After a long period of inactivity and relative quiet since the (2nd) last book release from the 1st phase of the OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS, there was a flurry of exciting news in the past week regarding phase 2. I thought I gather up all the news I can find scattered over twitter and share them here for Otomo/AKIRA fans.

Quick disclaimer here : there’s quite a bit of information been released, and some of them might have been updated since I published this post, so I might not have the latest or most accurate version; that or my translation is just plain wrong/sucked. If so, kindly let me know and I will rectify it !

The first up is not exactly part of the Complete Works book release but rather a soundtrack, a remix compilation of the music from the AKIRA animated film written by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, simply titled AKIRA REMIX. The 2 CD set ( Compact Disc – yes, Japan is still big on physical media for music ) comes with a new electrifying illustration by none other than Otomo himself (image below). You can also read up more on the details of this release here ( in Japanese only ).

The OST will be released on August 21st for 4000 yen ( about $25 ). Here’s the Amazon Japan purchase link; you can also get it from CDJapan here.

Next up is a small bit of disappointing news; the last book release from Phase 1, the AKIRA Layouts & Key Frames (Vol 3) has been pushed back from previously June 2024 to November 2024. Just like the delay for Vol 2, Kodansha has issued a press release and apology that the delay is due to the complicated printing process required for the book ( the high quality anime cel reproduction prints I think ). Understandable. Again, I’ll post the Amazon purchase link here when it is available.

In the meantime you can read my review for Vol 1 and Vol 2, both of which are just splendid.

And now on to Phase 2, which comes with a few doozies. Just take a look at the list of planned releases in the promotional poster below ! –

The poster design is of a similar layout to the one for phase 1, but now spots a hippie era Otomo, complete with long hair. The books around him are titles from other artists that had a significant influence on his own creative style.

The 10 planned titles are as follows, in release chronological order ( first to last ) –

Title 12 – AKIRA Vol 1 ( manga ) – Pre-order ( August 30th 2024 ) – Amazon Japan / CDJapan
Title 6 – G….. ( manga; omnibus ) – Pre-order ( August 30th 2024 )- Amazon Japan / CDJapan
Title 20 – Animation AKIRA ( artbook; contents as yet unknown )
Title 7 – Apple Paradise ( manga; omnibus? )
Title 13 – AKIRA Vol 2 ( manga )
Title 31 – STEAMBOY Storyboards Vol 1 ( read my review for the older edition here )
Title 14 – AKIRA Vol 3 ( manga )
Title 32 – STEAMBOY Storyboards Vol 2 ( read my review for the older edition here )
Title 28 – MEMORIES ( art book? )
Title 33 – STEAMBOY Layouts & Keyframes Vol 1 ( art book, similar to the ones for AKIRA )

The “Title” number refers to the historical chronological order of the original releases; ie G ( title 6 ) and Apple Paradise ( title 7 ) are some of Otomo’s very early manga works that predate AKIRA, and STEAMBOY a much more “recent” work, and hence the bigger title number assigned ( 31 ).

If it seems random and confusing, I believe it is because Kodansha is mixing the Phase 2 release dates of older and new titles ( and not publishing them in their original chronological order ) to provide more variety and capture a bigger demographic ( the older, earlier works will likely interest newer readers less, etc ).

And here’s a little more information on the new edition of the AKIRA manga; according to Kodansha, it will be from the serialized edition that was first published in Young Magazine, which does not come with some of the editorial work that were made to the tankobon edition that we’ve come to love. Also, the manga will be spread across 8 volumes, not the 6 like the tankobon. My take on why ? Because the print size will be smaller to match the existing COMPLETE WORKS format for other manga titles, spreading the books from 6 to 8 makes sense to compensate for real estate print size.

At the time of writing only (G…..) and AKIRA Vol 1 are up for pre-orders; I will update with more links and additional information whenever they become available.


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