KURUTTA

50 manga eyes

2010-04-26T22:51:00.006+02:00

I give you a follow-up to my, currently broken WORKING, post with 50 yaoi schlongs. This time you can share it with your kids! 50 eyes from 50 different artists. 50 great artists I should say.

Just hover your cursor over an eye and you'll see who drew it!

Favorites anyone? I like #21, Kei Aoyama.

For some reason Blogger doesn't show any additional posts after this one, does anyone know why? I've set it up to shop 5 posts per page.

Akira: color versus monochrome

2010-04-22T01:56:00.003+02:00

When Akira was brought over to the States for the first time in '88 by Marvel it was not only an important milestone for manga in English but also an important milestone for comic coloring. Colorist Steve Oliff persuaded Marvel to let him color the series with computers and Akira became the first ongoing comic with computer coloring.

The pale colors makes Neo-Tokyo look even darker but a lot of detail is lost in the process. And even though the color consistency is all over the place I think it looks absolutely delicious. It feels very different from the Akira most of us know, reading it sometimes like reading a new manga. It is not better, just different.

The city vistas loose a lot of detail but gain a lot of oompfh.

I love the green glow from the arcade.

Does Kei look better in purple...

... or beige? Her trench changes color magically. This is my favorite panel from Akira by the way.

I think the top two panels are worse while the bottom two are better in color.

It is intresting how all the bubbles and onomatopoeia are different as well.

Pink Posters

2010-04-09T20:28:00.007+02:00

It is inevitable, sooner or later all alt-japanese blogs post some pink film posters. I just want to get this post out of the way. Let's do this bitches!!

暴露日記情欲の季節, 1969.

女番長感化院脱走, 1973. 女番長タイマン勝負, 1974. 女番長玉突き遊び, 1974.

水中裸の浮世絵蛇魂, 1959. しびれくらげ, 1970

信州シコシコ節温泉芸者VSお座敷ストリッパー, 1975.

秘録長崎おんな牢, 1971. 東京カリギュラ夫人, 1981. 情事のあと始末, 1969.

前科おんな殺し節, 1973. 新妻地獄, 1975.

性のハレンチ, 1968.

恐怖女子高校女暴力教室, 1972. 恐怖女子高校女暴力教室, 1973. 恐怖女子高校アニマル同級生, 1973.

女番長ゲリラ, 1972. 女番長, 1973

Year one

2010-04-05T15:35:00.005+02:00

KURUTTA is now one sparingly updated year old. I didn't think it would last this long and I don't want to make any promises for the future. But at the moment it feels like I want to post more reviews like the ones during BOOK MONTH and less of the things I've done the last months. That could change though.

My favorite post so far is the one with Japanese Punk Covers, the most popular post (the one that generates the most hits/day) is still 50 Yaoi Schlongs. And I know the cock images are broken, but finding a xxx image host that isn't crap is hard. If you want to host 50 wiener gifs on your server feel free to contact me. The most RSS-read post is Sadao Hasegawa.

Please tell me what you think of KURUTTA so far, your favorites and what you want to see more and less of!

Katsuya Terada for Wizardry

2010-04-03T20:36:00.002+02:00

Katsuya Terada (寺田克也) has always been a mixed bag but I really like these monster designs he did for the game Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land.

half awake and half asleep in the water

2010-03-30T02:06:00.003+02:00

half awake and half asleep in the water is the name of a series by Asako Narahashi (楢橋朝子) that I find horrifying. She snapped the shots around Japan between 2000 and 2003.

I am not a very good swimmer. And I am rather uncomfortable in the water. I cannot escape a sense of fear. Even if I decide that I want to take a photograph from there (=within the water), there are times when I just can't do it. And I cannot freely create any distance. I want to be open to all sorts of things and I decided to remain uncomfortable.

More on her website. The full series is published in a book from Nazraeli Press and can be found on Amazon.

Anime nasty: Violence Jack - Hell's Wind

2010-03-24T23:08:00.003+01:00

The third Violence Jack OVA is somewhere in between the first and second one when it comes to gore and smut but it is way ahead the rest of the pack when it comes to animation and production. And cheesy music. Still not good though. Released in 1990, directed by Takuya Wada.

Anime nasty: Violence Jack - Evil Town

2010-03-12T15:37:00.004+01:00

The last half of this OVA is an out-of-control no-holds-barred sleazefest that could only be made in the late eighties. Released in 1988, directed by Ichirō Itano and Takuya Wada.

