Artbook Review – Happy Soda vol 1

by eternal on November 23, 2008

For those of you who may have missed the news, super rats of Happy Soda recently released a figure photography doujin, sold for only a week at lulu.com. I believe the final statistics were that 25 people ordered a copy, and as one of the 25 who happens to run an anime blog, I felt obligated to write a post about it. Besides, for any of you who have visited Happy Soda before, you’ll probably agree that the man’s photography skills are superb – and like always, things look better on paper than they do on a monitor.


I believe super rats is rather known for his ability to take pictures of figures at awkward angles and still make it look natural.


Intricate backgrounds are also a signature touch.

Every time I see this girl I always tell myself I’m going to figure out what she’s from, but I always forget.

Fauna always looks too innocent to be cast-off-able.


Interesting character design. Perhaps you could include an index at the back next time?

A bit of fanservice for the Yuki fans.

Needless to say, there were a lot more pictures I didn’t bother scanning, but they’re all sitting safely in the book so I can upload them whenever I want. Besides, I’m sure that most (if not all) of the pics were posted at Happy Soda itself at some point, so if any of you are curious you can just dig through the archives.

One thing I was definitely pleased to see was the little paragraphs scattered throughout out the book where he talked about either the figure or a couple minor details about the shoot. I know it’s meant to be a photo book and all, but if you ask me, I think I’d like to see even more of these; one of the biggest reasons why people are intrigued by these things is because they let us see into the heads of the people behind the art. We all see art, we all watched Kara no Kyoukai, but the interview with the TYPE-MOON guys at the end of Faust was still interesting because it let us see into their minds, even if just a little. On the other hand, I’m sure super rats doesn’t want to give away all of his secrets, so I suppose I can’t blame him.

Ultimately, the biggest reason why I support doujin work like this is because I also consider myself to be a member of the amateur community, and even though I haven’t contributed much anything yet, I plan on doing so at some point and I definitely respect the people that have taken the risk to treat Japanese cartoons and pieces of PVC as serious business. Whether it’s the guys behind Megatokyo, or the people who slave away at Ren’Py to program their own VNs, or even the people that set up methods of publication for other amateurs, it’s something that I have tremendous respect for either way, and support whenever I can.

But more importantly than that, super rats is probably one of the best figure photographers in our community, and the book makes an excellent read for you and any of your PVC-obsessed friends. It’s a bit late for me to tell you to pick it up, but I’m sure the writer won’t mind if you give him a few more hits and RSS subscriptions in return, right?


A photoshoot isn’t a photoshoot without the pantsu shot.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

OGT November 24, 2008 at 12:27 am

The girl who you do not know what she is from is from Peace@Pieces, I think. She’s certainly a Noiji Itou design, and I’m pretty sure she’s from that game.

Not that I have any idea what her name is, but that’s what she’s from. I think.

ps Noiji Itou is a dirty woman. Dirty, dirty woman.

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M12 November 24, 2008 at 4:47 am

The lighting in those pictures are really amazing :O.

M12s last blog post..Good Shot! – Ryuuguu Rena

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Blowfish November 24, 2008 at 9:38 am

Same Verdict as me ^^
We now have to convince superrats to bring in more tidbits into the next doujin :D

Blowfishs last blog post..E2046 Special Sale

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Rin November 25, 2008 at 2:29 am

I missed it…
I want his book but I got the PDF so I’m happy!!!!!
Super Rats pictures are just amazing I say!!!!!!

Rins last blog post..New Package Again…

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