The Art of Katsuhiro Otomo

THE ART OF KATSUHIRO OTOMO

by Jeremy Mark Robinson

<P> This is a book about the genius Japanese artist Katsuhiro Otomo (b. 1954). Best-known for the Akira manga of 1982-90 and the Akira movie of 1988, Otomo is also an all-round artist who writes fiction, writes and directs short and feature movies, produces commercial art, and design projects. Among Otomo’s works are the movies Steam-Boy, Mushishi, Metropolis, Memories and Roujin Z, and manga such as Domu, The Legend of Mother Sarah, Hansel and Gretel and Sayonara Japan. The works of Otomo have been celebrated with awards – he won the Kodansha Comic-Strip Award in 1984 for Akira, and the Science Fiction  Grand Prix Award in 1983 for Domu. 

<P> There are very few genuine auteurs in Japanese animation: the animation industry, like all filmmaking on a large scale, is truly collaborative. However, you can definitely see elements in the films directed and writt