[Newsflash] Eno’s new artbook + Ai no Kusabi, Summer Wars, Eden of the East at TAF 2009
New artbook of the PRC illustrator Eno. (何何舞)
Cover image of Eno's artbook 'Marquee Moon'
News reached me that Eno’s new artbook entitled Anemone (银莲花) is to go on sale early next month. This is her second artbook since Marquee Moon (华盖之月).
Eno. is by far my favorite illustrator these days. I adore that androgynous, ethereal beauty and that delicate, graceful touch in her illustrations. I see that she is also trying her hand at manhua these days – namely a series entitled Ling Miao Qian (零秒前), which seems to be a sports series set in a Chinese high school.* (Personally, I wish it had been a manhua series set in premodern China, so that you get to see in spades the sort of beautiful, flowing black hair which she is so good drawing. But that’s just me.)
Earlier last year, she also did a series of illustrations on the theme of Lan Ling Wang (兰陵王), a prince of the kingdom of Qi (齊) who lived in 6th century China. According to legend, he was a skilled soldier, but his extraordinary and somewhat feminine good looks did not seem to strike much terror into the hearts of his enemies. So he devised these scary-looking masks to wear on the battlefield. His siblings were jealous of him; he was poisoned and died at the young age of 30 or thereabouts.
One of Eno's illustrations of Lan Ling Wang
Rumour has it that the novelist Tanaka Yoshiki (田中芳樹) also has a work in progress on the theme of Lan Ling Wang.** If the novel(s) – assuming they are not aborted efforts (as is so often the case with Tanaka Yoshiki) – were illustrated by Eno., that would be quite something to behold indeed.
* You can see the details from her blog here: ttp://blog.sina.com.cn/enoeno
** You can see the details from his editor’s blog here: ttp://a-hiro.cocolog-nifty.com/diary/2009/02/post-ae8d.html
Ai no Kusabi at TAF 2009
You know the drill when TAF takes place every year – some brave-hearted fan would perform the ‘ninja acts’ and upload the trailers they recorded at the animation fair to YouTube. Sure enough, this year was no exception. Within 48 hours of the fair’s commencement, all the trailers of debuting animation titles have been uploaded – all except the 2009 remake of the dystopia classic Ai no Kusabi (間の楔).
From what I see of the snapshots on the blog of Ai no Kusabi’s staff*, the picture quality seems to be living up to the standards of the divine Onda Naoyuki (恩田尚之). He has finally been confirmed as the remake’s chief key animation director. If you recall, he was one of three key animation directors in the existing OVAS of Ai no Kusabi dated 1992 and 1994. Then as now, the quality of the drawings can vary by a wide margin depending on whether Onda was the key animation director in charge. The old OVAs of Ai no Kusabi were very beautifully drawn in certain scenes and those scene bore the great Onda’s unmistakable individual stamp. I am pleased to see that he is taking a leading role in that regard in this remake.
There is no casting announced yet, so I am still holding my breath as to which voice actor will be cast for the role of Iason. Whoever is chosen for that role, it would be quite a tall order to surpass the towering precedent of the now deceased voice actor Shiozawa Kaneto (塩沢兼人).
For better or worse, this is actually the animation series that I look forward to most in the whole of 2009. I believe that in terms of commercial strategy, it has the same intention as the 2007 remake of Takemiya Keiko’s (竹宮恵子) Terra E (地球へ…) – which was not a remake that disappointed me, by the way. The target audience for Ai no Kusabi’s remake is likely to be older people who remember the original – and who are more likely to have the disposable income to buy the DVDs. It would be nice if they could pick new fans in the younger audience along the way, but the younger audience is a shrinking pool in demographic terms, and that is why animation studios have to diversify to reach out to the older audience these days. Remaking classics is a shortcut to the wallets of the older audience. This remake of Ai no Kusabi will very much be intended for grown-ups (not that the original was not to begin with).
* ttp://ainokusabi.exblog.jp/
Summer Wars at TAF 2009
As we know, Hosoda Mamoru (細田守) is working on a new animated film by the name of Summer Wars (サマーウォーズ) which is due to appear in the summer of 2009. The scriptwriter is Okudera Satoko (奥寺佐渡子), the same scriptwriter for Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo(時をかける少女). And from what we see of the trailer, the show really does look like ‘Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo II’.
I am keeping my expectations not very high. Hosoda-sensei seems to have found a formula that works for him and Summer Wars would seem to be a repeat of that formula, but at some point he would have to go do some soul-searching like Shinkai Makoto (新海誠) seems to be doing now, after the formula has ‘run its course’. That is the dilemma of artists – if you try something new, you may alienate your existing fans; if you don’t try something new, you may not live up to your full potential.
Eden of the East at TAF 2009
This is also old news by now – Kamiyama Kenji (神山健治) of Ghost in the Shell fame is working on an original TV anime series for the Noitamina timeslot called Eden of the East (東のエデン) and the creator of Honey and Clover, Umino Chika (羽海野チカ), is doing the character designs.
I cannot say I am too worked up about the story – it will most likely be decent and above-average, but not mind-blowing the way Ghost in the Shell was. You can see the trailer at TAF 2009 here.
