Juusei (OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS)(2023)

Juusei (OTOMO THE COMPLETE WORKS)

This is a collection of 11 short manga by Otomo Katsuhiro, who was 17-19 years old between 1971 and 1974, from the period when he was a student contributor to his professional debut.

Otomo made his debut at the age of just 19 with Juusei in the August 4th,1973 extra issue of Manga Action, and none of his first seven short stories have been collected in any previous book. You may have seen them listed in Short Peace, but this will be the first time you can read them. The stories in this book are literally "phantom early works." This book includes all of these works for the first time, as well as four completely unpublished works, and drafts and submissions made before the artist's debut. It is a miracle that the manuscripts of these works still exist, but the author's permission to include these unpublished works was also a special measure taken for the "complete works" project, and the realization of this book is truly a once in a half-century miracle.

It is up to the reader to decide whether to dismiss it as a collection of crude, poor, immature works or to be astounded by this "formidable child's" simultaneously youthful and mature sense of expression that is hard to believe came from a teenage boy. The value of this book is immeasurable as a one-of-a-kind document that records the moment when a creator who would later make a name for himself in the world was born, as well as the moments before and after.

Only 10 years after his debut, in 1983, the still unknown "monster" began to draw AKIRA. Finally, his work is resurrected here!

(Source: Kodansha, translated)