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hidari-works · 2 years

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Hi, also a Hidari fan here 😅 I've read your reply talking about seeing the influence other artists had on Hidari’s works. Can I get more detail about that? I'm pretty curious , thank you

Hi, glad to see another Hidari fan! Yes, I was talking to that anon about Hidari's influences and they sent me a few links to interviews and their personal thoughts on the matter.

Details below! v v v v v

It seems that Hidari's main influences were Kouhaku Kuroboshi (黒星紅白), Masakazu Katsura (桂正和), Yun Kōga (高河ゆん), Hiroaki Samura (沙村広明), Mel Kishida (岸田メル), and Jun Suemi (末弥純).

https://kai-you.net/article/51620

Hidari's words on some of the artists listed in the article above:

"Masakazu Katsura's shading of tones and the wrinkles in his clothes looked so realistic that I was conscious of his drawings from that time. I had an image that wrinkles in clothes were difficult to draw (laugh)."

"I was influenced by Yun Kōga-sensei, especially in the way she draws hair and eyes. Along with Kaori Yuki-sensei, when I read "Tenshi Kyoukaku (Angel Sanctuary)" in high school. The way she draws hair flows is very pleasing to me. Since that time, I have been very conscious of the flowing lines drawn by both of you."

"I often copied Katsura and Yun Kōga.

When I read Hiroaki Samura's "Mugen no Jūnin (Blade of the Immortal)," I thought it was a novel work with an analog touch. I really admired him because he had a solid panel layout as a manga artist, and I felt that he was an artist who had a good mix of both hard and soft styles."

---

I believe Hidari's popular style is mostly influenced by Mel Kishida's work, particularly on the Atelier game series. It seems Hidari highly regards Kishida as his senior seeing as they both have done work on the series. Hidari has said that his overall color scheme became pastel due to Kishida's infuence and that he cherishes the world view that Kishida has created. It seems that this is further evident in Hidari's environments and prop designs after coming across Kishida's work.

Another main influence would be Jun Suemi, who I believe is mostly responsible for influencing Hidari's more realism styled works, as evident in Suemi's highly skilled painterly style. You can see the resemblence in what Hidari has done for the "Record of Lodoss War" series and Suemi's overall style.

More links to interviews:

https://www.amgakuin.co.jp/contents/p=14064

https://www.koeitecmo.co.jp/news/2017/06/gust20th.html

#hidari #anonymous #ask

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shazzeaslightnovels · 5 months

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Sword Art Online IF

Authors: Various (see below)

Illustrators: Various (see below)

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 10 November 2023

My Score: 3/10

This is what it says on the tin: an anthology of what-if stories set in the SAO universe featuring short stories written and illustrated by different creators. I'll be talking about each story separately for this review so you can find my thoughts on each story, and which authors and illustrators worked on them below the cut.

Story 1: What if Pitohui was involved in the SAO incident

Author: Keiichi Sigsawa | Illustrator: Kouhaku Kuroboshi (Author and Illustrator of SAO Alternative: GGO)

This story is a humorous one in featuring a scene between Pitohui and LLENN as Pitohui reveals the "truth" behind the SAO incident. I get the feeling this would be a lot more enjoyable to fans of the GGO spin-off but I never got into it so I found this story pretty meh.

Story 2: What if Kirito and Asuna played a zombie game

Author: Mato Kousaka | Illustrator: ALmic (Author of I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time; Illustrator of Koi wa Futago de Warikirenai, a series which is getting an anime adaptation)

The title says it all. In this one, Kirito invites Asuna to play a beta test for a new zombie game. This one was pretty good. The characters never feel too out-of-character and if you want to see Kirito and Asuna take on a zombie game, you'll enjoy this story. While it wasn't a personal favourite, it's a good and satisfying what if story.

Story 3: Dream Game Crossover

Author: Tsutomu Satou | Illustrator: Kana Ishida (Author and Illustrator of The Irregular at Magic High School)

This story is a cross-over between Mahouka and SAO and I found it really boring. In fairness, I have never been a Mahouka fan, but I could have been down with this story if it was a silly cross-over that just has Tatsuya and Kirito fight, but instead the story spends so much time setting up how this cross-over could feasibly happen and it was just so boring. By the time Kirito actually shows up, the story is almost over. I'm sure people who are fans of both Mahouka and SAO will enjoy this story, but it just reminded me of why I was never able to get into Mahouka myself.

Story 4: Death Game Drop-out Arc

Author: Ren Sudou | Ilustrator: Shiwasu Hoshikawa (Ren Sudou has authored a few different LN series, probably the most well-known is Tobakushi wa Inoranai; Shiwasu Hoshikawa is credited as the mangaka for several Bungo Stray Dogs spin-offs)

This story is set back in the Aincrad Arc where we follow a player who gives into despair and jumps off the side of Aincrad, only to find himself in a mysterious area that appears to be a bug that he can't get out of. This story was really interesting and it reminded me of just how good the Aincrad Arc is. While SAO has had plenty of good arcs, the tension and stakes present in the Aincrad isn't something that the series has ever managed to recapture, in my opinion. I do think that this story isn't really what you want from an anthology like this as none of the SAO characters show up, and while the art is really nice, the character designs feel more like they come from Asuka Empire rather than from SAO. Still, I liked this story a lot and it made me want to rewatch the Aincrad Arc (and then I realised that Crunchyroll doesn't have the first season of the anime in Australia for some reason and now I'm like, 'Maybe I should just finally watch FULLDIVE instead').

