If you have ever won a random prize package from Okazu, you may have received a postcard by the artist Eri Kamijo. I have a particular fondness for her work and every time I’m in Japan, I haunt the local Tokyu Hands for postcards by her, then I scan the images in for my screensaver and give the cards away. ^_^

There are many things I like about Kamijo’s work and I’m not entirely sure I can articulate them all. She enjoys drawing women, and it shows.  Her line work is appealing, her use of color is joyful and delicate. She draws with an adult sensibility, eschews service for beauty and shows women as strong, cute, bold, magical. A nice chunk of her art is Yuri-ish.

I discovered her artbook GIRLS while shopping at my local Mitsuwa bookstore and fairly shrieked with joy. When I opened the book up, I was blown away by a few of the pieces, and was thrilled at the whole. You can see some of her work here on her Gallery, including Madoka Magica fan art. The book includes other derivative works, such as pictures of Hatsune Miku and a Safire from Ribon No Kishi  that was created for Osamu Moet Moso Motto.

I’m sitting here paging through this book…again… and oohing and ahhing over the pictures, even as I write this review. If you like beautiful design, clean, attractive, elegant art, effective use of color and  appealing women, I highly recommend Eri Kamijo’s work.

Ratings:

Art – 10

I love this book.^_^

Thanks to Liz, who found this on Amazon.com as well: Girls – Eri Kamijo Illustrations Art Book. (The price includes its ride over from Japan.)

Kazuaki Artworks is not really a “Yuri” Artbook. It is an artbook full of attractive female and male figures draped artfully across mostly members of the same sex. Kazuaki is probably best known for work on the reverse harem with BL-ish elements series Starry Sky, but based on the art in this book, Kazuaki’s portfolio is full of work for Light Novels, as well. In addition, when Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S merged and the magazine moved to bimonthly format as Comic Yuri Hime, the first 4 issues featured Kazuaki’s art. (The cover of this collection is from Comic Yuri Hime, in fact.)

This collection is published by the anime/manga goods chain Mandarake. The largest chunk of the book is the art for the multi-volume Lens and Diabolic (レンズと悪魔) light novel series. Some of the pictures have notes in the appendix, but this is not a major focus.

I have to say, I find Kazuaki’s style very appealing. Girls and boys are drawn as attractive, not-quite-of-this-world-ly, with hints at popular anime and manga character tropes. It’s colorful, approachable and unrealistic all at once.

The collection contains some, but not all, of the Comic Yuri Hime art, and a lot of other works, some of which include fetching young women near one another and occasionally, touching.  This is not an artbook one gets because one is looking for Yuri – it is an artbook one gets because one likes this artist and the Yuri is just icing on the cake. ^_^

Ratings:

Art -YMMV, but for me, it’s 9

Many thanks  to Okazu Superhero Dan P. , who sponsored this item off the Yuri Wishlist on Amazon JP!  I will treasure the book – and I hope you enjoyed the review. ^_^

Back in 2006, I reviewed a series called Transistor ni Venus. The series was a romp through the universe with super spy Enus, who was the best kisser in the universe and had the blessing of the Goddess that anyone protected by her would remain unharmed.

The series was a hoot, full of Enus kissing pretty young men, and lots and lots of girls and women. There was action, too. Nothing about it was less than fun, but one of the most appealing features for me, was the art. Enus and all the other female spies were drawn by creator Takemoto Izumi with a distinctly pin-up sensibility, but without that Femme Fatale “bad-girl” vibe so often attached to “strong, female” characters.

To make things even more appealing, there was an artbook of the series. So, today, from my wildly obscure ephemera collection, I want to introduce you to the  very, very obscure Enus Collection (イーナスコレクション ) 1999-2003, by Takemoto Izumi. (The link leads to an Amazon JP listing, but most of the sellers are ship to Japan only. You’ll need to have a buyer if you want this.)

These are just two of my favorite pictures.

To be fair, not all or even most, of the pictures are Yuri in nature. Many of the pictures are Enus posing, often in cosplay. But a few of them are classic pin-up poses which really appeal to me. Enus wasn’t a hard ass, but she was a very competent character, and so, on my personal list of faves.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Yuri – 7

Overall – 9