Yasuhiko Yoshikazu (安彦良和) is a renowned animator/manga artist whose long list of credits include MS Gundam, Venus Wars, Crusher Joe and many more.
This art book is an expanded edition of the Japanese visual arts magazine Geijutsu Shincho (芸術新潮) June 2024 issue, released in conjunction with the Yasuhiko Yoshikazu art exhibition that took place at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum Of Art from June to September 2024.
The contents cover an extensive and very comprehensive collection of the artist’s manga art work, with each entry showcased through a synopsis of the story, beautiful colored illustrations as well as select pages of manga panels.
As I also mentioned in my review of the earlier publication in which this new art book is based on, Japanese magazines & periodicals often do not receive re-prints once they sold-out, so the publishers’ decision to upgrade it into a proper art book is much welcomed so that readers like us can continue to ( have the choice to ) purchase the book.
Yasuhiko Yoshikazu is a very accomplished artist and his colored illustrations are just gorgeous; just take a look at some of the bigger portrait format preview images I’ve included in my review above. If you take a moment to study them, he is really adept in his use of colors to create depth/separation of the characters to create dynamic and eye-catching compositions, something much easier said than done.
This art book is a most splendid collection of his art work and gets my highest recommendations.
“Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Illustration Archives Art Book 安彦良和の歴史画報” details :
Dimensions – 11.02 x 8.27 x 0.71 inches
Softcover, 240 pages
Full color, In Japanese language
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April 26th, 2025 at 2:35 pm
“I feel like I’ve seen this art before,” I said to myself until I saw the MSG illustrations; I have the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin manga literally right in front of me on my bookshelf – can’t believe I didn’t recognize Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s work, lol.
Also, I didn’t know he worked on Venus Wars – it was one of the first films I saw when I got into anime in the early 2000s.
April 27th, 2025 at 8:34 am
What makes this art book worthwhile are the little anecdotes you get on every page, but other than that, I find the art book a bit disappointing, especially the print quality. What I also don’t understand is why they keep reusing the same artworks over and over again for his art books instead of using some of his other works, like the covers he did for some of the re-releases of his manga or the covers he drew for some novels (like Dirty Pair or Crusher Joe).
April 27th, 2025 at 12:42 pm
I intended to go to your Youtube channel to look at the flip through of this book but couldn’t find it. What happened to it?
April 28th, 2025 at 5:21 am
Yas remains one of my favorite artists–the man is a true master of his craft.
April 28th, 2025 at 12:21 pm
Doctor Blood – It’s the opposite for me; my first exposure to his work was Venus Wars, so it left a much bigger impression on me than his MS Gundam work. All good stuff nonetheless !
Hekabe – You’re clearly much more knowledgeable about the artist than I am, I’m just happy that there are still art books that are not out of print that folks can still buy and enjoy, as many of his other titles are out of print, like the MS Gundam covers – https://halcyonrealms.com/books/mobile-suit-gundam-the-origin-cover-illustrations-yoshikazu-yasuhiko-art-book-review/
Varnia – Apologies, this happened – https://halcyonrealms.com/blog/about-my-youtube-channel/
Marc – Couldn’t agree more !