433 – Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey part 2
On this episode dakazu talks about Vanilla Spider, Kimi to Picopico, and Futari Switch! Then we finish our Retrospective on Akiko Higashimura’s memoir about her beloved art teacher in Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey!!!
Continue readingChimoguri Ringo to Kingyobachi Otoko
A manga about a town being terrorized by a vampire with a fishbowl head and girl in a school swimsuit who dives into a victim’s blood to save them.
Yeah, the concept of this story is crazy but it somehow works. I will say all swimsuit stuff is definitely fan service but if you can look past that you have a uniquely different take on monster hunting. Youichi Abe must specialize in creating these supernatural horrors with a twist as he’s also done Vanilla Spider.
A bizarre but surprising enjoyable book.
~dakazu
Vanilla Spider
A manga about a teenage boy with no presence who hunts alien creatures with a faucet pipe to protect the girl he’s stalking.
I’ve talked about Youichi Abe’s other manga Chimoguri Ringo to Kingyobachi Otoko before and this is another book with a similar concept of teenagers fighting against evil creatures with a mix of everyday items and gory monsters.
I really enjoy the way Abe uses white lines against black clothing to create shadows in his artwork and the designs of his monsters are always creative and creepy looking. I’ll make sure to check out other manga by him in the future.
~dakazu