Good Lord, I’m back writing articles on AI. With the UK Anime Network taking up so much time with its 30th anniversary preparations (merch store incoming!) and the copious amount of games I’ve had to review in the last few months, I’m afraid the ol’ personal blog has taken a bit of a hit. But we’re back, with a focus on those areas of anime that either don’t fit UKA’s remit, or are too personal for a collaborative effort.
WIth that waffle out of the way, let’s all celebrate the first English language release of a Rumiko Takahashi artbook. It’s quite the thing to take in - possibly one of the most renown female manga-ka of a generation (certainly one of the richest!) and it’s taken until 2025 for a translated artbook to make it into English. If this pace carries up I might get to read a hardback premium edition of Ranma 1/2 on my deathbed!
“Colors” is a popular moniker for artbooks, I like to think I’d have managed something a bit less generic, but let that not detract from what we have in our hands - the book features colour illustrations, examples of Takashai-san’s manga pages (untranslated) and some personal notes from the artist herself on her work and what it means to her. This is really what I’m here for, as a lover of sequential art, I’m fascinated by the process, how ideas and characters grow organically.
Many of the sample pages take up a full page in the book, which gives us the bonus of being oversized and therefore we can see more intricate detail, but what I really loved was the artist explaining how she didn’t really find the character for Akane until she got “that” haircut, or when she selects her favourite panels or sequences and explains why they mean so much to her. It’s a terrific journey, especially when you wander away from your personal favourite title (for me that’d be Ranma) and into series that you may not have paid so much attention to - Rin-Ne and some of the Rumic Tales might be among those - while I’m sure fans of a different generation might flock to Maison Ikkoku or Inu Yasha. There’s really no shortage of incredible work in Takahashi’s fantastical oeuvre, and that means that there’s plenty discover, re-acquaint yourself with or surprise you. While there are plenty of interviews to discover in English, nothing feels quite so personal as this book which feels as though it were compiled through a love of one’s own time in the industry, a story hanging on every panel or illustration that gives you an insight into the mind of one of Japan’s greatest talents.
So can I recommend this book? Oh, absolutely - whether you’re an old timer like me or someone new to the artist, the feeling of being guided by Rumiko Takahashi as she scrapbooks her career is something I can only describe as a warm and fuzzy experience. A firm fixture on my (now creaking) office coffee table, it’s a book I know I’ll be dipping into with a warm drink for a long time to come.
Rumiko Takahashi: Colors is available from all good bookshops. But Amazon is probably your easiest bet, as always.
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