Akira Club [Hardcover]

Katsuhiro Otomo (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2007

Now available for the first time in an English-language edition, Akira Club is an essential companion to Akira, a dazzling collection of Otomo's mind-blowing visions, including over 100 title-page illustrations created for the original serialization but not included with the published collections of Akira. The book also features rarely seen alternate art, preliminary drawings, production sketches and a variety of Akira posters, advertisements and products, all accompanied by fascinating commentary by the artist himself. No Akira enthusiast, manga fan, or devotee of fantasy and science-fiction illustration should be without Akira Club.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593077416
• ISBN-13: 978-1593077419
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Akira manga fans, August 22, 2011

By 

Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Akira Club (Hardcover)

Length:: 1:10 Mins

I didn't know that this book existed until very recently.

Akira Club is actually the English version of the Japanese edition Akira club: The memory of Akira lives on in our hearts that was published in 1995.

This English edition is translated and published by Dark Horse in 2007. It's a 256 page hardcover.

The book is all on the Akira manga. There's nothing on the animated movie except for some designs drawn for the laserdisc release.

It collects illustrations, preliminary sketches, all the title pages from the manga, promotional art and rejected art that were unpublished. It's pretty cool looking back at the works that were published in 1982. They were still using halftone dots to create grays. The art is great, and you can see that Otomo is amazing at drawing rubble and scenes of urban destruction.

If you have the manga editions, then you've seen all the title pages. This book includes a few unpublished ones. Majority are in black and white, some of them are coloured but not sure if they were coloured by Steve Oliff or Otomo. The commentary that goes with the title pages aren't related in any way, but just short musings of Otomo on what was happening to him that day, like his birthday or attending a friend's wedding.

What I enjoyed reading is the design commentary, talking about why sequences are arranged in a certain way, why some scenes don't work and have to be redrawn, what's difficult to draw. Most are just afterthoughts. There wasn't any information on his drawing techniques or production process though. And since the book doesn't include the animated movie, it doesn't talk about the differences between the manga and the movie.

This book is more for the Akira manga fans and those who like Otomo's art.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

5.0 out of 5 stars Good but could be better, January 1, 2012

By 

Alex IT - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Akira Club (Hardcover)

The product is the best, a good fan stuff like promised but the book could be involved in a better package.

5.0 out of 5 stars great for AKIRA lovers, May 30, 2011

By 

Felix Tex Ventouras (planet earth) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Akira Club (Hardcover)

This is for AKIRA lovers. It gives an inside account from the creator's perspective of how he developed the characters and story, and shows how a great work is made up of little pieces brought together. To hear how the author had to work within certain deadlines was amusing, as it is possible to see the final product as something inspired by a greater power. Sometimes it just had to be done under the gun at the last minute, and choices which seem inspired, were made without hesitation because of a deadline.

Buy this, love it, read it again, give it to your friends.