TILTED by Akimasa

Lately I've been craving material that, visually speaking, departs from your usual hyperglossy, high contrast illustration style that is so characteristic of today's dōjinshi: while it's probably a tall order to hope for some thematic variety - if you don't like shōjo illustration, with some landscapes thrown in here and there, you're probably in the wrong subculture - there are many dōjin artists with interesting visual takes on that common Japanese archetype. I've actually reviewed quite a few, from Heikinritsu to Hirotaka Tanaka .

The dōjinshi I'm reviewing today is TILTED: The Art of Akiman 3. The 2017 illustration collection (A4, full color) is, as one could guess, the third one by artist Akiman, one of the many I first discovered first through Pixiv, then through Twitter. While they also create some very interesting aviation inspired artwork,  TILTED is entirely devoted to young women in urban environments. In spite of the collection's title, there seems to be nothing inherently tilted in the featured illustrations.

What we have instead is the so-typical theme of 'young, urban Japanese woman' filtered through a visual style that is reminescent, at times, of older Yoshitoshi ABe: a perfectly readable, yet somewhat 'sketchy' lineart enriched by dark, muddy colors that aim more for atmosphere, than poplike appeal. It's by design that most scenes feature rain, fog, or pale daylight, which the girl inhabits with scarcely a smile or a direct glance. A somewhat dreary, yet curiously comfy take on city life. Like I would know, sitting in the middle of nowhere.

I could probably reiterate my usual complaint that the book is simply too short, but that's true for most dōjinshi, so it's really not meaningful criticism. Overall, a pretty good collection that offers some respite from gaudy neon colors, and overworked layouts.