 A Summer Vacation Special 
|  Tsuruta Kenji, artist with remarkably few creations to his credit, GAINAX hanger-on, who has driven numerous editors to distraction, has at last moved into action. On this page, as a tribute to the release of the complete Tsuruta Kenji collection, "Forget-me-not" (published by Kodansha), we introduce you to this mysterious, enchanting world of his. | |
"Forget-me-not", the Tsuruta Kenji collection, is on sale from Kodansha!! 
Good news for Tsuruta fans! Kodansha is publishing "Forget-me-not", the book that may best be described as the definitive collection of Tsuruta Kenji's original work to-date.This long-awaited book includes "The Spirit of Wonder", the best-known of Tsuruta's early works, in its entirety; the elaborate illustration collection "Hydrogen", and all three volumes of "SF Greats--Collected Early Works", the set which contains stories from before his professional debut. As a bonus, it also includes "The Spirit of Wonder: the China Stories", which makes it a must-have...but unfortunately, Kodansha only had a limited print run, and it was sold out before it ever hit the streets! I really want them to reprint it. Are you listening, Kodansha? But given that it has a lot of new illustrations as well as the old stuff, what I'm really concerned about is, will it actually make it to its release day this time?! It's all up to the editor this time. In any case, the sale date is Aug. 22. They seem awfully sure of themselves at Kodansha as they announce this date. We shall see...
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Who is Tsuruta Kenji and why is he so mysterious?! Artist Tsuruta Kenji goes by many nicknames, including "Artist of amazingly small quantity" and "He who brings tears to the eyes of more editors than anyone else in Japan". Because of his dislike of work (or is it editors? ), he's had few creations, but the sense of transparency which his art has, combined with the unique science-fiction sensibility which informs the worlds he creates, have earned him numerous devoted fans. After a dojinshi stint, Tsuruta had his professional debut in 1986, when he won a prize in the Comic Open, sponsored by Kodansha, for his story "What a Big Wonderful Universe It Is" ". Writing primarily for Kodansha's Morning Magazine, he had his first collected volume in 1988, "The Spirit of Wonder". Since then he has created numerous other works, but the quantity of his output steadily began to decline. His intermittent serial in Afternoon Magazine, "The Spirit of Wonder: the China Stories", has had all of five installments since its premiere in 1989! What's really amazing, though, is that there are fans out there who keep waiting for the next one. Also active as an illustrator, his charming artworks can be seen in such collections as "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Tsuruta Kenji". For reasons that escape me, he has strong ties to GAINAX, such that he once used GAINAX's offices as a refuge(?) from an editor. | ||||
The Spirit of Wonder(Kodansha, 1988) Tsuruta's first and so far only collected volume of manga. A collection of SF short stories, beginning with his debut piece, "What a Big Wonderful Universe It Is". Almost impossible to acquire these days, it has been included in its entirety in "Forget-me-not". 
Alice in the Wall of Wonder(GAINAX, 1992) A collection of wallpaper and icons rendered by various popular animators and illustrators. Contains eight Tsuruta pieces, including the package art. 
Made in China: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Tsuruta Kenji(GAINAX, 1995) A CD-ROM containing numerous illustrations, plus discussions by editors on how to handle Tsuruta, an interactive China suite, and more. |
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