The Kodansha publishing house has announced the OTOMO The Complete Works project, in which every single work of Katsuhiro Otomo will be republished, from Akira’s storyboards to many works that have been out of print for years
The new year is off to a great start, for sensei fans and collectors Katsuhiro Otomo. The author ascended to the myth with Akira, in collaboration with the publishing house Kodansha, has announced a new series that aims to collect thirty years of art.
The project is called OTOMO The Complete Works, and will collect not only the sensei manga, but also drafts, essays and other goodies. The goal is to relive the career of this great author, in almost chronological order, with some exceptions.
Not only Akira: Otomo is a prolific author, who has worked, as well as in comics, in publishing and cinema.
The OTOMO The Complete Works calendar
The publications start on January 21, with the short series Dreams of Children, and a collection of Akira’s storyboards titled “Animation AKIRA Storyboard 1“. Both titles have been unobtainable for a long time.
It will then continue every two months. In March it will be the turn of Boogie Woogie Waltz and Animation AKIRA Storyboard 2. The next month, in May, the collection will be released Highway Star, e Scripts 1, a collection of film scripts in which the author has participated.
In July, the single volume of Animation AKIRA will be released, together with Sayonara Nippon. In September we will have the release of the manga Fireball, and a single volume of the book released with the film Mushishi.
The project will end in November, with A Gun Report, the first manga published by sensei Otomo.
It is hoped that this ambitious editorial project will arrive, in some way, also in Italy, but at the moment there is no news about it. Many works have not seen the printed paper for years and years.
In any case, collectors should not miss the opportunity to order the volumes. Kodansha has created an official website from which it is possible to proceed with pre-orders. Those who pre-order will receive, in addition to the volumes, a exclusive ticket which can be exchanged for other products.