Manga comes to London

In our last visit to London, we had the opportunity to visit the recently established Japan House where a great exhibition is taking place from June 5th to July 28th: THIS IS MANGA THE ART OF URASAWA NAOKI. A retrospective of Urasawa's career, from his first drawings when he was four years old to his latest manga works. The visitor gets an inside look at the creative process of the artists, as his manuscripts are show in the many stages they have to go by, before being published. From idea, to sketch, penciling, inking, applying screen-tones and coloring. 

It's not common for the general public to have a chance to see an original manga manuscript in person, Japanese artist generally don't sell their manuscripts to individual collectors the way comic book artist do in the US, so the only place to be able to see them is in a museum when an exhibition of this kind takes place. The thing is that even those kind of events are somehow common in Japan, they usually don't leave the country. This time not only the exhibition but the artist visited London the week the exhibition opened and special evening took place presented by Wired UK in which Urasawa talked with Matt Kamen and then  played the guitar and sang songs composed by himself.

Luckily, this summer, not only one, but two major Manga exhibitions of this kind took place in London. Apart from Urasawa's aforementioned solo exhibition, the British Museum organized THE CITI EXHIBITION: MANGAマンガ that runs form May 23rd to August 26th, 2019. The manuscripts on display  in this one comprehend a selection of the  biggest names in the industry, starting with Urasawa himself and continuing with world renown manga artists such as Katsuhiro Otomo and Akira Toriyama among many others.

Both exhibitions where accompanied by great catalogs. Urasawa's exhibition was previously held in Japan a couple of years ago and the catalog is only in Japanese while the British museum exhibition's catalog is in English.

浦沢直樹 描いて描いて描きまくる

Urasawa naoki egaite egaite kaki makuru (JAPANESE EDITION)

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BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: Shogakukan (小学館)
Release date: 2016-I-27
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 265
Size: 25.8 x 18.2 x 2.3 cm
Retail price: ¥2,700
ISBN-10: 409199041X
ISBN-13: 978-4091990419

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: https://amzn.to/32RT3XC
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Yl13wy
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2LE1ekZ
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2MjHSBb
Amazon DE: https://amzn.to/2Yl0NxA
Amazon FR: https://amzn.to/2Y3kEGw
Amazon IT: https://amzn.to/2LIld1R
Amazon ES: https://amzn.to/2MghTdI


The Citi Exhibition: MANGA マンガ (ENGLISH EDITION)

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BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd
Release date: 2019-V-23
Language: English
Number of pages: 352
Size: 19.3 x 3.3 x 26.2 cm
Retail price: £29.95
ISBN-10: 0500480494
ISBN-13: 978-0500480496

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: https://amzn.to/2K7MHdN
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2JQnfea
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2SDZj0c
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2Y5s4J5
Amazon DE: https://amzn.to/2MfYmtV
Amazon FR: https://amzn.to/2SD3qd7
Amazon IT: https://amzn.to/2SEnwDE
Amazon ES: https://amzn.to/2Y0sPmK

Starting Point 1979-1996 by Hayao Miyazaki

It's great being at home on Christmas. Visiting family, eating well at home, playing Nintendo games  with my brother and seeing old friends. It's also great to take a look back to my old stuff; mostly books and movies. As I don't like carrying heavy stuff around, since I got the Kindle, I almost don't read on paper, but I remember I left at home a couple of books that have not been published on digital, just yet.

One of these books is a collection of essays, lectures and comments written from 1979 to 1996 by Hayao Miyazaki, published in Japan under the title 出発点―1979~1996 on August 1996 and that Viz Media published in English on August 2009 as Starting Point: 1979-1996. These readings are a unique opportunity to dig deep inside Miyazaki's head and understand his thoughts on manga, animation and even  Japanese society and culture in those first years in which he went from being an animator at TOEI to founding together with Isao Takahata, one of the most successful animation studios in Japan: Studio Ghibli.

