A couple of years ago, in a manga/anime store in Austin, I found an artbook in a style I would later learn to recognize as shoujo. I couldn't read Japanese, either, so my only clue as to this artbook's identity was the word "waltz," which appeared a few times within its pages. Then, some time afterwards, I started randomly looking around Anime Art and I found an artist archive for Saito Chiho. Not only was she responsible for this new anime, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, which had caught my interest... she also had a very familiar-looking art style and a manga with "waltz" in its title. I have an abiding loyalty to AnimeArt.com as a result of this, although I might well have been mistaken - there's another artbook called "Waltz," unconnected to Saito. (Though after looking at it, I'm pretty sure I was right the first time. Now I'm hitting myself for not buying that book when I had the chance.)
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Revised version. New and improved! Now with functioning equalizer! I made this a while back, but problems with Spaceports kept me from uploading it, and then once I got more space I'd forgotten about this one. So, here you go - special treat to celebrate the move to a new server. Yay! |
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Named for the Enya song, for no good reason other than my vague association of the title with the Middle Ages. (I think the phrase I'm thinking of is "Book of Hours," but I dunno.) Although people didn't have plate mail, and probably didn't have such good hair, for most of the Middle Ages. Again, I don't know who this guy is, although Manga Art has him (and the winged guy) as part of something called "Cobalt Poetry Book." The skin's decent, although I'm sort of regretting the shuffle button. |
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I call the skin "White Waltz," but the full title of the series, according to most sites, is "Waltz wa Shiroi Dress de," which they seem to translate as "White Dress Waltz." I like my version better. Especially since the sequels end up with titles like "Magnolia Waltz" or "Swan Waltz"... I tried to order it, but it wasn't available. And now Book Mart seems to be gone forever. Sigh. Anyway, if you're familiar with the original artwork, or with dancing, it may look odd, because I had to flip it. I really like the results though. I'm working on a version with a functioning equalizer, but at first I couldn't bear to cover the image any more than I already had.
I fixed a noticeable glitch in the volume bar, and a less-noticeable problem with the windowshaded playlist. |
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From the clothing, he seems to be from Kakan no Madonna, which means he must be the hero, because I'm pretty sure Cesare Borgia wouldn't look so pleasant. Of course, I could be completely mistaken. You can find out more about the series at Team Bonet's page. (Still don't know who the winged guy is, though...) The skin's not terribly creative, and I ripped off my Celes skin for the equalizer, but I still love this skin to pieces.
Update: I have confirmation that it's Falco. |
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I love the image, but that doesn't stop me from hating every single shade of blue that appears within it. The playlist gave me fits (I could NOT come up with a good blue for it) and the volume and position sliders are pretty generic... but it has a hot naked winged guy (is my quest for hits from people looking for porn working?), and I tried something new with the equalizer, so all in all I'm happy with it. I have no idea who he is, but he may be Shin from Mou Hitori no Marionette (thanks for this and the Falco confirmation go to Team Bonet.) Click around his throat for the shuffle and loop buttons - they become visible when pressed. And the title comes from a song by Jenny Labow, a local singer. Not really my type of music, but she's good. Look for her on Napster or your chosen alternative. The screencap sucks - the image quality on the skin is much better. |
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