Hunting the Elusive

Time to shake things up a little! This release is a bit of a departure from the usual fare, in that it is not actually Japanese at all. As you might have noticed from the title, this is in fact a Chinese doujin release. Due to my recent associations, I have been learning a bit about the Chinese scene, and can I just say, it’s a horrible feeling you get when you find there is a whole other world out there of wonderful art. In fact, my heart skips a bit in relief whenever I find an artist who is not that good. Imagine what the Korean local scene would have to offer if we ever cracked that market! In any case, Mi Xue Cuan Ying translate somewhat to “Quiet Snow Hidden Sakura”. Transliteration may be in fact Man Xue Zan Ying or something, not quite sure about the specifics of that. [Release][PNG]

Released by the circle World Through Fantasy (which has a very good acronym), 谧雪攒樱  (I will be using the Chinese title throughout this post, just in case the transliteration was wrong, in which case I would only have to edit the title and the opening par) actually consists of two books. The “Snow” part is what I am introducing here today, while the “Sakura” part, well I’m not sure if I need to have a look at it.

The book is fairly large, just a bit smaller than an A4 page, and is around 34 pages. As you can see, 谧雪攒樱 (the Snow part) has a very dark theme from the get-go, and it is this philosophy on the part of World Through Fantasy that I find interesting.

The blurb inside the cover is as follows. The English is not perfect, but is understandable:

This is the Gensoukyou we are not familiar with.

Outside and inside, they need to coexist, in order to exist.

If there is no sadness and pain, no one whould [sic] not [sic] know what is happiness and wonderful [sic].

Maybe people won’t admit the existence of this “other side” of Gensoukyou.

But this fantasy and the facts out of this fantasy, and the fantasies of our own, make them the precious things in our heart.

So, this is the inside. Black, just like ink. But steady and solemn. With its pure outside and solemn inside, this, perhaps is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever known.

To put it succinctly, the Snow book covers dark illustrations of Touhou, while the Sakura part (“the Gensoukyou we are familiar with”) is the light and fluffy and the made-of-sugar-and-spice part of the equation, which we see everywhere.

But dark does not mean colourless. This compilation of artwork from various Chinese artists is striking because of the contrast between the darkness and the vibrant colours. In a way, it reverberates with me on a personal level, when the dominant and obscuring darkness partially reveals a scene of exceeding beauty, or in this case, the denizens of a world of oriental fantasy. This effect, almost chiaroscuro, lends the illustrations a mysterious air.

In a way, given the atmospheric feats achieved by the prodigious use of darkness, the character designs don’t even have to be all that “good” for the images to be epic. In fact, having the usual moe style for the characters might detract from the feel of these works.

Like depictions by KEI, or Tokiame (at times), the darkness this world finds its mirror in the character designs. Obscured and shadowed, faces are pale, almost gaunt, colours and tones subdued.

Even from the thumbnails, you can see these are serious works of art. The control of the effects of lighting is impeccable, and if you are viewing them high-res, see how the paint strokes, simulated or otherwise, blend with the CG.

And yes, I debound this fantastic book for the scan. Of course, I had gotten two copies, so one is still safely in its wrapper. The binding itself was quite different from what I have dealt with before. Not only was there glue to be melted, but the volume itself was divided into sectional booklets, and sewed with thread. To get the sections out, I had to cut the threads. The booklets themselves lay flat when opened, and that’s how I scanned them. Luckily most of the spreads remained intact within the sections.

If you are familiar with dark Touhou art, Archlich is a name you are likely familiar with. While already quite notable in Japan, he is increasing his presence in China as well, from what I observed recently.

I also got two posters, of this image and the one below. Unfortunately, it seems the Chinese treat the posters with less care than the Japanese (who would roll them up and put them in cardboard tubes, like we normally do). They came to me folded up in the package, with pretty bad creasing going on.

That said, this art by Tie Wu Ya (Crowdesu) is absolutely exquisite, and if you check out his other works showcased on his site, it’s clear he is an immaculate artist, with extremely ambitious visions for his illustrations.

Another different approach to the Touhou genre. I actually quite like the character designs by 海貓氫彈庫.

Unfortunately, this spread was broken up between two sectional booklets.

This last illustration is a collaboration between Crowdesu and another artist. Fantastic use of schematics for the background design, and the splashes of colour against the black give this an almost galactic feel.

Yes, we are still dealing with Touhou here, but I think the modified perspective of foreign artists, as demonstrated in 谧雪攒樱, effectively brings new light on a jaded subject.

I think we have long been aware that there were some quality artists outside of Japan, but it may very well be that in paying so much attention to the “domestic” market, we have missed a revolution going on in other countries like Korea, Taiwan and China. Well, actually, we have long kind of known Korea was a sort of quality hotpot, given the calibre of artists coming out of there and breaking into the Japanese scene, but I am stunned at how much progress the Chinese scene has made in terms of cultivating great art.

While I have made some inroads into understanding more of the doujin art world in China, I think the Holy Grail is in Korea. However, due to the more significant language barriers and a lack of contacts in that area, I don’t even know where to start, what resources to use. Perhaps I will leave that to another Hunter of the Elusive.