--reviewed by Jason


Anthology 05 contains 5 stories - "S.I.N.: Part II" by Kyoko, "Elm Falls: Part I" by Megumi, "A.N.G.E.L.: A Promises Side Story" by Ashura, "Color Me Blood Red Parody" by Lime b, "Ecstasy; Or Lack Thereof" by Krum, and a gallery of sketches by Sonya.

I remember Kyoko's "S.I.N." back story, "Wings: Contact," from the "Winged Things 2" book. In it, we see the young Azure fall out of the sky into Lance's homeland, and beginnings of love between the two boys. In Anthology 05, part 2 of "S.I.N." begins with the worried thoughts of a young blond man named Izumi. He's fallen in love with Hiroshi, a beautiful sharp-eyed man with short black hair, but he laments: "I'm so stupid for falling in love with someone... that doesn't feel anything for me." But is Hiroshi not in love with Izumi, or is he protecting him from something? We find out later in the story that Hiroshi's got some major secrets in his past, and from those secrets you'll probably be able to draw some connections to Azure and Lance from "Wings: Contact." Kyoko's constructed a truly engrossing plot, with gorgeous art to boot. I love the ultra-shoujo panels overflowing with lovely ziptone patterns, impossibly long floating hair and ribbons; everything fitting together like pieces of a beautiful puzzle. One could say the same about the plot.

After the story proper, there's an adorable omake, and a little freetalk section after that. I thought I might reassure K-chan that the story does in fact make sense, because she was worried about it in her freetalk. ^_^ It might take a second reading to understand all that's going on, but it's because of the sophisticated storyline, not a flaw in the writing.

Part 1 of "Elm Falls," by Megumi tells the story of Terrance, a pretty young man born from a wealthy clan of people. Because of his priveleged bloodline, Terrance is expected to marry a pre-chosen bride as a political advantage for his clan. The fact that Terrance is gay but never told his parents presents quite the little snag in his family's plans. Complicating Terrance's life further is his lover who seems to only use him for sex. We don't get to know much about the lover yet, but the first part ends at the moment he and Terrance meet for the first time, so it looks like part 2 will tell us more about him. I'm definitely interested in learning more about the mysterious lover. Is he really a heartless seme, or does he have feelings for Terrance? Does Terrance's sister Tara know that he's gay? How does she deal with it if she does? The artstyle is clean and simple without affecting a lack of detail. Megumi doesn't shy away from nude or lemony scenes, and I hope we get treated to some more of them in future parts.

Ashura's subtle and introspective "A.N.G.E.L." is a sidestory to "Promises," which I don't believe I've read. I'm certain the plot seems a little more obscure to me because I'm not familiar with the story from which it's derived. Julian Tse is an angry young man whose childhood was spent with his twin brother Damian and his alcoholic father. Julian's father turns his affections to men after Julian's mother dies while giving birth to him and his twin brother, and Julian resents him for it through his homophobia. Julian and his brother live life on the streets before long, and Julian grows into a violent young man whom has killed at least 10 men. His life takes a turn when he meets his soulmate, but it appears as though Julian's soulmate has a secret. The last lines of the story hint at a betrayal in the future, which makes me very curious to read "Promises" and find out about it. The success of Ashura's comic lies in her talent for rendering her characters' facial expressions. There is little physical action or background detail to distract from worried downcast eyes in one panel, or the cool threat of violence of the eyes in another. Text and well-rendered facial expressions come together to form an interesting character piece.

Next in the book is a gallery of sketches by Sonya. I think the sketch gallery is a great idea. I've always loved looking through sketch books because they provide such a nice glimpse into the mind of the artist. You can see thought processes instead of the polished exterior of a finished piece of art. The rough layout lines of Sonya's sketches have their own unique beauty, although the cleaned-up drawing of two guys embracing in a shower still holds its appeal too. Her profile was nice to read, because I see that we have several things in common. It's a great peek at the person behind the drawings. I hope I'll eventually get to see sketch galleries of each of the Umbrella Studios artists in future anthologies.

I've read part 1 of Lime b's "Color Me Blood Red" in Anthology 01, so I found her cute parody in Anthology 05 hilarious. I reccommend reading "Color Me Blood Red" before reading the parody, so that you'll understand the drastic difference between the serious gothy original and its comedic counterpart. Zai and Rudei are drawn chibi style, and they're very adorable. Rudei's immersed himself in American popular culture, much to Zai's horror. I particularly enjoyed chibi-Zai's exaggerated expressions as chibi-Rudei reveals just how shallow he can be. The whole story is a clever jab at the more ridiculous elements of American popular culture. I laughed out loud at several points, especially Lime b's post-comic interviews with Rudei and Zai.

Last in the book is "Ecstasy: Or the Lack Thereof" by Krum. The artwork in this story is just very, very cool. It has a cyberpunk, Bladerunner sort of feel, although it's just some guys sitting around eating vaguely Asian food. The clothing and hairstyles suggest that there was a little extra time taken to design them, like the details of the guy with the square eyepatch, or the black shirt with the rectangular cutouts near the collar. I like the loose lines of the drawing style too. All of these elements serve to create the cyberpunk feel for me. It's a casual, silly little story, with an angry cook who has the most awesome head of frizzy wild hair. I'd love this story even without any words.

Anthology 05 is packed full of great art and stories. Umbrella Studios just seems to get better with each book they put out. The emphasis seems to be on continuing stories, so perhaps the stories in this volume will inspire you to pick up a few other volumes with continuations of these stories.

--reviewed by Figbash