Japanese Movie Posters (a J!-ENT Book Review)

“This is truly a book created for the Japanese film enthusiast who collects posters of various movie genres.  From classic yakuza films to pink, mature content films to anime-related films, ‘Japanese Movie Posters’ works as an book full of informative content, large colorful images inc. nostalgic content and more!”

BOOK: Japanese Movie Posters

AUTHORS:  Chuck Stephens, Tetsuya Masuda and Kairakutei Black

COMPANY: Cocoro Books (DH Publishing, Inc.)

PAGE COUNT: 98 pages

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Monster and Yakuza, Ghosts and Samurai, Anime, Pink and New Cinema!

A tribute to 50 years of lurid imagery and purple prose created by nameless designers at Japanese film studios.  Unforgettable images conjured out of a few still photos, some bold lettering and plenty of tattoos, swords, guns, baseball bats, ropes, scowls, leers, scars, rubber suits, school uniforms, cartoon characters and half-naked women.

I happen to collect various art and photographs of entertainment from the early 1900′s to modern times and I’ve always been interested in others collections of art  or photography.

“Japanese Movie Posters” is a book that features posters from various genres such as yakuza, sci-fi and monster, samurai, pink, horror, animation and new cinema and goes further by allowing the reader to have a chance to purchase the book.

Similar to other Cocoro Books (DHP Publishing) releases, this book can be seen as a photobook but you do get  commentary for each poster and its respective genre.  Also, unlike other recent releases from Cocoro Books, this book is about 8×12 and quite large, featuring large full color photos and more.

The book was written by Chuck Stephens, a contributing editor from “Film Comment” and Jinema Junpo”, Masuda Tetsuya, a prdocuer and runs the cinema section at the bookstore @wonder and the final person featured is Kairakutei Black, known as a walking encyclopedia on Japanese films of all genres.

The pages feature a large image of the poster and below the image is the title of the film (in English and Japanese), the film studio and year it was made, the director and how much the poster costs.  Then a brief information on the film.

So, an example would bey “Return of the Tokyo Drifter” (Zoku: Tokyo Nagaremono” which was releasd in 1966.  It was great to see classic posters like this, that go back in the 60′s and the same can be said for other genres featured.    Especially for the Sci-Fi films such as Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera and Ultra Man films.  Great to see those posters.

As much as the book features straight up movie posters, this book is not for the young as it does contain nudity.

Once you get to the chapter of “Pink”  (adult films produced by indie productions), then you do get to see quite a bit of the nudity featured on the posters and it’s not full frontal nudity but a lot of the movie posters featured a lot of women nude from the the torso up.

I’m sure one of the biggest attractions of this book will be those who are enamored by anime films.  Posters from the 1978 “Farewell Space Battleship Yamamoto”, 1979′s “The Castle of Cagliostro”, 1984 “Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer” and many Miyazaki film posters are featured.  But unfortunately, anime posters are limited to only nine pages and I admit that I was hoping to see posters from the late 70′s “Gundam” films, the 1982 “Cobra” film, a few other Miyazaki films and more.

Also, another attraction is the “samurai” posters which seem to be the most expensive in terms of collectability.  But if there was one thing I was hoping was that there would be Kurosawa Akira posters featured.  I know that the book features films from 1960′s and up but I would have loved to see the posters for “Yojimbo” or even “Ran”.

As for the category “New Cinema”, you get newer films such as Kitano Takeshi films and films that I watched in Japan such as “Odoru Daisousassen” have their posters featured.

And featured at the end of the book is an index in both English and Japanese for those looking for a film poster in this book which was cool to see both featured.  And as mentioned, a way for fans to purchase the posters online.

“Japanese Movie Posters” is definitely another welcomed niche book from Cocoro Books.  The fact that this company continues to bring niche books that appeal to fans worldwide is great and as much as one can see many film or TV drama posters on the train stations or high above buildings, and many around the Odaiba Fuji TV area, for me, it’s always cool to see artwork, photography or posters from a film, especially if it was created before I was born.

I did feel that I wish there were as equal amount of coverage for other genres, especially for the coverage of anime films and wished there were posters for Kurosawa-related films.  That would have been awesome to see.

