If you are a fan of art books and animation, this write-up is for you.

Edgar Award Winning comicbook artist Ed Piskore of Cartoonist Kayfabe fame returned from Japan with an amazing oversized book covering the creation of the classic film AKIRA.

The book: Animation AKIRA Storyboards (OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS)

The video review of the book was dropped the day after Christmas.

Such a  great late end of year present for any fan of the film AKIRA from Cartoonist Kayfabe.

Never heard of them?

Go here: https://www.youtube.com/@CartoonistKayfabe

And here is a quick overview –

Ed Piskore

Jim Rugg

Both Piskore and Rugg are highly accomplished comics artists in their own rights. They come to their homebrew YouTube show with vastly different life experiences and that does nothing but add color and depth to their conversations and analysis.

Similar to the cartoon loving group at Cartoon Brew – it quickly becomes apparent the opinions of Piskore and Rugg come from a deep historical knowledge but also a real joy regarding their chosen field of art – one of the pinnacles being the comic/manga and animated movie/anime, AKIRA.

Piskore and Rugg have devoted a handful of episodes to the manga AKIRA and to the art of genius creator Katsuhiro Otomo but this episode covered a new and hard to find aspect of the work – Otomo’s cell art translation of the manga to it’s groundbreaking anime form.

Enter the recently published book trifecta, Animation AKIRA Storyboards (OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS) 

Based on the video review, the books appear to be mostly full page reproductions of AKIRA key-frame cell art. There are pencil sketches, finished pencils, and even layers of full painted layers detailing finished cells.

Flipping through the pages, the excitement of the duo is palpable and contagious.

Having watched the episode, I immediately dug through every book dealer website I knew and ordered multiple copies (one for myself and a few for late Christmas presents) and then I went back and rewatched their show.