Don’t let the somewhat silly book title throw you – “Bicycle Life with Kawaii Girls” is an excellent collection of gorgeous art work from some of the top manga artists and illustrators working in Japan right now as they pay tribute to the popular bike culture in the country.
I myself used to commute to work on my Scott bicycle ( complete with messenger bag and all ) when I was working in Sunrise Animation Studios, a full hour of non stop, swift cycling from Tanashi to Ogikubo. With the exception of Summer and rainy days, it’s a really comfortable and enjoyable way to travel, away from the packed trains in Tokyo.
(above) Illustration by celebrated Ghibli animator/illustrator Kitarou Kousaka. His impressive resume is waaay too long to list here.
(above) A piece by the incredibly talented Masaki Hirooka. This illustration does no justice to his work at all – check out his all his great stuff at backfire.jp.
(above) A hot dame on wheels by Tomokazu Nakano, a games illustrator for SNK/Sega. Reminds me of illustrations by Ghost In The Shell creator Masamune Shirow – check out his Intron Depot art book.
(above) Illustrator Kouji Ogata of Boogie Pop Phantom fame. Has he done any new work recently ?
(below) Certainly Range Murata of Last Exile / Blue Submarine needs no introduction – he also illustrated the front cover image for this book.
(above) Art work by mecha designer Makoto Kobayashi. (below) An interview with illustrator Katsuya Terada ( of Monkey King fame ), who is really into bicycles. Be sure to check out the book review for VIVA IL CICLISSIMO! which he co-authored with Akira creator Otomo Katsuhiro, another big cycling fan.
(above) A handy database section at the end of the book let’s you review profiles of all the 40+ artists who have contributed to the book.
Definitely add this to your collection – the sheer volume of high quality illustrations are well worth it even if cycling or bicycles are not your thing.
“Bicycle Life With Kawaii Girls″ details :
– Dimensions – 10 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
– Softcover, 155 pages
– Full color
Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon CA | Buy From Amazon UK
You might also be interested in these items :
Cover Girls – Katsuya Terada Art Book Review
Bicycle Boy – Ghibli Inspired Illustrations by Mateusz Urbanowicz
Arthur Rackham – A Life With Illustration Art Book Review
A Life With Horses – Daisuke Igarashi Illustration Book Review
Gasoline Life – Katsuya Terada Manga Book Review
December 10th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
OH!! ( ° 0°) TOKIYA!!
haha! Finally!
Glad to see his work printed in a artbook
His style is growing very big in the japanese artists community among Kawayoo and others.
check out his other works
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=9981522
January 17th, 2012 at 5:00 am
What a surprise! I was looking for a piece of information about Patlabot and I found halcyonrealms: your blog is wonderful.
Interesting that two bikes showed here are made in Italy. Moreover, Tomokazu Nakano’s wonderful drawing shows a Pinarello bike, made in Treviso, the city I work in.
Vong I’ll follow you from here to eternity.
Thanks.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:14 am
Claudio – Thank you so much for visting ! :]
July 5th, 2012 at 3:41 am
could you post a list of all the artist who contributed in this artbook? pls?
July 6th, 2012 at 1:09 am
madz – you can find the full lists of artists here : http://www.wani.com/bicycle/
November 22nd, 2013 at 11:53 pm
Your blog post inspire me to create my own post about cycling manga genre which under radar of manga reader compare other theme such as soccer, baseball, or basket ball manga.
Would you mind if I use some cycling materials from your blog?
I will put your website as references too.
November 25th, 2013 at 11:18 pm
Hii yonghow,
I completed my post, uploaded it and got some good responds both from cyclist and manga reader.
Here the link:
http://anime8manga.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/cycling-bicycle-and-manga/
Lastly, do you know other art book about bicycle or similar like this one?
Hope they reprinted or update it. I will search it.
August 3rd, 2014 at 6:20 pm
Hello,
I am going to visit Tokyo on early September this year. I am planning to buy this book if possible. Could you tell me where I can purchase this wonderful book?
I am going to visit akihabara too. Any information or best places to buy this kind book I will appreciate it.
I don’t have amazon.jp account and I am not sure if I have enough time for the order arrive through my friend account too. So online purchase is out of question for me.
August 3rd, 2014 at 11:51 pm
manifest – Hello, if the book is in stock you should be able to find it at either of the big Kinokuniya bookstores in Shinjuku :
http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/c/store/Shinjuku-Main-Store/shopinfo.html
http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/c/store/Shinjuku-South-Store/shopinfo.html
The bookstores in Akihabara should carry this book too. :] Have fun !
March 5th, 2015 at 5:10 am
CAN I GET ONE OF THIS PLEASE PLEEEEASSEE
FML FMCOUNTRY