Anime nasty: Violence Jack - Harem Bomber

2010-03-07T01:54:00.006+01:00

Merely a warm-up for (and a walk in the park compared to) the sequels. Released in 1986, directed by Ichirō Itano.

Sadao Hasegawa

2010-02-07T03:48:00.004+01:00

Sadao Hasegawa (長谷川サダオ) was a prominent homoerotic artist who did a lot of awesome shit. In November 20 1999 he committed suicide by hanging himself in Bangkok. A small stone with a painted portrait of Yukio Mishima was found beside him, a wonderfully Japanese tragic gay way to go.

I'm back bitches.

A KURUTTA 2010

2010-01-07T23:05:00.004+01:00

This time of the year it is customary to list stuff so here is some stuff I think will be good in 2010.

Suehiro Maruo will return to us with The Strange Tale of Panorama Island, 17 years after the last English release of a full length manga by him. It is about time. The English release is helmed by the boys of Same Hat. Usamaru Furuya will also make a triumphant return to the English manga community with CMX's September release of 51 Ways to Save Her a disaster manga about a pair of newly reunited classmates stuck in the aftermath of the inevitable huge Tokyo earthquake.

Someone at Viz must be crazy because they are releasing FOUR different manga from never before published author Natsume Ono. Not Simple is the first one out of the starting blocks with Ristorante Paradiso, House of Five Leaves and Gente following with a few months apart. I don't know what they are thinking but I like it!

D&Q are releasing Yoshihiro Tatsumi's first full length crime manga Black Blizzard in April. The worst Tatsumi book to hit the market so far? The Ax anthology will hopefully come out next year as well and Vertical are aiming to release a new Tezuka manga 10/19/2010 though they have yet to disclose which one it is.

Remember this trailer of a new 3D animated series based on the manga Apocalypse Meow (aka Cat Shit One)? It is supposed to come out soon. Can't find any info about the status of the production though. Masaaki Yuasa will return with a new anime in April, Yojō-Han Shinwa Taikei, based on a novel by Tomihiko Morimi with Yūsuke Nakamura designing the characters. Oh my God this one could be gorgeous.

Redline has been in development for six years and is the baby of Takeshi Koike, the guy behind Trava and the World Record segment in Animatrix. The plot, scripted by long time collaborator Katsuhito Ishii (Funky Forest, The Taste of Tea, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl), revolves around the deadliest race in the world and its racers. This one promises to be completely bonkers. Just watch the trailer.

I think Satoshi Kon's next movie, The Dreaming Machine, is supposed to come out this year as well.

If we are lucky Genjiro Arato's adaptation of No Longer Human will be just as good as the book. Or at least enjoyable. The trailer looks promising. The Sukeban Hunters trilogy looks like it could become a pretty awesome tribute to the Pinky Violence movies of yore. And just as low budget and filled with av stars you'd expect.

The guy who did Negadon is back with another CGI-fest called Planzet, this time it seems to be a homage to the giant mecha genre. Hopefully not as boring as the teaser suggests. And then there's the live-action adaptation of Solanin, yet another over acted drama based on a manga with a theme song by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION only this time with Aoi Miyazaki to save the whole thing.

Best movie ever House aka Hausu is coming out on DVD with English subtitles, THE release of 2010. Thank you Eureka Video!

FUCK I forgot about the Toshio Saeki book from Last Gasp, Onikage.

A KURUTTA decade

2010-01-01T12:59:00.007+01:00

This time of the year it is customary to list stuff so here is some stuff I thought was good in the noughties. I'll probably regret everything on these lists in two months...

Things I thoroughly enjoyed in the noughties part manga

Red Colored Elegy by Seiichi Hayashi
Blue Spring by Taiyō Matsumoto
Blue by Kiriko Nananan
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kōno
Museum of Terror by Junji Ito
New Engineering by Yuichi Yokoyama
MW by Osamu Tezuka
The Push Man and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu
Est Em's manga

Things I thoroughly enjoyed in the noughties part movies

I think Battle Royale's immense popularity and the awful sequel has made people denounce it but hot damn it is the tightest film Fukasaku ever made. Fun fact: the first time I fell asleep in a movie theater was during a screening of Kitano's awful Glory to the Filmmaker. Yuck!

