Review roundup - Interlude Plus by Black Cat Garage / Shenanddah vol.11 by Matsumoto Noriyuki / 璨璨七拍子 by 神山彩

So, occasionally I do this little roundup of reviews of dōjinshi that, due to length or content, don't warrant their own review - often times, this is a chance to give a few, quick impressions on impulse purchases that were meant to fill quotas in shipments.

This time, however, I also have a little screed to go along with my first two mini reviews. As I'm unlikely to ruffle any feathers in the Japanese-speaking blogsphere, considering also that I'm writing in English, I'll be pretty blunt.

Culprit: the 'sketchbook dōjinshi' thing. Either you do it right, or it needs to stop.

Some artists seem to think that the public is just eager to see their sketches as some sort of 'behind the scenes', thought process thing. They are seldom right, and often very wrong. Just as I don't go around publishing my ravaged first drafts as some kind of insider scoop, I also don't see what's inherently interesting about page after page of black and white sketches, often so rough and unpolished there is little to no semblance to the finished product.

Now, in my eyes there is only one way to do the sketchbook thing right, and that is to actually let us learn something from it. Take, for example, this thing over here: Shenanddah vol.11 by Noriyuki Matsumoto, the illustrator and designer behind masterpieces such as Miniskirt Pirates (lel), and a score of pinups for h-manga magazines. Sure, it's full b&w and a good 90% of it is rough sketches, but the dōjinka also had the grace to include rather detailed explanations of the process behind each image, taking us through the steps and outlining differences between the original sketch and the final product. Do I wish at least the final illustrations were reproduced in color? I sure do, but it's the dōjin world we're talking about, so the joke's on me.

Conversely (and I hate bringing negative examples, but this whole deal irks me a lot, so here it is), Interlude Plus by Black Cat's Garage (circle name of a certain Horibe Hiderō, mostly known in the West for character design of the atrocious Interlude, and the Letch series of OAV). A slew of sketched provided with little to no context, explanation, or guidance through the creative process. A collection of scraps, basically, and little we can learn from it as artists or fans. I bought it for the cover, in case you were wondering.

Now, screed is over, promise. Let's wash our eyes with 璨々七拍子, a not too old (2017) collective effort of Kamiyama Aya  (excellent artist, very much worth a follow), こぶ, whom I could find nothing about (please, please, please, include your links in your thank you!), and  ばなな, whose only online result seems to be this dōjinshi itself... Kamiyama Aya's short manga about a lady and her big-breasted maid is the most entertaining of the bunch, and certainly the most lecherous - a bit on the short side, but pretty a pretty funny take on the 'ladylike Japanese woman' theme. I happen to be in the flat chested camp, but when there's quality all is forgiven. Kobu offers a heartwarming story of friendship between a little girl and a yōkai, a tad cliché but good enough to prop up a few pages of very well drawn manga. Banana went for a schoolgirl-themed 4-koma that, frankly, left me a bit cold both visually and joke-wise.

Apparently, Kamiyama Aya just came out with a one-shot on Ultra Jump, and a new and longer dōjinshi too... might try get my hands on those in the near future.
Also, Nattoli's blog reviewed some Noriyuki Matsumoto too, if you'd like a more in-depth second opinion.