Warning ! – The following post contains adult content.

Celebrating 25 years of manga/illustration work since his first commission in 1986, Hiroyuki Asada has released “Water”, a compilation of his best pieces including illustrations from his comic series “I’ll”, art work published in “Kikan S” magazine and more.

Asada-san’s use of muted colors in his illustration brings to mind another artist, Tatsuyuki Tanaka. ( read the review for his art book Cannabis Works here. )

(above) A hint of influence by Range Murata. Asada-san rise to fame is mostly through his popular Steampunk manga series Tegami Bachi, with its own respective art book. If you like his style of illustration, its definitely worth taking a look.

Asada’s artistic contemporaries are Sho-u Tajima (Psyche) and Obata Takeshi (Death Note), and they are often referred to as the “Aquarius Trio” ( for sharing the same horoscope ). Coincidentally I’ve picked up both their art books in Tokyo as well, ROSARIO YETI and ?blanc et noir?, so do look out for their book reviews coming up soon.

Water – Hiroyuki Asada Illustrations details :

– Dimensions – 11.7 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
– 120 pages
– Hard cover
– Color, in Japanese

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Akimando is a collection of game illustration works by Japanese artist Akira Yasuda, more commonly known by his handle Akiman. The volume houses 45 pieces of art work done through the period from 2005 to 2009.

Each completed illustration is accompanied by an initial concept / rough sketch by Akiman, and the captions provide additional background information on the game, as well as comments by the artist himself.

While its probably apparent by now that Akiman’s forte seem to be in scantily clad, busty females, often with erotic undertones, in the artist’s defense he is also perfectly capable of churning out more PG rated illustrations that are just as amazing, as can be seen in the highly recommended Capcom’s Art of Street Fighter. ( read the book review here )

Akimando – Akira Yasuda Art Works details :

– Dimensions – 11.7 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
-112 pages
– Soft cover
– Color, in Japanese

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Otomo Katsuhiro’s Memory of Memories art book contains a treasure trove of fantastic art work from his triumvirate of short films that make up Memories, one of my favourite anime films of all time. There’s too much content to cover in just one article, so I’ve dedicated a post for every one of the three short films, starting with Magnetic Rose. (directed by Koji Morimoto)

(above and below) Concept art /image boards exploring the armament used by the space salvage team. Love those watercolor sketches, complete with descriptions and notes.

I really adore the look and style of the characters – its more realistic looking than your average anime but nonetheless retain the unmistakably feel of one. The high quality of animation also complimented and showed off the designs to great effect.

(above) The original Magnetic Rose manga, from Otomo Katsuhiro’s collection of short stories “Memories”. (below – I should probably do a review of this book in the near future as well. ) Otomo fans will no doubt have read this, but I highly recommend it to those who are still relatively new to Otomo’s work, for it offers a great chance to study his early drawing/illustration style, with very noticeable influence by French comic artist Moebius.

(above and below) Some very astonishingly detailed drawings showing the decrepit interiors of the derelict spacecraft.

Stay tuned for part II – Stink Bomb.

“The Memory of Memories” art book details :

Dimensions – 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
Soft cover with 2 foldout posters, 160 pages
Full color / Black & White

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Kiki’s Delivery Service is probably one of my 3 favourite Ghibli films, falling only behind Princess Mononoke and Totoro. A beautiful coming of age film, the story is simple and is often mistaken as a kid’s movie, but it’s depiction of sadness/loneliness are sombre subjects that adults will also relate to.
The story board book is an excellent way to study the film at one’s own pacing. And like all Miyazaki storboards, its so beautifully illustrated !

(above) One of my favourite moments in the film – Kiki prepares for departure from her home, cue catchy opening music.

(above) Kiki’s faithful companion Kuroneki Jiji ( black cat Jiji ) provides many opportune moments for comic relief.

(above) One of Ghibli’s most iconic images – A forlorn Kiki inside Guchokipanya Bakery.

(above) Miyazaki-san tutors the reader in anime camera techniques in a short but lively section at the end of the book.

(above) The book comes with a protective cardboard slipcase.

Kiki’s Delivery Service – The Storyboard Book details :

– Dimensions – 8.6 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
– 560 pages
– Soft cover with cardboard slipcase
– Black and White, in Japanese

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Warning : Adult content ahead.

This gigantic Katsuya Terada art book might not fit on your shelf – it measures a good 14.8 inches ( 37 cm ) high – check out the size comparison with my wacom pen and a copy of Monkey King 2.

Cover Girls showcases a bountiful collection of Katsuya Terada’s sexy females, donned in his favourite mix of exo-suits and bondage gear. ( I’ve actually omitted the more graphically explicit pieces as I’m not too comfortable showing them. ) The full page illustrations are beautifully reproduced and gives the viewer an excellent chance to study the artist’s painting style and strokes in close-up.

The 2nd half of the book is dedicated to his “Cover Girls”, a fantastic, larger than life collection of his female characters in high detail close-up. There’s a couple of illustrations here that also appear in his “Zenbu” art book, albeit at a smaller size – the rest are exclusive to this book.

(below) The hard cover volume is housed in a very sturdy cardboard case that is almost too eye-catching, and also comes with a four page “Terra’s Sticker book”. ( with illustrations gleaned from this book and also a one page comic strip from Rakuda ga Warau. )

Katsuya Terada’s “Cover Girls” art book details :

– Dimensions – 14.8 x 10.8 x 0.9 inches
– Hardcover, appr 120 pages
– Full color prints
– Comes with a sturdy hardcover case and 4 page stickerbook

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Blue Submarine No. 6 ( ??6?, pronounced Ao No Rokugo ) was an OVA series produced by Gonzo in 1998 and directed by Mahiro Maeda. It was one of the first anime to extensively combine CG with traditional hand drawn animation, and while the integration might look dated by today’s standards was nonetheless an anime of high production standards, in particular the character designs by Range Murata.

