I don't even like all of Akira, myself -- I could watch and re-watch the early, cyberpunkish, go-gang parts all day, but don't care much for the rest of it -- but I still think of it as a classic. It really just kind of set the standard, raised the bar, or whatever other catch-phrase you want to use for being, in a lot of ways, genre-defining.
Personally, though, where anime and animation are concerned, there are two greats that loom head and shoulders over anything else. The old Batman: The Animated Series (and, by extension, the continuing DC/Warner Brothers animated universe), and Cowboy Bebop. I love 'em both.