Set in a post-apocalyptic and futuristic Neo-Tokyo, the manga focuses on the efforts of a teenaged biker gang leader Kaneda, political activist Kei, a trio of Espers, and Neo-Tokyo's military leader Colonel Shikishima to prevent Tetsuo, Kaneda's mentally-fractured childhood friend, from using his unstable telekinetic abilities to ravage the city and awaken a mysterious individual with similar psychic abilities named "Akira". Through this work, Otomo uses conventions of the cyberpunk genre to detail a saga of political turmoil, social isolation, corruption, and power. It is considered a landmark work in the cyberpunk genre, credited with spawning the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre.