Product Description

Katsuhiro Otomo's epic manga, "Akira", is widely considered to be a pinnacle of the form - a work of astonishing power and visionary scope, with unsurpassed artistry. Now available for the first time in English, and featuring more than 100 full-colour, full-size title-page illustrations not included in the original manga reprints, as well as rarely seen alternate art, preliminary sketches, production drawings and a variety of posters, advertisements and products - all accompanied by commentary from Otomo himself - "Akira Club" is the ultimate companion to Otomo's masterpiece! Beautifully presented in a high-quality, coffee-table hardback edition, this is a book no sci-fi, manga, comics or Akira fan should miss!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #276877 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Katsuhiro Otomo is one of the most respected and influential Japanese storytellers in the history of modern comics, and - apart from Akira - his work includes Domu (also available from Titan Books) and The Legend of Mother Sarah. He has also worked extensively in anime; from his own, hugely successful adaptation of Akira to 2004's ten-years-in-the-making Steamboy.

Customer Reviews

AKIRA CLUB BOOK!
what can i say? akira is without a doubt the greatest anime and manga ever created on this planet, and its animation and art can go unchallenged anyday anytime. this book shows you how katsuhiro was inspired and creatd akira, the book mainly contains black and white comic strips from the origanal 80's young magazine manga strip.

this book is a must have for akira fans...buy it....buy it now...

A great addition to any Akira collection.
Akira is fantastic but in my opinion not the best manga series ever, although it is certainly the most famous in the west and has an enduring reputation as a classic (i would choose Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind series for best manga). Akira was one of the first adult manga i ever read (along with Domu and Memories) and i'm sure like millions of other manga fans it has a special place in my collection.

I feel that the previous review is a bit misleading as to the contents of the book, so here is a full description of the contents:

The book is split into 4 sections;

'Akira Illustrations' containing artwork used for covers of Japan's 'Young Magazine' where Akira first appeared, the covers for the various collected editions and preliminary sketches, complete with commentary from Otomo.

'Title Page Collection' contains all 120 title pages from Akira's run in 'Young Magazine', which were omitted from publication as they disrupted the flow of the story, as well as inner cover artwork from the collected editions.

'Memorial Gallery' features promotional artwork including posters and photos of t-shirts and toys from around the world.

'Unpublished Works' is exactly as it says - unpublished segments of the story that were cut from either the original publication or when the series was transferred to collected editions. Again, Otomo provides commentary on the pieces, as well as discussing his art style and his techniques. The book also features a questionnaire with Otomo and a chronology of Akira's publication.

The book itself is a very good quality hardback and is a must for any big Akira fans out there. Highly recommended. A+

nice but hardly any film info
This is a great book but a bit light on new material. The vast majority of content is reprints of the comic book covers, which most avid fans of the series will probably already have in some form. I was hoping for more info about the film, its cels and storyboard etc, but it only really gets a brief mention.