N.B: repertoire images, because my copy is in good condition but super fragile.
It's a fairly well known fact that, while the dōjinshi world is a fairly amateurish affair (can't imagine anyone making a steady living out of them, at least as a maker), a lot of professional manga artists either started their career, of integrated it, by dabbling in the dōjin world. Kazuhiko Katō did, Kazushi Hagiwara did, Kiyohiko Azuma did, and other big shots like Clamp and Kaoru Mori (I'm still on the lookout for something of hers that won't set me back a whole shipment). Their dōjin stuff is not always top notch, especially when it belongs to the onset of their careers (Azuma's stuff is pretty atrocious, unlike his commercial work), but I guess it's always interesting to see where a mangaka started from.
骨董庭園 is a b&w dōjinshi by Yuki Kaori, best known as the author of Angel Sanctuary (nothing astounding, but still one of those 'big old' titles from the first wave of English official localizations) and the far superior Godchild, pretty much a must if you are into the Gothic thing. She doesn't have a whole lot of dōjin work to her name, but this 骨董庭園 (Antique Garden) stood out to me as it featured both original material, and a couple of Final Fantasy fan stories. Dating from 1995 it was also pretty much a relic in the low-circulation world of dōjinshi, so I just had to get my hands on it!
The dōjinshi is not excessively long, clocking in at 68 pages, and features two originals ('A doll's endless rest' and 'Empty airspace'), and a series of short Final Fantasy fan fictions. The remaining pages consist of commentary and illustrations.The originals are... what you'd expect from Yuki if you're familiar with her work at all: drama-filled black fables with a dark twist-ending. Nothing stellar, but entertaining enough. The Final Fantasy tidbits, as someone who has little to no interest in the franchise, kind of fell flat on me, though they seemed very dark, which I don't think Final Fantasy itself was supposed to be. Not sure, to be honest.
Graphically, well, it's Yuki Kaori. She has this very dated, mid to late 90s style that I instinctively associate with Viz localizations, the earliest days of AMV, and so on. Everyone is donning eyeliner, their wardrobes look like they come out of a Visual-kei music video, etc etc. It's a mostalgic visual style you kinda have to into in order to appreciate, and if you don't... you're not a thrity year old boomer, I guess.
All in all, a little relic worthy of attention, as a curio if nothing else. I would suggest however to give Godchild a read, it's a rather decent and entertaining work.
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