Yuu's "Magic" (Doujinshi)

Hey all, it's been a while since I pumped out an artbook/doujinshi review! I have an explanation! I swear!

Today we'll be looking at one of the only doujinshi I picked up in the past year. Magic by Yuu (last name currently unknown) is a short, yet spectacular orgy of pastel softness and astounding detail. But hey, don't trust just my word. Take a look for yourself.

Fuji Choko's "Fuji Shiki 2012" (Doujinshi)

How long as it been since we last threw up a doujinshi review? Too long, way too long. Shame on us! 

But art isn't dead on Poke the Merch, not yet anyway! It's been a while since we last reviewed a doujinshi, so forgive me for my artistic rustiness. Here I go:

If I were to describe this doujinshi in one sentence, it would be, "Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?" and yes, Fuji Choko can.

2012: Year in Review!

Happy New Year, all you beautiful, crazy people out there.

So, another year gone by and what have we got? More merch, more cheer, and slightly emptier wallets. 2012 was the year of indulgences. Used figures and spontaneous buys galore! Restraint? Never heard of it! And what do I have to show it? Dozens of beautiful ladies and thin magazines filled with magic.  It hurt like repeated lashes to the rear, but it was worth it. After all, collecting is masochism sublimated.

Miwa Shirow's VVW Vocaloid Visual Works (Doujinshi)

With C82 arriving in August, my doujinshi fever has been lit anew! So watch out, world, Poke the Merch is talking art.

Miku has enough representations to fill a classroom. Her fanmade personalities oscillate from cute to chipper to downright bitchface evil. Whatever's your type, Miku's got it. It's a part of her charm. Personally, I'm not overly fond of Miku and her high frequency output, but I adore how she's presented in Vocaloid Visual Works. After all, I love my women with a bit of rawr, and Love of War Miku is totally badass.

Rco Wada's "Toka + Toka 2" (doujinshi)

Collecting doujinshi can become a very dangerous hobby very fast. There are so many wonderful artists it's all too easy to buy yourself into bankruptcy. I am always doubly cautious when picking up doujinshi because of their relatively high expense-to-page ratio. Paying a dollar per page can burn through your wallet at alarming speeds, but when I come across something like Rco Wada's Toka + Toka 2 I simply can't resist. It shot me with delicious colours. Right in the heart.

redjuice's Ignition (Doujinshi)

Here we are! The third and final redjuice doujinshi I own!

Now the question remains: Don't I ever get tired to seeing redjuice pictures everywhere? Isn't it about time I broadened my horizons to include other talented artists? Shouldn't I fangasm somewhere else?

The answer is no, yes, and it depends. Let me show you why.

Ideolo's Black♣Album 2 (Doujinshi)

I've hunted Ideolo's doujinshi since I was made aware of their existence, yet somehow, they've always eluded my grubby little fingers. UNTIL NOW.

Ideolo's Touhou series is the epitome of high-contrast stylization. The colours are bright enough to punch your retina right in the cones. The heavy blacks are stark and uncompromising. Such abusive boldness can only signify greatness. Read on.

Collector's Kunieda & aka Design Works (Doujinshi)

There are three types of art I really enjoy: brightly coloured, high contrast, and grungy. Collectors by artists Kunieda and Aka clearly fall into the first category. Sure, Collectors is not as vibrantly rainbow as Nao Tsukiji's Nostalgia(very little is), but it manages to cover most of the spectrum with decent aggression, and that's decent enough by my count.

Let's take a closer look.

redjuice - EXT (Doujinshi)

Seems silly of me to be reviewing redjuice's EXT after I reviewed redjuice's Inside considering EXT was released first. But then again, everyone knows following sequential order is for squares, and here at Poke the Merch, we're all about circles.

After all, it doesn't matter what order I review redjuice's doujinshi. They're all gorgeous. In a sense, there's no need for me to review them at all, as "reviewing" implies there's something to critique, and redjuice Needs. No. Critique.

Kurogin/D.S.B.'s "Archive Illustrations 2006-2009" (Doujinshi)

Statistics indicate I possess a predisposition to neglect art book reviews. This is unacceptable. Jenn is steady in nature and doesn't engage in that sort of favourism! Great art is my second love after great figures and great literature (that would technically make it my third, I guess), but I absolutely dread photographing art books. They're predilected towards horrible light refractions, and awful stiff spines.

Thankfully, the arrival of a batch of doujinshi lit a flame under my butt. So get ready, folks, here comes a well-needed artbook review!

redjuice's "Inside" (Doujinshi)

Hello all! Boy, am I glad to see you. Today, I'll be covering my first of many art book reviews. Wish me luck!

Redjuice has long been one of my favourite artists. There's nothing more attractive than a well defined style, and redjuice's art is definitely well defined. Inside was published in 2008 and features many of his commercial works. It's the second doujinshi he's released, the first being EXT and the third being Ignition.