Things I thoroughly enjoyed in the noughties part anime

But the absolute best moment in anime was the opening of Cowboy Bebop: Knocking of Heaven's Door. The POV shot of the first guy getting knocked out. The mid-air doughnut. The use of fisheye perspectives. Spike's grumpy eyes when the fourth robber comes out of the bathroom. The can of soda that rolls a bit further than the rest. "Just a humble bounty hunter, ma'am". And then the title sequence. Everything is just so perfect and goose bump-y. Too bad the rest of the film never manages to evoke the same feelings the first 6 minutes does. Two other favorite scenes: The "I can't stop loving you" climax in Metropolis and the sex scene in Mind Game.

The most technically impressive things I saw: Innocence and Tekkonkinkreet. Actually Studio 4°C's entire decade was one long animation tour de Force.

Things I thoroughly enjoyed in the noughties part visual kei

DAS:VASSER - Over (Song)
新興宗教楽団NoGoD - アトリア (Song)
人格ラヂオ - バンギャルラヂオシアタァ (DVD)
MUCC - 絶望 (Song)
Dir en grey - The Final (Song)
√eight - illational of the people (Album)
Viored (Group)
D'espairsRay - TERRORS (Album)
La'Mule - ナイフ (Song)
exist†trace - JUDEA (Song)

人格ラヂオ - 姥捨て山
Jinkaku Radio - Ubasuteyama

Toshio Saeki's music covers

2009-12-18T15:59:00.003+01:00

It shouldn't be too surprising to learn that the art of Toshio Saeki (佐伯俊男) has graced a few album covers over the years. He is not as prolific as Maruo in the field, with only two artists using him so far, but I think his work is just as stunning.

三上寛怨歌集 - "ひらく夢などあるじゃなし", 1972.

GARLIC BOYS - "ロマン", 2001. 三上寛, - "船頭小唄 / 三上寛えん歌の世界", 1973. 三上寛 - "コンサートライヴ零孤徒", 1972.

GARLIC BOYS - "十(ten)", 2004. GARLIC BOYS - "マッシュルームカットとダッフルコート", 2000.

三上寛 - "三上寛の世界", 1971.

三上寛 - "BANG!", 1974. Back and front.

Hardcore and folk music all the way. While researching this post I found out that Press Pop Gallery in Tokyo recently published a tabloid called SAEKI TOSHIO'S WORKS IN MUSIC which seems like a super deluxe version of this post. Do what I just did and buy it from their website or from PictureBox.

三上寛 - "夢は夜ひらく"
Mikami Kan - "Yume wa Yoru Hikaru

MATSUMOTO WEEK: Universe

2009-12-09T05:06:00.002+01:00

Final day of MATSUMOTO WEEK and the final short I will post from Matsumoto's 100. This time it is a piece called Universe:

Quite the cliché but it makes you feel pretty warm inside. And hey, GoGo Monster is out NOW and it is supposed to be as gorgeous as the Japanese edition.

MATSUMOTO WEEK: off TV

2009-12-04T17:53:00.002+01:00

All right, next short in line from Matsumoto's 100. This time a little bundle of joy called off TV:

OK maybe that didn't make much sense but the kid is flying on a pink hippo for Christ's sake!

MATSUMOTO WEEK: Moment

2009-12-02T17:16:00.004+01:00

It is less than a week until the English translation Taiyō Matsumoto's GoGo Monster is released. To celebrate this I'm gonna bombard you with Matsumoto related posts the next week. Today I'm posting a four page short taken from Matsumoto's art book 100 that I wrote about a little while ago. It is called Moment:

I didn't bother to correct the colors because it looks kinda charming and this isn't supposed to be a HQ scan.

est em's men

2009-11-26T15:39:00.003+01:00

est em is my favorite BL labeled artist. Her work is far from the usual school boy romance that plagues the genre, her characters are actual characters and her men are men. It is probably not BL at all, it shares almost nothing with the genre, but I guess it is easier to sell stuff as BL than gay. Her sketchy art is wonderful, especially when she isn't using the computer.

All of the images are taken from est em's website VOSTOK. She currently has three books collecting her short stories published in English: Seduce Me After The Show, Red Blinds the Foolish and Age Called Blue.

Fantastic shōjo: Who is Macoto Takahashi?