Story 5: Detective Koyomi/Speckled Cat

Author: Soichiro Watashi | Illustrator: Ginta (Author and Illustrator of SAO Alternative: Clover's Regret)

Title note: it's a reference to the Sherlock Holmes Story "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"

This short story takes place in SAO Alternative: Clover's Regret and it was really great to see this world and these characters again. In this one, the gang challenges a murder mystery quest in which they go to a mansion and, you guessed, try to solve a murder. The players are each given a role when they enter the mansion: Koyomi is the detective, Nayuta is her assistant, Clevel is a professor, and Mahiro is the cop. This was a really fun short story. It made me remember how good Clover's Regret could be and made me want to reread the series. I was glad I got to spend more time with these characters. This one was a real treat.

Story 6: at the Children's Steps (this is how the title is written in the book; it's not my bad grammar, I swear)

Author: Koroku Takano | Illustrator: Rin (Apparently the author's written a few different series but I've never read any of them and don't recall any of them getting much buzz online; the artist has a non-search-engine-friendly name so I wasn't able to find much out about them and be sure that it was the same person)

This story asks the question, "What if Kirito was younger?" In it, we get a Kirito who was only 11 at the start of the Aincrad Arc. It turns out not a lot has changed. He's still the hero. It's just his relationship with the girls that has changed. He and Asuna never had their romance, and while the girls are still in love with him, they treat him as a kid and don't act on their feelings at all due to the age gap. The heroine of this story is Silica and I'm sure fans of her will be happy enough with it. Personally, I was hoping for this to be a more fun story with lots of hijinks and comedy, but it ended up being more of a serious reflection on how Kirito feels about not being taken seriously as a man and being treated like a kid. I did like that we got most of the story from Silica's POV though, and Rin's art style is super soft and cute.

Story 7: How do I cure this curse?: Silica and the ghost girl

Author: Keisuke Makino | Illustrator: Karei (Author and Artist of Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut)

Another Silica-focused story. This one takes place in the Aincrad Arc in which Silica accidentally starts a quest that gets her possessed by a ghost girl. This event causes her first meeting with Kirito, rather than Pina's death being the catalyst. Pina doesn't seem to exist in this version of events. I was excited for this one since Keisuke Makino wrote it but it was pretty disappointing. To be honest, it's not that much different from the original Silica chapter, except Kirito is less present in it which leads to more exploration of Silica herself. The story itself is fine and the writing is pretty, but it's not a strong concept for a 'what if' story.

Story 8: If Asuna opened up a restaurant, what would be Kirito's position?

Author: Y.A | Illustrator: Megumi Nagahama (Author and Illustrator of SAO Alternative: Gourmet Seekers)

Yes, that is a terrible title but it is the title. This one takes place during the Aincrad Arc in which Asuna decides to open up a restaurant on a whim and gets Kirito to help her. I found this one real boring. The characters felt out of character and Asuna deciding to open up a restaurant is so random. I also don't know why this was set in SAO. It would have been a lot more fun to set it in ALO and have the other characters get in on it and then it wouldn't have felt quite so random. This one does get points for having a Nishida appearance though.

Story 9: If you can smile

Author: Reki Kawahara | Illustrator: abec

I mainly got this volume for the Reki Kawahara story but it's so short that I don't know if it was worth it. This is a what if story in which Raios and Hubert eat a poisonous crab and get hospitalised, thus avoiding the whole Ronye and Tiese get assaulted and Eugeo and Kirito get thrown in prison plot line. I definitely wish this story was longer and explored the implications of that change more. As is, we only get a brief scene with Kirito, Eugeo, Ronye, and Tiese having a picnic. It is is cute though and I'm glad we got to see these characters being happy. It's a good way to end the volume.

I thought this was a pretty good collection overall, but there weren't a whole lot of stand out stories. I think my favourite story ended up being the Clover's Regret story. I really didn't have anything to complain about with that one. It's been such a long time since I read the trilogy that I didn't even mind the romance with Clevel and Nayuta as much as I used to. In terms of a what if story, I think the zombie game story fit the theme the best. It was pure wish fulfillment, did exactly what it set out to do, and the characters never felt too out-of-character. I'll also give a honorable mention to the Death Game Drop-out Arc for being really interesting and memorable, even if it didn't quite fit the what if theme of the volume.

I do find it annoying that most of these stories take place in the Aincrad Arc though. SAO is such a long running series that it's bizarre to focus so much on that one point in the timeline, even if it is one of my favourite arcs, second only to Mother's Rosario. Speaking of which, why wasn't there a single Yuuki Konno appearance in this volume? "What if Yuuki Konno was in SAO?" "What if Yuuki Konno lived?" "What if Aiko Konno lived?" Or even just a story focused on the Sleeping Knights on one of their other adventures. I would have loved a short story like that. Actually, if we have to be in the Aincrad Arc, "What if Sachi lived?" or "What if Sachi and Asuna met?" would have been so interesting. "What if Mito was in ALO?" also would have been cool, given that there have been no announcements for another Progressive movie. I guess this volume did succeed in getting my mind thinking about SAO again and thinking about all the possibilities for what if stories so it served it's purpose.

SAO Alternative: Gourmet Seekers came out in November too but I have no intention of reading it. The plot just doesn't interest me at all. There's another new Alternative series that's released this month though that sounds much more interesting: Mystery Labyrinth. It looks really cool and I'm definitely excited to read it.

#sword art online #anthology #dengeki bunko #3 stars #2023 releases #December 2023

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