health than the others. It's because of this that Takashi and Masaru are very protective of her.
- Masaru has polio and moves with a hoverchair.
- Gilded Cage: The Nursery serves as this for the Espers, possibly because they know too much about what the government intends to do with their psychic powers, and to prevent information about the government's psychic project from being revealed.
- Harmful to Minors: It is revealed later on in the manga that before the original Tokyo's destruction, the Espers were subjected to a series of horrible experiments by the government in order for their psychic powers to develop and grow, so they can be used as weapons.
- Mind over Matter: Takashi and Masaru's powers. Kiyoko is implied to have this as she was able to levitate herself and carry Takashi's dead body (for a short time) while Akira destroys Neo-Tokyo.
- Mystical White Hair: Kiyoko and Takashi both have white hair, and they're young, wizened children with psychic powers. Their flashback in the anime shows them with brown and black hair, respectively, implying the experiments performed by the original Tokyo government aged them unnaturally.
- Never Grew Up: Implied to have been a result of the government's experiments and all the drugs they have to take. However, while they stayed children, their bodies aged prematurely, so they look unnaturally old.
- Older Than They Look: Played with. Due to the drugs and the experiments, the Espers aged prematurely, so they look pretty old and wizened. However, chronologically, since they were children when the original Tokyo was destroyed, their ages are possibly around late-30s.
- Parental Abandonment: The Espers were possibly orphans and government wards, as there were no mentions of their parents.
- Psychic Children: They, including Akira, are young children with Psychic Powers. They were part of a secret government project that sought to develop psychic powers in children so they can be used as military/political weapons.
- Psychic Link: All three are mentally connected to Akira, which is only present in the manga. When Takashi is shot in the head by Nezumi, the surviving Espers scream in pain as they felt their friend dying in front of them. When Akira is later shot by Ryu toward the end of the manga, both Masaru and Kiyoko sense his pain and teleport to his side.
- Screw Destiny: Kiyoko's prophetic vision of Neo-Tokyo's destruction is what influences the Espers' decision to kill Tetsuo, using Kei as their medium, as they believe Tetsuo might develop a connection to Akira that will lead to the calamity. Unfortunately, this alerts Tetsuo to their presence and provokes him into attacking them, especially once he recognizes Takashi as the one who caused his motorcycle accident. They also later fail to account for someone like Nezu, who tries to shoot Akira but winds up killing Takashi by accident. Akira freaks out so badly from the psychic backlash of Takashi's death that he psychically obliterates Neo-Tokyo out of sheer rage and despair, fulfilling Kiyoko's vision anyway.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: In the anime, all of the Espers, including Akira, were subjected to this to develop their budding psychic powers. Kaneda witnesses this in the form of a psychic flashback.
- Superpower Meltdown: Implied. Takashi's powers getting out of control after spending some time away from the government's Nursery raises the possibility that any Esper can have this happen to them if they stop taking drugs.
- True Companions: Due to being psychics, the Espers have a deeper understanding of each other than anyone else. It's what allowed them to endure horrible experiments at the hands of the Japanese government pre-AKIRA.
- Two Guys and a Girl: A platonic example. Takashi and Masaru are boys, and Kiyoko is a girl.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: All of them tend to know things most people don't, but especially Kiyoko, who is gifted with precognition and can see the future.
- You Are Number 6: Their code numbers are tattooed on their right palms.
- Younger Than They Look: A weird example. Because of what happened to Akira, they all took drugs to to make sure the psychic explosion Akira created doesn't happen to them, which had the effect of aging them faster while simultaneously stunting their growths. Chronologically, they're in their 40s.
Kiyoko
Voiced by: Sachie Ito (JP), Melora Harte (EN, Streamline dub), Sandy Fox (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
The only girl of the Espers, designated "Number 25". She has precognition and can teleport, but she's of poor health and is constantly bed-ridden. She's the unofficial leader of the Espers, and both her fellow Espers and Colonel Shikishima rely on her prophetic visions.