2009-11-19T01:34:00.007+01:00

Just now a friend sent me Lililicious' scanslation of a 1957 shōjo manga called The Rows of Cherry Trees (さくら並木) by a man named Macoto, or Makoto, Takahashi (高橋真琴). I am baffeled, it is like reading yuri/shōjo blueprint: two rival girls competing for the love of a upperclassman (also a girl), a widowing mother, bullying, ballet, namedropping of classical music, huge sparkly eyes and the most expressive planels you've ever seen. Who is this man, what else has he done, where can I find some more?

And those are only illustrations from the prelude, the actual manga is shōjo boner heaven.

COMPUTERS

2009-11-12T00:13:00.004+01:00

So my computer died on me three days ago, hard enough to be beyond repair unless I format my main drive. The fans go WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHIII, the harddrives go KCH-KCH-KCH-KC and then everything goes CLICK when I try to start it up. It is over five years old (97 in computer years) and I have been thinking (and am in the process) of getting a laptop for my soon-to-be international life but it is annoying as fuck to come into a computer and OS switch unprepared. All of my KURUTTA "research" was on my main internal drive so it might be a little while (longer than usual) until I get back in full swing. I hope I can salvage everything from it, but first and foremost I'm installing and copying everything essential from my external drives.

I WILL RISE AGAIN! At the very latest in time for Taiyō Matsumoto week. Huh?

Blade of the Immoral

2009-11-04T16:47:00.002+01:00

Hiroaki Samura, author of the horrendus Blade of the Immortal, has beside his mainstream manga done a lot of extreme illustrations for various high- and lowbrow porn and art magazines. In 2006 he collected them in a book called Hitodenashi no Koi (人でなしの恋) with the English subtitle The Love of the Brute. It is filled with women not enjoying getting sexually tortured, but Samura's penwork is so beautiful you can't stop looking. I am particualy disgusted by the thread around the collarbone in the third picture.

By the way these aren't even near the worst images in the book. If you want to see for yourself you get the book at Amazon.co.jp

Panels from Tezuka's Crime and Punishment

2009-10-18T22:06:00.004+02:00

Earlier this year I reviewed Osamu Tezuka's take on Crime and Punishment. I just want to share a few pages from the end of the book where a young Tezuka, 25 at the time, is trying things the older Tezuka would eventually master. The text is from the bilingual edition translated by Frederik L. Schodt. Read the right-to-left!

The following pages are out-of-order (there is one additional page in between them) and left untranslated because you don't need to know what they are talking about to fully appreciate or understand the panels.

I just love the onomatopoeia in the rain and how heavy the raindrops feel in the third panel. What do you think?

Sekitani Norihiro "Music" Videos

2009-10-11T17:11:00.003+02:00

Remember Sekitani Norikito? It turns out that he has directed and animated quite a few music videos. They are, um, well, see for yourself. You might want to turn your volume down. Way down.

Hey the last one wasn't too hard to watch. He did one more video for the same artist, check it out here.

150 Greatest Albums of Japanese Rock 'n' Roll

2009-10-06T00:56:00.002+02:00

I'm a list geek. Whenever I stumble upon a list with things I find remotely intresting I get a little bit hard. When Néojaponisme posted Rolling Stone Japan's list of the 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time I was in heaven. It was the first time I had found a proper guide to Japanese rock history outside of "RC Succession, Happy End and YMO were important and probably this really obscure punk band I got from a vinyl rip trading site because they sound bad ass." In the post it is mentioned that Japanese music magazine Snoozer posted a list of 150 rock albums in response to RSJ's, according to them, boring list. I just had to get my hands on that list as well so that I could compare and listen my way through a pretty big chunk of rock history and got a friend of mine to hunt down a copy of the issue for me.

I was reminded of the Néojaponisme post again a few weeks ago when I found my current mp3-blog favorite and realized that the Snoozer list still hasn't found its way to the English speaking part of the internet so I decided to post it. Snoozer's list contains much more indie rock and much less hard rock and shibuya-kei than Rolling Stone Japan's, not odd at all when you consider the fact that Snoozer is an indie rock magazine "for girls & boys tangled up in blue." Along with the RSJ list and the stuff you find on Japan Rockology you have a pretty great chronicle over Japanese rock and pop. Here is what Snoozer's list of the 150 Greatest Albums of Japanese Rock 'n' Roll looks like:

