"NKR80 vol.2" by Narume

 While it might not be apparent from the stutt I review, I am a big fan of pixel art. I am, after all, also a Doom and Strife modder, and making custom graphics for those games pretty much means creating pixel art. It seems to me as if there are two main "school" of pixel art nowadays: one one hand, those who adopt the nostalgia angle, and lean more on the simple, blocky nature of the style; on the other, a lot of pixel artist who choose instead to focus on 'realism', so to speak, creating images that, while still generated pixel by pixel, could easily pass for non-pixel illustrations.

"NKR80 vol.2" (2019) is an illustration collection by pixel artist Narume, whose work for the most part falls into the latter category: their illustrations, usually bishoujo with a modern edge, reveal their pixely nature only upon close inspection, a fact that is well exemplified in this 16 pages, full color, square format collection: almost all images are presented along with a detail close up, which clearly show how Narume created them pixel by pixel. Neon tinges are predominant, leaning into that waporwave-ish aesthetics which seems to be very popular among modern pixel artists. Subjects, as mentioned, don't vary much, being all essentially pinups.

Upon comparison of the full image and the closeup, one can't help but marvel at Narume's artistry. The restrained color palette, and its greatly simplified monochrome backgrounds, really lends a vector-like clarity to each image, which greatly helps preserving definition and cleanliness. It's overall a very summery collection, basking in aqua tones to complement the abundant helpings of purple and pink neon lights. 

A short but pleasant treat, not much to say except enjoying Narume's skill with the pixels. They also have a pixel manga series, if you're interested, and a store full of cute stuff. 

"Bouquet" by Ukketori et al.

 As you might notice if you've been reading my reviews for a while, I often end up writing about stuff made by people who... don't really make stuff anymore. I guess since (with many exceptions) dōjin work falls under the rubric of "amateur work", it is something that more often than not either turns into actual professional work; or becomes one of those "yeah, when I was young I used to sell my stuff at Comiket" moments a mom or dad with two kids and a mortgage will reminesce about in their middle-age. Sometimes they also go pro, and simply try and hide their dōjin past (ahemShigeoHamashimaahem).

Hence, a lot of the circles whose works I cover are no longer active, and all of their ephemera (websites, blogs etc) are lost forever in the ether. Again, there are dozens exceptions on this blog alone, but it's pretty normal for me to check the links provided in a dōjinshi's credit page, and get a bunch of 404s. 

This is why I get particularly excited when, on the other hand, I manage to find leads who take me back to more info about the author of a work I enjoyed, and who might be working at a reduced capacity or no longer at all. Especially nice when this didn't happen for tragic reasons, but because they're simply living their best life. 

"Bouquet" is a 2012, 60 full color pages hybrid photobook / illustration work by a team led by artist ukketori, helped by cosplay photographer soramimi and a cast of four models: boo-chan; myuu-chan; chii-chan; and Himemiya Mahore. Pardon the -chan, I assume all involved parties are well in their thirties or more by now, but they're still likely my same age or even younger, so yeah XD 

One special treat is that, while pretty much all of the participating parties haven't really updated their blogs in a while, we can still find online an fc2.com blog that is essentially a making-of this dōjinshi.Things seem to have gone something like this. Ukketori, who is a professional artist who is still active, or was until very recently (more on that later) gets together with her high school friend boo-chan (mostly a boys' love cosplayer) to make a book where a few of ukketori's illustration will be turned into cosplays, who will then be photographed by cosplay photographer soramimi. Then, ukketori produced more illustrations based on these photographies. 

The result is a very charming, tasteful operation that really captivated me. Ukketori's illustrations, while well within the bounds of PIXIV-style manga, are colorful and lively, really selling the character's design and traits, both the stand-alones, and those reproducing soramimi's colorful pictures. All four models each have their own flair, from boyish but cute boo-chan, to superpink Himemiya, and you can tell from their expressions and gestuality that they must have had lots of fun during the photoshoot. The outfits are sometimes revealing, but always stay on the tasteful side of things - no ecchi here, which is fine by me. The most fanservice you get is some catgirling, which is played more for cute than anything else. Also, unlike many photobooks, we are actually treated to abundant miscellaneous information about all participants, including a short interview with each of the models.

The book itself has a couple of pseudo-sequels, each still using ukketori's illustrations, soramimi's pics, and a few of the models already showcased here. If the quality is the same, I'm definitely going to track them down.

Now, from what I could tell, most parties involved seem to be no longer active, with the four models' activities stopping by 2015, and soramimi going MIA around 2019. A little internet sleuthing didn't haul much - as you can imagine, a bunch of onomatopoeias are sort of a thin lead for an internet search. The two exceptions seem to me Himemiya Mahore, who is a professional photomodel / cosplayer and has quite the following; and ukketori herself, who has produced a number of commercial works (including a 2021 Olympics tie-in) up until around 2019, where she became somewhat less active. 

What else to say? a fun dōjinshi, a cool time capsule from twelve years ago (I was still in uni back then! time flies) and a chance to do a little bit of sleuthing. A good time was had by all. 

見た目地雷系幼馴染 by tetto

 Sometimes I get that Japan somehow managed to spring out another fashion trend at the top of every hour - usually a minor variation of an already existing one, sometimes with some controversy attached as a bonus. It just churns trends. 

One such trends is so-called 地雷系 (jirai-kei), literally "landmine fashion". From an aesthetics point of view, it's really nothing more than a minor spin on that McGoth we used to associate with places such as Hot Topic a few years (or was it decades?) ago, plus a smattering of color, usually pink, here and there. Been there, done that, really nothing to write home about. The entire novelty of the style lays in the controversy that gives it its name: from what I gather, this style is associated with "landmine girls", aka girls that prop a cutesy goth exterior with involvement in drugs, alcohol, street partying, the rich kids gangs lifestyle etc etc. I mean, would you willingly step on a landmine, or date a "landmine girl"?

This lengthy tangent comes about because it's essential in order to understand the joke behind the series of  dōjinshi tetto dedicated to their very own landmine character - one such publication being 2022's  "見た目地雷系幼馴染" (Landmine girl childhood friend). Offering their own admittedly slightly ham-fisted twist on the stereotype, this dōjinshi (full color, 24 pages, stapled) shows, in a series of full-page pinups, the daily life of a landmine girl that does everything a landmine girl is not supposed to do: cook a healthy meal, help the aged, dote over cute animals, give her bus seat to a pregnant woman, etc etc. She is occasionally accompanied by a nonplussed, more stereotypical landmine friend; and occasionally addresses an invisible, arguably male friend, visual novel style. 

Yup, this is the entirety of the skit. No complaints from me, as the very light subversion of the stereotype is fairly amusing, and tetto's tract is cutesy enough, while firmly rooted in an anime aesthetics. Essentially the dōjinshi is a series of visual punchlines, which would make it perfectly fit for eventually becoming a 4-koma or a comedy anime. 

All in all a very simple but cure operation, worth taking a look. 

I made more stuff for Quake and Doom

 Yup, it's that time again. I made a few maps for both a Quake and a DOOM community projects:

"The Marshes" for Map-center's RetroJam: 

And three maps (!) for Doomer Boards Projects 67, Marble Hill. These will probably be my last DOOM maps, so enjoy them while you can. 

As for regular business, still chugging along with my Strife mapset, writing new stuff, more doujinshi on the way (finally!) and mostly just trying to survive this abysmally hot summer.