Wednesday, September 20, 2023

夢想少女 by 宇一 (2019)

 Artbook time! and a very nice one it is, by another far from unknown illustrator - 宇一 (Uiti) can count on more than 100k followers on Twitter , has just published a new, non-dōjin artbook, and is generally one of those illustrators you will often find featured on daily Pixiv collections. They sport an increasingly common visual take on the bishōjo pinup genre, which sets aside the shiny, plastic-like sheen of anime-inspired visuals for a more daring, blocky visual language based around bold colors mutuated from 2000s' vector art. It reminds me a fair bit of Hirotaka Tanaka, in fact.



 夢想少女 (Reverie Girl) is a full color, 18 pages booklet collection of pinups by Uiti, centered around the concept of bautiful girls and daydreams / dreams imagery. Girls dancing with moon and stars, sailing over seas of crystal, bizzarre animals come together to create prime Pixiv material. Uiti's style is one I really dig: extremely clean, at times almost geometric in design, with little interest in backgrounds which are often abstract even when they are the center of the image's theme. There is definitely quite a bit of pop-like Murakami  / Satoshi Kon visual inspiration, although the themes themselves are not a particularly large departure from your typical 'cool anime illustration' floating around the internet. This is all about style, and sometimes that's all you need. 







Tuesday, September 5, 2023

BALMY DAYS by Hiten

 One could say that shoujo illustrations are a dime a dozen in the doujinshi world, and they'd be right - which is why I am saving all the dimes I find, 'cause I simply can't get enough of that. Young, idealized women are the sort of blank canvas subject that can accomodate more or less any art style, which is why they are such a popular subject in my opinion - there will also always be a market for them in Japanese otaku media, which I guess is another reason why the subject is pervasive, and pretty much all you'll find on Pixiv nowadays. Not that I'm complaining...



While I usually focus on smaller, obscure creators, this time around I'll present a doujinshi by someone who has made it big. Hiten is a Taiwanese illustrator who, in the rags-to-riches story so typical of the doujin  world, started out self-published and has now a massive following on all platforms, and a recently (relatively, April 2023) released artbook. It's very easy to see how they could make it so big: they have that super-polished, highly skilled, perhaps slightly generic style that just screams 'light novel cover art' or 'small run elite rice brand packaging'. Not that I know if they did the latter, but they surely did the former, and their art can be found on the cover of generic light dross sorry, I meant hits like Gimai Seikatsu and 三角の距離は限りないゼロ.




What I have here today is a self-published collection from 2022, very short at barely 16 pages but full color, stapled spine but immaculately designed (Hiten hired an external, some Tadano Yukiko, for the job). It features both two-pages spreads, as well as single page pinups with a rough sketch on the opposite page. The subject is invariably, you guessed it, pretty girls in the cool, largely pastel fashion straight out of LARME, though there are a few touches of neon here and there. All rather chaste, we are far removed from fanservice and such, yet the generic beauty of the figures, matched with the graphical skill of Hiten, is certainly the main (the only) attraction point. 

One could argue that the artist's style is as generic as they come: there is little flair or the famous 'oddity in beauty' professed by Edgar Alla Poe - the images as a whole form a sort of Arcadian blob of aurea mediocritas that shows little personality, but an extremely high degree of skill. I'll admit, I like my visual arts a bit more peppered, but that comes down to personal preference. It's visually perfect - in the end, a bit too perfect for my taste I guess.  

Monday, August 7, 2023

"Lost Dungeon" by 一幡 公平 (Ichiman Kohei) (2010l

 While I have never engaged more than a modicum in urban archaeology or ruins exploration (though one of such few times was also the only time in my life I was given a tour of a police station...) I have always been an armchair fan those who dauntlessly explore long-forgotten locales of human history, now returned to nature. There are, of course, degrees of craziness to it: while I enjoy stuff like Insiders Project, I also don't mind those who take a softer approach to the field, fully remaining within the legitimacy of law.


