So I got really lucky with my work schedule this year and managed to squeeze in a 2nd trip to Tokyo; I also spent a short week in the city earlier in May. There’s always something interesting to see and do in Tokyo and I actually managed to visit all of the exhibitions that I talked about in this earlier post.

I’m still sorting through all the photographs I’ve taken but below are some snapshots throughout my trip. Also, no visit to Tokyo is quite complete without picking up some great art books, so look out for some cool reviews of those in the coming week/s.

Dropped by Hiroyuki Asada’s ‘Still Life’ manga art exhibition in Shibuya, with a fantastic showcase of his original genga drawings for his comics. Some really splendid and clean line-art going on here. pic.twitter.com/ecTkyu14cl

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) November 5, 2026

A triptych poster set of Taiyo Matsumoto’s SUNNY manga that I found at Mandarake Nakano Broadway last week. I always seem to be discovering at least one item of interest that was never on my radar every time I visit. ? pic.twitter.com/wbCXO5bBj6

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) November 5, 2026

Concrete Jungle. pic.twitter.com/16itXHfrUy

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) November 5, 2026

Curves at Azabudai Hills. pic.twitter.com/auMQgf8MTp

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) November 4, 2026

The much talked about Famima designer convenience store in Azabudai Hills. Literally too neat to be true. ??? pic.twitter.com/1EDwuG2pQs

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) November 4, 2026

Beyond The Strand was splendid, especially if you enjoyed the Death Stranding games. I’ll do a proper write-up on the exhibition in the coming week/s. pic.twitter.com/iCCdfBHwCN

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) November 4, 2026

At the National Museum of Modern Art ( MOMAT ) to see the Takehisa Yumeji exhibition, a stunning artist/designer with impeccable aesthetic sense. Rather fitting to have discovered his beautiful work on ???? ( Culture Day ) in Japan. ? pic.twitter.com/q4hcFIoSHw

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) November 3, 2026

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Dirty Iron ( real name Yang Jialun, also known as 乱铁 / Luan Tie) is a Shanghai-based illustrator and concept artist known for his high-contrast, black-and-white ink drawings, often rendered with copic markers.

Prolific on X ( twitter ), I reckon I must have been following his account for at least a few years now after been impressed by his art work, which shows unmistakable influences by the great Moebius, combined with a healthy dose of horror elements.

This is his 2nd published sketchbook and showcases a fantastic collection of his black & white art as well as some colored pieces.

Dirty Iron’s art skills have improved even further ever since the release of this book, posting regularly on his social media accounts. His most recent art is not included in this book and I’m hoping a sketchbook vol 3 is in the works, but this one here is a great place to start if you’re just getting his art. Recommended.

You can also follow Dirty Iron on X ( twitter ) here.

Availability : Unfortunately this book isn’t carried by Amazon, and I asked a favor from a friend to pick it up from the Chinese online shopping platform Taobao. Hopefully an international publisher will pick up his books in the near future.

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Another showcase of the splendid full-colored pages from Toriyama Akira’s Dragonball manga ( Japanese deluxe edition ), this time for Vol 23 and 24 which sets up the Cell arc.

You must surely be puzzled as to why I’m reviewing a manga released decades ago and is so universally loved that everyone must have already read it ? It’s simple- the Japanese deluxe edition of Dragonball features some really stunning colored pages and I wanted to share it with those who might not have seen it before.

A little backstory – as a kid growing up in Singapore during the 90s, the only source of Dragonball that I could get my hands on were bootleg, poorly printed B&W editions imported from Taiwan. Imagine my delight and sheer astonishment many years later on when I discovered the original Japanese deluxe edition while living in Tokyo. The print quality is significantly superior to the bootleg editions I use to read, but the biggest surprise yet were the gorgeous colored pages.

I understand that editions from some other countries besides Japan also feature these colored pages, and so if you’ve been reading these editions your whole life and they’re nothing novel/special to you, I apologize !

I had previously reviewed Vol 1 back in 2021 as well as Vol 18, 19/20, 21/22 and I am still in the process of collecting the entire set.

In summary – yes, I know everyone has read Dragonball, but you haven’t really read it until you see the stunning colored pages from the Japanese deluxe edition ! I certainly haven’t ( not all of them ), and I am still excited to discover those from the books I have yet to pick up. I’ve read the regular edition ( with just black and white art work ) countless times, but reading this deluxe edition with the colored pages is almost like a re-discovery of the manga all over again. Recommended.

You can purchase the Japanese deluxe editions of Vol 23 here and Vol 24 here.

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K/DA is a virtual K-pop girl group consisting of four themed versions of League of Legends characters Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, and Kai’Sa.

League of Legends & Riot Games released this explosive animated MTV for their new song Firestarter earlier this week, with the animation created by the insanely talented folks at Fortiche, who of course also gave us the Arcane animated series. Check it out below-

And here’s a short making of video showcasing Fortiche artists talking about the concept art, character design and storyboarding process behind the MTV-

As a big fan of Arcane and the animation work of Fortiche this is right up my alley, and it also treads familiar ground as I had the good fortune to work on KPOP DEMONHUNTERS, with dance sequences in the film that mirror the kind of energy seen in this MTV. I believe Fortiche is currently working on a new animated series and I cannot wait to see it.

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My monthly budget for art books is extremely limited, but I was completely confident that Taschen’s 2 volume art book set for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is going to be worth it that I promptly plonked down $200 ( about 2 months worth of my art books budget ) and ordered a copy. I am happy to report that it is money very well spent.

Open to much fanfare earlier this September, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, showcasing visual storytelling, including painting, photography, sculpture, illustration, comic art, performance, and video. The museum houses works by artists such as Judy Baca, N.C. Wyeth, Carrie Mae Weems, Diego Rivera, Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta, Ralph McQuarrie, Jacob Lawrence, Kadir Nelson, Paul Cadmus, Yinka Shonibare, Jack Kirby & many many more.

This 2 hardcover volume art book set by Taschen is an extensive catalog of the art work on display at the museum, spanning over a whopping 832 pages in total.

Because of the sheer amount of art work to be covered, I will review each of the 2 volumes in it’s own post. The first volume features art work that documents human history & society, children’s stories, murals, photography as well as movie props and concept art work from Star Wars.

The gamut of art work collected is truly immense, and so the dozen or so preview images I’ve included below barely scratch the surface, and they are just from Vol 1.

The set comes in a very sturdy, thick hardcover cardboard slipcase housing the 2 giant hardcover volumes.

I'm discovering SO MANY new artists reading Taschen's 'Lucas Museum Of Narrative Art'. Sure, one can google to find their art work online, but what you need is a curator to present them in a scholarly way. This book IS that curator.
My review coming soon; purchase links below ? pic.twitter.com/6u6Z9Snsc7

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) October 20, 2026

I look forward to spending many quality hours poring through this 2 book set, there are so many amazing artists, paintings and art work that I am only just discovering for the very first time, and that is very exciting indeed. The steep price of this set will surely make this a difficult purchase, but you are paying for a very, very high quality product with immense artistic value. This is certainly one of my favorite art books of the year and gets my highest recommendations.

Stay tuned for my review of Vol 2 !

“Lucas Museum of Narrative Art” details :

– Dimensions – 9.57 x 4.09 x 11.97 inches
– Hardcover, 2 Vol set in cardboard slipcase, 832 pages
– Full color

Buy From Amazon CA | Amazon JP | Amazon UK

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