(no subject)
Jan. 7th, 2007 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
OK, TV watching types. Well, anime-watching types, anyways. I need some input. Aside from what's on Adult Swim, I've been pretty out of the loop for what's good in the way of new anime shows, and I need to start doing some research towards Sakura-con designs. So, any really good series hit the States in the last year and a half or so? And can anyone think of any anime that features masks or a masked character or two?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-07 09:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 06:08 am (UTC)Naruto does have some good masks. Among them are the ones worn by the ANBU squad:
http://www.narutopride.com/images/anbu.jpg
The character Haku has my favorite mask of the series (or rather of the limited part of the series I've seen.)
http://www.narutospain.com/mdn/personajes/Haku.jpg
One of my longtime favorite masked anime characters is Larva, from Vampire Princess Miyu:
http://www.ld50.hu/res/user_images/004/555/tn_120_larva(vampire_princess_miyu).jpg
San, from Mononoke Hime/Princess Mononoke, has a cool mask:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/ameko/san01.gif
Sango, from Inu Yasha, sometimes wears a half-mask:
http://kiltgirl1.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/sango.jpg
Karasu from Yu Yu Hakusho wears a similar one:
http://www.yuyuhakusho.com/characters/villains/karasu/picture.gif
The Hollows (soul-devouring spirits) from Bleach have masks, each different but always white and basically skull-like. At one point, for complicated reasons, Ichigo (the hero) has a Hollow mask too. This version of the character looks to be currently popular among cosplayers.
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/4720/hi0ld.gif
It's very old-school, but fans of classic Gundam stuff might go for Char Aznable's mask, with
http://www.encirobot.com/gund/nemi/char06.jpg
or without helmet:
http://www.flowerstorm.net/disa/Pictures/Gundam/anti-char-zechs.jpg
Fans of the more recent Gundam Wing might prefer the blatant imitation of Char, Zechs Merquise:
http://br.geocities.com/neoanimes/imagens/sinopses/gundam_wing_serie/zechs_merquise.jpg
Truly up-to-date fans, however, will be most interested in Rau Le Creuset from Gundam SEED:
http://www.sokutsu.com/IMG/jpg/Rau-Le-Creuset.jpg
Perhaps you could make Rau's mask and display it with a note about the others, since they are less "current" but might draw a commission request.
Vega from Street Fighter has a fairly spiffy mask.
http://www.geocities.com/cecil.geo/vega2.jpg
Chichiri, from Fushigi Yuugi, sometimes wears a very simple mask:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/6409/ca36.jpg
I don't know much about Kakurenbo, but it's a relatively recent horror anime in which children wear catlike (or perhaps foxlike) masks for a sinister game of hide-and-seek:
http://www.kds.kddi.com/topics/kakurenbo.bmp
And then there's Kekko Kamen, a superheroine rarely cosplayed because, apart from mask, gloves, and boots, she does her derring-do completely naked. For obvious reasons, I had trouble finding screen shots that focused on the mask...
If you want to do some Japanese-inspired art masks, you might want to draw inspiration from the face masks of samurai armor. There are some really interesting designs:
http://www.artsofthesamurai.com/menpo/html/menpo.html
And of course, there are many traditional Noh masks (some sources say 250 designs!) which might spark ideas.
http://nohmask21.com/eu/mlist.html
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-20 03:29 pm (UTC)With the Bleach series, any idea which episodes feature Ichigo with the mask? The ones I've caught on Adult Swim don't seem to be anywhere close to that storyline, so I may just netflix the disc with the right episodes.
The classic Gundam stuff I knew about, but I had barely heard of SEED, much less that there was a masked character in it- spiffy. And probably getting added to the build list.
And as far as Kakurenbo goes, definitely check it out- I own a copy personally, and it's up there on my fave animes list. Good storytelling (even for a half-hour short piece) and awesome visuals. I regularly do two masks inspired from this anime.
Anyways, again, thanks for all the links!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-20 06:37 pm (UTC)As for Bleach - I think the mask first appears in Episode 19, though it doesn't become a major storyline factor until waaaay down the road (much farther than I think the official translations have reached.)
Thanks for the recommendation on Kakurenbo. I'll definitely check it out!