Anime Creators Books: Comiket 93 Edition
Since people seemed to enjoy the first rundown, here’s another look at many interesting books released by individual staff members and creative teams during the last edition of Comiket. It’s not just a very direct way for them to reach fans, it also allows us access to production materials and original art that wouldn’t have been shared otherwise. Enjoy!
The Works of Mitsuo Iso for Animation 2 & exclusive flipbook – available on Amazon JP
Since last time we started off with the first book compiling the animation of living legend Mitsuo Iso, it only feels appropriate to do so again with its second volume. Not much point in reintroducing him, but considering how great of a release this is, there was no way I’d be skipping a recommendation. Not only does it include does it include about 50% more material, it also happens to cover many more of Iso’s iconic sequences – his unforgettable work on the likes of Evangelion, BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE, and his episode of RahXephon, lesser known contributions like those of Hashire Melos and the handful of layoutsLayouts (レイアウト): The drawings where animation is actually born; they expand the usually simple visual ideas from the storyboard into the actual skeleton of animation, detailing both the work of the key animator and the background artists. he drew for Perfect Blue, as well as some modern output in the form of Hirune Hime. I would highlight the emblematic Evangelion cuts, masterful in their craft and also interesting as a chance to look at his uncorrected output, as well as the extensive coverage of BLOOD. The book can’t fully capture the latter’s excellence since, much like his RahXephon work, it’s renowned because of his unbelievable mastery of digital effects for the time, but the animation on display is damn good nonetheless. The book is now available internationally on Amazon JP, but much like last time, if you were lucky enough to grab it at Comiket you also got a fantastic flipbook.
「磯光雄 Flip Book［vol.2］」140ページ。
アニメスタイル企業ブースにて「磯光雄 ANIMATION WORKS vol.2」を購入するとオマケで貰えます。#C93 #エヴァンゲリオン #evangelion #BLOOD #ラーゼフォン #アニメスタイル #冬コミ pic.twitter.com/WI3rc7wQ1M— 磯光雄IsoMitsuo 「磯光雄 ANIMATION WORKS vol.2」 (@IsoMitsuo) December 27, 2017
Takafumi Hori Key AnimationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style. Note 2017
If I had to recommend a single recent key animationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style. book though, I might go with the latest compilation of Takafumi Hori’s work. Trigger’s de facto ace animator carried the fate of Little Witch Academia on his back, so fans of the series definitely shouldn’t miss a book that’s all about his output there. It’s particularly nice since he offers commentary on all these sequences in Japanese and perfectly translated into English, providing much more insight than barebones animation books do. That means you get to learn a bit about how he approaches animation… and hear a lot lamentations about the schedule, because you know how anime is. He explicitly asks not to reprint the material so I’ll hold back on that, but just look at his enchanting effects in motion. Hori really embodied LWA’s magic.
39★memories – The iDOLM@STER Million Live’s roughly 5th anniversary celebration book
Another very special release, captained by Million Live’s character designer Futoshi Suzuki. This branch of imas is about to celebrate its 5th anniversary, which was good enough of an excuse to gather many of the talented artists who regularly contribute to it. Toshifumi Akai, Isao Hayashi, and Megumi Kouno are only a few of the many names involved, all of whom left heartfelt messages for the fans and the crew itself. To make things even better, they also made sure to include a compilation of key animation and corrections from its fancy animated PV, truly making it a worthwhile anniversary gift.
