GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class volume 1!!

[Hayate Kurogane]

So, Yen Press, purveyors of win and awesome, have released another book to fill me with joy. GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class volume 1 by Satoko Kiyuduki, much-beloved for Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, is a book that features the same great artwork and facility of utilization of the 4-koma format, but rather than the dark fairy tale of Kuro is a silly yet sharp comedy not unlike Sunshine Sketch in its story, characters, and setting in an art school.

First of all, Yen Press must must must get some major kudos for presentation. Good book design, good print quality, good translation (though I know some folks will take issue with how much they may need to depend on the translation notes, if they're not familiar with some of the Japanese cultural stuff or the art-specific stuff), and WOO! for color pages, which are especially crucial given the art-related nature of the book.

The humor and subject material will be hit-or-miss for some folks, but for myself, almost everything in this book brings to mind some familiar memories of art classes taken over the years, which adds extra layers of enjoyment to the jokes. Another appearance of a Brutus bust, for example, as in Sunshine Sketch (and again, related to a personal anecdote that would take too much time to explain) was a laugh-out-loud moment. The entire book, really, was something I could not get through more than two or three pages without finding something that elicited a laugh.

The limitations of the 4-koma panel size does make distinguishing between characters a bit difficult, though the length of the book was enough such that I had no problems on the second read, after getting the characters' quirks and such under my belt.

The translation, again, may read a bit stiff, and a bit "less translated" than some might prefer, but I didn't have a problem with it. A skillful maintaining of Japanese syntax and cadence (such as repeated words for emphasis, and so on) is utilized, with a couple of instances of very clever and unobtrusive equivalent translation choices made where necessary (for example, a joke surrounding an acronym for which the letters were meant to start Japanese sentences is presented with a great English equivalent).

(Uh, have to go, will be back to finish thoughts later. So go buy two copies in the meantime!)

(I'm back! Have you bought two copies yet?)

Maybe I'm just a sucker for cute characters that spazz out and take on varying forms of SD-ness as 4-koma characters are wont to do, but I've quickly become awfully fond of the cast. The typical archetypes are present, but it's the application of said archetypes to an art situation that, again much like Sunshine Sketch, makes this cast of particular interest. Tomokane, for example, is the "Rawr, let's do this thing!" character, with the results including things like pressure with a single type of pencil lead being the solution to shading and gradation in sketching. (Uh, guilty as charged there, myself. I also love my special mechanical pencil, which when used for shading would horrify some other artists, I'm sure. )

Though the book is largely taken over by humor, the last series of strips takes a bit more serious turn that, while arguably out of place with the tone of the rest of the material, I felt was handled very well, and was an interesting new situation for the characters to handle with their own peculiarities. And the first strip on page 116, which I will not spoil at all, was in some ways the most striking and artful strip in the entire book, and stands as an excellent example of the significance and impact that can be conveyed in this sort of art form.

Bravo, Kiyuduki-sensei! Bravo, Yen Press! I highly recommend this book!!

Book two is due in November, according to Yen Press' site. Why is it not November now!? *bangs fists impatiently on desk*

[Suwako Moriya]

Darn it, I can't believe that I forgot this was licensed and coming out soon. I feel ashamed of myself. In any case, it looks like I have another Yen Press series to get.

Sure the only thing I know about is that it's 4-Koma manga with art students. However given how I enjoy Sunshine Sketch and Sketchbook, I have confidence that I might be able to enjoy this as well.

Hence forth it can't hurt to purchase the first volume and make this the second "4-Koma manga with art students" that I end up going for. Now if only that other series I mentioned would get licensed (hopefully by Yen Press) then I'd have a third to purchase.

Still for now, Sunshine Sketch and Geijutsuka Art Design Class will have to help tide me over. Interesting thing is the latter will be more of a blind buy. Since I haven't watched the anime version yet. Granted that could be because it hasn't aired yet...

That being said, I did enjoy the first two volumes of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. So I should probably take that as another reason to try Geijutsuka Art Design Class. In addition to everything else mentioned.

At this rate, my manga collecting is going to boil down to mainly buying 4-Koma manga from Yen Press.

[Hayate Kurogane]

Originally Posted by Shikieiki Yamaxanadu

At this rate, my manga collecting is going to boil down to mainly buying 4-Koma manga from Yen Press.

