【Artbook】Coffin: The Art Of Vampire Hunter D (Amano Yoshitaka Illustrations)

Probably one of the best artbooks ever published in the world(?). It’s so good that the local library has a copy of it, which I borrowed and am reviewing here. And happy new year, I guess. GTFO 2009

Coffin: The Art Of Vampire Hunter D is a standalone artbook first published in Japan by the name of かんおけ―吸血鬼ハンターD (Kanoke – Vampire Hunter D), and later published in North America by Dark Horse Press. This supersized artbook collects the illustrations and artwork, all by Amano Yoshitaka, from the Vampire Hunter D series of novels (authored by KIKUCHI Hideyuki), and exhibits approximately 190 pieces of artwork from a span of 14 years. Despite initially being published in North America, this version is currently available for purchase worldwide on all Amazon divisions except for China. As well, the artbook is written in two languages, Japanese and English, where all instances of the original text is placed beside the translation.

Order at Amazon: USA (US$26.37) | Canada (CAD$27.55) | UK (£21.85) | France (Marketplace only; €22,50+) | Germany (€28,99) | Japan (￥3,730)

The contents of the book, in order of appearance, include

1. Short introduction by KIKUCHI Hideyuki (1 page)
2. Vampire Hunter D-Portrait of Ixobel- by Kikuchi Hideyuki (6 pages; Exclusive Vampire Hunter D Short Story)
3. Illustrations from Vampire Hunter D by AMANO Yoshitaka (190 pages)
4. Painting Data (2 pages)
5. Notes by Amano Yoshitaka (1 page)
6. Profile of Amano Yoshitaka (1 page)

Opinion: This print publication is so amazing that I don’t really know where to start. Just picking it up and seeing its sheer size had already left an impeccable first impression on me, and it further reinforced that perfect impression by amazing me with its complete contents and high print quality. To be honest, I wasn’t much of a fan of Amano’s illustrations – I thought that they were unique and slightly eerily cool, but they weren’t exactly my favourite. However, this book completely changed my opinion of Amano’s work because it really showed off his versatilty and skill as a true artist. There are so many different styles that Amano uses here (not at all limited to the “usual” wispy, thin style!), and this book can be quite aptly described as successfully representing the “many styles of Amano”.

【Novel】涼宮ハルヒの溜息 / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya

More like The Sigh of polymetrica, which was my reaction while and after reading. This will also be the last novel review for a long while, I believe.

Title: 涼宮ハルヒの溜息 (Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki) / The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya
Author: 谷川流 (TANIGAWA Nagaru)
English Translator: Chris Pai
Illustrator: いとうのいぢ (ITO Noizi)
Volume: 2nd
Genre: Light Novel (Comedy, Supernatural, High School)
Status: Ongoing, currently at 9 volumes. Volumes 1 and 2 published in English by Little, Brown and Company and Yen Press.
My Rating: 5/10

Summary: The SOS Brigade, under the directorship of Haruhi, makes a movie to screen at the school Cultural Festival. Tsuruya makes her debut in this volume.

Review: I disliked this volume even more than the first one, as it was not only infuriatingly mediocre, it was immature and just not fun to read. The entire thing was about Haruhi being her usual bossy self and getting people to do things with little to no direction, and the others trying to accomodate her demands to the best of their ability. I found it pretty overboard that she’s torturing Asahina like that, and congrats to Tanigawa for making the reader have sympathy for Asahina, but for me, it was temporary in that it wore out in the middle, and I also thought that the events that happened to evoke pity for Asahina were overdone and really repetitive. After my sympathy was depleted, I turned to disliking Haruhi even more since she continued to be unreasonable, unproductive, and just annoying. Another reason as to why I didn’t sympathize with Asahina anymore was because Kyon was kind of reeling in her suffering, making typical male teenager remarks like how cute her squeal is, or how even her scared face was adorable. There were some saving graces in this book, though, and those would be Kyon’s frustration with Haruhi (whose feelings echoed my own), and Nagato’s uh, action scenes.

【Novel】涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Another novel review…You might be sick of this by now, but please bear with me. This is also one of the few instances where something Haruhi-related will appear on this blog.

Title: 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu) / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Author: 谷川流 (TANIGAWA Nagaru)
English Translator: Chris Pai
Illustrator: いとうのいぢ (ITO Noizi)
Genre: Light Novel (Comedy, Supernatural, High School)
Status: Ongoing, currently at 9 volumes. Volumes 1 and 2 published in English by Little, Brown and Company and Yen Press.
My Rating: 7.5/10

Description: This is the English version of the first volume of the Suzumiya Haruhi series, penned by Tanigawa Nagaru and illustrated by Ito Noizi. Melancholy won Tanigawa the grand prize at the eighth annual Sneaker awards (a light novel award from Kadokawa Shoten), and the novel has gone on to be adapted into an anime of two seasons produced by Kyoto Animation, two iterations of manga by MIZUNO Makoto and TSUGANO Gaku, five video games, a radio show, and an upcoming movie adaptation for the fourth novel. The original light novel series currently has 9 volumes out, and is still ongoing.

Summary: Kyon is a student starting his first year at high school. In his class is an odd girl named Suzumiya Haruhi, who introduces herself with a declaration that shocks Kyon. Kyon talks to Haruhi one day – an action which he will regret since Haruhi then proceeds to turn his life upside down with her detemination to fulfill a certain wish of her’s.

Review: This novel is the very definition of what a light novel is – A fun, engaging, and entertaining read that doesn’t let you think at all, but makes just enough sense to not make you question any of it. To put it slightly negatively, it’s mindless entertainment in the form of writing. It has no substance, and it needs no substance. While you’re reading it, you feel that it’s very engaging, but after you read it and proceed to try thinking of what you’ve just read, you won’t really be able to recall it since it’s so unsubstantial it just went over your head. Melancholy is exactly like instant gratification, and is ONLY there for satisfying your immediate need for entertainment. It has great rereading value in that it’s just mediocre enough to make it unimpressionable, while be just good enough that you enjoy it in the process.