KING PROJECT VOL.01 by VARIOUS

I have a sort of optimistic ambivalence toward illustration anthologies. They can be kind of hit and miss, and I find that most of the time success depends on the willingness of the artists involved to stick with the theme, without necessarily falling back on safe ground - which, in the case of Pixiv artists, usually means sugary bishōjo. Well, unless the theme is bishōjo... a good example of a successful anthology that I recently reviewed was the cozy and nifty Sailorbon, an interesting take on a somewhat unusual theme.

All of these preambles to introduce another awesome themed collection, pooling together a variety of artists from the dark recesses of Pixiv. And the theme is... kings. Yup. King Project vol. 01 (no vol.2 available so far) gathers 41 artists, each one of them offering their illustrated take on the theme of the royal figure. First of all, let's get measurements out of the way: 78 pages, full color A4 format, sturdy and professionally bound.

The contents are, overall, quite impressive, and I'm not just referring to the illustrations. What really makes this collection stand out is that almost every art piece, along with author bio and social links, also features a 'tutorial' kind of page, which shows different stages of drafting, along with the artist's comments. Pretty nifty, especially when one can see that the final piece ends up nothing like the original sketch...

So, something of a collection plus reference guide. Overall, the art quality is in the Pixiv daily rankings ballpark, which is to say, pretty high. There are, of course, more or less elaborate art styles, but every illustration actually feels like a finished piece, something that doesn't always happen in this kind of books. Some highlights are 羽山晃平's demonic tyrant king; ぽん吉's way too funny beaver king; and おつまみ's Turneresque king of dragons.

So, all fine and dandy? well, for the most part. One disappointing note is that the grand majority of the artists really played it too safe thematically, and fell back on the old trope of the fantasy king, ruling over some medieval or renaissance-looking court. There are, in fact, only two illustrations that offer a different take on the 'king' theme: 添田一平's gun wielding queen of the mob; and えだまめ畑's Lovecraftian 1800s monster king.

Still, an excellent themed collection, showcasing some real talent. Well done.

MUJIHAPIX by ムジハ

So, here we are, back to regular-ish updates... or, at least, that's the idea, as much really depends on my finances and Japan Mail's abysmal shipping times.  Got a couple nifty things coming up though, so you might want to stay tuned for more of what this blog is really all about -  dōjinshi.

This one is actually from a fairly well known face, at least if you happen to orbit around Pixiv, Danbooru, and clones of the two. Mujiha's infrequent updates usually end up on Pixiv's top 3, and recently it seems they have also branched into commercial manga, in the form of a web serialization... which I'm actually not that thrilled about, as Mujiha really gives their best in color and full page size.

For now, we'll focus on one of their available artbooks: Mujihapix. Dating from 2014, this one you can actually get your hands on, as it's available through Pixiv's BOOTH service. I snagged a copy, and I have to say that I was impressed by the artbook before even opening it: large A4 format, glossy paper, quality binding, if it wasn't for the slim page count it could easily pass for a commercial release.

As far as content goes, Mujihapix is largely what we've come to expect from high-ranking Pixiv artists: plenty of bishōjo pinups, with some sci-fi and cute mascots thrown in. Most are personal works, but the book also features some covers Mujiha did for the book series 女戦士・フレア伝. There are also a few sketches towards the end. The artbook is full color, structurally hampered only by the fact that one side of each sheet is left blank - effectively halving the actual page count.

So, a bit less meat than one could expect from an already slim artbook, but Mujiha's skills more than make up for it: they have a visual style that is immediately recognizable as their own, especially when it comes to anatomy (sort of a manga style with a more realistic bend) and the abundant use of white space and pastel skintones against colors. As the volume mostly consists of pinups there is less focus on backdrops and environments, which are however paintakingly rendered when present.

So, an excellent collection from an established artist worth keeping an eye on. I will definitely get my hands on Mujihapix 2...