Yu Watase:  The Art Of Fushigi Yûgi
                                             (2002 - Viz Communications)  

     A new, slightly enlarged, English edition of a Japanese artbook published by Shogakukan seven years before.  A collection of works created by artist Yu Watase, in conjunction with her graphic series 'Fushigi Yûgi (The Mysterious Play)'.  As such, the works are not titled, but most are captioned as to where they first appeared along with the original's size.  Some of the pages display sequential art.  An interview with the artist makes up most of the text pages, though there is also a 'guide' to the story, accompanied with many character sketches & thumbnail portraits.  On that note, I could observe that almost all of the 'well-presented' art collected here is portraiture, whether of a single character, romantic duo or 'family group shot'.  In other words, most are static, though dramatic, with action taking a back seat.  Many of the couples depicted are lovers, so there is some suggested nudity, but pretty tame in comparison to what else is available on the market.  Of the book's 102 pages, 62 of them are focused on the art, 44 presenting single large reproductions.  Admirably, almost every one of the ten double-page spreads accommodates the gutter deftly to satisfying effect.  There are also two fold out pages that display a couple of long art pieces very nicely, if you're into that.

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