No animated feature ever made can compare to AKIRA in terms of illustrative detail, mature storyline and originality.
Now that might just be my humble opinion, but it’s an opinion shared by many fans of animation (and more specifically anime), and AKIRA has become much more than just a fine example of early anime- it has become the standard by which an animated feature’s style and story are judged.
Katsuhiro Otomo created the AKIRA manga as homage to artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, but by the time it made it to the big screen it had definitely taken on a life of its own, 160,000 single shots of vibrant, animated life.