Today, we’re throwing the spotlight on Alpha – a hardbound artbook featuring the work of ARIA manga author and illustrator Amano Kozue.

CONTENTS

Note to readers: Click on the images to enlarge. Requests for larger, high-quality reproductions/scans will not be entertained. If these low-quality samples succeed in piquing your interest, please support Amano-sensei and the publishers by purchasing the artbook.

The first section of Alpha is a 34-page collection of artwork set in the world of Amano-sensei’s popular manga series ARIA. The illustrations show one or more of the series’ main characters – most frequently Akari – against a wide variety of backgrounds.

Some settings are clearly specific to Neo-Venezia, either because of the presence of spacecraft . . .

. . . or identifying signs.

Others are simply Manhome Venetian . . .

. . . or have a general Mediterranean feel (more Greek than Italian, in the case of the following).

In some illustrations – including the following – the backgrounds are clearly inspired by scenes from Amano-sensei’s native Japan.

The rest of the book features artwork prepared for Amano-sensei’s other manga series. We have eight pages from Roman Club . . .

. . . twelve pages from Crescent Noise . . .

. . . and six pages from various other works.

In the last part of the colour section, we are transported back to Neo-Venezia through twelve pages of art from Amano-sensei’s two-volume manga series AQUA, the prequel to ARIA (although strictly speaking they’re both part of the same series).

After the colour sections, we have eleven pages of monochrome art prepared for various series. One of these illustrations is an interesting prototype drawing for AQUA showing a terraformed Mars that looks quite different from the one actually used: more tropical than Venetian, with an almost unrecognisable Ukijima floating high in the background and a young woman (prototype Akari?) sitting on a wide beach in the foreground.

MY THOUGHTS

The ARIA and AQUA sections of Alpha are a true feast for the eyes of this longtime fan of Amano-sensei’s most popular manga series. Needless to say, the low-quality images above don’t do the artwork justice: there’s simply no substitute for purchasing the artbook and looking at these gorgeous illustrations in person.

Like the manga series and its anime adaptation, the art of ARIA and AQUA seems to have been designed specifically to induce a sense of calm refreshment on the part of the viewer. Amano-sensei’s style favours a soft palette – mainly in shades of blue and green, the colours of the sea – and a masterful use of shading to create vistas that are both strikingly beautiful and remarkably easy on the eyes. Human figures are usually drawn in poses that suggest not action, but relaxation: sitting serenely on the edge of a canal with the sea lapping at their feet; perched on a high spot gazing up at the azure sky, with the ocean’s gently rippled surface spreading out underneath; walking in an open arcade at sunset within sight of the sea-green harbour. It’s enough to make one want to lie in bed and sleep peacefully through the afternoon, or even fly straight to Venice itself and experience the joy of leaning back in a gondola borne upon the calm waters of the Venetian lagoon. (I wouldn’t recommend dangling one’s feet in the waters of the real Venice, though. The crystal-clear seas of Amano-sensei’s Neo-Venezia are a pleasant fantasy that its real-life counterpart on Manhome can only wish for.)

The other manga series represented in Alpha call for similar character designs, but a markedly different style of art execution: less depth, a simpler scheme, a palette with fewer pastels and more primary hues. I was not as impressed with these earlier works as I was with the art prepared for ARIA and AQUA, though I imagine fans of Amano-sensei’s other series will find something to their liking in these sections.

A brief word on the packaging. The hardbound artbook comes in a transparent plastic slipcase – a feature I’d like to see on more artbooks, mainly for the added protection it gives. In this case, the title of the artbook and the standard back cover details (price, barcode, etc.) are printed on the slipcase, which leaves the covers of the book itself mostly unmarred by text.

AVAILABILITY

The first edition of Alpha was released in 2004. Several reprints have been issued since then (most recently in September 2008), so availability isn’t a major concern even though five years have passed after the collection first hit store shelves.

If you’re in Japan – or if you have friends in Japan who can do the shopping for you – locating this artbook should be a piece of cake. I purchased my copy of Alpha from the Akihabara branch of Animate, where as of 26 March 2009 (the day when I visited the store), there were several copies on display and possibly more in storage. If I remember correctly, the Akihabara branch of Comic Toranoana also had at least one copy on sale; a nearby branch of AsoBitCity was selling either Alpha or one of its two successors (Stella and Cielo) – can’t remember which – at a slightly lower price. I expect any major bookshop or anime merchandise store will have it on their shelves.

If you’re outside Japan and can’t get the book through local bookshops, you can try one of the major online retailers. Amazon Japan, for example, has Alpha on offer at the prevailing Akiba street price and will ship internationally.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 1:29 am and is filed under Anime, Manga, Reviews.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.