A year after it’s much anticipated announcement, the first title of Akira manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s The Complete Works has finally been released; kicking off the collection is his highly acclaimed comic Domu 童夢 (1980).

A tightly wrought narrative that follows the destructive battle between an old man and a little girl imbued with extrasensory powers, Domu blazed the trail for his magnum opus Akira and is one of Otomo’s most popular and well known comic works. The title has been out of print both domestically and international for a very long time now, so this new edition is very welcomed news by fans who wanted to get a copy of the manga.

I do not have an earlier regular edition of the comic to do a side-by-side comparison, but on initial browsing, the reproduction quality of this new edition is great; crisp and sharp images printed on good quality paper ( not the light pulpy stock that tends to yellow very fast ), and it even comes with color prints on some select pages, although only with a few warm tones and not full blown color art work like in the Dragonball Deluxe edition.

(above & below) A few select pages that come with limited color prints; dare I say used to very dramatic effect. Not even my bigger deluxe edition had color prints.

(above & below) Zoomed up sections of 2 panels; Otomo’s intricate and stunningly detailed drawings are beautifully reproduced.

(image above) The manga comes with a nice little bookmark as well as forms for a special gift upon purchase of the entire collection, but this is only applicable for those residing in Japan unfortunately. I do really like the vibrant translucent orange dust jacket that comes with the comic, which will go a long way in protecting the book. I believe all, if not most titles in the new Complete Works collection will come will similar jackets.

Domu is one of my most beloved comic works, and the publisher Kodansha has done an excellent job for this new edition. If this level of quality is what we can expect for the other upcoming titles, then we’re going to be in for quite the treat. Very highly recommended.

P.S. – Many of my readers have asked if there might be an English edition in the works, and at the time of writing this review, there has not been any word or news of one. I’ll be sure to let my readers know should this change, but it does seems any English edition, if it does happen is still quite a ways.

Availability : At the time of writing this review the manga 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.

“Domu ( Otomo The Complete Works Edition ) Manga 童夢 大友克洋全集 コミック” art book details :

Dimensions – 17.5 x 2 x 25 cm
Softcover with dust jacket, 252 pages
B&W with color on select pages, In Japanese language

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