Staff Books
One common practice I didn’t really talk about last time was the release of staff books with varying degrees of officiality. Contributions from all sorts of creators involved in a production are often compiled as a fancy way to thank fans for their support once it’s over. Now this doesn’t mean they’re done with the series forever, since one of the most noteworthy ones this time around was the Made in Abyss book full of nice illustrations, but it’s a nice gesture to bid a particular title goodbye. Perhaps as a sign that late 2017 was loaded with noteworthy titles, Comiket 93 saw the release of a multitude of such releases. Princess Ancillary, the Princess Principal one, stands out as one of the most complete books of this kind I’ve ever seen. An incredibly thorough lineup of contributors, spanning every directorial, design, art, and animation roles. Plenty of beautiful drawings by the main character designer Yukie Akiya, and lots of insight by series directorSeries Director: (監督, kantoku): The person in charge of the entire production, both as a creative decision-maker and final supervisor. They outrank the rest of the staff and ultimately have the last word. Series with different levels of directors do exist however – Chief Director, Assistant Director, Series Episode Director, all sorts of non-standard roles. The hierarchy in those instances is a case by case scenario. Masaki Tachibana, which makes it encapsulate the production as a whole quite well.
Meanwhile, the Blend-S book stood out for how well organized it was: the contributions of all artists involved, many of them talented animators like the always saucy Taiki Konno and Kengo Matsumoto, was accompanied by a simple questionnaire where they’d detail their role and then answer a couple of questions regarding the show. And of course, its inclusion of a bunch of key animationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style. as an extra is an easy way into the heart of sakugaSakuga (作画): Technically drawing pictures but more specifically animation. Western fans have long since appropriated the word to refer to instances of particularly good animation, in the same way that a subset of Japanese fans do. Pretty integral to our sites' brand. nerds as well. It’s not that there isn’t value in straightforward staff books, but I’ve got to appreciate the teams that put this much effort in something for fans.
But if you think all that fancy stuff isn’t for you, let me note that Fantasista Doll, a long forgotten pseudo-kids show that inexplicably aired latenight back in 2013, also just put together its staff book. It’s as austere as its gets, with only about a dozen of illustrations by some of its animators, but its existence is so endearing I couldn’t not buy it. If you want something more serious though, it’s worth noting that series with notable hype behind them have the custom of releasing a Starter Book – an official guide covering its main points, information about the first few episodes, and usually a bit of production materials too. Shows like DARLING in the FRANXX and Violet Evergarden received this treatment this time around, so you might still be able to grab their starter books.
Other notable animation and illustration books
Business as usual when it comes to the animation, with Yutaka Nakamura releasing yet another of his Incompleteness books, this time featuring some of his roughs for Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond – as you can tell, he was experimenting with perspective. Another animator with excellent spatial awareness who never misses an event is Shingo Fujii, who put out Anime Fuuraibou’s Animation Works 09. Since he hasn’t been all that active, the contents were easy to guess: his magical idol Anemone sequence serving as the preview for the next Eureka Seven film, which he storyboarded himself too.
When it comes to illustration work by industry members or those who aspire to be, the choices are plentiful. Rakugakies Vol.3 includes doodles by the mysterious young animation star soty, so I’m glad to have gotten my hands on it. Reliable animator Masaya Sekizaki also published a collection of drawings that showcase his preferences, while Twinlens take1 is a neat collaboration between up-and-coming animators with photography as the overarching theme. If you’re looking at these smaller, often more personal publications though, there’s one franchise that’s as inescapable as it name indicates: Fate. Mieko Hosoi is back with more F/GO on Servant #2, Hidekazu Ebina and Toshiya Kouno paid tribute to Apocrypha, and Kazuhiro Miwa even sort of leaked his role on Fate/Extra before it was officially confirmed by making it the theme of his new book.
As usual, there were more interesting releases I couldn’t manage to get – the new volume in Sejoon Kim‘s ongoing series of animation collections, the Recovery of an MMO Junkie production materials, Hiroyuki Imaishi‘s TTGL anniversary book, the studio PineJam key animationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style. books and kappe‘s personal releases, Hakuyu Go‘s elusive book-for-Apocrypha-#22’s-staff-except-not-really, and so on. All things considered though, this was a plentiful bounty, which hopefully will give you a better idea about the publications by anime creators. See you next big event!