- Delicate and Sickly: Of the Espers, she's physically the weakest as a consequence of the experiments she and her friends went through, to the point where she is constantly bedridden. Even when she is out of bed, she is often provided with a pillow, a blanket, or both.
- Disability Superpower: She has Psychic Teleportation to make up for her bedridden state, but she's so weak that she hardly uses it. When she does use it, however, it's shown she's capable of teleporting herself and others at vast distances, which actually saves the main characters during Akira's psychic destruction of Neo-Tokyo. She can also possess people and channel her powers through her hosts, like Kei, and in the anime, she uses various toys to take the form of a giant rabbit in order to confront and kill Tetsuo.
- Girlish Pigtails: Kiyoko has braids, actually. Although she is far from youthful.
- Heroic BSoD: She is devastated by Takashi's death and during Neo-Tokyo's destruction, she tries using telekinesis to carry his corpse, but ends up dropping it. At the end of Volume 3, she mourns Takashi in her capsule bed on top of a ruined building while Masaru watches over her.
- Mass Teleportation: In the manga, during Akira's destruction of Neo-Tokyo, she was able to amass an unusually large amount of energy to teleport a large group of people (including most of the main characters) to a safer place.
- Meaningful Name: Kiyoko, when spelled with the kanji 聖子, means "holy child", which fits in with her psychic powers and ability to see the future.
- Pink Is Feminine: In the anime, she is seen wearing pink clothes. She even sleeps in a pink bed, surrounded by various toys and dolls.
- Proper Lady: Kiyoko had shades of this in the anime in the Espers' flashback before she became the physically ill girl who was constantly confined to her bed. She was sitting properly watching a man playing video-games, and was polite yet a bit shy while conversing with him.
- Psychic Teleportation: To make up for her poor physical health, she has the ability to teleport. This saves the main characters from being killed during Akira's destruction of Neo-Tokyo in the manga.
- Sleepy Head: Justified. Due to being physically weaker and bedridden from the drugs and experiments, she is confined to her bed and spends much of her time sleeping. Using her psychic powers tend to tire her out for long periods of time.
- Waif Prophet: She's precognitive, and both the Colonel and her fellow Espers rely on her visions, but she is bedridden and constantly hooked up to life support.
Takashi
Voiced by: Tatsuhiko Nakamura (JP), Barbara Goodson (EN, Streamline dub), Cody MacKenzie (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
One of the Espers, designated "Number 26". A meek and gentle boy, he has psychokinesis and is notably of better health compared to the polio-suffering Masaru and the bedridden Kiyoko. He plays an unwitting role in Tetsuo's psychic awakening and descent into madness.
- Apologetic Attacker: Takashi uses his Psychic Powers to pretty much blow up a girl named Mozu, but it's clear that he saw it as the only alternative and apologizes to her before and after doing so.
- Barrier Warrior: In the anime, he protects Kaneda from falling debris with psychokinetic barriers.
- Harmful to Minors: In both the manga and the anime, Takashi watched a member of the resistance be viciously gunned down by riot police. He was so traumatized that he screams in horror, and his psychokinesis reacts in a dangerous manner.
- Mind over Matter: He possesses psychokinesis.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction in the manga when he meets Tetsuo again sometime after the motorcycle accident was to hide his face and avoid looking at him, all while he starts sweating in terror. Tetsuo still recognizes him, however, and tries to kill him in revenge.
- Sacrificial Lion: He gets shot in the head by Nezumi, who was really aiming for Akira, and it happens right when the Espers found Akira and were happily reuniting with him. This completely causes an horrified Akira to fall in despair and fully release his powers, taking almost all of Neo Tokyo with him.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Sort of. In the manga, he dies from being accidentally shot in the head by Nezu, who was actually aiming for Akira. In the anime, he survives, but it's heavily implied he and the other Espers performed a Heroic Sacrifice to bring Kaneda back to Neo-Tokyo after he's absorbed by Akira's power.
