Yoshitaka Amano the Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D Hardcover

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Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D (TPB westward/slipcase)

Writer: Hideyuki Kikuchi
Artist: Yoshitaka Amano

Mania, May 2008

I commencement watched Vampire Hunter Dthe 1985 animated workunder the encompass of deep dark. Lights off, tucked into bed with three pillows propped behind my back, a fleeting sensation of giddiness tingled downward my spine every bit I pressed power on the VCR's remote control and heard the bulky black auto whirl to electronic life. While this wasn't my maiden castor with Japanese blitheness, it would exist the most meaning.

Like many children of the 1980s, I grew up happily oblivious to the nationalistic origins of the cartoons filling my weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. I just knew I really liked Voltron, and human, how cool information technology would be to fly a veritech fighter like Rick Hunter. Why Vampire Hunter D holds such singular importance is because information technology's the bedrock upon which my fandom was built: a bootleg copy of the 1985 picture show was the first show I watched keenly enlightened of its Japanese heritage, and Streamline's eventual VHS release would go the fist official anime record I'd e'er purchase.

But different other anime and manga backdrop that flourished throughout the 1990s and helped fuel my growing obsession, Vampire Hunter D remained obstinately insular, even largely shunning the information explosion set up off by the nascent Internet. Vague utterances concerning novels and some meager tidbits most the movie'southward production could exist unearthed with the right amount of determination, although most available knowledge pertained solely to "that guy who drew Final Fantasy," Yoshitaka Amano.

It can be hard for American anime fans to hash out D without mentioning Amano. In what until recently had been the absence of Hideyuki Kikuchi's original novels, this artist's iconic imagery came to recap the serial; and as time wore on, his conceptualizations of Kikuchi'southward words could be said to take overshadowed the animation that introduced many to D's unsettling world and its queer genre amalgamations.

Yet, while products graced by Amano's distinctive way were at least periodically released here in the States, collections of his works were left wholly the domain of expensive, hard to obtain imports. Which is partially why the yr 2000 constitute me so very excited: a new, highly anticipated Vampire Hunter Dmovie was starting time to make rounds of various films festivals (with tentative plans for an American theatrical tour the following year), and I was anxiously pending a certain package to wind its style into my local comic volume shop.

Those who don't ofttimes peruse a dedicated comic book store may not be particularly acquainted with PREVIEWS, the preeminent monthly catalog of forthcoming comics and related trade used for placing orders through the distribution monopoly that is Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. This massive paper tome primarily facilitates the stocking of store owners' shelves, but layman are also invited to partake of their geekish hoard and will occasionally uncover some decent deals on toys and the like stashed away in its nether regions. During ane particular riffle through the magazine'due south thin, grainy pages, a tiny entry nestled in the corner of its "International" section advertised, Yoshitaka Amano Fine art Volume Vampire Hunter D the lean description and miniscule motion picture offered footling benefit, just the book's disturbingly low price and subject affair were aplenty impetus to meet me filling out an social club class and handing the store clerk a $10 down-payment.

I never would have thoughtsome seven years subsequently the vampiric art volume straggled its way beyond the Pacific and onto my bookshelfan American edition of this aforementioned material would be published...and by a comic volume company, no less. Under the revised title, Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D, Nighttime Horse has done a solid job adapting the flawed Japanese original.

To be completely forthright, my mathematical aptitude is utterly bottomless, and when presented with dimensional information, the digits of an average paperback novel, for all I generally cover, might well correspond the size of a whale shark. Now that's gross exaggeration, of course, only honestly my ability to fully visualize numerical information is foggy at best, owing to why back in 2000 my initial meeting with this Amano fine art book was accompanied by disappointment.

You see, for an fine art book it'due south non very tall, though information technology is substantialenvision, if yous will, 1 of those slim Playstation 2 units or an average hardcover. Based on price and the awful solicitation photo, entertaining delusions of an offer equal in stature to Masamune Shirow's sizable Intron Depot fine art anthologies was absolute folly, simply come on, the book had its own paper-thin sleeve, if that doesn't say lavish and classy than what does?

Well, Yoshitaka Amano Art Volume Vampire Hunter D (I'grand talking about the Japanese version hither) certainly does have an elegant presentation: a close-upwards sketch of D'due south abrupt visage peers outward from the hardy cardboard sleeve, whose ruddy red sides and back dissimilarity beautifully with the housed book's shock yellow dust jack; some other prototype of the titular protagonist, this time a featureless black silhouette, flows across the boldly colored jacket, which itself wraps around a night blue cover serving as the inky properties for a women and her domestic dog out for a moonlit stroll. Inside, the pages are thick and sleeky, perfect mediums for displaying the vibrant, and sometimes even metallic, inks used throughout the various pieces.

