Satoshi Kon: Opus Paperback – 11 Dec. 2014

Why give it a Five Star ✨ Rating if it is incomplete?1. Because its the best option for anyone who desires more of Satoshi Works outside its movies.And this is the only way I can let them know that.2. Because its other works collaborative or otherwise are more Incomplete. And I repeat myself " this is the only way I can let them know that ".When it comes to Satoshi, I feel that everything outside its movies comes with a Advice of the type "Please only Buy if you are a fan of his animation and Please watch the movies first".Opus is alluring on the fact its "End" so to say has a macabre Irony, those who read it would know. What else can be said about Opus without spoiling?.Opus is a Tale about Manga Characters coming out its pages into the real World, IN an attempt to get the Mangaka to Finish the Story (Manga). The Author caught in its lifeworks animation is a Stand-in for Satoshi Himself.

Brilliant story, art, concept- and it just feels nice to hold. I'm not a reviewer or a critic but I'm sure you can find millions of reviews anywhere for this book.The cover is beautiful, its a good sized book so you can really feel it when you hold it, and it looks nice on a shelf, despite being bigger than most volumes of manga.

I can’t recommend Satoshi Kon. This manga is unfinished as Kon only ever completed one of his volumes. Highly recommend especially if you’re a fan of his work.

Very good story really draws you in but just an air of caution that it does contain a unfinished ending and therefore does end on an somewhat unsatisfactory note this is no ones fault, and if you’ve done your research you already know the reason why.Sadly the author died before being able to finish this piece but it is still an excellent story never less.

Incredible manga, satoshi seriously knows how to story tell and shows it through this trippy tale

Only the mind of Satoshi Kon could dream up a metafiction concept like this, and execute it with such aplomb.I won't regurgitate the plot here; there is plenty of information on that elsewhere.You may already know from some of his films that Kon can gradually blur the line between reality and imagination until they become inextricably intertwined, leaving the viewer with a surprisingly satisfying impression that in Kon's work maybe there is none such distinction to be made. He teases the viewer and commands his films to be approached with a degree of intelligence.Perhaps it should come as no surprise to also find this Kon trademark in OPUS. What is surprising is how well he executes this in a totally different medium. The techniques employed in his films would be hard to pull off in a manga one would think, and yet he pulls it off with style and confidence. This is quite abstract use of the manga medium, and immensely enjoyable.Kon is clearly drawing in a much more confident style than in his earlier work like 'Tropic of the Sea'. The drawings and backgrounds are relatively simple; we are not seeing 'Nausicaa' level detail here. OPUS does present us with the same dry humour that we are used to from Kon's other works. There is a very small amount of nudity and one or two violent scenes which could set child protection alarm bells ringing with some parents, but as in his other works, Kon treats these topics as a critical observation and not at all gratuitously. Nevertheless, this is a book for adults, children would have little hope of understanding what on earth is going on in this story, and a lot of teenagers would probably not get most of the subtle humour.Do be aware that when you commit to reading OPUS, you are immersing yourself into an unfinished work. The magazine "Comic Guys" in which this manga was published ceased to exist before the final chapters had been written, and subsequently Kon was pretty much occupied by the work on the first film he directed, Perfect Blue. However, he did work on a final chapter that was never fully finished, and only exists as a collection of pencil drawings and sketches. Fortunately Dark Horse have taken the admirable decision (with permission of Kon's relatives) to include the little material there is of this final chapter. And it is very much worth it. It does give the book an ending which may be somewhat abrupt and not entirely unpredictable, but is nevertheless a satisfying conclusion (in the typical Kon sense of the word). Upon reading the book a second time, I now realise that Kon probably always had some intention to end the book along these lines (albeit a bit less abrupt perhaps). One panel halfway the book that flummoxed me the first time I saw it now makes perfect sense, and hints at the way the story ends. In fact there are a few panels throughout that do so.OPUS is yet another work by Satoshi Kon that makes us realise the world has prematurely lost a truly great manga artist and animator.Note: my purchase does not show as 'Verified Purchase' because I ordered it through Amazon.com as the release date on Amazon.co.uk was put back by a worrying long time.

I hope you like meta fiction.

The premise is interesting and the art is clear and crisp but the lack of a definitive end left me unsatisfied. Shame as I enjoyed his films. I was engaged while reading though it felt like it dragged at points