Are there discoveries at TAF 2009 that I missed? Please feel free to drop me a note in the comment section.
*Update*
Re: Ai no Kusabi’s trailer
It is now posted on the official website, and you can also watch it on Youtube:
ttp://ainokusabi.jp/
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuvB2JTDfaY
I kind of found the over-the-top narration by Miki Shinichirou amusing. It’s just that you don’t see that sort of old-school over-the-topness a lot these days. The picture quality also bears Onda Naoyuki’s stamp on the whole – though the drawings of muscles still have room for improvement. I also wonder if Miki Shinichirou voicing as the narrator may be a tip that he is among the cast as well?
How you mention that you wished Eno was writing something different then a sports themed story, reminded me of how a few of my own favorite authors wrote a sports story. I always wondered how a whole book or series could be based on a game.
I have only seen the OVA of Ai no Kusabi… The writing lacked impact, in my opinion. It’s interesting, about older audiences vs. new audiences. You know, since Ai no Kusabi is a classic it still draws in new viewers. I’ve seen them now and then.
goodyfun:
Regarding Eno – that was just a personal preference. Besides, a sports series is never just based on a game – it is usually about the friendships, relationships and personal growth of the people who devote themselves to that sport.
The existing OVAs feel like an “insider anime” intended only for those who have read the original novels – perhaps that is why it comes across as lacking in story-writing, since they expected you know the story anyway. The new remake should have more room to develop the story on its own.
hi!, i haven’t had the chance to comment on the new blog, i really like it so far!!it’s great!!
Eno is definitely one of my fave artists out there, thanks to your blog, and one day i would love to get my hands on her artbooks, i’d love to see an anime with her designs i think something like that would look amazing!
not long now til the new Ai no Kusabi comes out then, when it was first announced about the re-make i was kind of annoyed and thought why repair something that was never broken? but now when i think about Toward the terra was a great Re-make so now i’m thinking i really should wait and see it, could turn out to be a real gem!! XD
Now that I think of it, sports stories are sort of like what you said about needed to know the story before watching that OVA. You would have to be familiar with sports and their experiences, to enjoy a series about them. If you don’t care about say, basketball, and there was a big focus on that sport, half of the story would go over your head. It’s a niche.
susperia:
No problem – whenever you are free to comment. It’s not like I take attendance. ^-^
Yes, I think we should give the remake of Ai no Kusabi the benefit of doubt.
goodyfun:
I have to admit that the more I read your comment, the more I got confused. The only OVA under discussion in this post is Ai no Kusabi and that show has nothing to do with basketball. The work that has to do with basketball is Eno’s new manga.
I don’t know about other schools, but the schools I went when I was young rotated a number of sports for their PE class. I cannot really say that sports like basketball go above my head.
But then again, I am always told that schools are in a bad way these days, so maybe they really don’t teach sports like basketball anymore.
I certainly wish I couls grasp my hands on these artbooks. The images on her blog are really georgeos, but unfortuanantly have not a very high resolution altogether.
And I totally agree with you. The premodern-ish illustrations look fat better than the one with student on it. (Not just the hair, but also the clothes give far more room for beautiful motives.)
I wonder, if she is working on a manhua these days, whether they may make it to here. Benjamin and Selena Lin have made it over to Germany, but I suppose, if anything else were to come from China it might be Han Lu first. (Germany is very much a great fan of Kaori Yuki and anything from her sells very good. I do wonder, why they don’t grasp this chance to make a lot of money.)
Schools right now (I just finished mine last year) don’t have that much PE lessons anymore. (At least here.) Rumours went around, politics are speculating on stripping them from the compulsory list of lessons. Basketball I had however (and was bad in it) along with volleyball. Indeed, except for thos two and running around, female’s PE lessons practically only consisted of dancing, while the males still had football. (Intesting enough through football appeared only once for 10 minutes in these 9 years of female’s PE lessons.)
(Do I sound like somebody who hated them? ^^;)
And I totally agree on Summer Wars. The male protagonist really looks like some anti-Makoto. (And since it’s placed in summer time again, the atmosphere fells quite the same.)
Still, even if it might be a second Tokikake I don’t think it will be bad. (I enjoyed Byousoku 5cm pretty much, even through it went through its course.)
Eden of the East’s trailer looked rather strange to me. I wonder if this was supposed to be sort of funny?
Not sure if this is it, but I think goodyfun means that you need context (i.e. the backstory of the OVA / prior knowledge of how basketball is played) to fully enjoy or understand the subtext (i.e. the OVA itself / the story that uses basketball as part of the setting).
I.R. got it right. Sorry if my writing is too tangential. ^^;
Shina Luna:
I think if you livelihood depends on the number of artbooks you sell, you would not be putting high-res versions of your work on your blog either… ^-^
I am not saying that Summer Wars will be bad per se – it will most likely be above average.
Eden of the East is a wild card. I suppose we will find out soon.
I.R.:
You must be telepathic! ^-^
goodyfun:
Sorry for not being telepathic! ^-^
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