While working late to meet his deadline, he encounters the angry Lin stealing the two-page spread of his death and Nagai is sucked into his manga in the middle of a fight between Satoko and the Masque.

Frustrated, he breaks into the sketch of an alternate ending, rescuing Satoko from being shot by the chief and bringing her into the real world.

They travel back to the first volume of Resonance, where Satoko was the target of a serial killer, but was saved by the police detective and telepath Sawamura, who died in the process and was reincarnated as Lin.

Satoshi Kon, the artist of Opus, is informed of the cancellation of "Comic Guard" magazine and laments the fact that he could have finished the story in three chapters.

Later, he calls his editor and tells him about a final chapter he is working on for an abrupt ending, but can't draw it because he is busy with Perfect Blue.

[4] Tokuma Shoten collected the 19 chapters into two volumes published on December 13, 2010 under its Ryu Comics imprint, adding a missing ending found after Kon's death.

[3] During Sakura-Con 2014, Dark Horse Comics announced that it had licensed the manga and would compile it in omnibus format,[6] subsequently publishing it on December 9, 2014.

[17] Paul Gravett listed it number one on his top ten manga of 2014 and called Opus a "mind-blowing meta-manga" that is "overflowing with ideas and imagination", adding that it shares much in common with Kon's films and would have made a good anime adaption.

[18] The Comics Journal said that the plot is "as 'Satoshi Kon' a scenario as can possibly be imagined" and noted the goal of the title in "reaching for the stars".