Book Review: GENGA by Otomo Katsuhiro Original Pictures
How the purchase of this book came about, had a 'story' by itself. While waiting to meet Noval Hernawan for the first time at Bras Basah Complex, I had inevitably stepped into Basheer Bookshop (a mecca of printed publications to tease the eyes of all those who wander in…) and perused the shelves (as usual)… the thing about Basheer is, inevitably I would end up spending on something - very much like me going to Sunday Flea Market at China Square Central - there is always a compunction to pick up something, and mind you, I am extremely "weak" in that respect…
And while noticing Ray Toh's Ideabook (reviewed here) on the shelves and even attempting to snap an Instagram for it, I noticed direct below the shelf, sat a large format book which would scream for my attention, it was Katsuhiro Otomo's GENGA.
I had blogged about the exhibition (but never really carried on with the event reportage itself) and had recognized the cover art. But of course there was a flipping copy available in the stack (any book without "shrink-wrap" was a "flipping copy" to me ;p), and I was summarily blown away by what I had held in my hands, and HAD to have it, even though the price tag of SGD$78 was way beyond my spending budget (as I was prepping for STGCC, no monies was to be spent otherwise), and walked out of Basheers with a plastic-bag of joy.
I later joked with Noval that it was because of meeting him, that I had spent the money! As true as it was, I am thankful I managed to snag this issue!
Within the splendid soft-covers were about 255 pages filled with illustrated imagery from Otomo, along with pages of Japanese text that escapes me, and even included a 16-page booklet supplement (I am an absolute "sucker" for stuff like that!) which featured interviews, with thankfully English translations!
The book is divided up into Chapters focusing on "years" in which Otomo plied his art - in both black and white, and then color - starting from 1973-75, to 1983-94 of his infamous "AKIRA" period, to his features like "Steamboy" and even his segment in the anime-anthology "Memories". The book wraps up from 2005-onwards, where his art took a fantastical turn thru the years to focus now on more "reality" based endeavors, like human crowds and cycling!
One aspect that I truly love about the book, was that the pages are not uniformly printed out, in that there are a few pages with the cut-n-paste element of the artwork still prevalent, and that some textures of age remain still. Splendidly inspiring, especially as I am looking toward a direction for the design aspect of my own self-published fanzine. And I also enjoyed the fact that the pages are printed on (what I remember to be) paper stock that reminded me of is "Akira" manga (my apologies, for I do not know what said material is termed ;p), which to me does not make the book so "precious" that I could not flip through it's pages, and that to me, is a good thing.
In my mind, SGD$78 is a small price to pay for the general awesomeness of the tome before me, and one should be so lucky to behold and own this. While this caters explicably to Otomo Katsuhiro-fans, folks who might have zero idea about 'Akira' or the artist themselves, would be hard pressed not be enamored by his artwork in this retrospective collection of his work, IMHO. (Psst: you can read about who he is via Wikipedia ;p).
MORE page-snaps are posted HERE on my Facebook-album. They were taken off my iPhone, so the quality is definitely not up to par with the source, but nevertheless, ENJOY!
And while noticing Ray Toh's Ideabook (reviewed here) on the shelves and even attempting to snap an Instagram for it, I noticed direct below the shelf, sat a large format book which would scream for my attention, it was Katsuhiro Otomo's GENGA.
I had blogged about the exhibition (but never really carried on with the event reportage itself) and had recognized the cover art. But of course there was a flipping copy available in the stack (any book without "shrink-wrap" was a "flipping copy" to me ;p), and I was summarily blown away by what I had held in my hands, and HAD to have it, even though the price tag of SGD$78 was way beyond my spending budget (as I was prepping for STGCC, no monies was to be spent otherwise), and walked out of Basheers with a plastic-bag of joy.
I later joked with Noval that it was because of meeting him, that I had spent the money! As true as it was, I am thankful I managed to snag this issue!
Within the splendid soft-covers were about 255 pages filled with illustrated imagery from Otomo, along with pages of Japanese text that escapes me, and even included a 16-page booklet supplement (I am an absolute "sucker" for stuff like that!) which featured interviews, with thankfully English translations!
The book is divided up into Chapters focusing on "years" in which Otomo plied his art - in both black and white, and then color - starting from 1973-75, to 1983-94 of his infamous "AKIRA" period, to his features like "Steamboy" and even his segment in the anime-anthology "Memories". The book wraps up from 2005-onwards, where his art took a fantastical turn thru the years to focus now on more "reality" based endeavors, like human crowds and cycling!
One aspect that I truly love about the book, was that the pages are not uniformly printed out, in that there are a few pages with the cut-n-paste element of the artwork still prevalent, and that some textures of age remain still. Splendidly inspiring, especially as I am looking toward a direction for the design aspect of my own self-published fanzine. And I also enjoyed the fact that the pages are printed on (what I remember to be) paper stock that reminded me of is "Akira" manga (my apologies, for I do not know what said material is termed ;p), which to me does not make the book so "precious" that I could not flip through it's pages, and that to me, is a good thing.
In my mind, SGD$78 is a small price to pay for the general awesomeness of the tome before me, and one should be so lucky to behold and own this. While this caters explicably to Otomo Katsuhiro-fans, folks who might have zero idea about 'Akira' or the artist themselves, would be hard pressed not be enamored by his artwork in this retrospective collection of his work, IMHO. (Psst: you can read about who he is via Wikipedia ;p).
MORE page-snaps are posted HERE on my Facebook-album. They were taken off my iPhone, so the quality is definitely not up to par with the source, but nevertheless, ENJOY!