But all in all, the guys did a great job featuring the posters and giving information on the films.  And as much as it serves as a visual reference for fans interested in purchasing the posters, it also works as a great entertainment book covering Japanese entertainment within the last 40 years.

So, overall this is another solid release from Cocoro Books/DHP.

Cosplay Girls 2 (A J!-ENT Book Review)

“Another wonderful reference for those looking for high quality, full color photography of various cosplayers from Japan. DHP’s series of ‘Cosplay Girls’ is definitely worth it if you are in it for just to see cosplay girls or want simply a cosplay resource for ideas.”

BOOK: Cosplay Girls 2

COMPANY: Cocoro Books (DH Publishing, Inc.)

PAGE COUNT: 112 pages

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Enter the wacky world of Cosplay, Japan’s underground costume scene. All over Japan hard-core fans of anime, video games and manga dress up in their latest costumes. This is a world where ordinary girls reinvent themselves as street-fighting chicks, emerald-haired princesses and faux-fur kittens. Why do they do it? Find out as Cosplayers explain their obsessions in their own words. • All new girls • All new costumes

Earlier this year, I reviewed Cocoro Books “We Love Cosplay Girls” which was an excellent book for reference material and the way the book was broken down to several areas in cosplay from heroes to dark side, I just felt that the book was well done, sold for a great price and worthy of purchasing.

Before “We Love Cosplay Girls”, in 2007, Cocoro Books released “Cosplay Girls 2″, another cosplay book that can be found for a great price and also featuring many photos of various cosplayers in Japan in a variety of outfits from popular video game, manga and anime series.

One thing that is noticeable is that “Cosplay Girls 2″ is an 8.5×11 book, which the newer version is much smaller.

Also, the introduction features a pretty length 3-page article on the alluring world of cosplay.

Another difference between this book and its current incarnation is that in the newer version, you would see several cosplayers in the same outfit or from the same series. Whereas, this version breaks things down in several chapters such as “Cosplay Girls Catalog Part 1″, “Before and After”, “Cosplay Girls Catalog Part 2″, “Cosplay Boys Catalog”, “Cosplay Beauty Asuka and her 25 transformations” and “Cosplay Girls Catalog Part 3″.

The Table Contents features the name of the cosplayer, the character name and the series its from. While in the main pages, a single photo features the cosplayer with the character and series below the photo.

The spelling of the series is more towards the Japanese romanization, so “Eureka 7″ is spelled “Eureca 7″ and a few typos with “Scenery” typed out as “Scernery” and a few format errors where a word’s final letter would continue in the next paragraph but this is very few and it doesn’t detract from the overall book.

The “Before and After” metamorphosis chapter is actually quite intriguing as it features several women, featuring their cosplay name, age, job, how long they have been cosplaying and what is cosplay to them. So, you have their before and after photo.

And another small problem I found was that you would have an odd page featuring the before’s (ie. page 51) and then the next page on the other side 52 would feature their transformations. So, it would have been nice to have the before and after on the same page but again, another minor thing but nothing that detracts from the overall book.

Whereas the first chapter feature cosplayers in full-page or a large photo on each page, part 2 of the catalog features two or three photos per page.

And I saw this as a way to not make things too expensive as it is evident that there were so many photos that Cocoro Books wanted to feature but to make things cost effective print-wise, to put 3 photos on a page instead of just one.

In “We Love Cosplay Girls”, I wrote about how it would have been awesome if male cosplayers from Japan were shown and sure enough, “Cosplay Girls 2″ features a few pages on cosplay guys.

The next chapter features a “Cosplay Beauty Asuka and her 25 Transformations”.

This chapter features the cosplayer Asuka in a few similar poses but wearing a 25-different outfits.

The final chapter “Cosplay Girls Catalog Part 3″ returns to large photos and half-page photos.

Again, I have to applaud Cocoro Books (DHP) for bringing these Japanese cosplay books to the US. The third volume “We Love Cosplay Girls” was awesome and obviously much was learned from the previous cosplay books including this “Cosplay Girls 2″.

So, “We Love Cosplay Girls” features a very different focus and done very well. “Cosplay Girls 2″ has its slight problems but yet when it comes to these type of books, it’s not a book that is for reading, it’s a book for admiring the cosplay and creativity of that cosplayer (or its maker) and of course, for others, it’s about admiring the beauty of female cosplayers.

