"Akira" by Katsuhiro Otomo. References.
Akira was most likely an orphan born between the late 1970's and early 1980's. He along with a group of forty children were acquired by the government of the original Tokyo. At the time the Japanese government had created a parapsychology project which delved into research on psychic development, presumably for militaristic and political purposes. The children were subjected to horrendous experiments in hopes they'll develop psychic powers that the government can control. Out of the original forty, six children died of brain injuries. Despite the terrible living conditions, the children's psychic powers allowed them to form deep, long-lasting friendship that surpassed all physical and psychological boundaries.
While living as a test subject, Akira befriended many children. However, he quickly grew too powerful to be controlled by the government, and one day he unleashed a psychic explosion that obliterated the original Tokyo and accidentally killed many of his friends in the destruction.
After that, Akira was put in a Cryogenic Containment Unit and buried deep underneath the Neo-Tokyo Olympic Stadium, both to prevent another psychic explosion and to hide the results of their clandestine project.
Years later Akira is awoken from cryogenic sleep by one of the characters, and finds himself targeted by various parties. Now Akira is, figuratively, an empty shell of his former self; his psychic powers have increased to the point where they have destroyed his personality. He almost never speaks himself or reacts to external stimuli, making him vulnerable to the manipulations of other characters, who either seek to destroy him or take control of his abilities. However, sometimes he does show signs of emotion when facing his past, which result in destructive psychic explosions out of grief and rage.
In the end of the manga, Akira gets shot and, thanks to his friends, his personality is fully restored, a dying Akira is able to recognize them, and even calls them by name. He is reunited with them, including those who died in the initial explosion, assuring Akira that they will always be together. They ascend to a higher plane of existence, where, no longer bound by physical limitations, they exist in a state of harmony. Akira is last seen during a flashback that took place in the old Tokyo, playing with other psychic children in a government facility. It is implied that Akira's vast psychic abilities caused him to see everyone as his friend, and unconsciously tried to alter the course of human evolution so more people can become psychic and he can gain more friends.
