Tetsuo Shima
Tetsuo Shima (島鉄雄, Shima Tetsuo) is the central antagonist of the AKIRA franchise, embodying the catastrophic consequences of unchecked power in the wrong hands.
| Names | Tetsuo Shima, Number 41, Akira, Master Tetsuo (manga only) |
| Gender | Male ♂ |
| Race | Human, Esper |
| Occupation | Vigilante |
| Origin | Akira Manga Chapter 1 (December 20, 1982) |
| Alignment | Fallen |
| Age | 15 |
| Created By | Andrew O'Connor, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, David Mitchell, Robert Webb |
| Height | 160cm (5ft 2in) |
| Weight | 46 kg (101.41 lbs) |
| Personality Type | ISFP |
Appearance
Tetsuo is a young man of below-average height and slightly underweight, with a slender, minimally muscular build. Like many other characters, he has dark brown hair and eyes. Initially, his hair is short and lightly textured, but after gaining his psychic abilities, it grows longer, nearly reaching his shoulders when not standing upright due to radiation-induced effects.
At the start of the film, Tetsuo wears a bulky, light blue parka similar to the one depicted in the manga. While confined in the government hospital, he dons a standard patient gown. After his first escape, he adopts a white sleeveless shirt, dark blue-gray pants, and gray boots. Following his second breakout, he tears a red cape from a Resistance flag, wearing it as a tattered symbol of his defiance during the latter half of the story.
Personality
Tetsuo is defined by his profound inferiority complex. Despite Kaneda’s attempts to treat him like a younger brother, Tetsuo perceives their dynamic as patronizing and resents being treated as a subordinate. Outwardly, he is hot-tempered, impulsive, and prone to rash decisions, with a characteristic disdain for authority typical of The Capsules. However, beneath this aggression lies a vulnerable, insecure individual, as suggested by flashbacks contrasting his younger self with Kaneda at the same age.
After acquiring psychic powers akin to Akira’s, Tetsuo undergoes a dramatic personality shift. Drunk on his newfound strength, he rampages through Neo-Tokyo, unleashing his abilities indiscriminately on military forces and civilians. His actions become increasingly erratic and destructive, fueled by his desire to prove himself. He antagonizes Kaneda to assert dominance, yet his underlying fear surfaces when he loses control of his body and his mutation spirals out of control, leaving him desperate and terrified.
Biography
Film
Little is known about Tetsuo’s early life. Flashbacks reveal he was abandoned by his mother and later taken to an orphanage, where he met Kaneda. The scenes also highlight Tetsuo’s dependence on Kaneda, which began in childhood and later evolved into a source of resentment.
As a teenager, Tetsuo develops a passion for motorcycles and joins The Capsules alongside Kaneda. His life takes a fateful turn when he collides with Takashi, one of the Espers, and is subsequently taken to a military facility. There, Tetsuo’s latent psychic abilities awaken, rivaling those of Akira, whose powers had destroyed the old Tokyo decades earlier. These abilities grant him immense destructive potential but are accompanied by excruciating headaches. The Espers, fearing he might awaken Akira, attempt to kill him but fail, prompting Tetsuo to seek Akira himself.
Tetsuo escapes the facility, leaving a trail of destruction as he searches for Akira. The military, led by Colonel Shikishima, makes numerous unsuccessful attempts to stop him, fearing a repeat of Akira’s devastation. Upon reaching the underground vault containing Akira’s remains beneath Neo-Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium, Tetsuo’s powers spiral out of control. His body mutates into an uncontrollable mass of flesh, forcing the Espers to summon Akira, who creates a singularity that draws Tetsuo into an alternate dimension.
Tetsuo’s ultimate fate is ambiguous. It is implied that he transcends into a new universe alongside the Espers, potentially assuming godlike control over this realm. At the film’s conclusion, his voice is heard declaring, “Boku wa… Tetsuo” (“I am Tetsuo”). The use of “boku” in Japanese—a humble and softer form of “I”—contrasts with his earlier use of the aggressive “ore,” signifying a return to humility and self-awareness. In English, this line could signify his ascension as a deity shaping a new existence.
Manga
Tetsuo’s backstory in the manga is similar to the anime but diverges significantly in its progression and themes. After Akira destroys Neo-Tokyo in a moment of intense emotional trauma, Tetsuo establishes the Great Tokyo Empire (GTE), an isolationist and violent cult. Under his rule as Prime Minister, the Empire employs psychic shock troops to eliminate external threats. Kaori, introduced as a sex slave, is brought to Tetsuo by his aide, The Captain, highlighting the Empire’s oppressive and brutal nature.
Tetsuo experiences a violent hallucination triggered by telepathic contact with Akira’s mind, prompting him to seek answers from Lady Miyako. She provides him with a detailed history of the government project that created the Espers and informs him that his substance abuse is stunting his powers. Meanwhile, The Captain grows resentful of Tetsuo’s arrogance and seizes control of the Empire’s army, launching an unsuccessful assault on Miyako’s temple. During this attack, Tetsuo unleashes his full power, breaking his addiction and opening a mysterious rift in the sky.
Tetsuo’s power continues to grow, leading him to attack an American battleship housing scientists investigating Akira’s abilities. He later stages a rally at the Olympic Stadium to showcase the immense power he and Akira wield. The event culminates in Tetsuo creating a massive crater on the Moon, causing widespread flooding in Neo-Tokyo. However, the strain of releasing such energy overwhelms his body, triggering a grotesque mutation as he begins to fuse with objects around him. His transformation progresses erratically, with his form fluctuating between a monstrous, amoeba-like state and a more stable appearance.