“Cosplay Girls 2″ does offer things that are not on “We Love Cosplay Girls” and the transformation and before and after chapter was pretty cool to see.

As well as showing a few pages of cosplay guys as well. So, it’s good to see some inclusion of that, even at a few pages.

But all in all, there are big photos which selective cosplayers can use as a reference for ideas of upcoming cosplay outfits or to see how certain outfits were crafted.

So, it’s a book that serves its purpose and all in all, for its price which you can find online at a great price, there is no need to hesitate in buying this book, even though a third book has come out.

So, check out “Cosplay Girls 2″. A very good reference book for cosplayers and for those who want to see beautiful Japanese girls and women in cool outfits based on anime, manga and video game characters. Check it out!

J-Rock Groupies (A J!-ENT Book Review)

“For those who are fans of J-Rock music and have wanted a resource to see the various outfits worn by fans in Japan, DHP Publishing/Cocoro Books ‘J-Rock Groupies’ provides an excellent visual resource with over 190-pages of high quality photos. From Goth to Rococo Era, there are so many different fashion styles that related to J-Rock featured, that for it’s page count, its price and full body photos, definitely a book worth recommending to the curious J-Rock fan!”

BOOK: J-Rock Groupies

AUTHOR: Cocoro Books

COMPANY: Cocoro Books (DH Publishing, Inc.)

PAGE COUNT: 196 pages

RELEASED ON: April 15, 2007

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Cosplay for J-Rock groupies. Japanese rock bands are hot! And Japan leads the world in rock band fashion. Girl fans dress up in unique and wild styles and concept clothing and display their creations, en masse, at rock concerts. Here, hot and absurd groupie fashion girls tell readers in their own words why they do it. This collection of 200 photos and interviews delves into this unique world, bringing readers the unique fashions and musical passions from the streets and live rock houses of Tokyo.

My first encounter with J-Rock fans was back in 1999 in Harajuku and I have to admit, seeing these young women and men in cool outfits either inspired from a rock band or something they came up with for their own style, is pretty cool.

And in the past few years, I have seen various J-Rock panels at anime conventions and a lot of them pointing towards various magazines to use as a resource for where to buy the outfits, how the Japanese wear those outfits or for those who are crafty, using these magazines as a resource to design and create the outfit.

One of the coolest offerings from DHP Publishing/Cocoro Books is the release of “J-Rock Groupies”. A 190+ page book featuring photography of various J-Rock fans around Japan and what I like about this book is that it doesn’t just feature people wearing similar outfits, Cocoro Books really does a great job in selecting outfits that are not similar.

And also, an interesting look at the various Indie Visual Kei bands in Japan to the mom and their toddler dressed in matching J-Rock outfits.

Of course, there are photography of people sporting interesting outfits such as the girl in Pokemon Pikachu outfit but her face features the long bangs in dark black and blonde and piercings on her lips.

Some fans featured are those who sport the black leather, some that sport a Burberry style of fashion, some that sport really dark outfits to some who are very colorful in their clothing presentation. And of course, several who are obsessed with the Rococo era and sport that Lolita look.

This book has a little bit of everything and for those wanting large photography, this book features full page, full body photograph. Only the few Indie visual-kei band photos will you find half-page photography or quarter-page photography.

Also, the photography of the people featured are all female with the exception of the Indie visual-kei bands. The photos feature their names and ages.

So, for those wanting a resource from the hair, the makeup, the clothing and accessories and the shoes, this book does a good job of that.

By saying that, this is pretty much what the book is for. A visual resource.

This book does not go into the various J-Rock fan’s names or where they purchased their outfits. No interviews.

This book can be found for a great price and knowing many Americans and International fans who follow Japanese rock music and are passionate about the clothing worn by these band members to those in Japan who don’t do this for cosplay, but dress in this type of fashion is part of their lifestyle.

Also, another positive about this book is that for the price of importing a J-Rock magazine, you could get a pretty thick book featuring nearly 200 people in their various outfits. So, far this has to be the thickest DHP Publishing/Cocoro released book so far.