I Hope the English translation of the second volume titled in Japanese: 折り返し点―1997~2008 and published on July 2008 is already on its way. If I would know how to read Japanese, I wouldn't have to wait more but that's my tragedy. I should start learning one of this days.

Stating Point: 1979~1996 by Hayao Miyazaki

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Publisher: Viz Media
Release date: 2009-VIII-4
Language: English
Number of pages: 461
Size: 9 x 1.5 x 6 inches
Retail price: $29.99
ISBN-10: 1421505940
ISBN-13: 978-1421505947



出発点―1979~1996 宮崎 駿

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Publisher: Studio Ghibli (スタジオジブリ)
Release date: 1996-VIII-1
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 580
Size: 18.6 x 13 x 3.6 cm
Retail price: ¥ 2808

ISBN-10: 4198605416
ISBN-13: 978-4198605414

The Art Of Osamu Tezuka + JUMPING

I'm back in my hometown and I can finally take a look at the last Amazon order I received almost one month ago. The Art of Osamu Tezuka is a gorgeous book by Helen McCarthy that tells the story of Osamu Tezuka, a Japanese manga and animation artist known as "the god of manga" and considered  by many as the Walt Disney of Japan.  Tezuka marked a turning point in Japanese manga and anime culture as Katsuhiro Otomo forewords in the book:

It is important to understand that Osamu Tezuka is not the founder of Japanese animation.

There were animators in Japan before him, as well as those working at the same time. Tezuka's work, however, revolutionized the industry by transferring recognized cinematic forms of expression from the silver screen to both his manga and his anime in order to make his stories more appealing to his (initially young) audience. In Tezuka's anime especially, camera conceits such as close-ups, pan/tilt, and so forth contributed to the creation of a realistic feel to his animated features, though initially they caused all sorts of production problems. He also played with varied lighting to enhance mood. 

By Tezuka's time, manga and anime had ceased to be the throwaway items they had been before the war, and it is Tezuka's greatest success that he recognized the need to inject wider perspectives and social awareness into his work. This was important after the war, when Disney animation was contributing to the anti -Japanization of Japanese popular culture, and U.S. -supported reconstruction dominated Japan. Today, much of the manga and anime business stands far removed from the fragile system into which Tezuka breathed life, and from some perspectives, imagination seems to have largely given over to the sort of routine against which Tezuka railed. However, there still remain strands of the Master's imagination woven throughout the islands of Japan, and I have faith that even today many of his professional descendents remain true to the standards by which he built an industry. 

It is no exaggeration to say that it is largely due to the genius of Tezuka, in those formative years of the country's reconstruction, that Japanese animation and manga have developed into a form largely without comparison in the world. Influenced by the innovations of Disney but guided by his own emotional compass, Tezuka did not demand absolute rigidity of his staff, but he allowed them to explore their own creative processes and unique styles. These were animators who would later go on to create an entire industry, impassioned by their beloved teacher. 

Katsuhiro Otomo is the creator of AKIRA, the seminal manga and movie

In its more than 272 pages McCarthy depicts Tezuka's life and work with pictures of all its creative processes, from sketches to drawings, from animation films to memorabilia. A great retrospective work that comes with a DVD as an extra with  a 45 minutes long NHK documentary never before released in English, titled The Secret of Creation, in which we got immersed in Tezuka's daily life following him to his remote studio (where not even editors are allowed), to his family house and inside his Mushi Production company where all his animation productions come to life. 

For the ones that are not familiar with Osamu Tezuka, to understand his influence it's recommended to visit the website kimbawlion.com or take a look at the images that are collected here on the left. Even the images speak for themselves, what we see here is an early work of Tezuka, the manga Jungle Emperor (ジャングル大帝 Jungle Taite) also known as Kimba The White Lion that was created back in the fifties and serialized in Japan in Manga Shōnen magazine and later  became the first color animated television series created in the country. 