Following another assault on the American fleet, Tetsuo returns to the Stadium to confront Kaneda’s rebellion and the U.S. reconnaissance team. During this time, he witnesses Kaori’s brutal death at the hands of his followers, leaving him emotionally shattered. His grief and instability accelerate his mutation, making him lose control over his powers. As Akira, influenced by the psychic trio, unleashes a final explosion, Tetsuo’s transformation reaches its peak. The blast consumes Tetsuo, Akira, and the remaining Espers, annihilating their powers in a catastrophic release of energy.
In the aftermath, Kaneda, who had been absorbed into Tetsuo’s being, experiences a higher plane of existence. There, he sees fragments of Tetsuo’s memories and learns the true nature of the Espers’ powers. The Espers explain their departure with Tetsuo, leaving Kaneda to return to the ruins of Neo-Tokyo after the final explosion.
Powers and Statistics
Tier: 9-B | 8-C | 8-A, higher with drug withdrawal | High 6-A, possibly 5-B, possibly potentially High 3-A | 7-B to High 6-C | Unknown
Key: Base | Volume 1 | Volume 2-4 | Volume 5 | Mutated | End of Manga
Dimensionality: 3D, possibly 4D
Powers and Abilities: Peak Human Physical Characteristics, Weapon Mastery | Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Flight, Self-Sustenance (Type 1), Telekinesis, Telepathy, Teleportation, Absorption, Precognition, Clairvoyance, Forcefield Creation, Technology Manipulation, Matter Manipulation, Gravity Manipulation, Electricity Manipulation, Regeneration (Mid-Low, High-Low with transformation), Weather Manipulation, Limited Resurrection, Limited Soul Manipulation, Transformation, Resistance to Drugs and Extreme Temperature, BFR via teleportation, Accelerated Development, Limited Portal Creation, Explosion Manipulation (Can cause objects to explode spontaneously), Madness Manipulation Type 3, Acausality Type 4, Limited Resistance to Radiation Manipulation (Is completely unaffected by cosmic radiation), Power Mimicry (Can copy psychic abilities), Durability Negation (Is able to rupture internal organs by using Telekinesis.) | All previous abilities to a higher extent, Incorporeality, Intangibility, BFR (Awakened singularities transport people "beyond this world".)
Attack Potency: Wall level (Can harm Shotaro Kaneda and anyone with comparable durability to him) | Large Building level (Should be comparable to Takashi) | Multi-City Block level (Brought down a warehouse), higher with drug withdrawal (Created a city wide storm) | Multi-Continent level (Blew a large hole in the moon, and later on created a ring around the Moon), possibly Planet level (His and Akira's powers combined were described as "too much for the Earth to contain", Kaneda also worried that Akira would destroy the world), possibly potentially High Universe level (He manipulates an energy that is comprised of the energy of an infinite universe) | City level to Large Island level (Blocked a beam that was supposed to sink all of Neo-Tokyo) | Unknown (Relative to Akira who created a pocket dimension, however it is unknown whether this pocket dimension had a separate new timespace)
Speed: Average Human | Peak Human, Subsonic with motorcycle (Is clearly quicker but still got severly outsped by a normal revolver bullet) | Relativistic combat and reactions speed (Has consistently casually reacted to the ARASAKA HLR-12X Heavy Laser Rifle, which fires real lasers) | At least Relativistic, possibly higher flight speed (Flew to the Moon and it took some for his audience to process his disappearance and recognize his new location) | Unknown (He and all the other espers ascended to a “higher plane”)
Lifting Strength: Average Human Level | Class K (Similar to Takashi) | At least Class K (Is stronger than before) | At least Class E (lifted mass from the moon to create a ring) | At least Class K, likely higher (Far superior to Takashi) | Unknown
Striking Strength: Wall level | Large Building level | Multi-City Block level, higher with drug withdrawal | Multi-Continent level, possibly Planet level | City level to Large Island level | Unknown
Durability: Wall level (Survived getting thrown by a motorcycle explosion) | Large Building level | Multi-City Block level, higher with drug withdrawal | Multi-Continent level, possibly Planet level, possibly potentially High Universe level (His attack potency scales to his force fields) | City level to Large Island level (His forcefields are this durable) | Unknown
Stamina: Peak Human | Superhuman
Range: Standard Melee Range, higher with weapons. | Tens of Meters, higher with drug withdrawal | Planetary (Teleported to the Moon. Caused a massive amount of rubble to form a ring around the moon) | At least Tens of Meters, likely far higher | Unknown
Standard Equipment: His artificial arm after his original right arm was destroyed by a laser
Intelligence: Average until volume 5, as he was in a delinquent school and has been shown to never pay any attention in class, as well as telling doctors he had a "bad brain" already | At least Above Average, possibly Gifted during volume 5 (In his conversation with some scientists, has was shown to have some understanding of his powers and the universe)
Weaknesses: As a human he was short tempered at times, and he lacked control of his powers. During volume 4 he has to consistently take drugs to quell his headaches and pain. During volume 5 he has to make sure not to overuse his powers, or it will cause him to mutate and lose control of his powers. During volume 6 he cannot control his powers at all, and his entire body mutates
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