This is the first volume (8 volumes) of the Otomo complete works edition of “AKIRA” by Katsuhiro Otomo in 1982-1983, when he was 28-29 years old, and containing the first 14 chapters (up to p. 279 of the first volume) that were serialized in Young Magazine, then in its second year of publication, in their original form.

This historical work, which had a great impact on the manga world, is renowned for its perfection, but in fact, considerable brushing up was done by the mangaka when it was collected.

Additions, corrections, deletions, page and koma replacements, additional finishing touches, new sequences, etc., were used to polish the work, and the final product is the YANMAGA book version of “AKIRA,” which continues to be read 40 years after its initial release. In particular, it is a well-known fact that the covers for each chapter of the serialization were removed.

However, in this edition of Otomo's complete works, the mangaka decided to publish the “serialized version” which is a reprint of the original version before the said changes were made to the work, by restoring everything, including the chapter covers, as much as possible to the original state.

Although there are some parts where the original versions do not exist, and some parts that cannot be restored to their original state due to direct revisions, we have made it our mission to “restore the original state as much as possible” in the collected editions.

The “LIVE serialized version of AKIRA,” which has been completely sealed since its serialization, is different from the “collected AKIRA”, and perfectly recreates the excitement of the time when it was first published!

This is a must-have, must-see volume dedicated to all “AKIRA” fans. The first color spread of the very rare first chapter, which is different from the collected version, and the color pages from the serialization are all reprinted exactly as they were.

• Won the 8th Kodansha Manga Award for General Manga

• Volume 12 of the OTOMO COMPLETE WORKS