Comments on: [Newsflash] Eno’s new artbook + Ai no Kusabi, Summer Wars, Eden of the East at TAF 2009

By: Illustrator Eno

Illustrator Eno — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:22:35 +0000

[...] her work as I was blog surfing. The beauty of her work compels me to share it here. To quote the blogger: [...]

By: Wabisabi

Wabisabi — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:58:18 +0000

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! ^-^

By: goodyfun

goodyfun — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:37:25 +0000

I.R. got it right. Sorry if my writing is too tangential. ^^;

By: I.R.

I.R. — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:13:19 +0000

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).

By: Shina Luna

Shina Luna — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:05:46 +0000

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?

By: Wabisabi

Wabisabi — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:20:34 +0000

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.

By: goodyfun

goodyfun — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:44:47 +0000

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.

By: susperia

susperia — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:54:24 +0000

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

By: Wabisabi

Wabisabi — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:55:17 +0000

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.

By: goodyfun

goodyfun — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:22:51 +0000

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.

By: Wabisabi

Wabisabi — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:49:59 +0000

*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?