Animation AKIRA Layouts & Key Frames 3 OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS

Product Description

The film version of "AKIRA," released in theaters in 1988, revolutionized the world of animation beyond the realm of manga. This book is the third and final volume of a three-volume compilation, showcasing the vast amount of layouts, original drawings, and revisions used in the production of the film, all crafted by the original author and director, Katsuhiro Otomo. A layout serves as a blueprint for an animated film, detailing the necessary information for each scene that comprises the full-length animation.

This volume includes the original drawings and layouts of "Part C (continuation from the previous volume) and Part D" of the four parts (A, B, C, and D) that make up the entire film. It also features valuable reproductions of celluloid drawings from many famous scenes created based on these drawings. Following the previously published "Storyboards 1 & 2," this book provides an in-depth look at the production process of these still cutting-edge expressions.

The film version of "AKIRA" was created through a meticulous process where the "layout," depicting the background and character movements for each cut, was directed and revised by the animation director, art director, and even director Otomo himself. The uncompromising quality of the screen work can be experienced by simply flipping through the pages, as the images move in succession, in a book of unprecedented construction.

Like the previous two volumes, this volume is almost entirely printed in color and contains the largest number of reproduced celluloid images of all three volumes. The fold-out large-format pages are also the largest to date, with a total of approximately 675 pages. As the final volume, it includes a "commentary" by the author at the end of the book. "Layouts & Key Frames" in the book title translates to "Layouts & Original Drawings" in English. This book is part of "OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS" Volume 25.

The book features a unique structure that allows readers to enjoy the animation movements as they flip through the book like a flip-book, moving toward the beginning and then backward from the start. For detailed instructions, please refer to "How to read this book" included within the book.