Tasogare Otome X Amnesia’s first Blu-ray volume boasts a pair of stunning cover illustrations – one of which features a more abstract style of art, and the other, a realistic tour de force of shadow and lighting.
While the spectral bishoujo is the subject matter, and certainly serves as a beautiful focal point, the beauty of this art piece arrives in the appreciation of the extensive value applied – an outstanding, sizable spectrum of sunlight is seen shining down, and this is not only spectacularly portrayed in itself, a series of very delicate, organized, and translucent yet highlighted lines, yet one can see the impact they have.
Some light refracts against the vertex of this stairway landing, turning to blue, which complements the many oranges – as all the while, another, more predominate portion of light livens up the image, providing the sight of the variegated oranges of the artwork which bring out the bishoujo.
One can understand the time of day to be sunset, or dusk, based on the tone of the orange hues present – which is quite appropriate given the series’ “Dusk Maiden” bit. And while the sun is setting, Yuuko glistens here as the sun is implied to be right outside the window – directly acting upon the staircase.
Each color utilized is heavily saturated – and this contributes further to an already blatantly stark contrast present in the image. Vibrant oranges line the edges around Yuuko – yet the lower portion, as well as the left side both clearly transition to black. This encompassing addition of black is significant in defining the atmosphere of the composition – a dark floor, with a brighter top section, results in an entrapping mood.
Looking upon the artwork, this segment of a stairway landing and a few steps feels as if it were a small enclosure – and there’s in fact depth which also aides in this sensation, the steps gradually grow in size accordingly when moving closer our direction. These aspects overall make Yuuko appear to be sprawled across the full width of these steps in a minuscule sized corridor as if she were right in front of us – however, it is impressive how the more collective of the artwork which interact, the more emotion the image outputs.
Combining every facet of the piece, in addition to their continual intermixing throughout the artwork, like a series of smaller circles within one large circle, this gives the overall vibe of the creative work – a sense of mystery, a girl shrouded in a mix of light and darkness, hanging upside-down in an ambiguous yet inviting grin of satisfaction, body laid out to lure, and hair streaming down for an all so similar purpose.
It’s truly quite a treat to see Silver Link utilizing their artistic potential, which is easily top-class, in promotional material as well – unlike what they unfortunately did with C3.
May 19, 2012 @ 0:03 CDT
Pretty…
My favourite artwork is the one with the ghost girl lying on the stairs :)
I think Tasogare Otome is one of the best shows this season :)
May 19, 2012 @ 0:05 CDT
“I think Tasogare Otome is one of the best shows this season”
I actually agree with this in some respects.
The series is definitely by far the most beautiful aesthetically – and it also has exceptional points of story. Of course there’s also a slew of weaker points – though it remains to be seen whether or not it can manage to successfully pull everything together.