I have reviewed in the past a dōjin publication by Ichiman Kohei, released through their dōjin circle ヘリオトロープ (Heliotrope), though a somewhat unusual one, as it didn't focus on urban / modern ruins, but rather on moody traditional Japan alleys.  This time, however, we have a collection of photographs that squarely focuses on one of the many subcultural interests of Japan's otakuness: military history and, by adjacency, military ruins. 



Tomogashima Island, today a very popular natural park attracting both domestic and foreign tourism, is best known for its Meiji- era military fortifications, now entirely abandoned. The cannon batteries are, apparently, particularly well preserved, and the only example of their kind in all of Japan. I go by reading and hearsay, as I've never been to Tomogashima personally.




Ichiman offers, in a A5-sized, full color, 16 pages booklet an overview of their photographic exploration of the fortifications, all according to the typical style of Heliotrope: little historical insight, but a lot of very pleasing eye candy. Far from documentary exactness, all pictures are heavily edited, saturated and tinkered with, so as to turn the rather prosaic historical ruins into a sort of otherworldly, fairy-like kingdom where Ghibli characters wouldn't feel out of place (as a side note, I wish there was more scholarship studying the undeniable link between Miyazaki and his interest in history and war). Through a Hamilton-style, slightly out of focus lens, the brick batteries and barbicans take a sort of magical appearance, something out of a daydream. 

Sadly, seems like Ichiman has fallen off the radar (or changed pen name) a while ago, so all I can leave you with is a dormant blog and the usual secondhand links, should you want to get your hands on some of their stuff - which, by the way, seems to be rather rare and coveted, judging from prices.  

Friday, August 4, 2023

DBP60: Eldritch Voyage

 The new Doomer Boards Project is out, this time exploring ancient East Asian ruins and forsaken tombs. I have no less than three maps in this one - I really liked both the concept and the texture selection provided, so I went the extra mile. I also made a MIDI for one of the maps, something I'll hopefully do more often in coming projects.

There was some interesting tech at play this time as well. The respack used a series of animated, dithered bleeding midtextures to simulate deep water, a la kdikdizd. I'm usually not a fan of engine-exploiting tech, but I did get some mileage out of the effect. 

Also a very good skybox. Thelokk deep lore: skyboxes are the most important part of a Doom map, and usually the main factor whether I choose to partecipate in a project.


MAP10: 'Ossuarium Endoterre' - yup, a jab at the weakest map in one of my least favorite 'big' megawads, Ancient Aliens It's all in good fun. Tried for a more open-ended, early Sunlust-like layout, where you can access almost everything right from the start. Encouraged by MrZzul's feedback I also tried a more creative application of a secret key, which triggers a small but fun secret fight. One other secret is a tribute to a certain Sunlust map... map can be broken in one unintended way (the danger of copy pasting sectors) which I will eventually fix.


MAP12: "Sunken Garden" - a more 'traditional' map, at least from my point of view. Started as a take on 'Tricks and Traps', which is why you see all keyed doors right at the start, and the exit too. You revisit the central room a number of times, each one with more enemy spawns. There are a couple 'trick' fights, including a fraggable spidermama and some coreographed cybie infighting. 
It's a very dark map, like most of my maps. I tend to work a lot in the 128-160 range, which I really like but occasionally hampers gameplay. Something to think about for the future.
The map is dedicated to Matt Weirmaa, one of my buddies when I was over in Minnesota who I learned has recently passed away. 


MAP14: "Eldritch Voyage" - my first credits map for a DBP, it's a quick and fun BFG smap (not really my kind of map, and something I rarely make) followed by a short credits sequence. Nothing crazy but it wraps up nicely the wad I think. Every participant has a decoration, chosen randomly except for one. I'll let you guess which one. 