RC Succession:Tanoshii Yuuni [RCサクセション:楽しい夕に], 1972
Rosa Luxemburg:Rosa Luxemburg II [ローザ・ルクセンブルグ:ローザ・ルクセンブルグII], 1986
Fishmans:Kuuchuu Camp [フィッシュマンズ:空中キャンプ], 1996
Murahachibu:Live [村八分:ライブ], 1973
Nakamura Kazuyoshi:Taiyô [中村一義:太陽], 1998
Boredoms:Super Are, 1998
Okamura Yasuyuki: Yasuyuki [岡村靖幸: 靖幸], 1989
Rosa Luxemburg:Puripuri [ローザ・ルクセンブルグ:ぷりぷり], 1986
Cornelius:Fantasma [コーネリアス:ファンタズマ], 1997
SOUL FLOWER UNION:ELECTRO ASYL-BOP [ソウル・フラワー・ユニオン:エレクトロ・アジール・バップ], 1996
Ankoku Tairiku Jagatara:Nanban Torai [暗黒大陸じゃがたら:南蛮渡来], 1982
FRICTION:Atsureki [FRICTION:軋轢], 1980
Scha Dara Parr:Wild Fancy Alliance [スチャダラパー:Wild Fancy Alliance], 1993
Yamaguchi Fujio:Himatsubushi [山口冨士夫:ひまつぶし], 1974
Les Rallizes Denudes:‘77 LIVE [裸のラリーズ:Les Rallizes Denudes ‘77 LIVE], 1991
Sano Motoharu:VISITORS [佐野元春:ヴィジターズ], 1982
P-MODEL:Perspective, 1982
RC Succession:Single Man [RCサクセション:シングル・マン], 1976
thee michelle gun elephant:GEAR BLUES [thee michelle gun elephant:ギヤ・ブルーズ], 1998
The Blue Hearts:S/T [ザ・ブルーハーツ], 1987
INU:Meshi kuu na [INU:メシ喰うな], 1981
Spitz: Namae wo Tsuketeyaru [スピッツ:名前をつけてやる], 1991
DOWN TOWN FIGHTING BOOGIE WOOGIE BAND:Kaizoku ban~LIVE FIGHTING 80'S[ダウン・タウン・ファイティング・ブギウギ・バンド:海賊盤～LIVE FIGHTING 80'S], 1980
Yōsui Inoue:Kōri no Sekai: [井上陽水:氷の世界], 1973
Arai Yumi:Hikōki Kumo [荒井由実:ひこうき雲], 1973
Endou Kenji:Tokyo Wasshoi [遠藤賢司:東京ワッショイ], 1979
Quruli:Walz wo Odore Tanz Walzer [くるり:ワルツを踊れ Tanz Walzer], 2007
Ozawa Kenji:The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on [小沢健二:犬は吠えるがキャラバンは進む], 1993
Nanao Tavito:911FANTASIA [七尾旅人:911FANTASIA], 2007
Supercar:JUMP UP [スーパーカー:JUMP UP], 1999
Nanao Tavito:Ame ni utaeba…! disc 2 [七尾旅人:雨に撃たえば...!disc 2], 1999
Happy End:Kazemachi Roman [はっぴいえんど:風街ろまん], 1971
Elephant Kashimashi:Uki yo no yume [エレファントカシマシ:浮世の夢], 1989
THA BLUE HERB:STILLING,STILL DREAMING [ザブルーハーブ:STILLING,STILL DREAMING], 1999
Phew:S/T, 1981
Sokabe Keiichi Band: LIVE [曽我部恵一BAND:LIVE], 2005
Number Girl:SAPPUKEI [ナンバーガール:SAPPUKEI], 2000
Denki Groove:ORANGE [電気グルーヴ:ORANGE], 1996
Yamashita Tatsuro:SPACY [山下達郎:SPACY], 1977
Sunny Day Service:S/T [サニーデイ・サービス], 1997
Yura Yura Teikoku:Kuudou Desu [ゆらゆら帝国:空洞です], 2007
Mikami Kan:Hiraku Yume Nado Arujanashi [三上寛:ひらく夢などあるじゃなし], 1972
Yuukadan:Seibun 59 Mins [憂歌団:生聞59分], 1977
Tokyo No.1 Soul Set:Jr., 1996
Nakamura Kazuyoshi: Kinjito [中村一義：金字塔], 1997
SAKANA:BLIND MOON, 2000
The Pees:The Greatest Hits VOL. 1 [The ピーズ:グレイテスト・ヒッツ VOL.1], 1989
The Timers:S/T [タイマーズ:], 1989
Quruli:TEAM ROCK [くるり:TEAM ROCK], 2001
Togawa Jun:Tamahime-sama [戸川純:玉姫様], 1983

