Published in 1995, some 6 years after the film’s initial release, “Akira Club” was the first book dedicated extensively to the artwork of Otomo Katsuhiro’s Akira. While the equally handsome Akira Animation Archives (published in 2002, read more about it on this older post.) concentrated mainly on materials from the animated film, Akira Club covered artwork from the original manga series, as well as a wealth of publicity materials like poster illustrations, magazine ads, flyers, banners, even a Pin Ball machine.
(above) Illustrations by Otomo-san for the cover artwork of the 6 volumed Tankobon manga series. Folks who have only seen the animation film should definitely check out the manga, which delves deeper into the dystopian world of Neo Tokyo and its various inhabitants.
(above) Cover illustrations for the Laserdisc edition of Akira, released at the end of 1988. (below) T-shirt designs.
(above) Illustrations used for the cover of Young Magazine. (below) A significant portion of the book is allocated to illustrations for the title pages of Young Magazine, and contains a very comprehensive, if not complete collection, including rejected artwork that were never published.
(Below) A Kumade, ( Japanese good luck charm of sorts ) made to specifications from Otomo-san’s original illustration, and can be found on the back cover of Akira volume 5 graphic novel.
(above) And finally the pin ball machine, found on the backcover of volume 4.
And those were just some of the highlights from this amazing book. The copy that I reviewed is the softcover Japanese first edition published in 1995, but I believe the contents of the english edition should be identical, can anyone verify that ?
“Akira Club アキラクラブ 大友克洋 画集″ Art book details :
– Dimensions – 10.5 x 8.4 x 1 inches
– Hardcover, 256 pages
– Full color / b & w
Buy From Amazon Japan | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Amazon DE | Amazon ES
You might also be interested in these items :
Revisiting the Art of Akira Part I – Akira Animation Archives
Revisiting the Art of Akira Part III – The Continuity of Akira
Otomo – A Global Tribute To The Mind Behind Akira Art Book Review
Akira Art Of Wall Art Book Review
Kaba – Otomo Katsuhiro Art Book Review
March 26th, 2009 at 1:52 am
I love this book. In fact, I’m going to flip through it again as soon as I get home. As far as I know, the content is the same in the JP/eng editions, but Al T is the person to check that with…
I especially love that Bamboo Rake image (above) – just because I was lucky enough to be in Shinjuku when the Torinoichi Festival was on, and it was amazing. Got some pics here:
http://timmaughanbooks.com/2008/11/27/torinoichi-bamboo-rake-festival/
(Sorry to be always plugging my blog here man!)
March 26th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Jeez Tim, have you no shame? 😉
I thought I saw a few different pages, on the Tokyo biker gangs I think! I’ll have to check the Japanese against the English, when I have time!!
March 30th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Tim Maughan – Thanks for the link to the festival ! I’ve been to one or two such festivals myself and the intricate designs never fail to wow me every time.
Al T – Take your time. :]
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:23 pm
ES UNA OBRA MAESTRA!!!