- Superpower Meltdown: In the manga, his psychic powers get out of control without the steady supply of drugs he needs to suppress them, and they start leveling the place.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Takashi being out on the road all by himself directly led to Tetsuo's motorcycle accident, which later led to Tetsuo's psychic powers emerging along with a series of events that ultimately resulted in Neo-Tokyo being utterly demolished.
Masaru
Voiced by: Kazuhiro Kando (JP), Bob Bergen (EN, Streamline dub)Other Languages
One of the Espers, designated "Number 27". Like Takashi, he has psychokinesis and is the most serious of the three. He has polio and thus uses a hoverchair.
- Cool Chair: His hoverchair comes with technology that allows him to float around, and comes with a bubble dome for protection. His hoverchair is what also allows him to carry around Kiyoko, who is also unable to walk but is much physically weaker than him. The Espers' flashback in the anime shows him using an ordinary wheelchair.
- Delicate and Sickly: He suffers from polio as a result of being a test subject for the original Tokyo's government and uses a hoverchair to move around.
- Death Glare: He tends to show a distrustful glare, especially when Kiyoko's safety is threatened.
- Handicapped Badass: Fighting an angry psychic teenager who is wholly more powerful than he is, despite not being able to walk, just to protect the even more sickly Kiyoko takes a lot of balls.
- The Stoic: Downplayed; he does emote, but he's more serious-looking compared to the other Espers.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: In the anime, Masaru found his friend Akira lying on an operating table, hooked up to various machines, after wandering into his operating room one day. Later, he and the other Espers were subjected to this to develop their budding psychic powers.
Akira
The most powerful of all the psychic children, designated "Number 28." He was the catalyst of the whole story, having a Superpower Meltdown that ended up destroying Tokyo.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: In the anime. The big explosion that left that massive crater was caused by him ascending into an energy form. In the manga, he also does this with the Espers, though the process is less confusing.
- Berserker Tears: Sheds these as he destroys Neo-Tokyo after witnessing Takashi's death.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: He's a small kid who doesn't talk much, but he was the one who obliterated the original Tokyo all by himself. And he does it again to Neo-Tokyo after Takashi is shot dead in front of him.
- Break the Cutie: Witnesses Takashi being brutally shot in the head by Nezu shortly after being released from cryogenic sleep. Being connected to the Espers via a Psychic Link didn't help matters, either.
- Brain in a Jar: Only in the movie. And only temporarily.
- Creepy Child: Can come across as this due to his blank facial expressions and lack of speech or emotional reaction to external stimuli, Takashi's death permitting. Oh, and he's one of the most powerful psychics in the manga.
- Dead All Along: In the anime, at least. After much searching, Tetsuo finally locates the cryogenic containment unit, opens it up... and discovers multiple bottles containing Akira's cryogenically frozen remains. It turns out the scientists of Neo-Tokyo dissected him in order to figure out why he suddenly became so powerful, then sealed away his body parts when they failed. In the end, Akira comes back to stop Tetsuo's rampage after being summoned by the Espers, but apparently shows up as the spirit of a young boy, having transcended his mortal form.
- Dying as Yourself: In the final book of the manga, Akira is shot by Ryu. Subverted in that he doesn't die, but he manages to recognize Masaru and Kiyoko long enough to stop Tetsuo and ascend to a higher plane of existence with his friends.
- God-Emperor: In the manga, Tetsuo takes advantage of Akira's resurrection from cryostasis and declares the Great Tokyo Empire which worships him as a god. Subverted, since Akira doesn't really care about ruling and lets Tetsuo run the cult of personality.
- Gone Horribly Right: Akira was created by the Japanese government as a project to create psychic children to use as military/political weapons. They succeeded, but he grew beyond their control and were forced to seal him underground.
- Holy Back Light: How he comes back in the anime.
- Human Popsicle: In the manga, he is placed into cryogenic storage while still alive. Tetsuo later thaws him out.
- Meaningful Name: "Akira" is Japanese for "bright", or "light from the sun". In other words, it's the Japanese translation of the name "Lucifer". Like Lucifer, Akira is a being meant to be incredibly powerful but which revolted against its creators.
