“Hea-a-a-a-vy!” as they used to say on the 1970s TV show Battle of the Planets, originally known as Gatchaman in Japan. But why do I say it? Well, first because it was (even if they didn’t know it) the earliest exposure many American fans had to the work of Yoshitaka Amano, at the time a designer at Tatsunoko, the anime studio that made Gatchaman. And second, because our new release from Yoshitaka Amano, The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy, is heavy, man! It weighs 12.6 pounds, to be exact. I know because I lugged it in my checked baggage to Anime Weekend Atlanta this last weekend, just to give fans at the Dark Horse panel a chance to have a sneak peek at it before it goes on sale October 17.
It was a little funny, because otherwise my DH panel presentation was all done with images projected from a laptop—but when it comes to The Sky, nothing beats seeing it in three dimensions just to understand how impressive a package it is. First of all, the box The Sky comes in, with its satin-textured finish, hinged lid, and wraparound illustrations (inside and out) measures 594 cubic inches—it’s the muscle car of DH art book projects! Inside, of course, is where the weight of The Sky comes in, for it contains a nested set of five books (there’s a sewn-in ribbon under the books so they can be lifted out easily). Three of them are hardcovers: The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy I, II, and III. Totaling 576 pages, they feature Amano’s paintings and illustrations detailing his character and monster designs from the first ten Final Fantasy games.
The other two books are softcovers: first, All about Yoshitaka Amano. At 128 pages, it’s the most comprehensive look ever in English at the career of the artist, with an interview, profiles, bibliographical notes on his hundreds of illustration jobs (did you know that Amano painted the Japanese cover of The Bourne Ultimatum?), and photos of his studio, hangouts, and working tools—not to mention a complete index of all the artwork in The Sky’s three hardcover books. Finally, there’s a 96-page flip book that harks back to Amano’s roots in animation with two Final Fantasy mini “movies” created by the artist.
Did I say “finally”? Not quite yet! Besides the five books, you’ll find four more items included in the box set—a see-through acetate print in silver ink, two postcards featuring the inside and outside box cover art, and, last, but certainly not least, a touch we are grateful to Amano-sensei for—an insert card personally signed by the artist. So as you can see, Amano fans will be in pretty good shape when they receive their copies of The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy. And they’ll be in even better shape if they do a simple routine of three sets of ten lifts of the box set daily! ^_^