Title: Tokyo Ghoul:re Illustrations Zakki
Author: Sui Ishida
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 112
Genre: Artbook
Publication Date: November 17, 2020
Final Thoughts
This one is going to follow a different format as this isn’t a manga that I am reviewing but an art book! Tokyo Ghoul:re Illustrations Zakki is a collection of works from mangaka Sui Ishida along with commentary and a lot of extra art pieces that you may or may not have seen before.
Throughout the book, Ishida shows off his painting style as well as goes into detail about what software he uses as well as some of the techniques he tried for some pieces. For example, in an image for Juuzo, he talks about using an impasto technique which is great for closeups of the face but gets less detailed the more you pull back. He has a double-page, side-by-side comparison with the original art piece that featured a green background and a finished product that was more grey and monotone with little splashes of color. In both, he notes the simplistic look to Juuzo’s face that he felt satisfied with.
Along with awesome explanations such as that, you will get to see Ishida’s artwork for the covers of each volume along with their taglines. One thing that Ishida noted was that not all of the taglines were created by him. Some of which were created by his editor which goes to show the working relationship between a mangaka and their editor and how important it is. In one case, Ishida even showed up to six variants of the same color as he was having incredible difficulty landing on a finalized design. Even though they were slightly different in their appearances, you could see them compared side-by-side-by-side which was rather awesome to look at. It just shows that an artist will often never get it right on the first try and that redos can and will happen! As a matter of fact, this is shown a few times throughout the book so if you’re interested in seeing variants of art pieces, there are plenty of examples here to look at!
Some of the extra art that I mentioned are fun, little tongue-in-cheek pieces such as a page filled with chibi versions of all of the characters, quite a few pages of Tokyo Ghoul:re playing cards, and he even went so far as to create CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul) ID Badges for some of the members, each with their own unique employee ID number! Little touches like that are cool to see!
In the back of the book, there is a Q&A section where Ishida had been interviewed a few times by Young Jump over the years. They have a lot of questions and answers in the back of the book so if you want some additional information and insight into Ishida, it’s a great read with some of the answers being a little surprising!
The book itself is very well-made! The decision to go with a hardcover edition was a good one as art books like this tend to just feel better with a hardcover. It does come with a wraparound jacket which, when removed, reveals an awesome art piece on the front and back in what can best be described as a cross between grayscale and sepia. The image itself seems to have an overlay effect as it fades and blends into the cover almost as if it were transparent. The title in white adds that modern, minimalistic touch and just makes the whole thing pop!
The wraparound jacket is in full color, however. It clearly shows Ishida’s talents as a painter as the front cover features our main characters of Kaneki and Touka while the back cover is simply just a plain dark grey with the logo of the book.
All in all, if you love art books and are a fan of Tokyo Ghoul in general, this is a must-have. The art in here is stunning and rich and there is plenty of it! The commentary used gives very informational insight behind the pieces, Ishida’s techniques and preferences, thought process, and so much more! If you ever wanted to take a deep dive into the mind of Ishida while enjoying some amazing artwork, this is a can’t-miss book!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
All images used in this review were provided by VIZ Media and are property of the following copyright holders:
© Sui Ishida/Shueisha, Tokyo Ghoul Production Committee
© Sui Ishida, Shin Towada/Shueisha, Tokyo Ghoul Production Committee
© 2017 “Tokyo Ghoul” Film Partners
© 2019 “Tokyo Ghoul ‘S’ ” Film Partners
© Tokyo Ghoul the Stage Production Committee
© BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.
