Halcyon Realms - anime|photography|film

Sucker Punch

yonghow — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:30:51 +0000

Zack Snyder’s upcoming action caper “Sucker Punch” seems like a perfect cinematic companion to his previous outing “300″, for while the former was a testosterone packed d**k flick, Sucker Punch replaces Spartan warriors with Katana wielding babes clad in fishnet stockings and leather, screaming girl power, and then some.

I’m not complaining, no. Some films like Nolan’s Inception require you to bring your brains to the cinema, but others you leave them at home and just let the heady visuals take you for a ride.

Looking forward to this one. Release is in March 2011, the same time as this quirky little film. There’s going to be some competition; but we’ll see who gets sucker punched just yet.

One Voice – Yamashita Shunya Illustration Collection

yonghow — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:20:27 +0000

Warning : Adult Content Ahead.

Hot on the heels of his previous artbook “Wild Flower”, Japanese illustrator/concept artist Yamashita Shunya is back with a new volume titled “One voice”, replete with a generous serving of voluptuous, sexy females.

Tributes : (above ) Structure above seems to have been rendered in a very similar style to those of Alien creature designer HR Giger. (bel0w) An unmistakable homage to the style of Moebius ( check out his amazing artbook “40 Days Dans Le Desert” here. )

An artbook cramped full of scantily clad females with busty figures and luscious lips may not be to everyone’s taste, but the myriad of poses on display are an excellent study for Contrapposto, ( below ) Some brief “how to” techniques.

Yamashita-san is also equally prolific as a character designer for figures, like Shuraki (above) and Black Widow (below)

(above) Rogue and Scarlet Witch from the X-Men/Marvel Universe, anime style.

You can get a copy of the book here.

Katsuya Terada’s “Monkey King 2″ graphic novel

yonghow — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:31:50 +0000

It’s been a pretty long wait – Some 12 years after the release of his first “Monkey King” manga, Japanese illustrator/manga artist Katsuya Terada is finally back with volume 2.

“Monkey King” (Saiyukiden Daienou) is a loose retelling of the Chinese classic novel “Journey to the West”, where Sun Wukong the Monkey Deity protects the monk Tripitaka as he makes his way to India in search of enlightenment. The journey is perilous, fraught with danger on every turn as powerful demons seek to capture Tripitaka, for his flesh, once consumed, grants immortality.

Here in Terada’s hands we have epic battles between the Monkey King and the demons decked out in lush and beautiful illustrations, complete with ripping muscles and grotesque creatures. Bondage is also a recurring theme in the pictures, something we’ve come to expect from Terada’s artwork. ( I’ve taken the liberty of censoring some pictures so the post remains largely PG. )

Every page and panel is an impressive work of art, though I do wish the publishers had released book in a slightly bigger format so that we can enjoy the intricate details even more. For folks who who can’t get enough of Terada’s artwork, I highly recommend “Zenbu”, “Rakugaking” and “VIVA IL CICLISSIMO!”.

(ab0ve) Cover for volume 1, you can get a copy of it here. I’ll try to post a review of the book later on.

You can get a copy of volume II here.

And I’ll love to hear your comments on the book/Terada’s artwork.

Farewell, Kon Satoshi. 1963-2010.

yonghow — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:31:35 +0000

Japanese animation director Kon Satoshi, who gave us such unforgettable films as Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika, passed away on the 24th of August, 2010, from pancreatic cancer. He was only 46.

No doubt the animation world has just lost one of its brightest stars, for he was certainly among one of the greats – Miyazaki, Oshii, and his mentor Otomo.

While working on Freedom in Sunrise in Ogikubo, Tokyo, we were fortunately indeed to be located just across the street from Madhouse. As such, I had on numerous occasions chanced upon the man himself, who believe it or not, commutes by train, just like us mortals. The ultimate encounter of course, was when I sat next to him in a quaint little restaurant called Fune.

At the end of Millenium Actress, (my absolute favorite Kon Satoshi film) Chiyoko utters :

“だって私…あの人を追いかけている私が好きなんだもの。”
( “After all, its the chase [after him] that I really love.”)

Certainly, the same can be said of the director’s lifelong pursuit for that next great film.

Farewell, Satoshi-sama. Your spirit will endure in the brilliance and beauty of your wonderful animation. Next stop, The Dream Machine. ( Yume Miru Kikai )

Range Murata artbook “Prismtone”

yonghow — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:26:54 +0000

“Prismtone” is a whopper of an artbook by renowned Japanese illustrator ( and concept artist/character designer ) Range Murata, best known for his work in Last Exile and Blue Submarine. The book covers comprehensive character design sheets and illustrations for his portfolio of work from 1998 to 2006.

If there is only one Murata artbook you can ever own, with the most bang for your buck, this would probably be it. ( not all of us are rich enough to buy the exorbitantly priced “Form Code”. )

While a huge body of Murata’s works feature scantily clad, doe eyed adolescent girls that venture uncomfortably close to Lolicon territory, ( I had a similar discussion in this older post ) he also produces much more realistic renderings of human characters ( see above ), demonstrating his formidable range of drawing skills and a profound understanding of the human figure.

(above and below) Page after page of detailed character design sheets that one can pore over.

The character design for Last Exile is gorgeous, but I’ve never seen the anime series, is it any good ?