In 1984, when Katsuhiro Otomo was 29–30 years old, he created and serialized chapters 29–42 of “AKIRA” in Young Magazine (from page 201 of volume 2 to page 167 of volume 3 in the Young Magazine KC edition). This third volume of the Complete Works edition of “AKIRA” compiles those chapters exactly as they were originally published.
This volume continues the same editorial approach as volumes 1 and 2, presenting everything—including title pages—in the “serialized version,” restored as closely as possible to their original publication state. (For details on the concept and editorial policy of the Complete Works edition of “AKIRA,” see the description in “Katsuhiro Otomo Complete Works No.12 AKIRA 1.”)
As in the previous volumes, valuable color pages have been faithfully reproduced in their original form. However, what is often overlooked is the opposite case: “monochrome restoration.” For example, four pages including the double-spread title of “Tetsuo under SOL’s laser attack” at the beginning of volume 3 in the KC edition were originally monochrome manuscripts in the serialized version. When the work was compiled into book form, these were replaced with newly drawn color pages, meaning the original monochrome versions were never included in the collected editions.
Such pages are restored here in monochrome, allowing readers to experience “AKIRA” as it was at the time of its initial publication. This is one of the unique pleasures of the “serialized version.”