Rae: "Retsujou" the Zetsuai/Bronze fan book by Ashura (Grace Ho) and Kyoko, is
both lovely to look at and well organized.Included in the fan book is a
short where Hirose reflects on why he torments Koji by Ashura, a short about
the rocky relationship between Koji and Izumi by Kyoko and also three
pictures by Kyoko. It also comes with an introduction that explains the
purpose of the fan book and gives a brief summery of the shorts. This is
incredibly helpful for people who are not familiar with the Zetsuai/Bronze
story.
Both shorts are beautifully crafted art-wise, with a lovely use of screen
tones and a nice sense of pacing. However, in the second short, the one by
Kyoko, the title page looks hastily thrown together and the action is a bit
hard to follow on the last three pages. When coupled with its powerful
narrative though, you can figure out what is going on fairly quickly.
All in all, "Retsujou" is a neat and unfortunately brief compilation of
beautiful artwork and passionate storytelling.
--reviewed by
Rae
RETSUJO
