Categories
Manga Photography

Malefic Time: Soum – The Photos

“Malefic Time: Soum” is a new manga by Kenny Ruiz based on the universe created by Luis Royo and Romulo Royo and published by Norma Editorial at the beginning of last month. For the release of the manga a video was filmed in digital format that puts together scenarios from the manga drawn by Luis Royo and Romulo Royo and real characters interpreted by live-action actors.

The video also includes art by José Luis Martín that he made using Tokyo photos that I sent him. The photos that I took are not really that great, but what José Luis Martín can get out of them is simply impressive!

Next you can see the original photo and the subsequent retouches/changes by José Luis Martín:

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Malefic Time: Soum

Categories
Manga

Thermae Romae

Thermae Romae (テルマエ・ロマエ) is one of the few manga that I am following at the moment; I read it as soon as new volumes are released. The good thing is that volumes are released months apart from each other, so it’s easy to follow. It started being only a single manga but lately anime adaptations and even a live-action movie have been released.

The main character is Lucius Modestus, a Roman architect that one day finds a thermae in which he can travel through time and appear in an ofuro in present day Japan. The plot plays with the different possibilities that Lucius has by bringing ideas and technologies back to ancient Rome. I love the kind of imagination that the mangaka Mari Yamazaki has and the funny situation that happen in the most appropriate times.

These are some photos of the invasion of merchandising based on the manga and the movie:

Termae Romae
Take a picture of yourself with Lucius body. Using the QR code you can get the first volume for free.

Bath salts
Bath salts

Termae Romae
The movie

Termae Romae

Termae Romae
T-shirts

Manga and books. Termae Romae
Manga volumes and books about the manga.

Termae Romae
Compilation of the 100 best ofuros in Japan according to Lucius.

Termae Romae

The main characters in the movie are played by Aya Ueto and Hiroshi Abe. The movie is not bad but I was hoping more from Aya Ueto 🙂

Aya Ueto and Hiroshi Abe. Termae Romae

Aya Ueto and Hiroshi Abe. Termae Romae

Aya Ueto and Hiroshi Abe. Termae Romae

Aya Ueto and Hiroshi Abe. Termae Romae

Categories
Manga

Osamu Tezuka Sketches Exhibition

The other day I had the chance to visit an exhibition about the father of manga, Osamu Tezuka, in the Setagaya Literary Museum. The exhibition is organized in a chronological way and starts telling us things about the student life of Tezuka.

During the last years of the war, Tezuka Osamu studied medicine in Osaka University. In his class notes Osamu’s drawing skills can already be seen:

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu
One of his hobbies was to draw animals in notebooks and write things about them.

Apart from studying medicine, in 1945 a young Tezuka went for the first time to a movie theatre and saw the animation movie Momotaro. He was so impressed with the possibility of creating stories using drawings that he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to draw and write manga.

Just two years after the war, Tezuka started his first work and sold 400,000 copies all of a sudden! It was just the beginning, he drew until he died in 1989, leaving a legacy of more than 700 manga volumes (around 150,000 pages). According to my own calculations he drew an average of 10 pages per day since 1945 until his death.

To achieve that feat he didn’t need iPads nor computers, these were some of the tools that Osamu Tezuka used the most:

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu beret
Tezuka liked to use berets. This was one of his favourite berets.

Tezuka Osamu
One of the oldest sketches on the exhibition.

In these sketches it can be seen how Tezuka evolved his “film style”. The reader can quickly flip the pages and see the story flow in front of his eyes:

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

The rest of the exhibition is divided in sections showing the creating process of some of his most important works like Hi no tori or Adolf. The friendship relationship between Tezuka Osamu and Shinichi Hoshi, a science fiction short story author that had a big influence on Tezuka, is explained. In fact, one the characters of The Amazing 3 is based on Shinichi Hoshi.

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu

Tezuka Osamu
The Atom hearth!

Tezuka Osamu

If you like manga and you are coming to Tokyo soon you can come and see the exhibition until June 27th in the Setagaya Literary Museum (closed on Mondays). You can get there walking five minutes from Rokakoen station (Keio line from Shinjuku)

Continue reading: Tezuka Osamu in Takanadobaba.