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Reviewed by Michael Aronson You can’t quite give a grade to art books. It comes down to the eye of the beholder and the appreciation they have for the artist/content/style going in. For me, I’d never heard of Suzuki before this book landed in my lap, and I’m not really a consumer for art books to begin with. That said, I’ll try to clarify what the content is like and what kind of audience might want to give this a skim. Suzuki’s painted work comes primarily from video game design for titles such as Sin and Punishment, Zone of the Enders: Second Runner and Ikaruga – and no, I wasn’t aware that there was any art attached to Ikaruga either, but there is. While neither of these games are that popular in the west (the first was a Japan-only release), Suzuki’s art has apparently been met with much acclaim in Japan. DrMaster released this book as a precursor to November’s debut of Suzuki’s first full-length manga series, Purgatory Kabuki. With the exception of Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy), I’m not well-versed in game artists, but I’ll try my best to describe Suzuki’s style. His characters have the elegance of those from the last decade’s Castlevania games mixed with landscapes and settings, such as on the cover, that appear distinctly traditional Japanese, not unlike the artwork that appeared in Okami. The subject matter ranges from fun and light, like his Sin and Punishment pieces, reminiscent of Kingdom Hearts designs, to dark and atmospheric, such as his Zone of the Enders work, reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid promotional art. My favorite pieces are two from Odin’s False Eyes, two characters outlined by shadows and light, accompanied by golden background images embossed by a grid. Very little text accompanies the images, only a couple interviews, a lead-in by the editor-in-chief of Play Magazine, a brief biography page and a paragraph plugging the upcoming release of Purgatory Kabuki. Regardless of the strength of these collected images, one would do best to hold off from this purchase until sampling Suzuki’s manga outing this November. If the art book is any indication, the series will be beautiful, and hopefully both will spread Suzuki’s reputation across western shores. Comment on this review of The Art of Yasushi Suzuki on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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