Not such a bad thing, eh?

[Suwako Moriya]

Originally Posted by Hayate Kurogane

Not such a bad thing, eh?

If Sunshine Sketch, Kuro, and Suzunari are any indication then it's definitely a good thing for me. Which more or less covers all the 4-Koma manga that I've ordered from Yen Press. The sole exception being S.S. Astro. However in the case of that one, I kind of have to wait until I get the volume and read it before I form an opinion on it.

In any case, it's clear that I've definitely fallen for the 4-Koma format in general. Some of which are licensed by Yen Press. Some licensed by other companies. Some that still need to be licensed. So on and so forth.

Hopefully I'll be able to order this soon. The sooner I order it, the sooner it will ship. The sooner it ships, the sooner I can read it. The sooner I read it, the sooner I can comment on it.

[Dack Ralter]

Yen Press makes me so happy...

I'm a sucker for this stuff, so I'm-a-lookin' for it tomorrow. (Still need to finish Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro two, though )

[Suwako Moriya]

All right then, GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class has officially become my fifth Yen Press series. In other words, yes, I ordered a copy. However just one copy.

Yes, I know, but the money that would have been used for a second copy of this can be used for a first copy of a different Yen Press Manga Volume in the future. Only time will tell what that will be.

In any case, it looks like it took me less than 24 hours to go ahead and decide to order this. Note, I'm starting the clock from the moment I was essentially reminded of this.

Granted one thing that helps is that I've been thinking of and planning to order a certain anime DVD or rather a set of anime DVDs for awhile. So I guess I figured it was a good idea to just throw this on the same order.

Now it's just a matter of waiting for the volume to ship and arrive. Then after that I can see how I ultimately feel about it. Regardless, I'll have plenty of time to decide if I want to order volume 2. The more I end up liking volume 1 the crueler the seven month gap will seem.

[Segamu]

Hey guys,

Thanks much for the GA and yon koma love! It's incredibly gratifying to see people genuinely enjoying these books. Really, they are fantastic, and we love being able to bring them to you.

And remember to keep an eye out next month for ICHIROH! to add to your growning yon koma collection. I think it's already become one of my personal favorites.

[Suwako Moriya]

Originally Posted by Segamu

Thanks much for the GA and yon koma love!

You can partially thank the fact I've been reading comic strips for years. Sure there are obvious differences between comic strips and yon koma, but that's besides the point.

It's incredibly gratifying to see people genuinely enjoying these books. Really, they are fantastic, and we love being able to bring them to you.

And we're glad to be able to buy them. Seeing Sunshine Sketch licensed was a dream come true. Hopefully your future licenses will include certain series. Such as the unlicensed one mentioned earlier. For the record, yes, I'm not above hinting, requesting and not so subtle begging.

And remember to keep an eye out next month for ICHIROH! to add to your growning yon koma collection. I think it's already become one of my personal favorites.

Ah, so there's another one for me to consider. *Checks* Well, the girl on the cover is extremely cute and attracive. The concept sounds like it has a lot of potential. Especially given the description.

Granted being 4-Koma and having a cute girl on the cover isn't much to go by. However that's all it took to convince me to order Suzunari (which turned out to be good).

Either way, I'll decide on what to do in regards to Ichiroh! closer to May. Or perhaps earlier. It just depends on when I next do an order that allows me to include one or manga title(s).

[Draneor]

I'd never heard of Geijutsuka Art Design Class or ICHIROH.^^U

I'm a sucker for anything cute and/or moe. I'll have remember to pick GA up during the next TRSI Yen Press sale. There is so much I need to pick up from Yen (just finished reading the first Haruhi novel today too). All in all, Yen has become my second favorite publisher, after Del Rey, I think. So long as a manga isn't excessively violent or Sundome, I'm willing to try it out.

[LastLoveSong]

Mine arrived today in the post! Some of the colour sections look really striking. Can't wait to read it tonight! Gotta chime in with the Yen Press love, they've rapidly ascended to the top of my favourite manga publishers, the quality of their products (in terms of paper stock, printing, and in terms of the material they license), and the translations...it feels like I'm going a step backward when reading manga without the sfx translated like they do it.

*explodes with Yen Press love*.