The above cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

If you want a book full of bikini babes, babes with outlandish tattoos, and babes with the kind of big, big guns found in science fiction, comic books, and videogame media, there are certainly such books (and even magazines) available.  If you want that kind of book with breathtaking art that blows your damn mind, then you’d want Digital Manga Publishing’s English edition of Flamboyant, a collection of illustrated work by manga-ka, illustrator, and conceptual character designer, Ugetsu Hakua.

Much of the work featured here is art Ugetsu produced for the anime (Japanese animation) series, Burst Angel, or media related to it, including DVD dust jackets, CD booklet art, art for novels, publicity material, calendar art, and magazine covers.  There’s also a smaller section for the anime, Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko (Everybody’s Bounty Hunters), a selection of sketches, and 31 original illustrations (including five illustrations not included in the Japanese edition).

Reading Flamboyant is a bracing experience because the art is so… awesome!  For me, flipping through the pages of Flamboyant felt like the first time I opened Dark Horse Comics’ release of Intron Depot (1992), a Masamune Shirow artbook.  It’s not just Ugetsu’s ability to design sexy young women – so scantily clad in shorts, tight one-pieces, supernaturally long scarves, etc. – or even his splendid use of color, but it’s also his imagination.  In this book, Ugetsu’s work captures something of the spark, that sense of being visionary, which was so evident in Jean “Moebius” Giraud’s work when it landed on American shores in the mid to late 1970s.

The sketchbook section is mostly in black and white; composed of character designs and sketches and model sheets, it’s the best look at Ugetsu’s imagination and design talent.  The black and white art alone is worth the cover price.  Flamboyant is a must-have for fans of the art of anime.

A+