Nope Akira has pretty fantastic and unique character designs. They are far more grounded and realistic, while still having a cartoonish and 60s Tesuka feel to it. The characters do look similar........because people actually look similar. It's not the Gundam Seed guy syndrome where the differences are the hair color and style, but the faces are the same. All the faces in Akira are unique and different(also actually clearly Asian). None of the characters share the same face, but because none of them are super anime they look similar. Like actual real people would.
Akira actually has fantastic art design all around.