Support us on Patreon to help us reach our new goal to sustain the animation archive at Sakugabooru, SakugaSakuga (作画): Technically drawing pictures but more specifically animation. Western fans have long since appropriated the word to refer to instances of particularly good animation, in the same way that a subset of Japanese fans do. Pretty integral to our sites' brand. Video on Youtube, as well as this SakugaSakuga (作画): Technically drawing pictures but more specifically animation. Western fans have long since appropriated the word to refer to instances of particularly good animation, in the same way that a subset of Japanese fans do. Pretty integral to our sites' brand. Blog. Thanks to everyone who’s helped out so far!
I thought it was to commemorate the end of service of the original MILLION LIVE game, which many of the 39 Memories contributors have worked on directly via card illustrations, if not also the two promo videos over the years. The franchise will lives on via the rhythm game Theater Days.
The official excuse is the almost 5th anniversary since the launch, the real reason probably closer to that, and the REAL reason is that these nerds will draw imas whenever possible.
I love these nerds, damn it
I came here to read about Hori’s new book. I was not disappointed. I’m really tempted to buy it now…
Aaahhhh I love these Comiket posts! So many cool names to go search around. Any names you’d like to throw at someone who adores and has filled his personal space with Yoh Yoshinari’s machinery and fantasy design sketches, like from his deadwood artbook? Ikuto Yamashita? Sejoon Kim? More, more!
I guess what I love about Yoh is that, most of the times, his designs never lose you in too much scifi greeble or unnecessary belts and whistles, and it all retains a stylized, cartoonish feel to it, even if it’s something super edgy or grotesque…He’ll often add some big circles to the shapes, be it lanterns, eyes or whatever, and bam, you got some interest points for your eye. Also I guess I’m a sucker for his celtic and art nouveauish shapes.
Man, this industry has so many uncredited illustrators…
I assume you already own the three “official” publications of Yoshinari’s art by the AnimeStyle folks? The illustration collection, rough sketches, and Tezuka one (which comes with a bluray featuring the wonderful otonari clips). Very few people are on his level, but nowadays his work is at least very accessible. And definitely get Hori’s new book if you have the chance! Not just because of his enchanting animation, I can’t overstate just how cool the commentary is. Not the first animation book that does that of course, but it’s quite thorough and the dual language is such a cool detail.… Read more »
Yeah, I really want Hori’s book! And Takafumi is someone I got to know because of you guys, so thank you for that. It’s obvious how much yoshinari has influenced his work, and for that relationship he’s got me in. As for Yoh’s book, I’ve got the illustration collection and had the opportunity to see his other books two times, which are fabulous. I feel like animation and even background art are often praised, but design work is more commonly overlooked – and hot dang there’re are some people whose output is something you’d see a western equivalent like Scott… Read more »
this is kind of a sidenote, but does Yutaka Nakamura do any other steps after his rough keys? like, does he do some of the lines himself? all the pencils of his I’ve seen seem like they’d be particularly hard for someone other than himself to decipher.
Yeah he handles the rest of the sequence himself (minus in-betweens), it’s just that he tends to share the roughs in his books.
ohh, for some I assumed the order was key animators penciling keyframes, handing it to the inbetweeners to round out the pencils, then sending it to whoever’s doing the colors/lines.
is it more like the key animator takes the keyframes all the way to finished lines & colors (minus compositing stuff), then the inbetweeners fill the gaps to that standard?
I know I’ve read on here that the director of photography usually ensures consistency with color palettes, but is that after the animators have done the colors themselves?
How would I be able to find and get my hands on more of these kinds of artbooks and production materials straight from the creators themselves? Usually when I search up art compilations for specific shows they’re the usual shallow corporate mish-mash bundled up for an easy buck. Is there a directory that you could recommend for convenience?
As an aside, it always makes me pout when there are exclusives like the Comiket flipbook that I can’t obtain.
Some of them offer the releases themselves through services like BOOTH or put them up on toranoana and the likes later, but not much luck this time around. This site is an excellent compilation of new releases of this kind as promoted by the creators themselves, which isn’t quite what you want but it’s a start https://clarinhtmeta.jimdo.com