First released as a tankobon volume way back in 1981 by Japanese publishing house Futabasha, Goodbye Japan ( さよならにっぽん / Sayonara Nippon ) is Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo’s third omnibus release since his debut in 1973. The short stories were drawn from the period of 1977 to 1978, when Otomo was only about 23/24 years old. Even at such a young age, the artist has already demonstrated mastery over the manga medium, with art work that are visually compelling and his framing/composition displaying a storytelling style that is highly cinematic.

This new and upgraded edition released as part of the Otomo Complete Works expands the collected short stories to 13 in total, including Good Weather as well as Minor Swing, a dark comedy piece that was previously also found in the 1990 Memories ( the ominibus manga, not the anime ).

While I do not own the original edition of Goodbye Japan to do a side by side comparison, this Complete Works edition is on par with the other newly released titles like Domu and Boogie Woogie Waltz in terms of technical quality, with clean and crisp reproductions of Otomo’s art work printed on fairly thick paper stock, and definitely an improvement from the brownish, pulpy paper of earlier editions.

(above & below) The short story Minor Swing, which was previously collected in the 1990 Memories”>now out of print Memories ( 1990 ).

(image above) A rare and only page with colored art in the entire book. The Complete Works Edition have been improved from the older version with select pages showcasing colored art. The pages in Domu in particular are used to great effect.

The short story So What was previously released in the 1981 edition of Good Weather. With the new Complete Works edition, Kodansha has re-arranged the stories to be published in a more chronologically accurate order ( I think ).

As with Boogie Woogie Waltz and Highway Star, this new Complete Works edition of Goodbye Japan not only allow Otomo fans a renewed opportunity to enjoy and appreciate his early day works which were really hard to get hold of previously, but also provide an improved reading experience from the better reproduction of the art work. Recommended.

Availability : At the time of writing this review this title is only for sale from Amazon Japan; hopefully Marketplace stores from other Amazon countries will eventually carry it too. In the meantime, Amazon Japan ships internationally; use my How To Order From Amazon Japan post for a step-by-step guide.

“Goodbye Japan ( Otomo The Complete Works Edition ) さよならにっぽん 大友克洋全集” manga details :

Dimensions – 17.6 x 2.5 x 25 cm
Softcover with dust jacket, 320 pages
B&W, In Japanese language

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