Yamato 2199 Re:Mechanics Art Booklet

Got the booklet today and i must say that although i love it and hurge everyone to get a copy, my overall feeling is "Ok... it's a start".

FRONT COVER

First, the positive.

It's big (size wise), it's beautiful and it will have mecha fans in general drooling at the sheer level of detail put into these pieces of art. YES, THIS IS ART. F**k the Mona Lisa, i would rather hang one of these on my walls any day of the week. And the sheer size of each frame, sometimes spanning both pages (Episode 1 Yukikaze...drool) means you won't miss a thing. Looking at these details on a HD TV pales in comparison.

KIRISHIMA BRIDGE DETAIL, from EPISODE 1

KIRISHIMA BRIDGE DATAILING PROCESS, from EPISODE 1

Add to this the fact that they at least translated part of the text to english (an example on the left).

For all these reasons and then some this is a must buy.



















Now, the not so good (no negative here, not really).

This isn't so much as to what is in the booklet but rather what isn't and leads to that feeling i mentioned. "It's a start". It's been pointed out to me in one of the Y2199 chats i visit that another similarly released show, Gundam UC (wich was the first to try the Theatre/Home Video/TV release method) has gotten an artbook of sorts with each new chapter.

KIRISHIMA HULL DETAIL, from EPISODE 1

We've gotten 3 chapters by now. But no book. The closest we've gotten are 36 page Brochures (or Pamphlets, as they're called in Japan) covering the episodes presented and some production art. Good stuff, no doubt, but no art book.

YUKIKAZE HULL DETAIL, from EPISODE 1

This booklet is the next step, a precursor, if you wish, a more specialized publication, focused on a specific technique that has been used in the show and has had fans applauding it. The layer upon layers of mechanical detail in certain scenes, attained by actually hand drawing the detail into pre-existing 3D model frames. In that respect this is as close to an art book as we've gotten yet. But as it's name indicates... it's a booklet.

YUKIKAZE FORWARD DETAIL, from EPISODE 1

Gorgeous as it is, magnificient in itself, at only a 36 page count of wich 6 are either blank or just text (and that's counting the beautiful Yamato in the sunset front cover) it leaves you wanting more. We know there's more, we've been seing it in magazines and other related materials like the aforementioned 36 page brochures of each chapter (40 in the 3rd).

BRIDGE 3 ACCESS RAMPS, from EPISODE 2

It's no longer a question of testing the waters to see if people will buy Yamato 2199 stuff, of waiting to see wether this exquisite remake is hit or miss. I think everyone has already realised Yamato 2199 is a hit.

CLEAN 3D MODEL (right) + HAND DRAWN DETAIL LAYERS (left), from EPISODE 4

With the amount of production art that has come out since even before the first chapter hit the theatres, the SBY2199 Production Comite can do a lot better than give us just a taste. A full fledged artbook is a must.

YAMATO "SUBMARINE" MODE, from EPISODE  6

Waiting around till the series is over to publish something that covers the entire thing in less detail and probably with an excessive price tag is not the way to go. I'll pay 50 or 60 bucks each for 2 or 3 substancial books, i won't pay it for a abridged version of what could have been.

YAMATO DECK AND HULL DETAIL, from EPISODE 7

GAIDEROL CLASS SHIP DETAIL , from EPISODE 8