In order to broaden my dōjinshi horizons a bit - and also see if I can finally get some actual interaction going on this blog - I will be accepting suggestions for dōjinshi you want to see reviewed. You name them, I choose a few - or one or zero, depends if anyone actually bothers - buy them and review them. So you don't have to, as they say.
Here are the rules:
- Must be less than 21 bucks on Otaku Republic.
- 18+ is ok, but no hentai or ecchi.
- Original only, no parodies. Especially Touhou parodies.
- No furry / anthro.
Post in the comments what you would like to see reviewed. Otherwise, next in line is a piece on my 8-books collection of someone you probably never even heard of. You've been warned.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
ALFINE 2 by RAVING PHANTOM
Nip, cut, plant, water... and so on. And sneezing, lots of sneezing. This is spring for me in a nutshell. Every year I like more and more fall, when plants finally go to sleep and I don't have to witness the pathetic spectacle of my aubergine plants looking like sad poodles because they haven't been watered for two hours.
My last haul had a dōjinshi that had been on my wishlist for a while, mostly thanks to a few samples I had seen online. Alfine 2 by RAVING PHANTOM (2010) is, in many ways, the exact opposite of what I reviewed last time: we are far away from artsy land, and back into a more mainstream, hyper-stylish kind of amateur publication which actually comes in A4 format, no less than 52 full-color pages and glued spine (which seems to be pretty much the norm nowadays, showing how much cheaper it's gotten to self print - it doesn't take much funds to pump out a high quality product). Even from a material point of view I got as much value as what I've paid and more.
The dōjinshi is a sort of mock- fashion magazine, themed around colors: the illustrations are mostly pin-ups donning contemporary urban and summer wear, set against abstract and vector backgrounds, or stylish font arrangements which are there more as design elements than actual textual content. The RAVING PHANTOM circle, which has been active since 2001, makes ample use of guests, and there are no less than six here, each with one illustration: the only one I was familiar with, and the best one of the lot, is Lunatic Joker, the 'vanity' circle of prolific artist 月神るな (Tsukigami Runa).
The lion's share is taken by RAVING PHANTOM's artist 'Fuzzy', whose shōjo have a very recognizable style: colorful, realistically proportioned and very well shaded. The 'fashion' presented, as mentioned, is very prêt-à-porter, the kind of clothing one could actually see on a hipster girl walking down Shinjuku. There are no concessions to anime style fashion, nor the kind of extreme stuff seen on Japanese Streets or such. Bonus points for going all the way with the mock/joke, and actually feature fake advertisements - like the one for earmuffs in the back cover of the book.
A volume 1 of Alfine also exists, as well as a smilar b&w mock-fashion magazine called OMNi (5 issues). 'Fuzzy' also has published a few commercial things on shōjo manga magazine まんがタイムきらら.
Once again, a publication I highly suggest to those who like their dōjinshi to be something a bit more left fiend than the usual Touhou porn stuff, but who like to feel as if they have gotten their bang for their buck, holding what could be a legitimate publication rather than a indie zine.
My last haul had a dōjinshi that had been on my wishlist for a while, mostly thanks to a few samples I had seen online. Alfine 2 by RAVING PHANTOM (2010) is, in many ways, the exact opposite of what I reviewed last time: we are far away from artsy land, and back into a more mainstream, hyper-stylish kind of amateur publication which actually comes in A4 format, no less than 52 full-color pages and glued spine (which seems to be pretty much the norm nowadays, showing how much cheaper it's gotten to self print - it doesn't take much funds to pump out a high quality product). Even from a material point of view I got as much value as what I've paid and more.
The dōjinshi is a sort of mock- fashion magazine, themed around colors: the illustrations are mostly pin-ups donning contemporary urban and summer wear, set against abstract and vector backgrounds, or stylish font arrangements which are there more as design elements than actual textual content. The RAVING PHANTOM circle, which has been active since 2001, makes ample use of guests, and there are no less than six here, each with one illustration: the only one I was familiar with, and the best one of the lot, is Lunatic Joker, the 'vanity' circle of prolific artist 月神るな (Tsukigami Runa).
