I think I will just let the pictures speak for themselves:
(This must be Rosiel from Angel Sanctuary!)
(I can't make out which character this is. Can you?)
Continue reading "The King of cosplay from the PRC - Huang Shan (黄山)" »
Imagine my surprise on discovering (better late than never) that a few years ago a huge controversy was caused by the original covers for the legitimate PRC edition of Tanaka Yoshiki's novels The Legend of Galactic Heroes, illustrated by the Chinese artist Hansey (see below):
The gist of the controversy was that fans in the PRC seem to reject them with overwhelming hatred. In the end, the covers were pulled from publication. Of course I am curious to know why the PRC fans find these covers despicable. Unfortunately, from what I glimpse online I found it rather difficult to discern any clarity of expression behind all the hate message as to why they hated the novels to the point of calling for a boycott. Much of it seems to be mired in personal attacks against the illustrator than any rational assessment of why the covers do not suit The Legend of Galactic Heroes. Worse, I seem to sense the undercurrent sentiment that 'anything made in China is rubbish'.
I personally am delighted with the air of mysteriousness of Hansey's covers - I actually prefer them to the more dull-looking but more hard-sci-fi looking covers of the Japanese edition. I learned that in the end the PRC publisher recycled the illustrations of Michihara Katsumi (道原かつみ), the Japanese shoujo artist who illustrates and adapts the story into manga format. Her artwork has a shoujo-feel which I always adore (see below), but to be honest, I love the bold and imaginative style of Hansey that is somehow expressive of the vastness of time and the galaxy as novel covers better. Michihara's illustrations in themselves may be nice - but I find the colour coordination of the background of the novel covers rather wanting - it looks as though her drawings were cut and pasted against dull backgrounds of red, blue, yellow and what-have-you.
So, tell me, you fans of The Legend of Galactic Heroes - what do you feel about Hansey's illustrated covers? Am I the only one to think that they are wonderful? That the PRC fans do not know what they are missing out?
I believe Manyou (漫友) was the first magazine in the PRC to be dedicated to anime/manga. There was a time when it sold like hotcakes, partly thanks to pirated cassette tapes of anime theme songs which were packaged with the magazine. The pirated cassette tapes later became pirated CDs and DVDs, and the market was soon filled by other anime/manga magazines with similar sales strategy. Anyhow, the point is - Manyou is a household among Chinese fans to this day.
I see that they have compiled a collection of original artwork by anime/manga fans, which you can browse over here at Aetherealtiy Gallery.
Are these not gorgeous? Let us hope for greater things to come out from the Chinese anime/manga fan community.
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