RC Succession - Yōkoso
From the album RHAPSODY

PANTA & HAL:TKO NIGHT LIGHT, 1980
RC Succession:Rhapsody [RCサクセション:ラプソディ], 1980
Ozawa Kenji:LIFE [小沢健二:LIFE], 1994
DJ KRUSH:STRICTLY TURNTABLIZED, 1995
Struggle For Pride:YOU BARK WE BITE [ストラグル・フォー・プライド:YOU BARK WE BITE], 2006
CHIKADA HARUO & VIBRASTONE:ENTROPY PRODUCTIONS [近田春夫&ビブラストーン:ENTROPY PRODUCTIONS], 1991
Kinniku Shoujo Tai:Elise no Tameni [筋肉少女帯:エリーゼのために], 1992
Shing02:Ryokuousyoku Jinshu [Shing02:緑黄色人種], 1999
HiGE:Thank You, Beatles [髭（HiGE）:Thank You, Beatles], 2005
Yann Tomita: Music for Astro Age [ヤン富田：ミュージック・フォー・アストロ・エイジ], 1992
Jacks:Jacks no Sekai [ジャックス:ジャックスの世界], 1968
Fishmans:ORANGE [フィッシュマンズ:ORANGE], 1996
Bo Gumbos:Bo & Gumbo [ボ・ガンボス:ボ&ガンボ], 1989
Kazufumi Kodama:QUIET REGGAE [こだま和文:QUIET REGGAE], 1992
RC Succession:BLUE [RCサクセション:BLUE], 1981
EP-4:Showa Taisha - Linga Franca 1 [EP-4:昭和大赦-リンガ・フランカ1], 1983
Unicorn:Hige to Boyne [ユニコーン:ヒゲとボイン], 1991
The Stalin:TRASH, 1981
Carnation:High & Low [カーネーション:天国と地獄], 1992
Aburadako:S/T [あぶらだこ], 1986
Ken Ishii:Garden on the Palm, 1993
PLASTICS:Welcome Plastics, 1980
Makoto Kubota & The Sunset Gang:Hawaii Champloo [久保田麻琴と夕焼け楽団:ハワイ・チャンプルー], 1975
Shonen Knife:LET’S KNIFE [少年ナイフ:LET’S KNIFE], 1992
Nav Katze:Switch Complete 1986-1987, 1991
Flower Travellin' Band:Satori [フラワー・トラベリン・バンド:サトリ], 1971
Newest Model:Crossbreed Park [ニューエスト・モデル:クロスブリード・パーク], 1990
Mitsuyoshi Azuma & The Swinging Boppers:Swing Back With The Swinging Boppers [吾妻光良 & The Swinging Boppers:ウィング・バック・ウィズ・ザ・スウィンギン・バッパーズ], 1983
Fushitsusha:S/T [不失者], 1991
BLANKEY JET CITY:C.B.Jim, 1993
THE HIGH-LOWS:Lobster [THE HIGH-LOWS:ロブスター], 1998
Hosono Haruomi: Bon Voyage co. [細野晴臣:泰安洋行], 1976
Violent Onsen Geisha:Otis [暴力温泉芸者:Otis], 1994
Rei Harakami:Red Curb [レイ・ハラカミ:Red Curb], 2001
ECD:S/T, 1992
Scha Dara Parr:5TH Wheel 2 the coach [スチャダラパー:5th ホイール 2 ザ・コーチ], 1995
Sano Motoharu:Napoleon Fish to Oyogu Hi [佐野元春:ナポレオンフィッシュと泳ぐ日], 1989
RC Succession:EP LP [RCサクセション:EP LP], 1981
Makoto Kawamoto:S/T [川本真琴], 1997
Izumiya Shigeru:Ogonkyo Jidai [泉谷しげる:黄金狂時代], 1974
Pizzicato Five:This Year's Girl [ピチカート・ファイヴ:女性上位時代], 1991
ZOOBOMBS:Let It Bomb [ズボンズ:Let It Bomb], 1998
Hijokaidan:Zoroku no Kibyo [非常階段:蔵六の奇病], 1982
Kimidori:S/T [キミドリ], 1993
Halmens:Halmens No Kindai Taiso [ハルメンズ:ハルメンズの近代体操], 1980
Zelda:CARNAVAL [ゼルダ:CARNAVAL], 1983
The Groovers:No.18 [ザ・グルーヴァーズ:No.18], 1991
Omoide Hatoba:Suichuu JOE [想い出波止場:水中JOE], 1991
Southern All Stars:Tiny Bubbles [サザンオールスターズ:タイニイ・バブルス], 1980
Zunou Keisatsu:Zunou Keisatsu Second [頭脳警察:頭脳警察セカンド], 1972

