Nitro+ CHiRAL plus HEBEREK CAT

In the course of yours truly trying to return to more Doujin focused blogging lately and doing so also on way more regular base (which is still quite an illusive goal to begin with), it became more than obvious that in the progress the BL side of spotlighted talents went almost completely missing, with seemingly the sole exception now here on N-Field represented through the Hidden treasures feature (which faced its last update “quite a while ago” as well *mind you, that is planned to change soon as well!*). An unacceptable state, given yours truly intends (almost) no limits on terms of spectrum covered via this little blog of mine, therefore getting around this side of my long postponed writting plans ranged high on my “to do” list for a while. Gladly (and seriously unexpected!) this recent anniversary announcement lends itself, once for a change, as red-hot link for such write-up.

Big news seems to turn into their business lately when it comes to Nitro+. Right after the pretty terrific announcement of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magika PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA , the original Anime project now slated for January 2011 broadcast start (*so can’t wait* sorry, had to add this here ^^) involving their star scenario writer Urobuchi Gen (for script supervision), famed Aoki Ume in charge of original chara designs, while animation will be produced by SHAFT which brings along their star director Akiyuki Shinbo (Bakemonogatari *nuff said*) and Takahiro Kishida (<strongDurarara!!) handling the Anime chara designs, BL Sisterbrand CHiRAL came up with the next big news bomb in the course of their currently conducted 5th anniversary celebrations: kept under the working title (or projectCode if you like) DMMd is going to be the anticipated 5th and next project by Nitro+ CHiRAL! Just dropped about a week ago (31st October), little is known yet about this work. While Brand lead writer Fuchii Kabura will also be in charge of scenario, the artistical side of DMMd brings along a new face to the CHiRAL crew which leads right to the very reason and focus of today’s write-up and therewith short introducing words (because *this* time around lastly those can be of more use ^^).

According to her profile Honyalala is an illustrator talent mainly aiming for BL themed art. Still relatively unbeknownst in these fields yet while genre fans may know Honyalala through published art at the Pixiv, a more widely reknown project involving her skills relates “once for a change” to VOCALOID2 with the mikumix-sensei debut Hatsune Miku work “LOL -lots of laugh” whereat Honyalala portrayed wonderful Miku for the PV of the song.
Besides irregular contributions for Bishoujo art magazines, more recently Honyalala also collaborated with Nitro+ scenario writer Haganeya Jin on a column serialized within COMPTIQ magazine (which I *guess* also links to the CHiRAL project involvement latter on). On Doujin realms Honyalala is sort of a late bloomer, as (to my knowledge) up to now she merely participated once for an event with her Circle HEBEREK CAT. Thus leading to the spotlight for today’s write-up.

IRO’s
Release: 2009/08/23
24 pages (full color)