- Neurodiversity Is Supernatural: In the manga, he can barely speak or do anything by himself (Kaori has to feed him), but he's still the most powerful psychic in existence. However, it was never explained whether or not he was like that before the government experimented on his brain.
- Not So Stoic: Although he barely shows any emotion, he does show a few, including boredom and anticipation, and terror at witnessing Takashi's death.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Do we need to explain what he did to the original Tokyo?
- Posthumous Character: In the anime, Akira was dead for thirty years before the movie's events started. During his psychic explosion, he transcended his mortal body while still a child. The scientists who experimented on the Espers dissected his body to figure out his sudden growth in psychic power, but were unable to find an answer and sealed his remains within a cryogenic containment unit, which Tetsuo finds in his search for Akira. In the end, he comes back as a spirit to help the Espers stop Tetsuo's rampage.
- Psychic Children: A former member of the Espers; cryogenics allowed him to stay young while the Espers themselves had their bodies aged prematurely from drugs and experimentation.
- Psychic Link: With the Espers, which leads to Neo-Tokyo's destruction when he "feels" Takashi being killed by Nezu. Then later on he establishes one with Tetsuo near the end.
- Schrödinger's Cast: Alive throughout the manga, but Dead All Along in the movie (though he gets better.)
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Although he's not so much "evil" as he is an autistic and emotionally broken child with enormous psychic powers.
- Secondary Character Title: The anime and manga are named after him, but he's not the protagonist.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: This was how Akira was initially found by his friend Masaru in the anime when the latter wandered off and found him on an operating table connected to various machinery.
- Reality Warper: The only one capable of stopping Tetsuo's Eldritch Abomination form by teleporting him to another dimension, destroying Neo-Tokyo in the process.
- The Stoic/The Unfettered: Willing to stop Tetsuo in the latter half of the manga by whatever means necessary. Barely emotes.
- They Would Cut You Up: In the movie they did after he died. However, he fails to stay cut up.
- True Companions: As it turns out, all psychic children consider each other this. Including Akira.
- Unstable Powered Child: Akira was given so much power, he caused a powerful explosion that all but destroyed Tokyo. So naturally, the government and military thought it was a good idea to try again when they found Tetsuo after he'd had a sudden run-in with psychic child Takashi. Tetsuo is driven mad by the power, and becomes, in the end, an amorphous blob-like thing that was absorbing anything it came in contact with, organic or not. And then, Akira came back...
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Akira was created as part of a secret government project to create psychic children that can be used as military/political weapons, but when he grew too powerful he was cryogenically sealed underground and forgotten until Tetsuo found him. Then after emerging into the outside world, the first thing Akira saw was an old friend, Takashi being brutally shot dead in front of him, causing Akira to single-handedly destroy Neo-Tokyo in a rage. For most of the manga he was sought by factions led by Lady Miyako and the Neo-Tokyo Empire, and used by Tetsuo to gather a massive cult following among Neo-Tokyo's survivors. Kid's got a really hard life.
Great Tokyo Empire
General
- Adapted Out: They were left out of the anime in its entirety. This is due to the manga not being finished yet at the time of its production.
- The Brute: The ape-man psychic is barely coherent when he takes a pill. He uses straight brute force.
- To a lesser extent, the glasses-wearing psychic called 'The Eggman' has little control of his power and, thus, is as much a danger to his comrades as to his enemies.
- Drugs Are Bad: Let's just say that Tetsuo has killed a lot of people by forcing them to take the pills to induce psychic powers. Mostly it's the potency. At one point, it's stated that one grain of the pill has five times the potency of a bag of the variety that's sold on the street (the bag looks to have about 30 pills).
- Evil Is Petty: Tend to party to mass killings and suicidal attacks over petty acts of revenge.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Some members have tried to rape Kei, though this seems to be happening everywhere. Tetsuo also had girls kidnapped and gives them a weakened form of one of his pills. They have sex high out of their minds, but according to Tetuso's Aide, most of them die from the pill.
