Coming some 8 months after the release of the highly anticipated AKIRA 1, AKIRA 2 was released on the same as day Apple Paradise ( a omnibus collection of Katsuhiro Otomo’s short manga stories ) which I will also be reviewing in the coming week/s.

I’ve already talked about how this new release of the AKIRA manga ( Young Magazine Serialized edition ) differs from the older releases in my review for Vol 1, so take a read here.

Just like Vol 1, the print quality here is fantastic on account of the better paper stock, as compared to the older Japanese tankobon edition, where cheap pulpy paper that yellows with age was used. Another notable highlight are the select few pages of colored panels/chapter dividers painted by Otomo himself ( see images further below ); to the best of my knowledge, these have never been released in any of the older editions, and it is just delightful to seem them here.

(image below) The new edition is just a tad bit smaller in print size as compared to the older tankobon edition. Photo courtesy of Jona Sanpo.

????????????#Katsuhiro #Otomo #AKIRA #AKIRA???? #???? #?????? #???? #???? #manga #Anime #Animation pic.twitter.com/jmMZoXhSJd

— JonaSanpo? (@JonaSanpo) September 1, 2024

The sheer amount of detail in the drawings are just astounding; pay attention to the grooves, knicks and scratches on the pistol barrel (image above); those are created by painstakingly scraping off parts of the screentone that had to be carefully pasted over the ink drawing and then cut to fit, a whole lot of work.

(above) Some extras that came with the book, from left to right; a handy reading bookmark, a entry form to win special prizes ( Japan only ), a flyer for the AKIRA REMIX soundtrack. I bought the vinyl (below) while I was in Tokyo recently and will write more about it in another post later on.

Picked up the AKIRA REMIX vinyl ( with illustration by Otomo ) earlier this week after visiting the pop-up store in Shibuya. Perhaps this would encourage me to get a vinyl player… pic.twitter.com/vIlY6GkFu6

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) May 10, 2025

As a big AKIRA / Otomo fan, I was always going to get this new edition of the manga, even though I already own the older tankobon as well as the English language 35th anniversary box set. For more casual readers, the differences between the older/newer editions might not even be noticeable, although I still stand by what I said above about the 2 improvements over the old edition.

Will Kodansha publish an English language edition ? At the time of writing this review, there has not been any solid word or news of one. In the event that it does happen, I reckon it is still going to be a long wait.

“AKIRA 2 ( Otomo Complete Works ) Manga 大友克洋全集 コミック” details :

Dimensions – 17.6 x 2.1 x 24.9 cm
Softcover with dust jacket, 290 pages
B&W with color on select pages, In Japanese language

  
Buy From Amazon.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Amazon DE | Amazon ES

You might also be interested in these items :