In the year 2030, Neo-Tokyo is preparing for the Olympics while a group of delinquents led by Kaneda encounters a telekinetic child, Number 26, who injures Kaneda's friend Tetsuo. Tetsuo's latent psychic powers are awakened through experiments by the Colonel, leading him to a violent rampage and a quest to find the powerful Akira, who has been in cryogenic sleep for decades. As tensions rise between the Colonel's military organization and an underground resistance, a battle erupts at the Olympic site to control Akira's immense power.