- Social Darwinist: What they are as a society. They have a big "only the strong will survive" mentality. Tetsuo takes weak psychics and gives them one of the pills. If they survive, he inducts them into his bodyguards (not that he needs bodyguards most of the time).
- At one point, Tetsuo has food served with a handful of pills thrown into the food. It's hinted that he is trying to either eliminate weak inhabitants while trying to get some psychics for his retinue out of it.
- Unskilled, but Strong: What most of the psychics in the empire are. Their training is substandard and incomplete. They tend to be as dangerous to themselves and their allies as they are to their enemies. They are seen being overpowered by the weaker, but better-trained psychics under Miyako's control.
The Captain (Tetsuo's Aide)
- Delinquent Hair: Wears a pompadour. While he's not a delinquent, he's allied with the Great Tokyo Empire, which he uses as a front to gather more power for himself.
- General Failure: He acts as the empire's front and viceroy. But he also goes behind Tetsuo's back to capture the psychic children, and throws good men away in fights and blames others when things go wrong.
- Mouth of Sauron: He acts like this, speaking for Akira and Tetsuo on their behalf.
- No Name Given: We don't know his identity besides his title ("The Captain" in the original Japanese, "Tetsuo's Aide" in the Western reprints).
- Sharp-Dressed Man: In contrast to the majority of the Great Tokyo Empire citizens, who are impoverished refugees and wear raggedy clothes, he's dressed in a clean suit.
- The Starscream: Despite what his title would imply, the Captain commandeers the Empire's army when Tetsuo's back is turned and decides to kill him in the final volume (though in the second instance it's arguably justified since Tetsuo is losing control of his powers by that point).
The "Eggplant Man"/"Egg Man"
- Psychic Powers: He gained psychic powers after taking Tetsuo's drugs. However, his training is substandard and incomplete, so he tends to be as dangerous to themselves and their allies as they are to their enemies.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Because his psychic training is substandard and incomplete, he tends to be as dangerous to themselves and their allies as they are to their enemies.
The "Birdman"
- Blind Seer: He wears a blindfold over his eyes, though it's unknown whether he's truly blind like Miyako or not. He also possesses some form of clairvoyance or remote-viewing befitting his position as the Tokyo Empire's surveillance psychic.
- Mouth of Sauron: A more literal example. He tracks all movement inside the empire's borders and announces to all within as to the presence and thoughts of intruders.
Kaori
Voiced by: Yuriko Fuchizaki (JP), Barbara Goodson (EN, Streamline dub), Georgette Rose (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
A young girl taken to be a slave to Tetsuo, later on becoming his Morality Pet. Or his girlfriend, in the anime.- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: In the manga, even if Tetsuo is cruel towards her, they allow each other to sleep on their laps and Tetsuo loses control over his power after Kaori dies.
- Break the Cutie: She's a sweet girl, and she gets put through some truly awful experiences before ultimately being killed.
- Came Back Wrong: In the manga, Tetsuo attempts to resurrect her, It technically works, but she comes back blind, deaf and in freezing cold agony, so he lets her die again.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: In the movie. During Tetsuo's mutation he accidentally crushes her, and we see everything.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, she's merely shot. In the film, she's crushed on-screen by Tetsuo when his mutation goes out of control. She lives long enough to start drowning in her own blood.
- Fan Disservice: She has at least a scene in both the anime and manga where she's naked, it involves her getting sexually assaulted by gang bikers and forced to be Tetsuo's sex slave.
- Living Emotional Crutch: In the manga, she is Tetsuo's closest confidante and the one he turns to when he needs to be consoled. When she is shot to death in an attempted coup, Tetsuo's grief leads to his losing his grip on the power completely.
- Love Martyr: Even if Tetsuo shouts some verbal insults at her and tries to force her into sex slavery, she stays loyal to him.
- Morality Chain: She's one of the few people Tetsuo cares for. In the manga, he goes apeshit when she is killed.
- Sex Slave: Tetsuo originally came across her when he had his flunkies going rounding up good-looking girls in his territory, so he could force them to participate in an orgy with him.
