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Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark animé Akira (1987) isn't the state of the art anymore. Twenty years after it was hailed as a monument in Japanese animation, it shows its age. So why is Akira still the best animé I've ever seen? Because regardless of how visually gripping the film is (and it still is), its enduring power lies in its story, crucially in the friendship between teen gang members Kaneda and Tetsuo, whose trials reenact the age-old archetype of the best friend lost to death.