In a residential high-rise block, a string of mysterious deaths attracts the attention of the local police, but they are utterly baffled by the lack of connection, motive or even means, to the extent they begin to think about supernatural causes - but the truth is, a powerful psychic, an old man sunk into the second childhood of senility, is killing people on avaricious whims. The arrival of a young girl with powers to rival his own prompts him to attack a perceived threat with devastating consequences. The girl is more powerful, but the old man is wily and ruthless. The psychic war that breaks out across the apartment block is dizzying, dynamic, with stunning shifts in perspective across the modern architecture and tearing through the lives of the modern community.

Though Otomo expanded on themes from Domu in the science fictional Akira, Domu is very much a horror comic, with haunting, unsettling moments, ugly violence, strange visions, psychological manipulation and after the shattering pyrotechnocs of the central confrontation, an amazing climax of quieter, slowly building tension.