- Shrinking Violet: Moreso in the anime, where she's really shy and doesn't talk to anyone besides Tetsuo.
- Sympathy for the Devil: In the manga, Kaori comes to feel sympathy towards Tetsuo, despite the fact he forcibly recruited her and tried to turn her into a sex slave.
- Token Good Teammate: To the Great Tokyo Empire in the manga. Unlike the rest, who are mostly murderous, drug-eating fanatics, she's a kind girl who gets caught up in it and serves as a source of emotional comfort for Tetsuo.
Miyako's Temple
Lady Miyako
Voiced by: Koichi Kitamura (JP), Drew Thomas (EN, Streamline dub), William Frederick (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
A former test subject who called "#19", who's Neo-Tokyo's high priestess.- Adapted Out: Her backstory as #19 is removed in the movie, along with her tattoo.
- A Mother To Her Followers: She deeply cares for her followers and anyone under her protection. When Sakaki is mortally wounded by the Colonel's soldiers, Miyako senses her death and screams the girl's name. She grieves her loss for the rest of the manga.
- Big Good: In the manga, she leads the group of survivors not under Tetsuo's rule, and is largely the figure the more sympathetic characters rally under in opposing him.
- Blind Seer: She possesses clairvoyance, which is similar to Kiyoko's precognition, except it allows her to sense everything that happens around her in the present day and also compensates for her blindness.
- Demoted to Extra: In the film, she's just a religious zealot who only has three scenes before being killed off.
- Expy: While probably coincidental, she seems to play a very similar role to Mother Abagail in The Stand.
- Then again, the book does seem to have a decent following in Japan. Naoki Urasawa is also a fan.
- Gambit Pileup: Engaged in one with the military. Basically, she can't directly expose the truth about their experiments because it would cost her the cult she built around herself and they can't expose her as a fraud without publicly acknowledging their own misdeeds, all while they both try to undermine each other behind the scenes.
- God Guise/Scam Religion: A somewhat more benevolent example than most. She uses the powers she got from the government's experiments to convince people she's a Messianic Archetype in order to gain followers to help her bring down the sadistic military-industrial complex that ruined her life. She does seem to genuinely care about her followers, doing all she can to help people after the city is destroyed and even seems to believe some of her own hype, as she considers her powers and those of the other psychics to be a manifestation of some greater mystical force that the military simply blundered into discovering.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She goes to battle a mutated Tetsuo with a couple of her most powerful followers so Kiyoko and Masaru can be protected, despite Tetsuo being way more powerful than all of them combined.
- Letting Her Hair Down: Does this in the last volume as she prepares to battle a mutated Tetsuo.
- Mentor Archetype: Assists Kei in honing her skills as a medium.
- Parental Favoritism: It is implied that although she loves all her followers, Sakaki has a special place in her heart. When Sakaki is killed, Miyako spends the rest of the manga grieving her death.
- Parental Substitute: Is possibly this to Mozu, Miki, and Sakaki, who were likely orphans taken in by her church.
- Prophet Eyes: Has milky, butted eyes to visually represent her blindness. Also possesses clairvoyance, which allows her to sense present-day events as they happen around her.
- Psychic Link: Turns out she had one with the Espers. She was able to sense Takashi's death after he was shot by Nezu, and later when Akira is shot by Ryu in the manga, she and the surviving Espers can sense it.
- Team Mom
- Technical Pacifist: Miyako and her empowered monks try to repel an invasion of the temple by Empire soldiers non-lethally.
Sakaki, Mozu and Miki
Sakaki
Mozu
Disciples of Lady Miyako.Sakaki is the smaller and more unassuming leader of the three, while Mozu is the chubbier and second in comand, with Miki being the skinnier and ruthless of the three.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Miki looks older than the other girls and has the darkest hair color of the three, and acts very aloof.
- Kill It with Fire: Mozu tries to take out Takashi with what looks like psychokinetic fire. It didn't work as he turned out to be more powerful than her.
