Hunting the Elusive

So, at last I get around to covering NEKO WORKS, which is the circle name for sayori. A Chinese artist, I was first exposed to her by Merun of Claritism, and I must say her style is definitely striking. The fact that she has a predilection for complex clothing in the gothic style and all its associated variants, and very cute character designs to boot, is enough of a reason to actively follow her. In Neko Bible, sayori dresses her two original characters Chocola and Vanilla up in 13 different types of costumes, to our delight. Physically, Neko Bible is a large-format calendar with perforations along the top of each page for easy tear off (though who would want to?). [Release][PNG]

From the cover of Neko Bible, it is already very evident that we are in for a treat. Dark colours? Check. Contrasting reds? Check. Neon blues? Check. Flowers? Check, Butterflies? Check. A bird cage? Check. Gothic style clothing? Check. Cat ears? Check. Very cute girls with yuri-tastic overtones? Check!

January, 2010. “Our journey starts in the darkest of nights, a haunting full moon as oft covered by clouds as not. A tantrum of wind briefly allowed her to show her wan face, and in that light, I found two pale orbs echoing that of the moon. One of a raven-haired young lady with eyes as red as wine, the other with glowing lilac mane, and aloof. Both caressed a black cross, arrayed with crape. A gust bestirred the leaves of the moor, and the vision disappeared.”

Of course, NEKO WORKS rightly follows up “Gothic” with “Lolita”. Bright colours of pink and orange, with lots of flowers and a pastel blue sky. Complexity is farther enhanced by judicious use of dress lining, and layers of clothing, as well as the dynamic poses of the characters in mid-movement.

March is Punk. Note the attention to detail, not just with the characters and dress, but also the graffiti in the background and the ripped sofa they are sitting on. Additionally, the design of the eyes remind me somewhat of H2SO4’s style.

Grotesque is Neko Bible’s theme for April. Eye patches, bandages as bondage, blood, a fair angel being dominated by a devil, all hints of ritualistic violence. According to the notes (which accompany every picture, at the bottom) this is also known as Guro Loli, which explains quite a bit.

May sees Elegance, a pastoral scene of Vanilla and Chocolat in country dress, on a sunny day reading books/napping. The dappled pattern of sunlight, and the attention to the detail of the fabric of the clothes makes this a particularly attractive picture.

Visual is the theme for June, with influences, of course, from the Visual side of Gothic, including the Visual Kei. It is a style informed by bling, corsets, vivid colours and extravagant clothing, the details and textures almost presenting a visual overload.

Japanesque for July, though I think this is more commonly known as Japonesque, with French roots for the word. This is possibly my favourite picture in Neko Bible, due to the rotational symmetry and contrast., but the thought process for this picture is somewhat convoluted. Japonesque refers to a transfer of Japanese aesthetic style to the West, what I would refer to as the West’s romantic way of “seeing” Japanese aesthetics and art. Goth loli as a fashion arose in Japan, via a similar mechanism, with the Japanese having a romantic view of Victorian aesthetics. Thought of in this way, Japonesque gothic is a double-transfer, and it would be interesting seeing what sorts of transformations this process would have wrought on the concept of “Japanese-ness”.

However, that’s going a bit too deep into theoretics. Suffice to say, for Neko Bible, Japanesque simply refers to a combination of kimono and gothic style colours, laces and patterns.

August is Sweet, and I must say the yuri overtones are great too. This, according to the notes, is a visualisation of Sweet Lolita, with an emphasis on flavourfully sweet food such as candy and fruits.

Animal is the theme of September, although it seems rather redundant, since the characters are already cat girls. But in any case, animal decorations and accessories abound throughout this picture, which I also love because it is set in the evening.

I wasn’t aware that there was a Cyber variant of the gothic subculture, but I can definitely see the aesthetic values in this. An appreciation for the Vocaloids will easily transfer to this style.

Princess style for November. Big dresses, like massive dresses which fill up 3/5th of the page!

Lastly, for December, we have Unisex, which refers to girls dressing up as guys, basically. Love the motif of playing cards!

I’m not sure if Neko Bible is my first Neko Works publication, as I have a feeling I have a number of other books by sayori scattered around in my archives. However, it is the first one I have scanned and reviewed in detail, and I am very impressed by this. This is definitely an artist worth watching out for, and while you’re at her website, check the Reitaisai release page for two outstanding wallpapers. Her upcoming releases may be worth acquiring too.

In terms of technical, because of the size of the calendar, each page required three scans, and I used the book scanner to reduce the amount of material cut off at the spine. When it came time to process, I was surprised, because of the low amount of noise in the raw images. The printing quality is very high, with no screening effects at all. Definitely recommend trying to get this, though it is already sold out at Toranoana, understandably.