A Letter To Momo is Hiroyuki Okiura’s first film after a long break of 12 years, since his directorial debut Jin-roh : The Wolf Brigade. It follows the the life of a 13 year old girl Momo, who, after the death of her father due to a work related incident, moves from Tokyo to her mother’s hometown of Shio. As Momo struggles to adapt to the sudden changes in her life on the remote island, she encounters a trio of supernatural beings…
I very seldom purchase art books of films I’ve yet to see, ( having missed the theatrical screening of this film while in Tokyo and am still kicking myself ) but I did so for this because I trust Hiroyuki-san’s artistic vision to create a fantastic piece of animation, and also because I wanted to get the word out on his films as I feel they really deserve more attention, just like Jin-roh.
The art book covers the various disciplines of the animation making process, including story and layout boards, character sheets, select genga and image boards and background art plates. In terms of volume it’s not as comprehensive as say, the art of Ghibli series, but unfortunately this is probably the only art book we’ll be seeing for the film.
Visually, A Letter To Momo retains many of the distinct look we saw in Jinroh – the character design, a duty shared by both the director and Ando Masashi ( another anime heavyweight with a ton of fantastic credit to his name ); the desaturated, almost pastel color palette; and a very simple and minimal cell shading look for the characters. All these work together to give A Letter To Momo a visually distinctive look amongst other anime films.
(above and below) A sizeable collection of character sheets for the lead and secondary characters.
(above) Select genga sheets and ( below ) background art plates.
( below ) Select panels of image boards by the director himself. I really love the gentle watercolor look, just like some of Tatsuyuki Tanaka’s works.
If you’re a cinema operator or film festival organizer, please, consider picking up A Letter To Momo for screening. ( For an in depth review of the film, please go here. ) In the meantime, this book should satisfy those who want a further glimpse behind the art of the film.
“Hiroyuki Okiura’s A Letter From Momo “ art book details :
Dimensions – 25.6 x 18.2 x 1.2 cm
Soft cover, 112 pages
Color/B&W, in Japanese
Buy From Amazon.com | Buy From Amazon CA | Buy From Amazon UK
You might also be interested in these items :
Hiroyuki Imaishi Anime Art Works Book Review
Japan Anima(tor) – Robot On The Road Art Book Review
Water – Hiroyuki Asada Illustrations Art Book Review
The Long Journey’s Diary – Hiroyuki Asada Art Book Review
Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation – The Select Art Book Review
July 9th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
I really love that first picture. So beautiful.
Generally, the art in A Letter to Momo is just gorgeous and I really appreciated how distinct – both visually and in terms of their personal characteristics – the three yōkai were. They could have easily ended up indistinguishable or at least very similar, but they are not at all!
I hope you get to see the film soon!
July 9th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
alua – I too was captivated by that picture, so I chose it for the title image. I’m hoping our local film society can arrange for a screening of the film, maybe even ask Hiroyuki-san to grace the event !
Chances are slim, but we’ll see. :]
July 10th, 2012 at 6:17 am
Funnily enough that picture is from a scene that I felt was somewhat redundant (although I did think it was beautifully done, also it’s final animated form).
If worst comes to worst you’ll have to watch it on DVD but it is the sort of film that’s just wonderful on the big screen.
Hope you get lucky!