#Amabie

[kanekocribs]

KANEKO'S CRIB NOTES LXVI: A RACIST (?) METAPHOR FOR VENGEANCE

I'll be honest with you all, we're running out of cribs. Who knows what the landscape will look like next year. Only one thing is for sure: Kaneko's bare, spooky carcass will be on full display at least once more by our fine friends at Colopl.

LEPRECHAUN: An often controversial design because "why is an Irish fairy clad in a Union Jack boot, isn't that a bit insensitive to Ireland? "; however, Eirikr puts that argument to rest with an exhaustive look into the design's context. And yeah, Leprechaun's "scandalous" boot is clearly cribbed from the one used by the Spice Girls' Geri Halliwell.

HOMO GORLEO: There are two things to say about Metaphor's human designs. The first is that most seem to be inspired by the works of Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch, like Gorleo here, which iterates on a figure found on the center panel of Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights triptych.

HOMO AVADES: The second thing we can say about the Metaphor humans is that we're frustrated by the lack of transparency regarding who designed them. One would assume that would be Shigenori Soejima, but Atlus has been less than forthright about something so apparently obvious. For the time being, we'll just have to credit them to "Studio Zero Art Team." Avades itself is at least more clearly adapted from the central figure of the the right panel of Bosch's Garden.

NYAMI NYAMI: We've made light of Doi in the past for over-relying on Wikipedia as a source for things, and, hey, it happened again for Vengeance's Nyami Nyami, this time an image of a wood carving of the deity used on the JP Wikipedia page that Doi clearly saw while researching and used as a reference, not that we're faulting him for it!

AMABIE: A design actually borne out of Atlus piggybacking on a Japanese Amabie meme during the Covid-19 pandemic, Doi's Amabie is based on a 19th century woodblock print that's the genesis for virtually all modern depictions of her.

[purseowner4thequalityanimation]

[leylinefount]

[fuchsiamilk]

The new demons reveal for SMTV Vengence should’ve been named “Anansi and 3 little dudes”

[eirikrjs]

[jellymadaster]

Amabie ❤️🎵

[unfortunatefriendgroup]

[noonartist]

[seanthedracunyan]

Im in love with this cute little goober.

This is such a good character atlus knows how to do things right

[edwardiantaylor]

This weeks Fantasmical Friday Yokai Edition is the Amabie. Its associated with foretelling of epidemics or abundant harvests. There are some different versions of this creature, I went with the three legged fish (mermaid) version.

[sorenblr]

Enigma race is back!

Damn, I guess they called this way ahead of time. Maybe they'll slot Kinmamon in there too, instead of... Megami? What the fuck...

[lowcountry-gothic]

Yokai: The Art of Shigeru Mizuki. Published 10/31/2023 by Drawn & Quarterly.

Shigeru Mizuki is no stranger to the supernatural and its portents. Kitaro and Tono Monogatari reimagined the obscure folktales of his youth, bringing them to life with whimsy. Mizuki the cartoonist certainly left an indelible mark on comics as world literature. Mizuki the fine artist, on the other hand, rounds out the full scope of his fascination with the otherworldly and fantastic, bringing these worlds to life in robust color.

Yokai: The Art of Shigeru Mizuki showcases his expertise of not only folklore, but celebrates him as a naturalist. Elements of Mizuki’s lush compositions—flora, fauna, and everything in between—showcase his mastery of form and love for nature. These popular renderings of a disappearing, rural Japan are his contribution to the preservation of a cultural heritage that would have otherwise been forgotten. The grotesque realism central to his body of work is offset by the ingenuity of his fancy for the macabre. Pieces in this deluxe, full-color edition call to mind the playful pop-sensibility of Maurice Sendak informed by the technical prowess of traditionalists like Dürer and Doré. And like any other Mizuki classic, each oeuvre is a unique snapshot of spirit, human or otherwise, in constant transition.

Yokai: The Art of Shigeru Mizuki includes supplementary writing by acclaimed Mizuki scholar and translator Zack Davisson.

[melachanart]

MerMay Month !

I'm taking this opportunity to share an Amabie (Yokai with 3 fish tails) that I drew not so long ago.

Isn't she cute? (e//w//e)

Art (c) @melachanart

DO NOT REPOST/STEAL PLEASE. Thank you.

[meepudraws]

Some people just don't understand.

It's cause they look so weird that it makes them cute!

[mediterraneanstar]

My trip to Japan

I've recently got back from a 12 day trip to Japan. I was hoping to spot at least one Kitaro during my stay and boy, did Japan deliver!

The squad just next to Sensoji temple in Asakusa, like 50 m from my hotel.

In a manga store in Harajuku. Medama Oyaji bathing in the rice bowl was mad expensive as you can see. What are you, made of gold? Apparently yes! The retro figures were super cute too.

Mandarake in Shibuya in a dope collage of both Shigeru Mizuki and Osamu Tezuka characters. There's also my man, Black Jack.

Honourable mention for a cute handmade Amabie in a souvenir store in Arashiyama, which is known for the bamboo grove.

[jill-white]

amabiemon

This illustration is a Digimon-style homage to the Japanese yokai, Amabie.