Fishmans - Nightcruising
From the album Kuuchuu Camp

Denki Groove:A [電気グルーヴ:A(エース)], 1997
Sugar Babe:SONGS [シュガー・ベイブ:SONGS], 1975
RC Succession:OK [RCサクセション:OK], 1983
Sadistic Mika Band:Kurofune [サディスティック・ミカ・バンド:黒船], 1974
Spitz: S/T [スピッツ], 1991
Endou Kenji:Manzoku Dekiru Kana [遠藤賢司:満足できるかな], 1971
Quruli:Antenna [くるり:アンテナ], 2004
Kokufu Tatsuya:Rock Tensei [国府達矢:ロック転生], 2003
Masato Minami:Kaikisen [南正人:回帰線], 1971
BOOM BOOM SATELLITES:ON [ブンブンサテライツ:ON], 2006
Ryuichi Sakamoto:B2-UNIT [坂本龍一:B2-UNIT], 1980
Syrup16g:HELL-SEE [シロップ16g:HELL-SEE], 2003
Yura Yura Teikoku:Sweet Spot [ゆらゆら帝国:Sweet Spot], 2005
Nobuyasu Okabayashi:Watashi wo Danzai Seyo [岡林信康:わたしを断罪せよ], 1969
Ohtaki Eiichi:S/T [大滝詠一], 1972
Shiina Ringo:Shouso Strip [椎名林檎:勝訴ストリップ], 2000
Flipper's Guitar:DOCTOR HEAD'S WORLD TOWER [Flipper's Guitar:ヘッド博士の世界塔], 1991
Johnny, Louis & Char:FREE SPIRIT [ジョニー・ルイス＆チャー:FREE SPIRIT], 1979
ZAZEN BOYS:ZAZEN BOYS II, 2004
NIAGARA TRIANGLE:NIAGARA TRIANGLE Vol.1, 1976
Nav Katze:Uwa no Sora, [Nav Katze:うわのそら] 1994
HiGE:Chaos in Apple [髭（HiGE）:Chaos in Apple], 2007
Yoshio Hayakawa:Kakkoiihotoha Nannte Kakkowaruin Darou [早川義夫:かっこいいことはなんてかっこ悪いんだろう], 1969
RC Succession:Covers [RCサクセション:カバーズ], 1988
P-MODEL:IN A MODEL ROOM, 1979
Guitar Wolf:Planet of the Wolves [ギターウルフ:狼惑星], 1997
Masaki Ueda:Kono Atsui Tamashi wo Tsutaetainya [上田正樹:この熱い魂を伝えたいんや], 1975
Hi-STANDARD:MAKING THE ROAD, 1999
Itou Seikou:MESS/AGE [いとうせいこう:MESS/AGE], 1989
Yano Akiko:Gohan ga Dekitayo [矢野顕子:ごはんができたよ], 1980
Flipper's Guitar:CAMERA TALK, 1990
BACK DROP BOMB:MICROMAXMUM, 1999
Sakana:my dear [さかな:my dear], 1996
Supercar:Three Out Change [スーパーカー:スリーアウトチェンジ], 1998
Totsuzen Danball:Yokushi Onryoku [突然ダンボール:抑止音力], 1991
EGO-WRAPPIN':Michishio no Romance [EGO-WRAPPIN':満ち汐のロマンス], 2001
UA:11, 1996
dip:WAITING FOR THE LIGHT, 1994
Shibusashirazu Orchestra:Shibusa Michi [渋さ知らず:渋さ道], 1993
S.O.B.:LEAVE ME ALONE + DON'T BE SWINDLE, 1986/1987
Keiichi Suzuki and the Moon Riders:Hinotama Boy [鈴木慶一とムーンライダース:火の玉ボーイ],
Yellow Magic Orchestra:BGM, 1981
Tamio Okuda:Matatabi [奥田民生:股旅], 1998
Moon Riders:Camera Egal Stylo [ムーンライダーズ:カメラ＝万年筆], 1980
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant:Chicken Zombies, 1997
8otto:we do vibration , 2006
audio active:Apollo Choco, 1997
Tama:Sandaru [たま:さんだる], 1990
Ging Nang BOYZ:Kimi To Boku no Daisanji Sekai Taisenteki Renai Kakumei [銀杏BOYZ:君と僕の第三次世界大戦恋愛革命], 2005
NUKEY PIKES:S/T [ニューキー・パイクス], 1991

