Hunting the Elusive

Etsu is generally considered one of a few magazines essential to those who have an interest in illustrators (or creators, as they are sometimes called. Generally, if you are on the lookout for pictorial goodness, this is an essential print source (although of course we all have Pixiv to browse through nowadays). In a way, it’s a mini artbook fix which comes at regular intervals. While it is fairly thick, a lot of the volume is made up by black and white manga. Still, the colour portion is big enough and vibrant enough for me. BTW, work viewing warning with some of the images in this post. [Review][PNG]

Etsu has two covers. In this case the main cover is a fairly gorgeous if rather ecchi Tony Taka illustration. The inside has a double-sided poster – the other side is a clean version of the Tony Taka illustration.

One of the features is of an upcoming paired figure, based on the Tony Taka illustration. Etsu is making some real headway into getting great illustrators’ stuff realised into 2.5D, though again I must say the manufacturing quality of Clayz can and does leave something to be desired.

For some reason, though, Clayz is the manufacturer of choice for such small-run figures. Perhaps has something to do with their manufacturing capabilities.

As an aside, I have been recently privy to some comments to the effect that GSC figures are populist in nature. While this is true, I must reiterate that from an objective standpoint, GSC and other big names tend to have much better quality than smaller name competitors. Yes, smaller manufacturers cover some delicious stuff, but quality-wise, it’s almost always a gamble. In this case, popularity does not equate to inferiority.

Back on topic, the next feature is a rather curious short-story collaboration of sorts between pixiv and a manga/illustration college, involving an illustrator and her software sidekick. Or something.

This is followed by, from what I can understand, a gallery showcasing the works of various artists, who may or may not have studied at the illustration college.

A standard section in Etsu issues are calendar spreads. Somehow, this KEI illustration looks like a ZUN illustration, if you get my drift.

There is now a fairly huge section on Hiroki Kawamura, with a pretty long interview interspersed with illustrations, then a mini-gallery.

While this artist is pretty good, I think some of the illustrations featured are earlier works, which is probably why I detect a bit of quality inconsistencies.

I mistakenly scanned a page of fan art.

Note I have skipped over the Judgement Chime due to not being a big fan of Nishimata Aoi. I also skipped over Baka Shimai, which I am definitely not a fan of. Which is great, because it brings us straight to the Colors section, arguably almost always the best section in the magazine. In this instance, there are 12 illustrations, and, in a fit of sanity, Etsu has actually assigned colours to them.

Note how the assigned colour themes do actually work. Girls + food = GOOD.

Nothing too over risque either, though we do have some kind of bondage theme going on in the Yellow, and Hinayukiusa seems to have gone with the nationalist theme.

Purple – grapes. Should have her swimming in Ribena if we are going to go with the fruit thing eh?

OK, c’mon now. We all know Etsu LOVES Tinkle, right? Only illustrator to get a page spread in this section, plus a pretty darn good colour of black.

My question, when I first saw this illustration on the inky-smelling paper, and when scanning, and when writing this post, is: How can ANYONE look at Tinkle’s illustrations without falling desperately in love? I know this is a subjective aesthetic judgment, but to me, you’d have to be neutered in the brain to not be immediately struck by the beauty of Tinkle’s stuff. Yes, Tinkle is popular, and yes, we have seen a lot of their illustrations, but the distinctive thing for me is that it never gets old.

OK, seriously, more food.

The stuff in this section isn’t too ecchi (conveniently overlooking Tinkle’s signature panchira), but this orange illustration is both striking and sensual in the realist manner. An artist to research and follow.

Also, another Alice, but how can anyone look at Alice without automatically comparing with Ueda Ryo’s seminal work?

It’s at this late stage, the last two illustrations, that Etsu begins to run out of ideas, prompting the use of weird colour names like “Golden red” and “Reddish purple”. That said, they’re great illustrations, and I especially like the traces of brutality which spice up the Golden Red one.

The next section seems to be a standard interview-style thing. Pretty much the same artists feature here every issue.

This issue of Etsu celebrates the 10th Anniversary for Naoto Tenhiro (of Sister Princess fame). We get a fairly long article, a history of works, and then a gallery of this artist’s stuff.

I actually liked the Sister Princess anime. It’s really nostalgic, being one of them early ones which I still recall, but I must say that I expected better from this artist. I’m not sure if they are trying to be realistic, but from some angles, the faces look decidedly awkward. Most of the front-on stuff works, but when it looks odd, it’s wince-worthy.

That concludes the main colour section. There’s a mini-colour section on the other side of the magazine, and I didn’t bother to scan that cover, since the exact same illustration is on the landing page. The feature is D.C. II fall in love, and then there are looks at a number of other eroge as well, which I wasn’t too interested in.

All up, would I pay 980 yen for the colour content? Yes, I would, and you should too – bundle it with those excellent artbook releases from recently if you have to. Some of you mightn’t though. I must say at this stage that not all the stuff in the archives are featured on this page, but most of the highlights are here. Also, Plustek has at least updated their scanner drivers, which now allow the scanner to be used on Windows 7, and seems to have resolved the colour issues which were plaguing me. Good news all up.