Sunday, July 30, 2023

"Isaura Sciopera" (WMI 2020)

 

Gli dei della città, secondo alcuni, abitano nella profondità, nel lago nero

che nutre le vene sotterranee. Secondo altri gli dei abitano nei secchi che risalgono

appesi alla fune quando appaiono fuori della vera

dei pozzi, nelle carrucole che girano...'


Italo Calvino, Le Città Invisibili



Parte di me sapeva che, sul palco, col megafono in mano, la sfida più grande sarebbe stata resistere al folle pensiero che ascoltarmi fosse, da parte loro, un atto dovuto. La stessa parte di me sapeva anche che, in fondo, era un atto dovuto. Mi avevano scelto. I cittadini mi avevano scelto. La città mi aveva scelto.

Io avrei salvato Isaura.

Presi il megafono in mano. In passato quelle mani avevano mosso mattoni, spinto persone, retto il peso di armi da fuoco. Quella sensazione, però, sapevo che non l'avrei mai dimenticata. Quello strumento che, quando fischiò accendendolo, sarebbe diventato la voce dell'autorità, trasformando le parole di uno nelle parole di tutti.

«Io sono un cittadino» esordii, la mia voce gracchiante amplificata, distorta, resa grottesca dallo strumento tra le mie mani, «come ciascuno di voi. In quanto tale, spero di esprimere l'opinione della maggior parte di noi – se non addirittura di tutti noi – dicendo che questo abominio non ha posto tra le strade di Isaura Sopra.»

Voltai leggermente il torso, estendendo un braccio verso lo Sviluppo alle mie spalle. Una minoranza diceva che, essendo esso già stato approvato e costruito, la nostra protesta non avesse alcun significato, come se una malattia dovesse essere accettata solo perché essa ha già compromesso un organismo. Era una delle posizioni contro cui mi ero più fortemente espresso nei mesi precedenti; tuttavia, in quel momento, capii per lo meno le radici di tale disfattismo.

La torre di pietra, cemento e flogisto sarebbe potuta essere una città in sé. Poggiata su un terrapieno che aveva divorato uno dei parchi più antichi del quartiere, incombeva sopra i tetti spioventi di Isaura Sopra, restringendosi un livello dopo l'altro fino a diventare una guglia al quarantacinquesimo piano. Intrichi di piante ne adornavano i terrapieni, e scrosci d'acqua cadevano da canali incisi nelle pareti, diventando prima rivoli, poi piscine e laghi artificiali.

In contrasto al fuligginoso mattone, umido di muschio, che era la norma tra le case di Isaura Sopra; o comparato alle botteghe scolpite nel fungo vivo di Isaura Sotto; lo Sviluppo era di una bellezza da lasciare senza fiato. Una bellezza pulita, liscia, senza rughe e senza pancetta. La bellezza imbalsamata del futuro fatto cadavere e vestito in abiti sontuosi.

Vidi, sui più vicini delle migliaia di volti di fronte a me, che eravamo sulla stessa pagina. Per noi, che respiravamo le spore di quei funghi e sedevamo sopra quel muschio ogni giorno della nostra vita, la sciocca promessa dello Sviluppo era un guscio vuoto. Potevo continuare.

«La sua costruzione ha giocato contro gli stessi signori che l'hanno pianificato, perché mostra fino in fondo la loro incapacità di comprendere cosa voglia dire essere cittadini per coloro che di giorno dormono tra i tetti di Isaura Sopra, e di notte vivono e commerciano nelle gallerie di Isaura Sotto.» Puntai un indice verso la folla. «La nostra è un'arte e una scienza; formata e certo, trasformata di generazione in generazione. Ma sempre e comunque da noi. È nel corso del nostro vivere con gli altri e tra gli altri, sopra e sotto la crosta delle strade di Isaura, che il cambiamento decide se avvenire o no.»

Una voce anonima, una tra tante – eppure, ricordai a me stesso, comunque un cittadino né più né meno di me – urlò.

«È troppo tardi!»

