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Kyoto, Spring. by RubiconHearts

January 30th, 2010, 8:03PM by nat | 12 comments

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

RubiconHearts is a newly established circle of artists who released their first doujinshi during winter Comiket 77 with the aptly titled 『Kyoto, Spring.』, headlining with original illustrations by artists Takeuchi Takashi (Type-Moon) and Kobayashi Jin (School Rumble). The mission statement of RubiconHearts is truly a noble one, wanting to show the beauty of printed art with a presentation that they feel digital art cannot yet capture.

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

Just as poignant as Takeuchi Takashi and Kobayashi Jin's beautiful character designs are the background art works that capture the beauty of Kyoto. 『Kyoto, Spring.』immerses you in the detailed beauty of each scene with A3 sized (11.7 × 16.5 inch) printed pages.

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

Depending which side you start from it's either exclusively Takeuchi Takashi or Kobayashi Jin's art work, but both artists works meet in the middle with a common illustration after finishing the exploration of the city.

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

The printing quality is stellar, with no visible printing dots or color grain. It's an important aspect of the publication as the circle RubiconHearts does feel that it's having to compete with the sharpness and clarity of digital images on an LCD screen.

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

Though Takeuchi Takashi and Kobayashi Jin are the focus artists for 『Kyoto, Spring.』it took an entire team to produce with doujinshi, with both color artists and background illustrators working on every single illustration. All artists involved are named and homepages are provided when available. Interestingly Kobayashi Jin did all his own coloring and finishing, but several artists finished Takeuchi Takashi's illustrations.

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeartKyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

This giant-sized doujinshi is 36-pages in length, with a total of 24 illustrations set in a variety of settings, with backgrounds not only reflecting the location but also the time of day. This really is an amazing piece of work, and you can really see the effort that went into every aspect of the making.

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

With a first release like this, it's really exciting to think where RubiconHearts might go from here, and what other artists might decide to join in. As it stands, I wholeheartedly support this re-embracing of printed media. It would be even greater if other artists follow suit and emulate the production values in this publication. It really brings a circle back into effect, making it a team effort and really recognizing everyone involved, including background artists that are so often ignored.

Kyoto, Spring 『京都、春。』by RubiconHeart

This is easily my favorite purchase from Comiket 77, mostly due to the presentation and attention to detail. Most other items met my expectations, but this one really exceeded them. This isn't to say I didn't like the other releases, but after looking at so many half-finished works amidst a few color illustrations, and zoom-layer duplicated illustrations to occupy space, it was amazing to see that one circle took such a professional approach to their Comiket publication.


  • Title: 『Kyoto, Spring.』
  • タイトル: 『京都、春。』
  • Release Date: 12/31/2009
  • Pages: 36 (including covers)
  • Buy: Yahoo Japan Auctions
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Comments

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Anonymous

14 years, 1 month ago

 

Those backgrounds are really stunning

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kyouray

14 years, 1 month ago

 

Masterpiece. I've cried every night since I missed this spot sale on mandarake.

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nat

14 years, 1 month ago

 

I missed that too, never even saw it up on Mandarake though I was watching for C77 stuff there.

 

Waw, this book looks like it's filled with breathtakingly gorgeous art. Beautiful.

Will have to try and track it down though YAJ prices seem hefty.

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nat

14 years, 1 month ago

 

If it makes you feel any better, it's always been going for that ¥4000 to ¥5000, with a few lucky people snagging it in the ¥3000 range, from what I was watching.

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DannyBoy

14 years, 1 month ago

 

oWow, so this is what they call scenery pr0n!

It's simply mesmerizing with its aesthetic background! I am in astonishment with its degree of photographic details...

But the last image kind of reminds me of a character from CCC...

Off-topic, Nat, do you have any new whereabouts for CUTEG's C77 Meganeko?

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nat

14 years, 1 month ago

 

Lol, definitely scenery pr0n!

I re-tweeted Meruni's tweet on the 27th, but since then CUTEG's doujins both are gone from Toranoana.

Meruni: CUTEG's C77 doujinshi are now available on Toranoana. メガネ子: http://bit.ly/bL2bn1 Sweet Impact: http://bit.ly/blc8EG

And aren't the Crazy Clover Club characters based off the Type Moon stuff? Takeuchi's original girl looks very Aruceid-ish to start out. If that's what CCC stands for in this case ^^;

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DannyBoy

14 years, 1 month ago

 

Yeah, it is. But Type Moon's early illustrations were... well... kind of crooked? If you know what I mean... So I thought CCC's drawing style was more suited for comparison.

And.... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Why can she print more!!! Print more I say!

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Kevin

14 years, 1 month ago

 

Nice. Missed this one. Speaking of collaborations, did you pick up the Nitroplus vs Type Moon Calendar? Some nice images.

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nat

14 years, 1 month ago

 

I didn't get the calendar, I wasn't really sold on the illustrations aside from Eiwa's and Oosaki Shinya's entries after seeing it reviewed here.

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Japanese phrases

14 years, 1 month ago

 

It always amazes me how much work goes into a piece like this. I always think about just one person doing it all, but I guess it takes a little more than that.

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Kei

14 years, 1 week ago

 

Think there's any chance of this hitting the outlets (Tora/Melon/Kbooks)? Or was this limited release at C77?

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