Kishida Mel: Lumen
Lumen was released by Kishida Mel for Comic Market 78. It is a fairly short book with 16 pages (14 since I didn’t include the blank inside covers). Somehow every time I come across Kishida Mel, I think this artist does nice fluffy innocent illustrations, and this impression is of course reinforced by the Atelier series of games, where all the characters are so darn cute and well-dressed most of the time. Well, Lumen once again dispels this thought (as did some of his previous independent releases), since there is a large proportion of swimsuit/underwear art in here. Nonetheless, we get a very good idea of what Kishida Mel is capable of, and personally I can pick out two distinct styles used, although the character designs remain signature. [Release][PNG]
nagimiso.sys Reactor Girl
On 19 July 2010, nagimiso released Quantum Singer illustrations Reactor Girl, for all intents and purposes an artbook cataloguing artworks done for various Vocaloid PVs. Of course, nagimiso is famous for illustrating Meltdown (Roshin Yukai) and a number of its remixes. nagimiso is also responsible for the illustration of Moon VN02-remix, which has since been turned into a figure (as has Meltdown, although my current budget constraints means I am putting acquisition on hold). The fact that two of his incredibly complicated illustrations have been turned into figures is an indication of just how talented this artist is. Reactor Girl, in addition to containing some illustrations, also archives some design background for the various characters. It also contains a motion archive DVD which has the PVs for Hanayurikago, Meltdown Hard RK mix and Meltdown ver KARAOKE. I assume these videos can be found in one form or another, so I did not unseal the disc. [Release][PNG 1 2]
TINKLE: Stellato Giada
Stellato Giada was released during Comic Market 78 by TINKLE (Tinker Bell). A full colour but thin volume, it covers versions of works created by TINKLE for various commercial interests. I’m not too good with Japanese, so as far as I know, some of the illustrations are remixed or continuations of illustration series. In any case, the artwork of TINKLE is so outstanding that any collection of their work should be noted and worthy of collection. I will also note that at the end of the book, the art commentary section actually divides the works up by artists. We have long known that TINKLE is made up of two parts, setsuna and Bell (or it’s one illustrator using two personas). Of course, their styles are so similar that it remains as yet impossible to tell them apart, but this is perhaps a good starting point. [Release] [PNG]
HATS Music Fes’07
I could not find the complete version of this anywhere, so I decided to do a quick encode and release it. As far as I know, only the ‘07 festival was released on DVD, and certainly, Shikata Akiko is not in the business of releasing footage of her concerts (there is one this year too). While the connection point to this is of course Shikata Akiko, I think this concert provides a good window into the other types of music which can be found in Japan besides JPOP. Many of the artists here utilise classical musical instruments and make great music. Skip to 1:04 for the Shikata Akiko part. As these parts are already on YouTube, this release is only “Elusive” as a whole, so I am not going to release just those parts. The below is some information but it is strangely written as a parody of the waffling which goes on in political interviews. [Torrent]
5 commentspixiv Nenkan Official Book 2010
Around 270 pages thick, the pixiv Official Book 2010 or Pixiv Nenkan 2010 (pixiv年鑑2010), ISBN 9784047267466, 2800 yen, is yet another very substantial book from pixiv, but that’s only to be expected, since pixiv is a massive community of artists, with a galaxy of illustrators. The pixiv Official Book tend to be compilations of pixiv art, kind of a “best-of” feature for the illustrators on pixiv. Of similar size to the 2009 version, it follows the same formatting, and once again we can say it is more of a catalogue than an art book as such. Thus a traditional style-centric review would be difficult to achieve. What this review consists of is therefore a bit of a look at some of the more outstanding artists featured in this book. [Review] [PNG]
Fujitsubo Machine: Mon étoile – Notre Constellations du Ciel
Fujitsubo Machine, the doujin group by Noizi Ito, once again makes a big splash at Comiket 78, with Mon étoile – Notre Constellations du ciel (roughly translated from French as “My star – Our constellations in the sky”). It looks at the 12 ecliptic constellations (or what we would also call the zodiac), but of course, rendered by Noizi as girls. Each illustration is accompanied by a page of comments and black and white sketch. At the end of the book, there is a joint illustration depicting Aries and Taurus, which is a collaboration with another artist called koji. The book was sold with a plastic pouch kind of thing which I will not cover here due to the fact that it’s not very interesting. [Release] [PNG]
poppic Story: July 2010
The next instalment of the Korean graphic illustration magazine poppic follows on February’s poppic Oriental. Again published by Brand NEw Days, ISBN 9788996362326, the price has been raised to 24,000 Won, but 21,500 Won is the Internet retail price. At 200 pages, poppic Story is seriously hefty, and once again, it showcases an eclectic, if strange collection of Korean artists and styles, some of which really warrant closer inspection. It’s really a good thing poppic only comes out every quarter, because I don’t know how anyone can compile something this substantial in any less time. While overall I enjoyed poppic Story less than poppic Oriental, this could be due to the nature of some of the art, especially those in the Poppic Gallery section, which tend to be quite dark for some reason (perhaps themed for that). [Review][PNG 1][PNG 2]
Yume Yume Sakura by YAYUYO
YAYUYO, the circle by Takatora, was first covered by this blog when I looked at Hana no Namae, which was released during C77. A full-colour manga, it showcased YAYUYO’s distinctive style and attention to detail. Since then, Takatora has published a number of other books, including Yume Yume Sakura, YYM ~Scene of Perfect Cherry Blossoms.~, and most recently for C78, Hana Kotoba. Of course, this post is for Yume Yume Sakura but I really want to try to get my hands on YYM ~Scene of Perfect Cherry Blossoms.~ as it looks like a very intriguing book, given the paper cut-out shapes and darker colours used in those illustrations. That said, Yume Yume Sakura is an outstanding work in and of itself, providing a great way of extending our understanding of YAYUYO’s capabilities. [Release][PNG]
Chefs Gallery Restaurant, Sydney
A bit of a different post for me this time round. As many of you will know, I live in Sydney, and besides collecting artbooks and doujins, I have a range of other interests IRL. While I am not a food blogger as such, I do enjoy a good munch once in a while, and finding out about new awesome restaurants through the grapevine is also something I consider “Hunting the Elusive”, although in many cases, by the time I get to them, they aren’t so elusive anymore. One of the good things about living in Sydney is that we have a whole lot of good restaurants, and new ones open all the time. In this case, Chefs Gallery (Shop 12, Ground Floor Regent Place, 501 George St, Sydney, 02 9267 8877) is the newest addition to Regent Place, adding a much-needed bit of life to the area. Founded by Kaisern Ching, with the kitchen headed by Edward Zhao, Chefs Gallery claims to serve “home-style northern Chinese food”.
Takemikaduki’s FLOWER – Nanairo Renkajou
I’m not too sure what the romanisation of the sub-title: 七色憐華帖, but I believe I have it mostly right. FLOWER is a 24 page full colour Touhou fanbook by takemikaduki. It was released as part of the seventh Reitaisai and of course, I netted one because of its cover, which is very colourful. The basic premise behind FLOWER is seven illustrations of various Touhou characters based on flower of various colours. In truth, FLOWER is only based off six real flowers: the rose (red), the blue poppy (blue), white clover (green), dandelion (yellow), Japanese wisteria (black and purple) and the annual fleabane, a daisy-like white flower. The last illustration, and the one which adorns the cover, is of Reimu “on Rainbow Flower”, which is presumably a whole heap of different flowers. [Release][PNG]