Again, the majority of the photos featured are young women, with the men featured are the Indie Visual Kei bands live in concert.

It would have been nice to see guys featured, since I’m always interested in J-Rock fashion from the belts, rings, boots and overall clothing presentation but maybe this could be considered for the next version (which I hope there is one).

So, all in all, as a visual resource, J-Rock fans can’t go wrong with this book. It’s not a book for information on where to buy, how much or how to create the outfit. It’s a straightforward visual resource for fans who are interested in various J-Rock inspired outfits and a book for pop culture fans can look and see the cool unique fashion that some people are sporting in Japan right now.

Check it out!

THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN (a J!-ENT Book Review)

“THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN” gives us a rare glimpse of Japanese auto fashion, in this case, capturing the heart and soul of artistic Japanese delivery trucks.  If you thought your toy Transformers vehicles can look awesome or menacing, take a look at the awesome photos featured in this book and be awestruck that these are being driven on the road in Japan today.

BOOK: THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN

WRITTEN BY: Kato Tomoyuki

COMPANY: Cocoro Books (DH Publishing, Inc.)

PAGE COUNT: 84 pages

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The art trucks of Japan made their debut in the 1975 smash hit Truck Yaro!, roaring onto the big screen to wow Japanese moviegoears.

Decorated with banks of flashing lights, lengths of aluminum piping, and sheets of shining steel, these vehicles were brash, colorful and unapologetic. A new word was quickly coined – “dekotora” (decorated trucks) – and soon colorfully decorated trucks could be seen on roads throughout Japan. The art truck had entered popular culture.

Some 30 years later, Japan’s art trucks have become highly stylized creations that attract a loyal following of hobbyists and professional drivers. This stunning collection of decotora photos reveals both the beauty of Japan’s art trucks and the creative talents of their owners. Described as masterpieces of the highway, the art trucks of Japan are a must-see for all lovers of vehicle art and extravagant design.

One of my first collaboration writing works during the early years of J!-ENT was assisting a writer from Japan for Auto Fashion and Bye-Bee Magazine.

I was always curious about the Japanese auto fashion. From those who race (thanks to my interest in “Initial D”) to the hobbiest that just want to make their vehicle look cool.

I was always blown away by the money dedicated to a vehicle’s look via its exterior or interior.

But when I started to read Kato Tomoyuki’s book “THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN”, I was floored by the look and financial dedication that a few truck drivers have done for their delivery trucks.

From the amount of aluminum/metal and the paintings on delivery truck, the only thing that these trucks can’t do is transform to some mecha robot because looking at it, the sheer coolness is so unlike what I’ve seen here in the United States, these are owners who are passionate for making their delivery trucks stand out.

Some look like futuristic vehicles with weaponry but in actuality, it’s just the look.

Also, possibly inspired by the neon lights of a Tokyo metropolitan city, some of these trucks at night tend to exhibit a similar appearance as lights of various colors fill the delivery trucks from all sides.

The book does a great job and showcasing various trucks from day and night, various shapes and sizes and some that look like a truck meets Las Vegas/Shibuya to a truck that seems to have collided and meshed with Decepticons of Transformers fame. That’s how cool these trucks really look.

The book of course is mostly a photo book but you do get a two-page forward by Clive France discussing the Japanese trend of art trucks and very informative information and brief history can be found on these two pages.

Definitely an interesting book showcasing the various artistic styles of Japanese trucking. There are many people who enjoy publications on auto fashion and in Japan, although a lot of publications go towards more of those who spruce up the minivan, station wagon or small car.

But “THE ART TRUCKS OF JAPAN” gives the reader/viewer a part of Japanese pop culture that they are probably not familiar with.

It would have been nice to get interviews with the owners to discuss why they do it, how much they spend on their truck and more. But nevertheless, the heart and soul of this book is its pictures. This book is a photo book filled with beautiful photos of these trucks and capturing the neon lights during the night, to the stoic and war machine look for some vehicles during the day.

The book has its goal of introducing and showcasing these trucks of Japan. It may be a rare glimpse of that side of the artistic pop culture permeating to the expression of their art for their vehicles. Definitely something that make this book definitely worth your while to check out.

