Director Satoshi Kon blazed a brilliant animation career before his tragic death in 2010 at age 46. Now Dark Horse is privileged to remember him and his works through The Art of Satoshi Kon, a beautiful book of Kon’s illustrations for his movies Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Milennium Actress, Paprika and his televison series Paranoia Agent, plus his unfinished The Dreaming Machine, his manga, commercial art, and several little-known and incomplete projects by the creator! Includes a special message from Academy Award nominated director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan, Noah)

A comprehensive introduction to the work of the acclaimed anime artist, director of Tokyo Godfathers and the hit release Paprika.

Brilliant anime director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Paranoia Agent, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue) died tragically young in 2010 at the age of forty-six. But before he became a director, he was a manga artist, and Dark Horse is honored to remember Kon with the release of Satoshi Kon’s OPUS, an omnibus collection of a two-volume manga from 1996, created by Kon on the eve of his first film. OPUS contains the mastery of both realism and surrealism that would make Kon famous in Perfect Blue, as a manga artist planning a shocking surprise ending to his story gets literally pulled into his own work—to face for himself what he had planned for his characters! * Satoshi Kon was a Time magazine 2010 Person of the Year. * Kon was eulogized by director Darren Aronofsky. * Kon was a chief assistant to Katsuhiro Otomo on the Akiramanga.

Yosuke's family has a strange tradition - once every sixty years they receive an egg from a mermaid. When the egg matures his family dutifully returns it to the sea, where the whole process is then repeated. In exchange for this favor, the mer-people bless his coastal town with bountiful catches of fish and calm seas. But as a commercial development encroach on the sleepy seaside village and Yosuke's father is lured away from tradition towards modern prosperity, and turns the egg into a tourist trap, what will happen to the promise their family made to the mermaids generations ago? Tropic of the Sea Satoshi Kon's first feature length manga, includes a dozen black and white art plates from his original release, along with a 5-page essay written by Kon in 1999 detailing his transition from the manga industry to the animation business.

Brilliant anime director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Paranoia Agent, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue) died tragically young in 2010 at the age of 46. Before he became a director, he was a manga artist, and Dark Horse is honored to remember Kon with the release of Satoshi Kon's OPUS, an omnibus collection of a two-volume manga from 1996, created by Kon on the eve of his first film. OPUS contains the mastery of both realism and surrealism that would make Kon famous in Perfect Blue, as a manga artist becomes drawn into his own work and realizes the deadline he's up against is to stop a vicious serial killer before he can spill more innocent blood--not merely ink!

Kirigoe Mima is in the third year of her career as a pure and innocent pop idol. Feeling like something big needs to change, she plans to give her image a major update. When the new Mima is revealed--complete with a sexy outfit and a risqué photo book–one of her most obsessive fans refuses to accept her transformation. To restore Mima to the innocent girl of her debut, he puts a terrifying plan to action that throws her life into chaos and mortal peril.

Dream Fossil is a collection of 15 short stories by the late Satoshi Kon. These stories, serialized in a variety of magazines in the 1980's, give a rare glimpse into the early stages of Kon's uniquely compelling style of storytelling. The buds of dream-like themes and imaginative worldviews that would blossom in his later animated works are also readily apparent. Yes, the flights of fancy are anchored by knowing, empathetic portrayals of the very human nature of each story.