1980-91 (collected 1993) / Audiobook / 327 pages / Japan***
Mostly everyday tales with a sprinkling of the fantastic, ranging from romantic to pervy. Some nice episodes, but his novels are better.
Faves: 'The Second Bakery Attack,' 'Sleep' (best), 'Barn Burning.'
Worsties: 'The Fall of the Roman Empire, the 1881 Indian Uprising, Hitler's Invasion of Poland, and the Realm of Raging Winds,' 'Lederhosen,' 'The Silence.'
Faves: 'The Second Bakery Attack,' 'Sleep' (best), 'Barn Burning.'
Worsties: 'The Fall of the Roman Empire, the 1881 Indian Uprising, Hitler's Invasion of Poland, and the Realm of Raging Winds,' 'Lederhosen,' 'The Silence.'
1982-83 (collected 2000) / Ecomics / 359 pages / Japan
***
I'm not its angsty teen audience, but I still appreciate the dramatic movie storyboard action and its psychic sci-fi plot made me nostalgic for Final Fantasy games, such is my limited exposure to Japanese media. I've never met anyone who made it past book one.
1996 / Ebook / 55 pages / UK
***
Kon Ichikawa's Cinemascope play offers plenty of symbolism and idiosyncratic oddness for the scholar to luxuriate in.
So why is this so bloody short?
So why is this so bloody short?
Various, The Art of Science Fiction, Vol. 1–5
Collected 1999 / Ebooks / 94 pages / Japan
***
These mysterious, context-free galleries let the weird landscapes, apocalyptic megacities, retro spaceships and Nazi boobs speak for themselves. They're not saying anything very original, but at least it's not CGI.
Faves: Yuji Fujii, Takashi Asada
Worsties: Emiko Hoshi, Junichi Murayama
2014 / Ebook / 96 pages / UK
***
A Shakespeare scholar explains why this is the best of the adaptations, and now that I understand the nature symbolism and meaningful framing that I still don't pick up on unassisted, he's probably right. All Kurosawa films should be issued with these things. Films generally.
