SAMURAI-YOKAI WARS: Monsters, Ghosts & Demons By Kuniyoshi (Samurai Ghost Wars)

Make no mistake, Kuniyoshi's imagery is vivid, and wonderfully rendered. That much I liked a lot.Even so, a poor presentation takes a lot away from even the best artwork. In this case, the first thing I noticed was the garish reds. The blues, too, seem oversaturated, unlike the subtler coloring I've seen in originals and reproductions (not necessarily Kuniyoshi). At the same time, the darker colors lack contrast. One brown-on-black bit was hard to distinguish. It made me think of those unfortunate yearbook pictures of the dark-skinned students taken by photographers too accustomed to light skin tones.The organization could have been better, too. Instead of of captioning each page, the reader must refer to thumbnails in the back for descriptions. As short as they were, the descriptions could have been printed next to the page numbers in the full-sized art, with no other change to page layout. (Adding page numbers to the thumbnail captions would have helped, too.) Then, I never did see that first of the thumbnails anywhere among the page-sized reproductions, nor on the cover art. Really?The captions themselves offered less than I hoped, too. The "ginat [sic] white ape" under the fifth thumbnail suggested poor editing, at minimum. Even the best, though, did little more than name the major players in the image, and sometimes the collection from which the print was drawn. A little cultural context about the characters could have added depth to my appreciation, and maybe pointed me toward some reading, without going into barren scholarship.I want to learn more about Kuniyoshi's art and what it represents. Based on this one sample, I doubt this series will teach what I want to know.Then, I found it odd that the back page proudly announces this series as "Available exclusively through Amazon worldwide." Whether the publisher despaired of acceptance by other outlets, or is a corporate captive of Amazon, or is Amazon's attempt at moving great art into the realm of house-brand generic products, I did not find this encouraging.-- wiredweird

Filled with many Yokai and hero’s of old at odds with each other.

Bellissimo