Customer Reviews

Amano: The Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is packed with Amano's prints obviously, they are all richly colored on matte paper. It's just beautiful! It includes his prints from some of Final Fantasy games, Vampire Hunter D, and many other projects he has worked on.

It's just fantastic - so don't pay $80 for Hiten or Biten, when many of the same prints are in this volume! Which is excellent paperback quality also.

The book is wonderful but keep in mind half of the book is a catalog of his work (for other words ton of pictures that are inch and a half by an inch).

Yoshitaka Amano has played an active part in Japanese illustration from 60's to present times. He has lived through Anime, game design, illustration, and now printmaking - demonstrating at each stopping point a variety of imagination that has had an impact far beyond his own successes in Japanese visual art..

In the U.S. he is best known for Vampire Hunter D, the conceptual design behind the Final Fantasy series, and several recent collaborations with Neil Gaiman. But as this book quickly reveals, Yoshitaka has great power as a pure illustrator and artist. His roots are in Art Nouveau and the psychedelic styling of the 1960's, but he combines this with a mastery of Japanese traditional styles to produce a variety of effects and images.

This is a focused collection of just his prints, both those done for graphic novels and anime, as well as completely independent work. There are 192 pages page sized illustration followed by a large illustrated catalog of the rest of his print output. A final commentary by Hiroshi Unno completes the work. The most notable missing work is from the Final Fantasy series, none of which ever appeared as prints. However, the originality of what is included far outweighs any regrets about any unfortunate gaps.

A word of warning. Collections of Yoshitaka's work have a tendency to go out of print and disappear irretrievably. I have lived to rue not making several purchases when I had the opportunity. If you would like a representative collection of what made Yoshitaka Amano one of Japan's most formidable illustrators, this is a good selection at a very digestible price, with no sacrifice of quality. To have more at present, means searching out work that is out of print. Seize the opportunity.

Yoshitaka Amano is best known in the United States for the character designs behind the Final Fantasy series, perhaps his character designs from Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Japan) have garnered the most fame. In anime, he is best known in America for his work on Vampire Hunter D. His collaboration with Neil Gaiman, the simply jaw-dropping "Dream Hunters" also brought him to the attention of a new audience and brought about some cross-media interest as Gaiman also worked on the American adaptation of Princess Princess Mononoke.

However, Amano has done a lot more in video games and anime, and he has done far more than these. Versatile in many artistic mediums, and a wide array of subject matter, moreso than many people realize.

His wispy, ethereal style, like a pale, almost insubstantial ghost of smoke often used in his fantasy, in which the subjects almost seem too delicate, fragile, and beautiful to actually exist, is present here. However, he does more, so much more. Bold, even loud colors and shockingly assertive shapes manifest themselves in a way that may be unfamiliar to fans of Amano's work in "Dream Hunters" which seems, like the title, languid and dreamlike. In many prints he has eschewed the wispy, angular style of some of his video game/anime character designs. Many of them retain an almost florid sense of color. In fact, it's so diverse it's not easy to pinpoint into one "style." A description of one print invariably will not fit the entire book. There is much here that looks nothing like the style found in Final Fantasy or "Dream Hunters." This may be disappointing to fans of those works, but there is much here to appreciate.

So it may be helpful to forget what you know about Amano if your experience is limited (and mine is limited indeed) and simply enjoy the prints collected in this book and the sensations they bring. There is a nice variety of prints in here, expected and unexpected. It is not an exhaustive, comprehensive collection of all of his artwork, but it's the next best thing.

Overall, I recommend it to anyone who enjoys art.

One does not have to be an expert in traditional Japanese art to behold the work of Amano and see that the traditions of his country have come to life and uttered themselves into the world in a new way.

His work is beautiful and of a sort of beauty that quiets the mind. There is a contemplative power working here that gracefully blends the erotic with a youthful joy in energy and form. These works are sensuous without being pornographic - they do no dehumanize. Warmth is offered more than illumination. And the grace is natural more than supernatural. Nothing shrill or spiritually violent twists our conciousness while we gaze upon it.

If Zen masters ever set themselves to create erotic or action sequences they might've produced something like Amano's work. I say "action sequences" but there is nothing of the kind of mindless bullyboy posturing in these forms. Nubility and elegance, a thoughtful feel for color shape these fresh adolescent figures.

I hope more people in the West become aware of Amano's work. It rewards a relaxed and quiet appraisal of it with a sense of awesome but gentle well being.

Amano's prints are powerful, full of darkness, blazing colors, hinted beauty, unfolding horror and images of sexual power. From warriors to angels, from fairies to vampires, from Genji to Alice Erotica Amano seems to be all over the place.
Great for art lovers but may cost too much otherwise. Yet, good artbooks do cost a lot when compared to other books. Fact of life.

This is an amazing item! The art work is simply stunning. Since words are inadequate to describe this book, you must buy it immediately!

This book is a perfect artbook, an wonderful edition, with an excellent paper, and high quality images. Some pages can unfold and form large and amazing images.
This book has a complete collection of the drawings and paintings more remarkable of the author,and reflects the influence of the traditional Japan and the modern occidental arts.
It is an artbook that you cannot let have if you really admire Amano's works.

There are beautiful images of Yoshitaka Amano work, but I wish they were all big images, in the end are thumbnails of images that are not in a bigger size in the book, they are more as a catalog, which is the downside. Nevertheless, is a great book of his works.

The book is well put together and has great image quality, but unless your a big Amano fan than this book is probably not for you. Honestly I wish I could truly give this book 5 stars because I love his ink designs but some of his fairy concepts is not my cup of tea. As for range this book delivers like few art books do and you truly get a feel for his style and what he's about.
If you got the change to spend and love art books than this will make a great addition to your collection. Otherwise I would go to a store and flip through it a bit to see if it is for you.