ARASHI meets MANGA... with great approval?
Arashi and my old fandoms are finally, officially colliding! 8D 8D
That said, I have quickly looked at Arashi's recent collaboration with manga artists, and by collaboration I really mean their various images collaborating with the mangaka responsible for one of their starring drama sources, and can I just say:
I am cracking up at fandom collectively going LOL OHNO XD.
BECAUSE I HAD THE EXACT SAME REACTION.
WHY ARE JE LEADERS SO EPIC?
ETA: Okay, I've finally gotten a bit of time to figure out what I'd flailed about for each portrait:
Nino: I want to personally proclaim my love to whoever had chosen Matsumoto Taiyou as Nino's artist, because Matsumoto-sensei nailed Nino. No, seriously, he did. Matsumoto-sensei captured the way Nino affects wistfulness; I can recognize in this portrait a number of different photoshoots where Nino would have the same soft look in his eyes. It's not easy to take an essence of the subject and translate it onto paper and ink, but Matsumoto-sensei blew it out of the water. Plus, he drew in a style completely different from mainstream manga! I am in love with the unique stylistic elements, like the flat sheets of colour that dominate the entire picture emphasizing the gently-blended cheek highlights, and the delicate facial features and wisps of breath in stark contrast to the blocky forms. If I keep on going for longer I'm going to start sounding pretentious, so I'm just going to leave off with I LOVE THAT PICTURE SO DAMN MUCH.
Sho: "...!!! asdjfklA;SLFKJA SHO ♥" basically sums up my reaction upon laying eyes on the picture. It is so SHO. First, I got caught at his face, then I focused on the bridge in the background, then I switched right back to staring at Sho: at his eyebrows, at the windswept strands of his hair, at the slipping flap of the half-unbuttoned coat- I'm completely weak to details, and expressive faces that keep their stories secret, and moments frozen in time without context, and Umino Chika-sensei just hit every kink I have in manga colour spreads. I am totally going to spend inappropriate amounts of time geeking out to myself all the little things in the portrait. ("The railings on the bridge! The miniscule windows in the high-rises! The shape of Sho's eye! The-")
Jun: Jun is completely suited to be a manga character, full stop; he's got the striking features for any main male character, and the equally striking personality to back it up. Hence I am not surprised at all to see Kamio Youko-sensei capture Jun's cocky confidence so completely in her portrait; after all, Jun was perfect for her Domyouji because he grasped the little intricacies she put in Domyouji. (Frankly I was rather startled at how little I had to work to separate this Jun from "Domyouji straight-permed his hair!". That's how I know an artist has done a good job, too.)
Aiba: The hair. The hair. I zoomed into his hair and kind of stayed there for a few moments, basking in its glory. Aiba's got amazing hair and I am so pleased to see Nagatomo Takeshi-sensei capture its epicness (or Aiba live the epicness of manga hair, either or). Otherwise Aiba's portrait is rather ordinary, especially when compared to the first two openers, but it just served to hype me more for Bartender. ♥ (I do confess to wanting to see what Mizu Sahara-sensei would have made of Aiba's portrait, though. I adore her style.)
Ohno: After my initial "LOL OHNO XD" reaction, I calmed down a bit and took a better look... and went "LOL OHNO'S HAND XD". Um. The thing is, though, Fujiko Fujio A drew Kaibutsu-kun for children in a deliberately slapstick style. So I quite like how he'd surrounded Ohno with the main characters of the manga; I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. Once I got past the LOL OHNO phase, the portrait's really not bad at all. What's really nice about this (and Nino's) is that although it doesn't really looks like the character that he had played in the respective motion picture adaptation, he's still recognizable.
That was fun. ♥ I kind of want to restart reading manga now, actually. Hm.