By 2019, a year before the XXXII Olympics, Japan suffers a crime wave and government corruption, especially in the rebuilt "Neo-Tokyo". One night, during massive protests, hot-headed Shōtarō Kaneda leads his bōsōzoku gang, the Capsules, against their rivals, the Clowns. During the brawl, Kaneda's best friend, quiet Tetsuo Shima, is seriously injured when he runs into Takashi, a psychic esper who has escaped from a secret government laboratory with the help of a resistance organization.