Murata Range – Futurelog (Denpa, 2019) – My Comment
I assume that not many people interested in Japanese art don’t recognize the author, or at least his unique style. This beautiful artbook is covered with wrapper and protective clear film. English-language versions of Japanese artbooks or manga usually don’t have these, so good job, Denpa Books.
Futurelog is an excellent representation of Murata’s artistic palette. Showing cute girls, tough men, planes, trains, cars, and landscapes often heavily referencing steampunk (or rather dieselpunk). Includes both original artwork and illustrations based on existing works.
Murata Range’s incredible attention to detail is evident in basically every drawing and project he’s worked on. For example, Ao no 6-gou, Last Exile, and Cop Craft. All his works from those series is also included in this issue. Additionally, there are quite a few covers and illustrations from the “futuregraph” series for Comic Kairakuten magazine.
Futurelog has almost three hundred pages, many of which are fold-out (even tri-fold). Something that usually only occurs on the first page – that is, if at all. I have nothing to complain about the print quality. Everything is vibrant, and I didn’t notice any defects. Additionally, I noticed that different sections were printed on different kinds of paper. For example, paper with a rougher surface was used for the sketches, while for the full color printing something like chalky paper was used. The pages delineating each section were done on a very stiff type of paper.
A brief overview of the western version
Due to the fact that this is a western version, there is also the matter of translation and the edition itself. The artbook contains several pages of short stories in manga form. I haven’t compared the text to the original, but I haven’t noticed anything that would annoy or dissonance me. Honorifics are left in the original form, the font looks aesthetically pleasing. And, of course, nothing has been censored. It would automatically rule out buying the translated version if it were to happen. I don’t buy anything even slightly censored – this goes for the text as well as for all the other content).
Because of Murata’s distinctive style, some of his works may be considered problematic by some. However, if this is the case, I would recommend skipping his work altogether. If distinguishing fiction from reality causes someone a significant problem, I would also recommend stopping consuming Japanese media and staying in the recently fashionable American cancel culture.
The photos don’t reflect the way the artbook looks in reality, even less how the fold-out pages look like. If you are interested, I strongly encourage you to buy it. The artbook can still be bought, even on the Polish Amazon at quite a decent price. It should be noted, however, that the western publisher rated the content at 16 and above (with good reason, by the way).
Murata Range – Futurelog (Denpa, 2019) – Show off
Before I show a dozen photos of the artbook contents, a quick glance at the outside page rolled up in a high quality wrapper, which was further protected by a printed foil cover to protect the wrapper.
And this is how the artbook looks like without the wrapper:
Photos