- Lean and Mean: Miki is noticeably thinner than the other girls, but she's not really mean, as she has a close friendships with Mozu and Sakaki. She's just ruthless and very dedicated to bringing Akira to Lady Miyako.
- Parental Substitute: All three girls possibly see Lady Miyako as this, especially Sakaki. When Sakaki is fatally shot by Colonel Shikishima's men, she imagines Miyako welcoming her with open arms before she dies.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Sakaki goes absolutely apeshit when she sees Takashi a while after he kills Mozu in front of her, even though it was in self-defenseSakaki: "YOU KILLED MOZU! I'LL KILL YOU!"
- True Companions: They see each other as such. Miki calls out to Sakaki and Mozu when she's shot to death to cover their escape, and later Sakaki is horrified when Mozu dies.
- Undying Loyalty: The three girls are totally devoted to their leaderess, Miyako, who took them into her group and gave them something to live for.
Other Characters
Chiyoko
- Adapted Out: Sadly, she does not appear at all in the movie.
- Brawn Hilda: She's a tall, muscled woman capable of heavy-lifting objects and weaponry.
- Mama Bear: Never EVER touch anyone in her protectorate. Like Kei. Or the psychic children.
- Vasquez Always Dies: Averted. She's wounded and feverish for a large chunk of the story, but ultimately survives.
Joker
- Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed in the movie. Unlike the manga, Joker never goes through a Heel–Face Turn in the movie, largely due to his reduced role (he appears only in a single scene at the start, and he's last seen getting the hell out of Dodge when the fuzz shows up).
- Bald Head of Toughness: Joker is the leader of a tough biker gang and he's Made of Iron, as he's capable of shrugging off a 100+ kilometer per hour crash and taking a bike tire to the face.
- Demoted to Extra: In The Movie, we only see him in the very beginning.
- Enemy Mine: He and Kaneda form an alliance to fight against Tetsuo's "empire."
- Heel–Face Turn: In the manga, he helps fight against Tetsuo.
- Made O Iron: In the movie he basically walks off a 100+ kilometerr per hour crash. In the manga, he takes a bike tire to the face that's spinning so fast it leaves a skid mark down the middle of his face.
- Monster Clown: Averted in the manga where he becomes pretty friendly, as well as a valuable ally in the battle against Tetsuo towards the end.
- Scary Black Man: Sort of. His face is pretty Asian-looking, but he has very dark skin.
Nezu
Voiced by: Hiroshi Otake (JP), Tony Mozdy (EN, Streamline dub), Ray Michaels (EN, Animaze dub)Other Languages
The rat-faced parliament member, who's in charge of a terrorist resistance movement against the Neo-Tokyo government.- Animal Motifs: The rat. His overbite and facial features are shaped similar to a rat's, and he displays treacherous behavior that a rat in fiction would display. Lady Miyako explicitly calls him a rat, but also refers to him as a "mouse" at one point.
- Demoted to Extra: The entire plot point involving him killing Takashi is discarded and he's essentially just another corrupt politician that the Colonel is after in the end.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, he tries killing Akira but kills Takashi instead, and his verbal outburst allows Colonel Shikishima's men to hear him and shoot him dead through the wall of a ramshackle house he was hiding behind. In the anime, he dies of a heart attack implied to be psychically induced while trying to escape arrest by Shikishima's loyalist forces.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: In the manga, he's allied to Lady Miyako and her aides in addition to his allegiances above, but the truth is he's playing all sides in order to grab power for himself, so when Akira is thrown into the mix he tries to kidnap the kid so he can use him for political leverage.
- Irony: In the movie, he fatally shoots Ryu, but Ryu outlives him by about a minute thanks to a sudden heart attack.
- Meaningful Name: His name means "rat" in Japanese.
- The Mole: In the movie, Nezu is the anti-government group's spy in the Executive Council, but he's perfectly willing to stab both sides in the back.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the manga. He tries to shoot and kill Akira but winds up accidentally shooting Takashi in the head, which causes Akira to have a massive Freak Out and destroy Neo-Tokyo, reducing it to a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by two different factions.