Me lo aspettavo. Lo sapevo dall'inizio che, nei loro piani,costruire lo Sviluppo sarebbe stato l'unico passo necessario a renderlo inevitabile. Una volta che esso fosse, sarebbe diventato una realtà urbana innegabile.

«Se perdessimo Isaura» gridai nel mio strumento di metallo, «sarebbe forse troppo tardi? Non diremmo che la città siamo noi, come io ho sempre creduto, e come sento proclamare con fierezza, giorno dopo giorno, ogni volta che con voi intraprendo l'esodo dalle luci di Isaura Sopra, al caldo abbraccio sotterraneo di Isaura Sotto?»

«Nessuno mai negherebbe questa verità. Ciò che facciamo, lo facciamo solo per il vostro progresso.»

Mille facce, e la mia con loro, si voltarono a cercare la fonte di quella voce, chiara e perentoria anche senza megafono; in realtà, sapevamo già tutti dove trovarla. Alle porte dello Sviluppo, in piedi sul terrapieno, Arcangelo si presentava a noi in tutto il suo gusto e personalità – completo talmente perfetto che sembrava gli fosse cresciuto addosso come una seconda pelle; taglio alla moda del quartiere straniero da cui veniva; anche dalla nostra posizione inferiore potevamo immaginare il luccichio della luce sulle sue scarpe a specchio. Non faceva più alcuno sforzo per nascondere le ali, piumate e multicolori, che veleggiavano come tendaggi preziosi dietro di lui. Eravamo al di là della mistificazione.

Arcangelo continuò. «La biologia, la medicina, la storia ci costringono a volte a fare un salto nel buio. Ma non dobbiamo essere soli in questo – non dovete per forza essere soli. Attraverso questo nostro dono, e i molti altri che lo seguiranno, miglioreremo il vostro standard di vita, rendendolo più salubre, sicuro, e conduttivo a una vita piena e soddisfacente.»

Mi sorprese che il silenzio che seguì le parole di Arcangelo non facesse collassare lo Sviluppo, sprofondando l'intero quartiere insieme a esso. Intorno a me e a noi, circondando la piazza, i tetti di Isaura Sopra sembravano biasimarci per il nostro immobilismo, per il nostro accettare supini che il tanto di altri devastasse poco che ci apparteneva.

Mi bastò, però, chiudere gli occhi per un istante e guardare in faccia il cittadino che meglio conoscevo, per sapere cosa dire.

«Qualcuno mi spieghi perché Leonina, quartiere delle Bianche Vele, dovrebbe avere il potere di decidere come noi di Isaura, quartiere del Sopra e del Sotto, dovremmo vivere. Con quale arroganza» e stavo già praticamente urlando, «si permettono, loro che non sono noi né desiderano veramente diventarlo, di scrivere la nostra storia al nostro posto?»

Un inizio di applauso fu decapitato da una risata – di scherno, tuttavia comunque cristallina e ammaliante – alle mie spalle. Le ali di Arcangelo vibrarono, come mosse da un nuovo, più forte vento.

«Non ci aspettavamo che il nostro regalo per voi, dei quartieri inferiori, fosse accettato senza alcuna riserva» disse, «tuttavia, siamo a una impasse.» Alzò una mano verso la torre alle sue spalle. «Lo Sviluppo già è.»

Sorrisi di una tale ingenuità. Quell'ultima prova di forza era la loro capitolazione, di Arcangelo e di tutti coloro che si nascondevano dietro il suo nome. Mi chiesi se, nella sua mente, sapesse di avere appena ammesso la sconfitta della loro arrogante impresa.

«Finché non vi saremo dentro noi, lo Sviluppo non sarà mai Isaura, né sopra né Sotto» dissi, dando le spalle a quella nullità alata e rivolgendomi invece a coloro che, per mia e loro scelta, erano come me. «Se ciò accadrà sarà deciso da noi e solo da noi-»

Il quartiere stesso, la città stessa sembravano aspettare, in muto silenzio, che io pronunciassi quella parola, finale.