Yōsui Inoue - Kōri no Sekai
From the album Kōri no Sekai

BOOK MONTH: The Maruographs

2009-09-30T23:59:00.001+02:00

Maruograph EX1 & Maruograph EX2
aka 丸尾画報EX1 & 丸尾画報EX2
By Suehiro Maruo, 丸尾末広
Published by Éditions Treville (2005)
123 & 174 pages
¥3600
ISBN: 4309906400 & 4309906419
Amazon.co.jp: Volume 1 & Volume 2

It is the final day of BOOK MONTH and I've saved the best for last. I'm not gonna tell you who Maruo is or what his art looks like because you already know it, the illustrations in these books are all exactly what you expect from him. Maruograph EX 1 & 2 are expanded editions of Suehiro Maruo's Maruograph art books originally published 1996. The books collect both monochrome and color illustrations by the man himself from his (then) entire career, 1982-2005. The first one also comes with an 8-page comic.

The presentation of the books is gorgeous, they both come in sturdy cardboard slipcases with dustcovers. When you slide a book out you are treated with a completely black paperback with only a few words on the spine hinting at what you'll find inside. The paper edges are colored red and it feels like you are holding something important, possibly holy. You slowly open the book at random and before you know it, BAM, your eyes are getting raped by Maruo and it feels good. The books are treated with much love, they look beautiful, they feel beautiful and they make you feel beautiful.

But they are too small, and size matters when it comes to artbooks. Maybe 10 X 7.2 inches (25 X 18 cm) doesn't sound too small but most of the time a third of the page is just blank space. What the fuck where the publishers thinking here? Yes, generous margins are great but not at the expense of the artwork. Especially not when the artist is all about the details. I've uploaded a sample image to show you ridiculous the margins are sometimes, check it out here.

The books look fantastic

The books also contain a few early sketches of some illustrations

A familiar picture even for the casual fan

Maruo seems to be obsessed with movie freaks

Maruo images of Yukio Mishima in Patriotism and Afraid to Die is almost too much for this blog to handle

Despite the margin mishap I am thrilled over these books. And guess what, both of them are still very much in print and available from Amazon.co.jp (vol 1 & 2) or anywhere else online. BOOK MONTH, over and out.

BOOK MONTH: 100 Posters of Tadanori Yokoo

2009-09-29T01:55:00.006+02:00

100 Posters of Tadanori Yokoo
Edited by Koichi Tanikawa
Published by Images Graphiques, Inc. (1978)
English language
112 pages
$8.95
ISBN: 0895450224
Amazon.com

Tadanori Yokoo is one of the most internationally acclaimed graphic designers Japan has produced, he has designed posters, book and album covers for big names all over the world and had a solo exhibition with his graphic work at MoMA 1972. He is also one of many artists who have been "rediscovered" internationally with the help of Internet and has been labeled awesome by dudes and dudettes all over. This book, published in The States 1978, contains 100 (who would've thought) posters Yokoo produced between 1965 and '77.

The selection of posters is great showcasing both his most famous posters (Having Reached a Climax at the Age of 29, I Was Dead is the first poster you see) and a bunch of lesser known posters I had never seen before. The best part is that all the posters are introduced and explained by the book's editor Koichi Tanikawa. There is also an introduction by Milton Glaser (google him if you don't know...) The book is a gloriously oversized paperback that measures 11x16 inches, 28x40.5 cm. The margins are generous enough, the paper is thick, the colors are rich and the book feels like a solid work of quality, my copy is just barely faded. I just have one gripe about the book: about 20 pages are in black and white, despite the fact that the posters where originally in color. That doesn't make this book any less essential to a Yokoo fan though.

The desicion to reproduce some posters in black and white is really disappointing, this Diary of a Shinjuku Thief poster is absolute crap compared to the color original

I fucked up the camera settings so the pictures are a bit too dark and grainy. You know what I am going to say here: the book has been out of print for ages and the only way to get it is to find it used, eBay and Google the shit out of this baby. I don't really know what a fair price is for this book today, it has been on a steady rise along with Yokoo's popularity. Good luck!