“Kaba” (meaning Hippopotamus in Japanese ) is renowned manga artist and anime director Otomo Katsuhiro’s first published illustration book, a compendium of artwork he created from 1971 to 1989. While a couple of other books by Otomo, like and the more recent ( a collaboration with the equally amazing Terada Katsuya ) have since been published, Kaba stands unique because of its smorgasbord of eclectic illustration work that precedes Otomo’s rise to fame after the phenomenal success of Akira. As such, it is a rare peek into the budding creative mind of the genius at work, allowing us, albeit vicariously, to follow Otomo’s progress as his illustration and narrative style evolved slowly over time to become what it is today.
Many of the featured art work in the book come with bite-sized Japanese and English production notes, and Otomo gives us insights and background information on the various projects he undertook. Otomo was also a big fan of, and in many of his early works the influence can clearly be seen, in particular his use of harmonious, muted tones and light pastel colors. Kaba was first published in 1989 and unfortunately is no longer in print anymore. Folks who are keen to get one however, can still find – Dimensions – 11.3 x 11.1 x 0.9 inches – 178 pages, hardcover – full color / black and white You might also be interested in these items. Renze October 1st, 2009 at 6:08 am I bought Kaba many years ago just after I had seen Akira (which was already out for at least a decide haha). I stumbled upon it in the famous comic shop Lambiek in Amsterdam.
They were pretty proud to have that book, but I basically put down all the money I had at the time (teen, always strapped for cash) and bought the book. I never regretted it, and it’s still one of my most cherished books. I’m not a collector or anything, but there’s just something in his works that utterly compels me.
Since then I managed to find a couple of small color Akira volumes from Epic (US) and even one of the colored big volumes (volume one ? ). Only years later I was finally able to read Akira in its entirety after Dark Horse republished it.
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Still, Kaba is an amazing book, if you have any doubts if you should buy it, just do it ok? October 16th, 2010 at 3:33 pm I own Kaba. It was published during the run of Akira here in the united states. I can say that the way Otomo creates stories about the way our mundane lives intersect with the devine and surreal shaped my entire consciousness as a writer (you guys are watching re runs of my work and have no idea I wrote them!
Hee hee!) Kaba has some short work in it, particularly a short story about soldiers fighting off mechanized killer robots that absolutely blew my mind. It’s called “A Farewell to Arms” and culminates with a lonely absurd shot of an unarmed man demanding the attention of the killer bureaucratic robot that just dismissed him as a threat because he no longer has a weapon. The robot just walks away from the man, rendering his outrage completely impotent, and more tragic. There is simply too much awesome work in Kaba to describe. There are MODELS of his artwork made in plastic and resin and fur!
It’s one of my prized possesions, along with the Original red bound Disney book The Illusion of Life. Otomo shaped me in incredible ways. Will always be grateful.