The lion's share is taken by RAVING PHANTOM's artist 'Fuzzy', whose shōjo have a very recognizable style: colorful, realistically proportioned and very well shaded. The 'fashion' presented, as mentioned, is very prêt-à-porter, the kind of clothing one could actually see on a hipster girl walking down Shinjuku. There are no concessions to anime style fashion, nor the kind of extreme stuff seen on Japanese Streets or such. Bonus points for going all the way with the mock/joke, and actually feature fake advertisements - like the one for earmuffs in the back cover of the book.
A volume 1 of Alfine also exists, as well as a smilar b&w mock-fashion magazine called OMNi (5 issues). 'Fuzzy' also has published a few commercial things on shōjo manga magazine まんがタイムきらら.
Once again, a publication I highly suggest to those who like their dōjinshi to be something a bit more left fiend than the usual Touhou porn stuff, but who like to feel as if they have gotten their bang for their buck, holding what could be a legitimate publication rather than a indie zine.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
わかりま千円 by ンキッャヒ
So, April is shaping up to be a long, dragged out month just like the ones before it - unfortunately, the bad spell that started somehwere in February last year seems to be still active. At least there's good weather outside, and plenty to do in the garden. Sprouts of all varieties are out, and my dogs just love to feast on them :S
This month's dōjinshi haul has been something of a mixed bag. I bought a copy of one of the first (if not the first) item I ever put on my wishlist, 黒猫カフヱー by Ataraxia: purchased on its color palette alone, I really liked the brownish choice of paper (it really lends to the period and atmosphere the story is set in), but it's very, very short and the story is kind of a silly non-sequitur that would have been more fitting as an omake to a bigger publication. JAS SKY MOKKOR is a collection of short stories written and illustrated by a variety of people, mostly unknowns but one of the stories has drawings by Kigitsu Katsuhisa (mangaka of Franken Fran): it's fairly long and difficult, has no furigana and was bought mostly as a persuading device to actually put more time into Japanese practice... Alfine2 will have its own review because it deserves it: it's a stylish mock-fashion magazine with some really interesting design choices in it.
Today's review is, however, focusing on the impulse purchase of the month - which turned out to be the best of the lot. わかりま千円 by ンキッャヒ (2015) is the tiny booklet lower right in the picture: and believe me, it's tiny. It must be an A6 or some other minuscule format I wasn't aware of - even smaller than those Japanese bunko novel editions. It's stapled, it's only 20 pages and the paper is so flimsy it was shipped inside a small plastic bag (complete with a little extra sticker): basically one of those zines that were all the rage before the computer era - mileage may vary, but I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff so I it's been love at first sight.
In fact, the 'zine' factor is a large part of the allure of this little booklet, amateur even by dōjinshi standards. Grainy print quality? check (though not nearly as bad as some zines I worked for back in my days). Rough stapling and slanted page cuts? check. Minimal page count? check. Still, what amazed me is that none of these elements detract from the quality of わかりま千円, quite the opposite; they are an integral part of its aesthetic and themes. It screams indie, and stands in sharp contrast with the super-polished, 'maybe they'll see this and hire me for their eroge' regular fare that is the norm in the dōjinshi world.
And the gal (or guy?) can draw too. The actual contents of わかりま千円 were another deal maker for me: there is no text at all, and the booklet is a series of images that mix photography, shōjo and abstract designs according to an incredibly stylish, yet tenderly homely collage aesthetics. Graphically, there are echoes of Inio Asano, Kimura Kon, even some Ueda Hajime in there, and the general 'tone' of the work had something of that 'alt-Japan' vibe I love so much - ンキッャヒ could totally illustrate a Banana Yoshimoto novel.
I also suggest you check out their Pixiv and Tumblr, some very good stuff in there. Personally, I will try to track down all other publications by ンキッャヒ, and will be looking forward to what's to come next.