-Content sample shot No.1
-Content sample shot No.2

Noted during the Atogaki (postscript) message within, IRO’s represents the first (and up to now sole) Doujin strike by Honyalala through participation with HEBEREK CAT at Comitia89 held in summer last year. As such this debut Offset release comes along in much professional style. From irregual A4 size dimension, to top quality binding and most important of it all, full color glory all around (of course an almost expected aspect given the title, nee? ^^), *that’s* what I would call impressive beginning! Much to the personal preferances by mastermind in charge the genre that IRO’s is to be found in goes towards B(oy’s)L(ove) and that element is just as strictly part of the mix as the colorful presentation itself. In contrast to many other genre artists, Honyalala follows a different, yeah I would almost consider it as rare, path in these fields by making HEBEREK CAT’s debut release also all-original themed on top, which then again adds another meaning to this short and actually simple kept title chosen for the Doujinshi.
On a presentation technical note, not only is the format (A4 as noted before) perfectly suitable for impressive art showcase conducted within, but also the complete lack of comments or writting altogether (even page numbers!) on the individual illustration included, enables a simply breathtaking presentation of it while going through IRO’s. Now at this point let us take a little glimpse into what HEBEREK CAT came up for this Comitia originating Doujin at last. Just as expressed via the title, the themes within are of such colorful and diverse nature as can be. From opening two pages filling (another plus on terms of impact the artworks leave there btw.!) Ikemen who spreads over a flowery field titled “Hyakka Zu” (which translates to flowery/flower bed figure) to the quite Fantasy themed illustration “Burouneru(Brauner?)Taku e” showing a cute Shounen wandering around an alley of an old-fashioned European-esque town, the jump inbetween themes as conducted within IRO’s is amazingly multifaceted. Another major theme which follows-up next coevally represents something as I honestly have not seen that way in any other release of its genre. Artworks such as “Hachibunme” and its page and theme-wise direct follow-up “Youke mieru” are the first herein where Honyalala took the BL theme as base setting, while Fantasy elements are added to futuristic designs all spiced up with a little bit of frightening details every here and now. To get more precise on what I’m talking about here, the former mentioned illustration presents a prince-like fashioned (lots of jewelry and other accesories featured) dark haired/golden eyes Bishounen topless, which is quite the eyecandy. On closer look elements this Ouji-sama are a bit interesting while or because creepy at the same time. He’s got short fish-like patterned wings or fins on his back while underneath the transparent dark facial veil it’s noticeable that Ouji-sama also has no jaw! Instead something of the likes as crab feelers are visable to emerge this Ikemen’s partwise open throat. Sounds quite horrible in the way I described it, but the combination of “beauty and the beast” here is simply fascinating! Unveilled with the follow-up illustration to “Hachibunme” the prince is revealed to be sort of an robot as he’s shown torso only, with now big shining wings/fins held by his human lover (or is it creator?). Less scary but nevertheless interesting is also the illustration portrayed at a night setting of a naked Ikemen with bunny-shaped ears on the head that are of herbal structure (!) sitting in a Robo-like seat (with its own brain!). As you can hopefully deduce from my attempt to describe the sheer amazing ideas and concepts Honyalala showcases within IRO’s, it seems that there are no borders for her to pull-off impressive BL themed art herein. A favorite of mine within this HEBEREK CAT publication is the artwork titled “Shounen Kaika Sengen” (Boy’s blooming confession) which features a dark haired Ikemen with open shirt holding one hand close to his heart that shines through the body while the surrounding is that of flowers. Somehow that artwork fascinated me as much because besides the eye candy presented, the arrangement is somehow reminiscent of religious art often to be found within churches here in Europe. Of course, for fans of less bizarre concepts who prefer more traditional/romantic themes out of the BL genre, Honyalala also came up with such for IRO’s, while there are content-wise less represented altogether and saved up for the conclusion. Same confession boy from before lying on a flower field while he rests his head on the knees of another boy who holds up a sun umbrella for his master (?). During this more traditional themed section of the Doujinshi, a fairly quick transition to those pieces of Honyalala art that earned IRO’s it’s “Adults only” titled is executed as well. And as one may could guess from the bare method this artist visualized other aspects of art up to this point, once she heads into Ecchi terrain, there’s no aloofness to be found there either! Portrayal of lover’s scenaries of the real (tasty) nasty kind with lots of details that should make the BL lover’s face turn red in an instant. But also herein Honyalala comes up with some fantastic almost funny ideas like the artwork titled “White Christmas” which somewhat redefines the meaning of this if you exchange big old Santa with Santa Bishounen and two other males having a good time with him ^^ Also the “regular” lover scenes included are so rich of detail and that’s not exclusively ment towards the ongoing portrayed action itself. My favorite most delicious piece herein is titled “Maguro”. I’d say the name should hint details of the “action” itself, so here’s not explaining any further on that, but the surrounding of the focus Bishounen features quite amazing lot of little details. Whilst action is set in what appears to be an ordinary teenager’s room, there are pillows, snacks (potato chips) and even an issue of Young Animal (what a suiting named Mangabon that is next to the duo there! ^^) around them.
On the summarizing side of things and much as noted before, original themed publications are sort of a rarity even moreso on terms of the BL genre it seems to me, even moreso when it comes to full color releases of that kind. Hence the “hard to come by” factor already makes that welcomed. In case of HEBEREK CAT though, I would less-biased but honestly speaking call it a real unique release that to some extend truely redefines the norms for that. I hope that I made myself clear enough as to what leads me to such a stance, but it comes down to this: Honyalala’s debut Doujinshi is a real jewel amongst BL Doujins due to the incredible wide reaching spectrum conducted and produced on such terrific high quality ways that turned me into a fan(boy) on very first glimpse through IRO’s upon its arrival. Therefore on the nitpicky side of things, it’s a real shame that the Comitia89 participation up to now remained the sole Doujin efforts by HEBEREK CAT, while at the same time this first strike left huge impact on me, even despite some of the contained artworks already published prior by the mastermind via her Pixiv account (which made me aware of Honyalala in the first place – and now certainly represents the best way to get a glimpse at her works and skills). Now with the announcement out that this talent is going to become main artist for the next project by Nitro+ CHiRAL, I’m even moreso looking forward to details on that, because (and that is taking my love for sweet pool visual mastermind Onitsuka Seeji into account!) due to the wide spred ideas and concepts Honyalala is capable to come up with as showcased herein best, DMMd could truely turn into a fantastic work by this Brand. So much variety on almost each aspect is hard to find (and that’s not exclusively ment towards the BL genre) hence IRO’s represents a must for every artistical freak amongst BL fandom and beautiful art.

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