«- con una votazione.»

Arcangelo urlò. Le sue ali si contorsero e vibrarono come diapason rotti, prima di portare la sua figura accartocciata, umiliata, lontano da noi – forse verso le vele di Leonina, forse dentro l'inferno che aveva partorito lo Sviluppo, quella torre mitologica, violenza alla nostra realtà quotidiana. Mentre si allontanava, le sue ali non sembravano più così multicolori.

Scesi dal palco, abbandonando il megafono a terra. Non mi serviva più, perché stavo tornando tra di loro. Tra la mia gente. Mi avrebbero capito, anche se avessi solo sussurrato.

Alzai gli occhi al cielo – ormai era sera. In file, a gruppetti, da soli, ci avviammo verso le antiche scale che ci avrebbero condotti, come sempre, a Isaura Sotto. Dietro di noi, abbandonato, lo Sviluppo tremò nella luce morente del tramonto e svanì nel nulla.

Saturday, July 29, 2023

日々 by もぐこん

 日々 (Everyday) is a collection of short, self contained manga stories by もぐこん, a rather obscure auteur who is part of that Garo-inspired galaxy of what we would call "alt-comic" creators, mostly nowadays publishing in web format and, occasionally, small run or self published hard copy. These authors tend to share a lot of similar traits - a jaggy, purposefully amateurish, sort of 'unclean' tract, meant to suggest an alt vibe compared to mainstream manga; very rigid layouts, reminescent of Western comic books; a focus on 'realistic' life stories, usually with a touch of the grim. 


もぐこん shares all of these traits, and they are in full display in this 2021 self published collection. Ten stories of varying length and complexity, shifting back an forth between the realistic and the fantastic: we range from a binoculars-armed shinigami after its next pray, to the ambling of two friends attending a wedding in Maui, through a girl assembling a giant paper plane and a couple darker pieces where, though with little gore, death rears its ugly head. As mentioned, Japanese alternative comics like one could find in Ikki or the more experimental pages of Aternoon are the main reference point, and  もぐこん's sometimes shaky grasp of anatomy and image composition comes across as more of a conscious stylistic choice, rather than amateurishness. It's an acquired taste, and certainly one as far removed from anime-dependant manga as one can get - while we don't come nowhere close to the Nishioka Kyodai's abstraction, we are still talking non-mainstream through and through. 





If this sounds like something that'd be up your alley, you're in luck - もぐこん has one of their stories translated in Glacier Bay BooksGlaeolia 1 anthology, collecting some of the best in Japan's alt manga scene. I hear it was out of print until a while ago, and even the reprint is now pretty much gone. At 30$ just for shipping, I still managed to get my hands on volumes III only myself... 

Monday, July 3, 2023

DBP59: Zeppelin Armada

 New Doom map is out! I am a cotributor to Doomer Boards' DBP (Doomer Boards Project) and the lastest project, 'Zeppelin Armada', has just released. I am map15, "At Last, Exiled" - a fast romp through a blimp... and a few books. Don't miss out. 








Monday, June 26, 2023

Award and first book deal

 So yeah, this happened.


I went to Rome a weekend ago, to pick up the "Giovanni Pace" Special Jury award, courtesy of Dark Zone

Along with the prize comes a book deal. Yup, you heard it right. After almost a decade of anthologies and national award, I am finally going pro with a reputable publishing house, signing a contract that (theoretically, we know how indie publishing is) contemplates paying me. Unreal, I know.

My debut novel, Berenice, is scheduled to release in late 2024. Stay tuned for more info. 

Saturday, May 27, 2023

LSDをキメて金閣寺に行こう by めそぎみみそぎ

 Imagine going on a cultural trip because you saw one of Kyoto's landmarks while tripping on LSD. 