On the other hand we see, The Lion King is a Walt Disney production from 1994 and how it clearly 'takes inspiration' from Tezuka's piece. The Lion King is still to this day the highest grossing animation film made with traditional 2D animation and it seats in the fifth position in the overall animation ranking, behind 3D animation titles by Pixar.

JUMPING by Osamu Tezuka

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Jumping (1984) is one of those art house films that were produced at Mushi Pro. I first saw this piece in the Spanish La2 channel, TV documentary program "la noche Tematica" special issue about Japanese manga and anime, back in 1998. This film together with other shorts is available on DVD.

The Art Of Osamu Tezuka

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Helen McCarthy (Author), Osamu Tezuka (Illustrator), Katsuhiro Otomo (Foreword)
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts; Har/DVD edition (October 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0810982498

Buy it on Amazon:
US / ES / JP


Tezuka Osamu Short films on DVD

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Director: Tezuka Osamu
Language: Japanese
Run Time: 151 minutes
Buy them on Amazon

US / ES / JP

SŌ TEN'NENSHOKU AKIRA by Katsuhiro Otomo

On December 2003 SŌ TEN'NENSHOKU AKIRA  (総天然色) was published by Kodansha in Japan. This version is a new edition of the previous International Version of AKIRA Colored by Steve Oliff that was also released in Japan by Kodansha from October 1988 to August 1996 in 12 slipcase sets, with English text and a booklet with Japanese translations. This new edition of six volumes was translated back from English to Japanese. Many changes were introduced in the dialogues and the sound effects have been translated too.

I just ordered the first two volumes of this new edition from Amazon japan Marketplace. Each book comes with a transparent plastic slipcase that make them look great but the retail price around $40 for each book is pretty high.

The six volumes available are available in Amazon Japan. In Spain a box set collecting the six volumes and AKIRA CLUB was published available in Amazon Spain. The previous International version is already out of stock but can be find it as second hand books in Amazon Japan Marketplace. In US and Europe the  colored version was first published in 38 issues that later got collected as 14 hardcover books, with the last two volumes mostly containing extra artwork and illustrations from the book  Akira Club.

WARNING! by Katsuhiro Otomo

Today I found in Amazon Japan marketplace WARNING! CHARACTER DESIGNS OF GENMA TAISEN by Katsuhiro Otomo. A hard to find book with sketches and designs by Otomo for the 1983 Rintaro directed movie Genma Taisen a.k.a Harmagedon.

ＷＡＲＮＩＮＧ！キャラクターオブ幻魔大戦 by Katsuhiro Otomo

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Kadokawa / 88 pages / Japanese

Release Date: 1983.05
Check availability on Amazon US / ES / JP

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #6

Today I ordered the sixth volume of the Daizenshū Dragon Ball encyclopedia.

DRAGON BALL大全集 (6)

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Shueisha / 214 pages / Japanese
Language: 日本語, 日本語
ISBN: 978-4087827569
Release Date: 1995.12.09

100 by Matsumoto Tayou

I bought a book called "101" some years ago in Madrid ExpoComic. I did'nt know who the artist was but the drawings where awesome. That's how I discovered Matsumoto Tayou. Today I found out in Amazon Japan Marketplace that someone was selling "100" a previus volume with more illustartions by Tayou. So i just ordered.

100 (Big spirits comic special)

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Publisher: Shogakukan
Release date: 1995-XI-20
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 92
Size: 11.7 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
Retail price: ¥2,625
ISBN-10: 409199721X
ISBN-13: 978-4091997210

AKIRA ANIME COMICS

 

It is usual in Japan to make printed book adaptations of animation films an TV series taking still frames and adding texts bubbles and sound effects. Those books are commonly knows as Anime Comics. AKIRA the epic movie by Katsuhiro Otomo has its comic adaptation too. Those five volumes featuring cover art by Katsuhiro Otomo were released in Japan in 1988 from August to December that same year and were re-released in year 2000 with a slight change of the cover design. Today I found this edition inn amazon Japan Marketplace . Four volumes at a great price and with the  same shipping costs of one. Check Amazon Japan for availability.

