Consider this, Akira only did what he did because he didn’t want to finish school, work hard at all, and mostly did petty crimes like stealing shit. Aside from a few out-of-character-in-hindsight murders, he really wasn’t all that much of a villain. But the series itself, at least the anime adaptation here, recognized this and had two doses of foreshadowing for those keen enough to notice.
Lair of the Idle 