Akira: 35th Anniversary Box Set (2017)

Akira: 35th Anniversary Box Set (2017)

Author + Illustrator: Katsuhiro Otomo  |  Publisher: Kodansha | Page Count: 2530

I knew in advance that Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal six-volume AKIRA manga was 2000+ pages, in total, but I wasn't expecting Kodansha's 35th Anniversary box set to be as mammoth as it is. It's the size of a hat box and heavier than a baby!

The scale of the work deserves a review that's a lot more in depth than I've time to give — the phenomenal world-building alone is worthy of a mini dissertation — so I'll limit my words to the presentation of the physical product, pictures of which are at the end of the post. (The image to the right is edited to fit my posting template.)

I suppose that means it's partially a review of the packaging, but that's not my goal. Given the costly RRP, it's about whether I feel it's worth it or not, but opinions on value will, of course, differ.

Crucially, it retains the black and white visuals of the original - it's not a reprint of the previous Marvel version that was digitally coloured by Steve Oliff. And if you like your Japanese books to read from right to left, you'll be glad to hear that the box set preserves the original orientation, too, so there's no flipping of the image.

The next most important aspect for me is the type of paper used. The usual half a dozen or so colour pages placed at the beginning of each individual volume are on premium glossy paper, which gives excellent colour reproduction. The rest of the book, the black and white art, is on paper similar to the cheap, rough stock that's typical of manga, but it's thicker than normal. I don't know if that means it'll be less prone to discolouration with age, but it certainly feels more durable and it's held together with a proper sewn binding, not just cheaply glued into place.

Weirdly, the paper thickness meant I often turned two pages at a time, instead of one. Most pages are numbered at the bottom, so it was easy to spot when it happened, but the same can't be said for the included Akira Club art book, which has some non-glossy pages at the book's end and no page numbers; if more than one page is turned there, there's no quick way of knowing.

The copyright pages refer to the books as 'paperback' editions, which suggests they're straight reprints of the existing PB versions with a hard cover instead of a standard paper one and that Kodansha couldn't be bothered to change the text. There's a few other production issues, such as crumpled paper and edges not being cut properly. In some respects, it seems QC wasn't high on the agenda. But maybe those last two are just bad luck on my part and aren't widespread. I don't know. I'm grateful that it arrived in one piece; many other folks weren't so lucky. [1]

The dimensions of each volume exceed the standard manga format. They measure approx 10.25" x 7.25", which is a real boon to the artwork. Being larger allows Otomo's dramatic panels to feel even more alive and screentones to be more distinct. The Akira Club art book is even larger than the manga and has more colour pages. On the flipside, the box is a shelf-buster, so don't expect it to sit nicely next to other mangas. It'll likely need a place of its own. [2]

Because it reproduces the original artwork with no 'paint over' foreign language revisions, the SFX are in Japanese. There's a glossary of terms for such near the end of the book. Some of the signs and graffiti are translated in footnotes, though, beneath their respective panels. It's unclear what the criteria was for what necessitated a footnote and what didn't, but hopefully no important stuff was excluded. What's there seems to be a mix of necessary and inessential.

Each manga volume has a removable dust jacket with artwork like that of the Japanese originals and the previous Dark Horse softcover editions. Underneath the jacket, on the hardcover itself, is alternate artwork that's less colourful but beautiful in its own way. Even when Otomo's storytelling is boring, which is pretty much all of books 04 and 05, his artwork is stunning. Akira Club has a dust jacket with a large circular hole cut in it to allow the image on the HB to be seen even when the jacket is in place. The visible image on the HB is embossed, beautifully.

In order to keep the spines of all seven books uniform when packed in the box, a step in the bottom raises the manga to meet the spine of Akira Club. It's a functional design and likely won't even be seen until you take either the sixth manga or the Akira Club book out for the first time.

To end, I'll return to the beginning and answer the question of whether or not I feel the collection is value for money. It's my belief that one should buy media for its content, not its packaging. Having the words 'Collectors Edition' added to something doesn't make the storytelling any better. My reason for buying the box was to get the books in hardcover. I got lucky with cost; the pre-order price was less than 50% of RRP, which worked out cheaper than buying the softcovers separately. When averaged out, I paid just £13.00 per HB volume. Yes, I consider that very worth it. If required to pay the full RRP, then I'd have let it pass.

Pics of the box and its content. I don't usually link images from other sites because if they disappear there, then they'll disappear from here, too, but I'll make an exception this one time because there's too many to host myself. The 'Good for Health...' item is a woven patch.

The site from which the linked images came: Phil Balsman Art + Design.

[1]: Kodansha offered a replacement box to anyone who provided photographic proof of having received a mangled one. There's no mention on the page of when the offer expires, or of it being region-specific, so it's still worth a try if you need one. Details are on the linked page (link opens in a new tab): If your Akira 35th Anniversary Box Set arrived damaged...

[2] Approximate dimensions of all three components (the page count of the manga volumes differs, so I didn't include those; divide the box depth by 7 if you want to get an average): The Box: D: 11.5" H: 9" W: 11" / The Manga: H: 10.25" W: 7.25" / Akira Club: H: 10.5" W:8.5".