EUREKA 1988 Katsuhiro Otomo Issue

I found this Eureka magazine issue about Katsuhiro Otomo in Amazon Japan marketplace.

UREKA ユリイカ1988年8月臨時増刊号 総特集=大友克洋

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Seidosha / 210 pages / Japanese
ISBN: 4791709934

Release Date: 

1st print: 1988.08.25

14th print: 2001.02.28

KAIKISEN by Satoshi Kon

Before becoming a worldwide renown animation director, Satoshi Kon created a lot of manga works that have been out of circulation for a long time. Today I found Kaikisen in amazon Japan Marketplace so I order it immediately. This work was released in Spain in the 90's by Planeta de Agostini translated as: Regreso al Mar.

Kaikisen (海帰線)

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by Satoshi Kon
Bijutsu Shuppansha / 256 pages / Japanese
ISBN: 978-4568730036
Release Date: 

first print 1999.07.18

second print: 1999.08.10

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #3

The third volume of Dragon Ball Daizenshū enciclopedia. Just one left to complete the collection

DRAGON BALL大全集 (3)

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1995-IX-9
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 233
Size: 10.5 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
Retail price: ¥1,888
ISBN-10: 4087827534
ISBN-13: 978-4087827538

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #5

Another Dragon Ball encyclopedia book found on  Amazon Japan Marketplace. Added to shopping cart.

DRAGON BALL 大全集 (5)

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1995-XI-7
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 233
Size: 10.5 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
Retail price: ¥1,888
ISBN-10: 4087827550
ISBN-13: 978-4087827552

CASHMAN SAVING SOLDIER

Today I found a rare comic by Akira Toriyama in Amazon Japan Marketplace. Cashman, based on a character developed by Toriyama for a threepart story originally published in Shueisha's V-Jump magazine in 1990 and 1991 and collected for the first time in Akira Toriyama's Maru Saku Gekijo #3 and re-released in Akira Toriyama's Makan Zenseki 2. In this book the story continues but this time Toriyama  left the script in hands of Takao Koyama while Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru did the drawings. The resulting work is visually stunning. Toriyamas pure style but kind of different, in a way is hard to explain. 

貯金戦士キャッシュマン

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1998-VII-1
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 184
Size: 7 x 4.6 x 0.6 inches
Retail price: ¥514
ISBN-10: 4088725867
ISBN-13: 978-4088725864

Author / revision: Akira Toriyama
script: Takao Koyama
drawings: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru

Dragon Ball Daizenshuu Carddass Perfect File 1

Continuing the collection of Dragon Ball Books today I ordered the Carddass Perfect File Part 1. This softcover book its a special supplement of the Daizenshū collection focusing on the Dragon Ball Carddass cards. 

DRAGON BALL 大全集 (8) Carddass Perfect File Part 1

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1996-II
Language:
Number of pages: 134
Size: 10.2 x 7.2 x 0.3 inches
Retail price: ¥1,027
ISBN-10: 4081020167
ISBN-13: 978-4081020164

Dragon Ball ¡Dossier Definitivo! + Daizenshū #4

I still remember the first time I read about Dragon Ball Daizenshū, a collection of books that was released in Japan when the manga Dragon Ball came to its end. It was in the Dragon Ball ¡Dossier Definitivo!, a  book I purchased for Christmas in 1995. I was eleven at the time, I remember vividly that the lack of information related to anything manga related was huge in those days, specially for someone living in a small town. I felt lucky to have found that ¡Dossier Definitivo! book, a hard cover Dragon Ball book published in Spanish, with a cool Goku image on its cover and so much information inside.

