Tetsuo is the antagonist of the story, early in the film the gang treat Tetsuo as the outcast of the group as he is the youngest and less experienced. Throughout his childhood and teenage years Tetsuo was always bullied even in the orphanage, his closet friend is Kaneda who he has known from a young age but as Kaneda is the group leader of the gang Tetsuo is quite often jealous of him.
When the experiments oh him begin he changes and uses his new found power to satisfy his lust for dominance but this new power makes him unstable and dangerous.
The protagonist is Kaneda, he is brave and sometimes dim witted but he is always rebellious which makes the others in the gang look up to him.
Kaneda and Tetsuo are best friends from an early age, when he is taken by the government he decides to find him by joining a government resistance group which Kei is a member. His first meeting with Kei is apparent that he is attracted to her but she and her group use him to get into the government building holding Tetsuo.
Knowing that Tetsuo has become psychotic and dangerously unstable he decides to meet him to stop his destructive behavior.
Kei is a member of the government resistance who meets Kaneda after the riots and is freed when he pretends she part of his gang when they are released by the police. Kei is loyal to the anti-government movement and shows very little interest in Kaneda's advances.
Colonel Shikishima is head of the Akira program and knows the truth of what happended and what started World War 3. He is not trusted by the council but is trying to protect Neo-Tokyo from destruction, the closest aids of the Colonel are the three original subjects.
Some of the survivors from the third World War were the three original subjects, they were initially part of the early program that Akira was also part of. Their appearance is somewhat old that of a elderly person and their age at the start of the program was approximately 9 or 10 years of age meaning they should be 40 in the Akira movie.
Still resembling the size of a child their mental abilities are that of an adult but the obvious side effects of the program has left Takashi and Kiyoko wrinkled, withered and old looking. Masaru uses a hovering device to travel due to motive functions been partially lost.
Akira was the test subject responsible for the initial start of World War 3, slightly older than the other test subjects he experienced more mature and better developed powers than the others.
After evolving into energy consuming the city of Tokyo the survivors mainly the hysterics viewed Akira as a god, or a savior for the failing society. He was the one that Tetsuo was searching for including the members of the resistance.
