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Akira Club by Katsuhiro Otomo
01/12/2007 . Source: Joules Taylor 
pub: Titan Books. 256 page illustrated hardback. Price: £24.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84576-612-1. Buy Akira Club in the USA - or Buy Akira Club in the UK  check out website: www.titanbooks.com
Akira was arguably the first major anime to appear in the UK. Indeed, it could be said to have brought the whole genre to our attention. A superbly crafted and very dark, violent story of psychic and genetic manipulation and their consequences. The anime offered meticulous and highly advanced animation at a time when other anime creators were cutting production costs by cutting quality, a mostly coherent storyline and an amazing soundtrack!
Mostly coherent...? That sounds a little derogatory. It isn't. Not really. It's simply that 'Akira the manga', from which the anime was created, was over two thousand pages by the time it was finished in 1990 and there's no way that something that complex and intricately detailed can be fully represented in an anime that's just over two hours long. Which didn't stop Katsuhiro Otomo doing a damned fine job, managing to include the main characters and the main incidents from the manga. Originally released in slim volumes, the entire manga was later collected into six full-colour, weighty volumes which, while carrying the full story, was nevertheless missing some of the artwork of the smaller volumes.
'Akira Club' is a collection of artwork from the whole decade-long publication of the manga. It's split into four sections: illustrations and covers from the manga; the title pages missing from the collected works; a 'memorial' section which includes promotional posters, toys, and other marketing matters; and finally, a wonderful section of unpublished artwork, deleted scenes and a personal Katsuhiro Otomo Q&A double page.
The book is an absolute treat for the 'Akira' fan. Along with the fabulous artwork, almost every page has a little quote by Katsuhiro Otomo, usually referring to the artwork shown but occasionally there are personal comments about his health, the weather, the situation in Japan which offer an intriguing glimpse into the man's mind. This is a book to be savoured at leisure, taking time to fully appreciate the scope and skill of the artist's extraordinary vision.
Highly recommended and well worth the money! If you haven't seen the anime yet, please do so. Now! But not the dubbed version. Watch the Japanese original, with sub-titles if you need them. It's not an easy film and it's definitely not for children, but it's one of the best and certainly one of the most significant, anime films (as opposed to series') ever made.
Joules Taylor
http://heartsown.biz/
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