Yeah, that's pretty much the long and short of LSDをキメて金閣寺に行こう (Let's go to the Kinkakuji on LSD) by circle めそぎみみそぎ, a relatively recent release compared to what I usually review - from November 2022, specifically. A 28 pages, B&W short manga, released for Comitia 142 and available on the artist's Booth page, it tells the happenings of two young women's first experience with LSD: in the most traditional of setups, the 'straight woman' tsukkomi babysits her silly boke friend who has decided to finally trip balls. In between a bad trip and getting lambasted by music, the tripper delves into her personal obsession with the Kinkakuji and its famous burning  to the point that she and her friend decide that the best way to find closure on the experience is to... go visit the Kinkakuji, complete with silly 'I love Kyoto' shirts. 



So yeah, unusual episode aside (especially from Japan, who has always had a rather complex relationship with drugs and drug abuse) we are in full silly territory, basically a stoner take on the most typical manzai comedy moment, plus a few hints of yuri - after all, the tripper comes down from the bad trip by getting her face eaten by her friend. The tract is rather simply and approximative, though I suspect that has more to do with seeking that Garo - style visuals, rather than incompetence. 



Overall nothing groundbreaking, but an unusual small treat, especially taking the topic into account. Reminded me a bit of Toume Kei's Deviances.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

From today on, this blog / website / 2010s relic will expand its focus. As I have come to the conclusion that none of my single interests are broad enough in audience to warrant their own platform, going forward The Random Museum will be not just about doujinshi and the occasional art / pop culture link, but more generally all sorts of stuff that interests me.

Let's start with a new one. For those who don't know - all of you, I assume - a relatively recent interest of mine has been classic Doom modding. I did play the game way back in the day in the ballpark of its release, but lost interest to Quake 1996-something, only to find to my surprise that in the year 2021 people were still making maps for it. I had to jump on the bandwagon, of course. 




I mostly map in the limit removing / Boom - mbf21 format, mostly focusing on difficult maps and IWAD textures. I was nominated as a promising newcomer in the 2022 Cacowards, and my megawad The Box of a Thousand Demons got a honorable mention.




I participate in the bi-monthly DBP events, and you can find me on Discord should you want to contact me. I also have a entry on the Doom Wiki page. 

Monday, April 10, 2023

"Garden" by 憂

Arcadia is a short illustration dōjinshi by  (literally 'gloom') from that once upon a time known as 2008 - jesus, was it really fifteen years ago, and I was just fresh out of university?


Anyway, 24 pages in full color, printed on rather fancy matte paper and with a foldable cover - a very nice package overall, very well curated. Aside from illustration titles and a few contact info on the last page there is no text at all in this dōjinshi, which focuses solely on full page, 'finished' illustration pieces of themes from fairy tales - a rather prominent theme among Japanese illustrators, whose fascination with Western tales seems to know no exhaustion. We range from Thumbelina, through Gretel, to less strictly fairytale-like subjects, such as more general Romantic / PreRaphaelite pseudo-Arthurian pieces, and a couple of figures from Greek history and art- sort of strange to see Sappho next to Red Riding Hood, but it works, so no complaints.



憂 does not employ a strictly traditional 'manga' or 'anime' style, although there is certainly some of that in the DNA of their slender, doe-eyed pinups: rather, this is mixed with visual references that call back to the PreRaphaelites, Norther european illustrators such as Jon Bauer and Arthur Rackam, and that general undercurrent of Westward-looking 'romantic' dollhouse aesthetics that runs from the less punkish strands of Visual Kei, into stuff like Rozen Maiden and Tsukiji Nao's manga. Dreamy, pastel-colored, horror vacui powered scenes from Arcadia which show, if there was any need, that the East romanticizes the West as much as the other way around. 




Temporary hiatus, to restart soon

 Hello there,  as title says - I am currently on a bit of a dōjinshi hiatus, mostly due to dealing with a lot of more pressing matters, incl...