Series: G Senjou no Anata to Watashi
Artist: Ikuemi Ryou
Publication: Cocohana (01/2017)
Details: Cocohana Calendar 2017 (August)
Source: Scanned from my personal collection
From my recent haul, I gave in and bought Smile: (Ryo Ikuemi's) The 40th Anniversary of Debut Special Book, because I was curious and no one else clarified to me what this was, tbh.
It's basically that: a book that collects many things about Ikuemi's career as a mangaka, including comments about her own series, what media adaptations they have had received (up until that point in 2019), what I assume is the "stapples" of what kind of elements or nods she would include in her series (literature, animals, fashion), her favorite pages of a selection of her series (including illustrations), a few interviews and a handful of homages/contributions in this book made by other contemporary artists and/or friends.
And I mean, it's a nice book. I appreciate the timelines for context of her career and for all the media adaptations her series have had (including a few records and "audiobooks", which I think are what we know these days as Drama CD, because, well, these were released in cassette form, too? at the time, I meant, lol).
The pages and the illustrations are a delight to see.
I cannot collect everything of hers (imagine that, lol), but some pages' panellings are simply gorgeous, like the one in the left above?
What I was slightly? disappointed was the limited illustrations' selection. I don't think that Ikuemi has had another illustration book of hers (The Best of Ryo Ikuemi [1990-1994] is the one that I bought last year), besides that one co-joint exhibition she did a few years ago? so it would have been such a nice thing to have more illustrations in color (don't remind Shuei*sha that their Betsuma Memorial website is still up, lmao)... like, I apreciate that it has some from her first couple of series, which, I mean. Especially POPS. It's the one series that put her on the map and it should mean a LOT to her. I also appreciate that it basically tells you about her artistic evolution in those 40 years.
(I'm only posting only this one, which is pretty resumed, lol, from 1988 towards the 2010s, but man, if those two in the right-center page aren't... really something)
I did mention it contains some contributions, like essays and a few fan comics made by other artists. I SAY, "contemporaries", but what I meant is more like "well, she has been doing manga for so long... so... I feel it's more like, friends? of her. I do know, for example, that she considers Nakahara Aya (LoveCom, DameKoi) as a friend, but she is absent here. Mangaka like Shiina Karuho and Obata Yuki, or Kawahara Kazune and Sakisaka Io, include some fan comics of hers. Interestingly, it's neat seeing how Shiina or Kawahara try to imitate her style.
(this is from Kawahara's contribution, based on Torch Song Ecology)
There's also what I assume (there's too much "assume", because I don't read much JPN and Google Lens doesn't work in my 5 year old phone to try and use Translate) is like a lost? chapter of I LOVE HER, that seem to happen in the middle of some events... but, it's drawn in more recent times (given the art style is more close to her recent stuff than, well, early 90s I LOVE HER) and it's kind of cute. It has this sketchy look more like a manuscript, so.
I really wish Ikuemi's work was more... oficially widely available (or, heck, more fan tl'ed... or AT LEAST complete... some series of hers that catch my attention, and turns out they haven't been continued in years...). I always seem to ask for her works to be licensed here in Mexico (or at least what I think are more "accessible" due them being "recent" or at least, a bit more well known), because... well, Ikuemi's works are a bit strange in general as they don't tend to fit into a "cookie-cutter" mould of shojosei series (especially those that were published in Betsuma between the 90s and 2000s). But, man, I want that kind of "strange" shojosei manga here and let her be more well known (I say "strange" because they tend to be... strange, lol - I'm currently reading My Beloved Niina/Niina, my love, and MAN that series is a storytelling mess -and without doubts, because I feel like, as it was being published online, and Ikuemi was ALSO working on another few series or one shots at the time... and the quality in the story? it shows; no wonder she doesn't seem to say much on the Special Book about it... I have been enjoying it, but the final stretch...)
El Manga Principal de Ryo Ikuemi tendrá adaptación a película live-action en 2018.
Yuina Kuroshima y Nozomu Kotaki protagonizan la película.
Una película live-action adaptación del Manga Principal de Ryo Ikuemi tiene luz verde para su producción y esta programada para ser lanzada en 2018. Yuina Kuroshima (live-action de Strobe Edge, Sakurada Reset, a la izquierda en la imagen de arriba) será la protagonista Shima Sumitomo, mientrad que Nozomu Kotaki, miembro de la banda Johnny's West, será Gen Tatebayashi.
Tetsuo Shinohara dirigirá la película, con guiones por Yukiko Mochiji. La película será rodada enteramente en Hokkaido.
El Manga gira entorno a Shima Sumitomo. Rechazada en su escuela en Tokio, y con sus intentos de hacerse amiga de su tercer padrastro fracasando, ella decide irse a vivir con su padre natural en Sapporo, Hokkaido. Allí, en su nueva escuela preparatoria, se encuentra con dos hombres guapos llamados Gen Tatebayashi y Wao Sakurai, aunque parece que cuanto más se acerca a ellos, más es rechazada de nuevo.
Ikuemi lanzó el Manga original en la revista Cookie de Shueisha en 2010, y lo finalizó en 2013. Shueisha puso a la venta los siete tomos recopilatorios de la serie. El Manga Pops de Ikeumi recibió una adaptación a OVA en 1993.
