Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, stage and film designer, and costume designer. He's probably best known for his work in Speed Racer, The Guin Saga, Vampire Hunter D, and Final Fantasy.
Most of the book covers The Tale of Genji.
The story follows the romantic life of the son of a former Japanese emperor, Hikaru Genji and his many relationships and lovers. You can think of this book as a picture book with artwork accompanying the story.
The art style is a mix of spiritual, psychedelic, fantasy with a blend of Japanese culture. The art also looks very sketchy, as you would expect with Amano's style. The line art appears to be drawn with pencils and the colors are bold and striking. The art is often of Genji, lovers, or both together, but there is no erotic nature to the art.
tips:- recommended you read Elegant Spirits: Amano's Tale of Genji and Fairies.
The final pages are devoted to Amano's take on the world of fairies, goblins, and other fantasy world creatures. The art reminds me of Final Fantasy characters and creatures. The texts are short stories for the creatures.
This is a difficult artbook to review. Either you'll like the style of the art or you won't. From what I wrote, you might have guessed that I don't know if I like this book or not. This is definitely a book you should leaf through before deciding if it's for you.
