Hunting the Elusive

For people using the lossless versions of releases and reviews: I am currently investigating the possibility of replacing the use of PNG with the JPEG2000 lossless format, with the possibility of cutting down on processing times and maybe filesizes. For this to happen, however, a number of conditions need to be met. Firstly, reader approval. Secondly, a demonstrated acceleration in processing. Thirdly, filesize reductions. The second and third conditions will be tested by me later, so this post is for the first point. I understand that JPEG2000 is not a widely used format, but most programs seem to support them. Additionally, the lossless versions are intended for people who actually work with the pictures (like make wallpapers, or stitch, or play with colours), and these people usually have the expertise to work with the new format. Anyway, comment below expressing your like or dislike of this possibility -- remember, staying silent now = giving up the right to bitch later.

I started following Hinako Satomi (LiZ) shortly before Comic Market 76 for various reasons, and color decoration is her first full-colour book, released at the last Comiket. In a way, this artist has quite a bit of potential, but still has some inconsistencies in her art (by way of example, the front page picture for her website). I guess in a way, this artist is also a typical moe-type drawer, although I would probably put her style closer to Kantoku than anyone else. [Review] [PNG]

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Let’s just state from the get-go that this post is rather more risque than most other releases, due to the nature of the material in question. Pretty Flower Girls! consists mostly of illustrations of three girls in various sorts of underwear, for lack of a better descriptor, so it is not H, but more in the realm of something like gravure. Short of depriving this post entirely of images, there is no way to keep it totally safe for work, so please use your discretion when viewing this post and the release contents. [Release][PNG]

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The following is just a ramble on various things which have been clanking around in my head for some time now. I figured it would be good to break the monotony of this blog with an opinion post out of left field. However, it’s quite relevant in a meta kind of way. In any case, for most readers, the stuff I state here should be self-evident, so this is by no means a breakthrough kind of post which would elicit a paradigm shift in thinking, but rather, just bringing out into the light the truths which most are consciously or subconsciously aware of.

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Macarons Color 4 was released by Chiaki Hasekura (Cascade) for Comic Market 76. It is a full-colour 20 page book (18 excluding the blank inside covers) and also covers some girls from anime like K-On! and TH2. It includes two page spreads, but is bound with staples, so allowing me to a release scan. Paper was mid-to-low grade card type stock, with texture that I have managed to somewhat remove with post-processing. Like some other artists (ahem, Sakurazawa Izumi), Chiaki Hasekura seems to have some preoccupation with cat and dog ears, with five of the 15 illustrations featuring animal ears of some sort. [Release][PNG]

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This 18 page book was released by Island of Horizon (H2SO4) on 16 August 2009 (Comic Market 76). At the end of it, the volume includes a copyright notice for 2006 to 2007 to Ntreev Soft, so one would thing that ‘M’, or whatever, is a game from the guys who brought us Panya or Trickster. However, my suspicions are that the characters and settings in World of the ‘M’ Concept Art Works are originals by H2SO4, be it for a now aborted game, a game in development, or an imaginary game. Despite this being mostly a character design book, with only two real “illustrations”, H2SO4’s stuff is sufficiently elite that it is worthy of a look, and besides, most of the character designs are of cute girls. [Release] [PNG]

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Yes, it’s time yet again for another of Tokiame’s quality works. Released Comic Market 76, Carefree Scribble Vol 4 is the latest of this artist’s fantastic Touhou-themed colour books. At 18 pages staple-bound, this is not a big volume, and also not all of it is in colour. However, Tokiame is one of the few artists whose black and white works are also worthy of attention, since most of them utilise an ink-brush style which differs from his CG-polished colour pictures. [Release] [PNG]

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I decided to debind Grand Preview, the Touhou fanbook by Shimeko, since there was no way I would put this artist’s illustrations through my book scanner again. The colours are too subtle, the shades too sublime to risk that scanner wiping everything out with its wonky gamma. Grand Preview is one of Shimeko’s Comic Market 76 releases, and in fact, the artist’s most significant one for that event, eclipsing the joint book with Pixel Phantom (which turned out to be predominantly manga). That said, Shimeko’s stuff remains appealing scarce on the ground, since only a little more than half of this very thin book (18 pages) consists of his/her (I think her) art. [Release] [PNG]

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Have been a  bit tardy in terms of scans going into this blog due to various commitments and activities IRL, some of which you can see photographic evidence of on Pixels. Anyway, “Remains ~ Gensou Kaikyou ~” was released at Comiket 76, serial number MMPD0007. It is a doujin music CD, but it came with a great little booklet. Why is this booklet worth a look at? Firstly, we have illustrations by An2A (Windmail), but that’s not all. These illustrations are combined with photography by haLRu of Monomind, resulting in an effect which is mind-blowing in its beauty. The packaging too, which was designed by An2A, is something to behold for a doujin release, with ribbons and symbols such as eyes which correspond to the unifying Yukari Yakumo theme. [Review] [PNG]

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