Akira Club Book

Considering I casually bid on an ebay auction I didn't expect to win, this book was a wonderful surprise.

Compared to many animanga illustration collections which collect mostly fully rendered promotional illustrations, Akira Club features a little more of the developer commentary that I personally love. I feel that these days the history of Akira is as much part of the charm as the series itself, especially for young fans like myself who werent actually around to experience the 90s anime boom. So I really appreciated the excited feeling this collection creates of "something unfolding".

Akira club balances showing the development process behind individual illustrations from an artistic perspective, the process of collection and adaptation for international audiences, such as flopping and title typography, as well as extensive promotional materials. There isn't really any visual narrative and character development material, but the small amount of written commentary from Otomo provides enough interesting tidbits on this front to mostly satisfy.

Despite consisting overwhelmingly of fully finished art, the series does give a terrific overview of Akira's development as a serial, and some intriguing commentary, as well as, of course, pages of gorgeous series art.