We Love Cosplay Girls – More Live Anime Heroines from Japan (A J!-ENT Book Review)

BOOK: We Love Cosplay Girls – More Live Anime Heroines From Japan

COMPANY: Cocoro Books (DH Publishing, Inc.)

PAGE COUNT: 82 pages

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Back when I was working on the J!-ENT cosplay project “COSPLAY UNDERGROUND“, I would peruse a lot of Japanese and Korean cosplay sites to see the awesome cosplay and the quality of the outfits for various anime, video games and manga.

As we and various other sites were at the forefront of showcasing photography of cosplayers in America at that time, still I would wish there would be publications that would feature the cosplay in Japan.

Sure, there has been a single video release and we would see glimpses on US anime magazines but I felt it would be rad to have a book where cosplayers can look to see the kind of cosplay coming from Japan, look at the quality of the outfits and also possibly use as a resource.

Well, Cocoro Books has been doing it for some time now and have released “We Love Cosplay Girls”, the third volume of their cosplay photobook series (following “Cosplay Girls” and “Cosplay Girls 2″) featuring hundreds of full-color photos of female cosplayers from Japan.

The book starts out with an interesting three page writeup by a cosplayer which seems like a page from her diary as she dishes out the dirt on her cosplay rivals, stressing about getting a costume ready for this event and so much more.

But the remaining 77-pages are then dedicated to photos of cosplayers in Japan broken down in chapters such as: Heroes, She’s So Cool, Asian Style, Animal Land, Spacey, Dark Side, Cute Style and School Life.

Photos are shown, with the names of the cosplayer, the character and the anime, video game or manga that they are cosplaying from.

Looking through the “Heroes” section and seeing this beautiful outfit created by Ayamori Yika of Iteza Seiya from the series “Saint Seiya” is just awesome. If there is one thing that I would love to see in a future adaption of a cosplay book is how the costume was created, how long and how much.

But to see the craftmanship put into her overall outfit is just amazing.

Then seeing a page of a cosplay group and individuals showcasing their outfits based on the CAPCOM Playstation 2 game “Sengoku Basara” (“Devil Kings” in the USA) which was awesome to see. And was surprised how many cosplayers adored the characters as there are many cosplaying “Sengoku Basara” characters.

As I turn the page and viewed each cosplayer, I can imagine that many fans outside of Asia would appreciate this book because there is cosplay from the noticeable “BLEACH”, “ONE PIECE”, “DRAGON BALL Z” and “NARUTO” cosplay, to video games such as “Tales of Symphonia”, “Dragon Quest”, “Suikoden” and “Sengoku Musou” (aka Dynasty Warriors), “Final Fantasy” and more.

I just found it also interesting to see pages dedicated to certain characters like the cosplayers dressed up as the sultry Rangiku of “BLEACH” because as a bloke, I have been interested to see how much umm…cleavage that a cosplayer would show for Rangiku and sure enough, some cosplayers did.

Of course, I had to check out the “Dark Side” section and see the cosplayers of darkness dressing up as “Suikoden”, “D.Gray-man”, “Black Lagoon” and “Sengoku Basara” (Devil Kings) characters. Especially to see the group cosplaying as the evil “Akatsuki Warriors!” from “Naruto” was pretty cool.

I have to applaud Cocoro Books (DHP) for bringing these Japanese cosplay books to the US. The third volume “We Love Cosplay Girls” is definitely a book that many cosplayers will enjoy.

Many cosplayers always look for resources and to come up with cosplay that everyone else is not doing and what best but to have a book like this and get ideas and inspiration from.

What the book does well is showcase people from Japan dressing up as a certain character, may the girl be tall or short, thin or overweight, no matter.

Granted, if there was a negative to be found, some guys may be asking “where are the male cosplayers – we want to see that to” but this is all about the cosplay girls. Also, from seeing some costumes that are just awesome and inspiring, one would wonder how it was created? How much? What material was used? and more questions that could be asked but perhaps maybe that is something that could be considered for another cosplay book.

So, whether you have a “moe” fascination for a character, Japanese cosplay girl fetish or a cosplayer that needs an excellent pictorial resource for their costume research, “We Love Cosplay Girls” is a book that is not just cool but also worth owning.

Highly recommended!