If just the book could open apartment.

Sick complimenting these rich aesthetics are the modest stature and unreasonable binding that sadly hobble this otherwise lovely collection. Art books exist to exist seen, to have their contents studied and scrutinizedtheir concrete attributes should ideally be conducive to such ease of treatment. So when a hand-heavy, average-sized brick opens similar a paperback novelsans a willingness to gain an unhindered expect at the artwork by way of destroying the object's spineit's impossible not to question production decisions that significantly sour the overall viewing experience.

However, this lackluster physical design may well exist a office of the concept. While paintings, cover pieces, and trade images can all exist institute within the book's tactilely pleasing pages, also prominently featured are Amano'southward monochrome illustrations created as inserts for Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter Dnovels.

There is an unmistakable sense this compilation has been specifically filtered through the original medium that brought us the alluring vampire hunter, producing a companion meant to cohabitate on bookshelves immediately next to volumes of Kikuchi'southward horror opus, instead of an contained entity splayed out across java tables. Further credence to this notion can exist found in the Kikuchi penned Vampire Hunter D short story, D-A Village in Fog, which opens the book, acting almost as a preface for Amano'due south artwork.

Even lacking a strict sequential progression, the strong pull of chronological movement is evident, guiding us through each individual D story, until we disembark in the twelvemonth 2000 with Amano living-it-up in New York Urban center. What further distinguishes the publication from standard art books is how many of the pieces are shown in an contradistinct state, at times reminiscent of pop art: splashes of pigment have been added, pictures are cropped to create interesting page layouts, and illustrations come with new color schemes. Rather than art presented for art's sake, there's a conscious endeavor to fuse these individual prints together into something more cohesive and unique. Considering of this, what'due south been created is alike to an intensive visual retrospective of Amano'south work on the serial; in lieu of option-picked pieces bound together purely for their appearance, Yoshitaka Amano Art Book Vampire Hunter D tries to retell the story of D through only the imagery.

The effort stands every bit an interesting experiment, but its attempt to straddle the divide between originality and truthful art volume ultimately falls short. Highly-seasoned as the concept is, the executionwith its wrist numbing weight, unyielding spine, and hard to view pagesmakes for a discouraging undertaking that'd likely spend more than time looking pretty on a shelf than getting worn in one's hands.

With this in listen, Night Horse's edition is something of a skewed mirror imageeverything'south recognizable, but just a fleck off.

Immediately noticeable about Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Fine art of Vampire Hunter D (at present we're talking nearly the US release) are small size discrepancies: it's smaller and fatter. Though slightly thicker, the volume really carries a mostly identical height, simply the new cardboard sleeve fits more snuggly, falsely shrinking the packet when placed side by side to the Japanese edition. The cardboard is also flimsier, which due to the tighter proportions makes careless tears a more likely happenstance.

Once liberated from those shut confines, we discover a standard softcover replicating the yellow Japanese dust jacket; the inner blue embrace is an unfortunate only largely innocuous omission. Pages are still of the highest quality, smooth and supple to the touch, they follow their progenitor's layout without deviation. Examining the impress, the The states edition seems to accept a college level of contrastpieces may appear brighter and easier to run into, although they lose effectively details and smooth away grittiness originally found in some of the art. This is not to say the volume has been poorly reproduced or that illustrations are no longer attractive; the American version but looks different in sure respects and, baring the ability to cull between both versions, is not a nuance that should dissuade anyone from the US release.

Every bit previously mentioned, the book opens with a brief story past series creator Hideyuki Kikuchi. This slice, along with all other text, has of form been translated. Kikuchi's yarn is a quaint treat, relating an episode of D getting trapped inside a dream-like village (a story very reminiscent of the 5th novel, The Stuff of Dreams); of greater benefit is the translation of the book's alphabetize, cataloging the source of each individual illustration. 1 area where the American volume undoubtedly stands above its Japanese counterpart is in its surprising ability to open a touch wider. Don't become the wrong idea, the volume is still supported past a copious slab of gum and paper, but there is a smidgen more flexibility in the spine, assuasive for a meliorate overall view of the artwork.

Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Fine art of Vampire Hunter D offers an interesting, though physically bad-mannered, visual journey through series and its various works. For the price, D fans will discover the book an amiable addition to their library of novels, anime, and other media; those desirous of a Yoshitaka Amano art book covering a similar theme would do better to seek out the more appropriately designed, Coffin: The Art of Vampire Hunter D, likewise released domestically past Dark Horse. - John Zakrzewski

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