This month's dōjinshi haul has been something of a mixed bag. I bought a copy of one of the first (if not the first) item I ever put on my wishlist, 黒猫カフヱー by Ataraxia: purchased on its color palette alone, I really liked the brownish choice of paper (it really lends to the period and atmosphere the story is set in), but it's very, very short and the story is kind of a silly non-sequitur that would have been more fitting as an omake to a bigger publication. JAS SKY MOKKOR is a collection of short stories written and illustrated by a variety of people, mostly unknowns but one of the stories has drawings by Kigitsu Katsuhisa (mangaka of Franken Fran): it's fairly long and difficult, has no furigana and was bought mostly as a persuading device to actually put more time into Japanese practice... Alfine2 will have its own review because it deserves it: it's a stylish mock-fashion magazine with some really interesting design choices in it.
Today's review is, however, focusing on the impulse purchase of the month - which turned out to be the best of the lot. わかりま千円 by ンキッャヒ (2015) is the tiny booklet lower right in the picture: and believe me, it's tiny. It must be an A6 or some other minuscule format I wasn't aware of - even smaller than those Japanese bunko novel editions. It's stapled, it's only 20 pages and the paper is so flimsy it was shipped inside a small plastic bag (complete with a little extra sticker): basically one of those zines that were all the rage before the computer era - mileage may vary, but I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff so I it's been love at first sight.
In fact, the 'zine' factor is a large part of the allure of this little booklet, amateur even by dōjinshi standards. Grainy print quality? check (though not nearly as bad as some zines I worked for back in my days). Rough stapling and slanted page cuts? check. Minimal page count? check. Still, what amazed me is that none of these elements detract from the quality of わかりま千円, quite the opposite; they are an integral part of its aesthetic and themes. It screams indie, and stands in sharp contrast with the super-polished, 'maybe they'll see this and hire me for their eroge' regular fare that is the norm in the dōjinshi world.
And the gal (or guy?) can draw too. The actual contents of わかりま千円 were another deal maker for me: there is no text at all, and the booklet is a series of images that mix photography, shōjo and abstract designs according to an incredibly stylish, yet tenderly homely collage aesthetics. Graphically, there are echoes of Inio Asano, Kimura Kon, even some Ueda Hajime in there, and the general 'tone' of the work had something of that 'alt-Japan' vibe I love so much - ンキッャヒ could totally illustrate a Banana Yoshimoto novel.
I also suggest you check out their Pixiv and Tumblr, some very good stuff in there. Personally, I will try to track down all other publications by ンキッャヒ, and will be looking forward to what's to come next.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
PIXIVA 04 by VANIA600
Among the many little, secondary passions that interest me enough to follow up, but are not relevant enough to qualify as a hobby, are trains and railways. Along with buses, they are the only means of transportation I can actually say I enjoy riding; I religiously follow Japan Railway Journal and the trains thread on Futaba; I'm probably also the only human being on Earth who squealed with joy when learning that a local property value-destroying high speed train line would be built 200m from his house.
Unfortunately, I was also born in a country that is well known for its railway system, in negative. Like most means of public transportation in Italy, trains are the lowest of the low in the priorities of the cultural sector, no effort is made to add value to the train experience, and - no surprise there - I have never come across a train anorak in Italy. Which made it all the more exciting when I was over in Japan; who, unlike Italy, takes its trains very seriously. The sideways glances of my tour buddies everytime I giggled at boarding a local train, or seeing the train conductor do a little timetable-checking dance at every station, were priceless.
And yes, I also enjoy illustrations of trains, especially when they are realistic and super-detailed. The king of this (actually very common and well developed) subtype of illustration is certainly VANIA600. Pretty girls and trains are all he draws over and over and over, but he does it so well and with such flair that leafing through a dōjinshi with nothing but trains and shoujo in it feels like a far more varied experience than the theme would suggest. And he doesn't do only dōjinshi: he's also illustrated Rail Wars and Usui to Kanojo to Roku-san no (train-themed light novels).
Sadly, as it often happens with artists of some renown, prices are prohibitive (in the sense that it's 'either one of theirs or five of others'), so I actually own a single VANIA600 dōjinshi - Pixiva 04 (2010), a collection of illustrations out of his Pixiv account.