That book was, and maybe it's still today, one of the best not official Dragon Ball data books published in Spain. Thanks to that book, I started to have a vague idea about how things worked in the manga industry in general, and in Dragon Ball in particular. I knew nothing about Shueisha (the Japanese publisher of Dragon Ball) or Weekly Shonen Jump (The weekly magazine in which Dragon Ball was published) I didn't even know that Dragon Ball Tankōbon (the pocket size books where  manga was collected after its serialization) existed. I was specially interested in the chapter related to the Dragon Ball related publications in Japan. For some reason, I have always been more interested  in printed material than anything else. I have never had an interest in the figures or the rest of the merchandise, but books... I wanted them all! I was so mind blown by the fact that there was so much printed material of Dragon Ball in Japan and so fascinated with all this information around Akira Toriyama that I even wrote about it for a school presentation project. I digested all the information I had on hand and vomited in front of the class. I guess it was a chaos and no one understood anything. But I had a great time writing all that. 

 Two pages covering the Japanese publications of  Dragon Ball  from the book ¡Dossier Definitivo!

It was also around the year 95 when a neighbor friend purchased a Japanese Tankōbon of Dragon Ball, the volume 40, featuring an awesome cover that paid justice to its content. A never before seen transformation of Goku in super saya jin with long hair. None of us read Japanese so we just though Goku turned to evil or something. The little pocket size book contrasted so much with the Spanish publications, the cover art was beautifully colored and the original Japanese reading and sound effects were amazing. I wanted to have one of this Japanese books for a long time but that didn't happen until some years later, in 1998, when I saw a commercial of a store in Catalonia in a manga magazine. Its name was Tot de Jocs. There was no internet yet so the only way to go was calling them by phone. Luckily they had some Japanese dragon Ball volumes at good prices. I ordered the volume 38

Some years later, in 2004 I discovered Amazon Japan, and after a while figuring out how to navigate through the site that was starting to be partially translated to English, I found out that  the books Akira Toriyama The World and The World Special were still on print, so I didn't thought twice and bought both of them. That was my first ever order to Amazon Japan. And finnaly today, april 24, 2007, fter realizing that the second hand marketplace on Amazon works great, I diecovered that someone is selling the fourth volume of Dragon Ball Daizenshū published over a decade ago, so I ordered it immediately. 

Finally, after twelve years, I got the chance to have one of this books on my hands. What once seemed impossible, now has become an easy chore. Sitting in front of a computer, surfing a website, copy-pasting some Japanese characters here and there and swiping the credit card. Then, somebody in Japan that is trying to get rid of that book, would pack it up,  and ship it. All for less that 30€. It's impressive how the world evolves and companies like Amazon push the bar higher and higher every time, to  make everything more easy and convenient for everyone.

DRAGON BALL大全集 (4) WORLD GUIDE

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1995-X
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 167
Size: 10.5 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
Retail price: ¥1,572
ISBN-10: 4087827542
ISBN-13: 978-4087827545

Books by Otomo & Miyazaki

Today I made a big order to Amazon Japan. Eight great books. Six of them by Katsuhiro Otomo and two by Hayao Miyazaki.

OTOMO KATSUHIRO presents THE MEMORY OF MEMORIES

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The art book of the film MEMORIES, three anime stories. Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder directed respectively by Koji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura and Katsuhiro Otomo. The book collects backgrounds, sketches and storyboards from all all them.

BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: Kodansha (講談社)
Release date: 1996-I-8
Language: Japanese
Number of opages: 160
Retail price: ￥2,000
Size: 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
ISBN-10: 4063196658
ISBN-13: 978-4063196658

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: http://amzn.to/11N70z5
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1wb2vTK
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1vUL97N
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/BOVBna
Amazon DE: http://amzn.to/1AgAMAy
Amazon FR: http://amzn.to/1MJ0Dq8
Amazon IT: http://amzn.to/17Ghwkr
Amazon ES: https://amzn.to/CPEimd

The Storyboard Book STEAM BOY 

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This 780 page book contains all the storyboards drawn by katsuhiro Otomo for the animation movie STEAMBOY.

BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: Kadansha (講談社)
Release date: 2004-VIII-20
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 780
Size: 21.2 x 15 x 5.2 cm
Retail Price: ¥3,990
ISBN-10: 4063645916
ISBN-13: 978-4063645910

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: http://amzn.to/11Klhjn
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/14z6C98
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1ctXOvg
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/14ZctXw
Amazon DE:-
Amazon FR: http://amzn.to/1atqXVU
Amazon IT: http://amzn.to/1H54T0H
Amazon ES: http://amzn.to/1EC8pPC


STEAMBOY Mechanical Book

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A beautiful book containing hundreds of sketches and designs made for Katsuhiro Otomo's STEAMBOY animation feature film.

BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: Kodansha (講談社)
Release Date: 2004-VIII-4
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 175
Size: 11.6 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
Retail price: ￥2,800
ISBN-10: 4063645843
ISBN-13: 978-4063645842

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: http://amzn.to/11Nstv1
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1DFe2N3
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1DFeaMM
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1CWM4qL
Amazon DE: http://amzn.to/17Gci8b
Amazon FR: http://amzn.to/17GcmEU
Amazon IT: http://amzn.to/17GcnsD
Amazon ES: https://amzn.to/2QdvPVl

SOS Dai Tokyo Tankentai

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Katsuhiro Otomo Anthology volume 2. A collection of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga works from the eighties.

BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: Kodansha (講談社)
Publishing Date: 1996-II-6
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 253
Size: 23.4 x 17.6 x 1.6 cm (A5)
Retail price: ¥1,200
ISBN-10: 4-06-319658-5
ISBN-13: 978-4-06-319658-0

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: http://amzn.to/11y67Jy
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/15o77SY
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1CtIFWd
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/190W7nL
Amazon DE: http://amzn.to/1HeoyJO
Amazon FR: http://amzn.to/1Nv5c7T
Amazon IT: http://amzn.to/1Cr9CbC
Amazon ES: http://amzn.to/1AD1pMF

HIGHWAY STAR 

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Katsuhiro Otomo's early manga works from the seventies.

BOOK DETAILS
Publisher: Futabasha (双葉社) ACTION COMICS
First print: 1979-X-13
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 229
Size: 20.8 x 15 x 2 cm (A5)
Price: ￥650
ISBN: 4-575-93029-6
ISBN: 978-4-575-93029-0

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: http://amzn.to/U108bT
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1b5B0PG
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1EpJgTP
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1xdwgnn
Amazon DE: http://amzn.to/1H0tx3C
Amazon FR: http://amzn.to/1wYHFaa
Amazon IT: http://amzn.to/1wYHCeq
Amazon ES: http://amzn.to/1wYHyLN


SHORT PEACE 

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By Katsuhiro OtomoA compilation of early works from the end of the seventies.

BOOK DETAILS
Publisher : Futabasha (双葉社) ACTION COMICS
Publication date: 1986-V-15
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 223
Size: A5
Retail price:￥720
ISBN-10: 4-575-93033-4
ISBN-13: 978-4-575-93033-7

AVAILABILITY
Amazon JP: http://amzn.to/SnCkBi
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1O4ikkw
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1O4ijwR
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1AD50ui
Amazon DE: http://amzn.to/1Crc6Xl
Amazon FR: http://amzn.to/1DzPeXk
Amazon IT: https://amzn.to/2LIuc2h
Amazon ES: https://amzn.to/2YI58fu


Kurenai No Buta Storyboard 

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The complete storyboard of the film Porco Rosso by Hayao Miyazaki.

Howl's Moving castle Storyboard 

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The complete storyboard of the film Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki.

BOOK - AKIRA #5

Today I bought in Fnac the 5th volume of Katsuhiro Otomo's epic manga AKIRA published in black and white in Spain by Ediciones B.  Even the drawings are flipped to adapt them to the western reading, still, one of the best releases of a manga work ever done in Spain.

AKIRA #5 (Spanish B/W edition) by Katsuhiro otomo

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Ediciones B / 420 pages / Spanish
ISBN: 978-84-406-9940-4

1st edition July 2000
2nd edition November 2001

Original Japanse available in Amazon Japan