You could say that the anime movies of Akira and Masamune Shiro's Ghost in the Shell, directed by Mamoru Oshii, did for anime in the West what Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns did for graphic novels in the same period in the 1980s, changing pop culture forever.
"Akira" 4K UHD Blu-Ray cover art courtesy of Funimation
Equipped[...]