“Who is Katsuhiro Otomo – 大友克洋 新解説 ” was a special supplement that came bundled with the January 2007 issue of Brutus, a Japanese pop culture magazine.
Back then the life action version of Mushishi 蟲師 ( directed by Otomo ) had just hit theatres and he was the talk of the town for a while. Otomo had left us some complimentary tickets in the studio but I was still new in the company and was too shy to help myself to it. Needless to say they disappeared really quickly.
The supplement contains a short comic illustrated by Otomo himself –
a detailed bibliography that comes with a cover artwork punctuated, handy timeline, interviews with various directors like Moebius, Michael Arias ( Tekkon), Guillermo Del Toro ( Hellboy) about thoughts on Otomo,
and lastly some rare pictures of Otomo at home.
Otomo rarely come by the studio these days, I guess he must be working comfortably at home. You must be wondering if he’s working on anything new these days – well, we’ll see.
You can find a copy of this magazine (this is now out of print, so only used copies are available) on Amazon Japan here.
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Brutus Magazine – Otomo Katsuhiro Special Book Review
Kaba 2 – Otomo Katsuhiro Artwork Book Review Part I
Kaba 2 – Otomo Katsuhiro Artwork Book Review Part II
Short Peace – Otomo Katsuhiro’s New Animated Film Trailer
Otomo Katsuhiro + Casio G-Shock
September 13th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
The pages from the short comic look outstanding! The cover’s pretty cool too.
I think the last time I had seen Otomo’s manga work in color was when I stumbled on an old comic a few years ago Marvel had published that was reprinting Akira in color.
September 14th, 2007 at 2:15 am
From my observation, there’s a de-sync in terms of “anime idols” between the otakus of my generation (born in 70s till early 80s) and the younger ones (born after the mid-80s).
We all worshiped Katsuhiro Otomo because of the cult-hits such as AKIRA, Robot Carnival and MEMORIES among others. But for the latter day otakus, they’re more into the moe stuff from KyoAni and seiyuu. Sadly not many of them know about these great directors.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:13 am
I’m crazy about the cover design!
The japanese has such a way of merging the comic and anime culture with art and design influences. It’s quite unlike the scene here, where these are still pretty disparate entities.
September 15th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Otaku Surf – I think I still have a couple of those colored Akira comics around, though I never managed to collect the entire series.
Zero – I guess its because the there hasn’t really been that many “classics” like Akira, GITS and Mononoke Hime released this days, and coupled with the proliferation of anime distribution online TV series have a much stronger hold on the current fanbase.
Nahs – I very much agree. Anime and manga is very much ingrained in Japanese pop culture – the result of which is most visually exciting and at once captivating. Certainly not something easily emulated – if possible at all.
I’m trying my best to enjoy as much of it as I can while I’m still here. :]
September 16th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
The man is a living legend…
I didn’t know about that live action Mushishi, I’ll have to find a way to see that, the anime was really interesting.
I’m still surprised nobody animated Domu.. it would make a great suspense / action thriller.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:02 am
i like the cover of that mag alot, i regret not getting it :- /
can u understand the magazines well? i invested in a lot of relax magazines, while waiting for my japanese to improve ha ha
September 18th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Renze – Domu is indeed great material for an animation film – though i would really hope for Otomo to direct it himself, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim I guess.
John – Was this on sale in Singapore ? I can understand most of the stuff but I usually only pick up the parts I am interested in as reading is much slower compared to english magazines. Its not a bad way to improve your Japanese though, but you will need a dictionary with you to check on words you don’t undertstand.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Yay!… Moebius got a lot to say about Otomo… I would like to read something from a Moebius’s partner: the indescribable Jodorowsky. I heard some funny stuff about Otomo from Jodorowsky.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Hello nyuudo ! Jodorowsky huh…gotta check him out. :]
June 15th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Del Toro is a big fan of Otomo and was hoping to gain the rights to make the live action Domu, i dont think he got it, though. Guillermo Del Toro is an amazing director as well, he would make an insane Domu.