(below) Range Murata’s character design sheets. His style has certainly grown even more refined and detailed over the years ( for example, if you take a look at some work for Last Exile in his art book Prismtone. ), but is still a great resource for study.

“The Art of Blue Submarine – Range Murata” art book details :

Dimensions – 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
Soft cover with dust jacket, 94 pages
Full color / Black & White, in Japanese

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I’m less than familiar with Square Enix’s Tactics Ogre roleplaying game, myself not much of a gamer these days but I couldn’t pass up such gorgeous art work –

The book is a veritable treasure trove of fantasy art work, cover to cover, by long time Square Enix character designer/illustrator Akihiko Yoshida and Tsubasa Masao. Don’t let the publishers hear this, but I was expecting a price tag of about 30-50% more for so splendid a collection of art work (231 pages), bound in a nice hard cover volume, no less.

Makes me want to play the game after seeing all these beautiful character designs. Any readers out there played this ?

(above) An interview with Masao-san, Akihiko’s interview is also in the book . (below) A rare glimpse of his work desk, at first glance I can see a partially hidden Hellboy comic and of course James Jean’s Fables.

“Ogre Tactics Art Works Square Enix Art Book” art book details :

Dimensions – 11.8 x 8.7 x 1 inches
Hard cover with matte plastic dust jacket, 231 pages
Full color / Black & White

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To mark the release of Studio Ghibli’s latest anime “Kokurikosaka Kara” ( From the Poppy Hill ), starting its run in Japan on the 17th of July 2011 and directed by Goro Miyazaki ( Hayao Miyazaki’s son ), Japanese live-style magazine Brutus has published a Ghibli Studio special volume. See also this older issue on manga artist Takehiko Inoue.

(above) Two very insightful graphical maps of Studio Ghibli, the one on top with interesting trivia on the exterior of the studio and the one below the interior. Perhaps with some free time on my hands in the future I can translate the pages into English for my readers here. I’m such a big fan of Ghibli’s work that I went searching for the studio in the 2nd week of my arrival in Tokyo some 7 years ago.

(above) Some interesting tidbits about Studio Ghibli – romance in the studio happens quite often and many employees got married this way; staff members take turns to prepare lunch for the studio on Saturdays ( the Soba that Miyazaki-san made during Ponyo was very popular, apparently ), and so on.

(above) Sneak peeks of the artwork and character designs for “Kokurikasaka Kara”, which began its domestic theatrical run on the 17th of July 2011. For most of us we’ll have to wait much longer before we can catch it. ( below ) Staff members working on the film, illustrated by the director Miyazaki Goro. He also did this lovely piece “What is layout in animation ?” some years back during the Ghibli Layout Exhibition.

(above) Interview with Otsuka Yasuo, a veteran character designer/animator who served as mentor to both Miyazaki-san and Takahata-san during the early days of their careers. (below) Otsuka-san’s character designs for the 1968 anime film “Taiyo no Ouji” ( Prince of the Sun ), directed by Takahata-san.

There’s quite a bit more to cover in the book so I’ve saved contents from the 2nd half for Part II, do stay tuned.

“Brutus Magazine Studio Ghibli Special” art book details :
Dimensions – 11 x 8.1 x 0.3 inches
Softcover, 82 pages
Full color / Black & White

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This is a most splendid and comprehensive collection of Miyazaki Hayao’s watercolor illustrations for his manga/anime “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind”. Little else needs to be said; the book is filled with gorgeous art work from cover to cover.

Its hard to talk about Nausicaa without mentioning the French artist Moebius, because the influence / inspiration he had on the visual style of Miyazaki’s work ( esp Nausicaa ) is significant.

I guess the only complaint I have are these landscape style images (above) that have been split at the spline; I would have preferred if they printed it along the length of the book to preserve the integrity of the entire artwork, nevermind that I’ll have to rotate the book 90 degrees to view it.

These illustrations cover about the first half of the book, the 2nd half contains watercolor conceptual artwork for the animated version of the film, with some overlapping material from “The Art of Nausicaa” art book. I’ll review that book sometime in the near future.

“Nausicaa Watercolor Collection? Art book details :

– Dimensions –11.9 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches
– Softcover, 207 pages
– Full color / b & w

*Note : The book I have reviewed above is the original Japanese version. There is also an english version available that I believe should have similar, if not identical content. ( artwork wise ) You can purchase it from Amazon here. ( or follow the link below on the left. )

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The theme/special coverage for this issue is background art – so we have features and interviews with some of the best background artists working in the field, including Kimura Shinji ( of Tekkon Kinkreet, Steamboy fame ) and Yamamoto Nizou ( Mononoke Hime, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. )

(above) Background artwork from Final Fantasy XIV. Below – a step by step tutorial on how to paint a background of an everyday life street scene.

(above) Illustrations from regular contributors Yoko Tanji and Pinfan. ( below)

Kikan S magazine, being a periodical, gets limited prints so do purchase your copy early. Once the issue is sold out, the publisher will not issue reprints and the only way to get a copy is via a 2nd hand bookseller via Amazon Japan.

“Kikan S Illustration Magazine No. 33? details :

– Dimensions –11.6 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
– Softcover, 185 pages
– Full color / b & w
– Comes with fold-out Range Murata Poster ( see 2nd image of this post )

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