It's a full color, stapled A4, 32 pages. There is little written commentary, and most of the dōjinshi is dedicated to full page illustrations, either stand-alone or Rail Wars themed. Toward the end there is a handful of non-train themed illustrations, and the final section provides a useful, fairly detailed step-by-step tutorial of the way a VANIA600 illustration is planned, sketched and executed.
On the theme of the dōjinshi, there is little to say: you must like girls and trains, and trains, and girls... and so on. I have said above that the repetitive subject matter was not a hindrance, but this holds true only for a train fanatic: others, who are more interested in the... ahem... 'human' aspect might choose to focus on the girls, who are probably the weakest point in VANIA600's art. Sure, they're cute and moe, but they're also very cartoonish and sometimes downright anatomically imprecise. There's also a fair amount of gratuitous service, which I just don't buy into.
The art's strong points are definitely the lighting, and the sheer amount of detail. Contrasting with the very anime- like characters, the trains and the backgrounds are painstakingly rendered, down to the last scratch and glimmer of light; maybe a little too much 'lens flare' for my taste, but it's still forgivable. You can tell VANIA600 has been looking at trains with a passionate eye, and the art reflects this passion. There is also a great variety and range in the locomotives depicted, though this specific dōjinshi seems to focus on fairly old, local lines.
All in all, I'm not sure 'll get my hands on another VANIA600 dōjinshi so soon, but this one was a little nice surprise of sure interest to trains / dōjinshi fans. It'be nice to see what the artist could do if he focused a few illustrations on the trains alone...
Unfortunately, I was also born in a country that is well known for its railway system, in negative. Like most means of public transportation in Italy, trains are the lowest of the low in the priorities of the cultural sector, no effort is made to add value to the train experience, and - no surprise there - I have never come across a train anorak in Italy. Which made it all the more exciting when I was over in Japan; who, unlike Italy, takes its trains very seriously. The sideways glances of my tour buddies everytime I giggled at boarding a local train, or seeing the train conductor do a little timetable-checking dance at every station, were priceless.
And yes, I also enjoy illustrations of trains, especially when they are realistic and super-detailed. The king of this (actually very common and well developed) subtype of illustration is certainly VANIA600. Pretty girls and trains are all he draws over and over and over, but he does it so well and with such flair that leafing through a dōjinshi with nothing but trains and shoujo in it feels like a far more varied experience than the theme would suggest. And he doesn't do only dōjinshi: he's also illustrated Rail Wars and Usui to Kanojo to Roku-san no (train-themed light novels).
Sadly, as it often happens with artists of some renown, prices are prohibitive (in the sense that it's 'either one of theirs or five of others'), so I actually own a single VANIA600 dōjinshi - Pixiva 04 (2010), a collection of illustrations out of his Pixiv account.
It's a full color, stapled A4, 32 pages. There is little written commentary, and most of the dōjinshi is dedicated to full page illustrations, either stand-alone or Rail Wars themed. Toward the end there is a handful of non-train themed illustrations, and the final section provides a useful, fairly detailed step-by-step tutorial of the way a VANIA600 illustration is planned, sketched and executed.
On the theme of the dōjinshi, there is little to say: you must like girls and trains, and trains, and girls... and so on. I have said above that the repetitive subject matter was not a hindrance, but this holds true only for a train fanatic: others, who are more interested in the... ahem... 'human' aspect might choose to focus on the girls, who are probably the weakest point in VANIA600's art. Sure, they're cute and moe, but they're also very cartoonish and sometimes downright anatomically imprecise. There's also a fair amount of gratuitous service, which I just don't buy into.
The art's strong points are definitely the lighting, and the sheer amount of detail. Contrasting with the very anime- like characters, the trains and the backgrounds are painstakingly rendered, down to the last scratch and glimmer of light; maybe a little too much 'lens flare' for my taste, but it's still forgivable. You can tell VANIA600 has been looking at trains with a passionate eye, and the art reflects this passion. There is also a great variety and range in the locomotives depicted, though this specific dōjinshi seems to focus on fairly old, local lines.
All in all, I'm not sure 'll get my hands on another VANIA600 dōjinshi so soon, but this one was a little nice surprise of sure interest to trains / dōjinshi fans. It'be nice to see what the artist could do if he focused a few illustrations on the trains alone...
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