Monday, October 16, 2017

おたまと影の変態記3 by あびゅうきょ

In spite of its deceptive title, あびゅうきょ's omnibus おたまと影の変態記3 has very little hentai within, especially if compared with the artist's more extreme (and, fortunately, progressively rarer) forays into futanari and such. The 2015's meaty book (134 pages, B&W as usual) instead features a variety of short works, commentary, sketches and stories that don't neatly fit into あびゅうきょ's usual themes - military technologies and extreme jailbait porn. All in all, this is for the best: unlike his usual offerings, which can be really hit and miss depending whether you buy into his otaku-like obsessions and his peculiar, detailed yet deformed art style, this omnibus displays a variety of different styles ad themes, which don' necessarily make this book for everyone, but at least broaden the appeal a bit.


There are, of course, あびゅうきょ's trademark scantily-clad nymphets, but the collection also includes some hilarious Evangelion fan-art (given the artist's usual topics, I'm surprised he hasn't produced more); a short manga featuring an anthropomorphic cat who, for once, doesn't engage in lewd acts (yes, あびゅうきょ has produced quite a few anthro-futanari dōjinshi); and a few illustrations drawn in a different, distinctive style that, while still entirely his, clearly shows that あびゅうきょ hasn't merely pulled his many retro references and visual cues out of a hat.



There are few flaws with おたまと影の変態記3, one of them being that, as it often happens with あびゅうきょ's works, some pages are so overloaded with images, vignettes, side doodles and handwritten text, they become literally impossible to parse. There are also some anatomical imprecisions (including あびゅうきょ's trademark stocky proportions, but those by now are more part of his style than anything). These are, as usual, trifles if you happen to enjoy this artist's anarchic visual world, as I happen to. This collection is probably a good entry point into あびゅうきょ's world, especially if you're not interested into extreme fetishes or military paraphernalia.

As a footnote: for some mysterious reason (probably hidden in あびゅうきょ's atrocious handwriting) there are quite a few color pages at the end of the book dedicated to gag manga by a certain 森野優樹 whom I never heard of before. They are incongruous and forgettable, and they can all be seen on the artist's Pixiv regardless.

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