The first one looks vaguely familiar; the second does not. They might be in the Omnipresence in Wired artbook (or in the reprint), though. Gimme a bit to search...

Aaand... nope. Neither of them in either book.

The internet never ceases to surprise me. Maybe those are from Visual Experiments Lain, but the only person who has that (that I know of) is Novastar, and Nova's not been about lately. I think. At least he's awfully quiet.

Yeah, it'd be nice if we could get some better-quality versions of those.

yeah i doublechecked the ABe artbook and can confirmm Bagles said.

im really interested in the photo to the left..

Here you go guys, sorry i haven't been around lately. Been enormously busy working full time and going to school full time.. was also recovering from surgery for awhile.

Found this image during my random hunts awhile back.. the filename is ab107j.jpg .. which leads me to believe it's an early beta pic before lain was boardcast from abe's online gallery and was taken down later.

>>6
Missing her asymmetry, I see.

speaking of hard to find, did the fansites ever finish translating the lain book (not art, but actual stories?)

oh! and a helpful link to said blog. just in case.

http://homepage.mac.com/abworks/iblog/index.html

"I saw a guy at the store wearing his pants really low"

Then he goes on to imagine who started that trend with an American hip-hop guy having his pants fall down and shouting IT'S FASHION YO! FASHION.

So, uh, entirely not art-related.

Oh where did my name cookie go.

And for those who care, here's the text that's in the little trailers, which themselves have some nice images of Reki and others:

私は見た、
I saw it.
地獄の炎を。
The flames of hell.
私は行く。
I am going.
この世界を、
Through this world...
そして壁の外へも。
and outside the wall, as well.
あなたはこの戦いを、
It's better...
知らない方がいい。
if you don't know about this battle.
その事実を知った時、
If you knew the truth...
あなたの常識は崩壊する。
everything you know know would fall apart.
光と闇のエージェント。
An agent of light and darkness.
Guristan十ine

Well done. Sort of makes me wish the project would come to fruition with the original seiyuu.

Because of my spite for romanization...

haha oh wow

Can someone link to said "Old Home Bulletin Board" ?

>>13
it is full of anal-retentives
don't bother

>>14
One fan's anal-retentiveness is another fan's loving attention to detail.

http://cff.ssw.net/forum/

>>15
http://cff.ssw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1094

>>16
Judging by a brief skimming of that thread...I'd say the members of OHBB overreacted. I don't know what Martin posted in the first place, but Wraith is a real stickler about not having any links to torrents on his forum. I've had one of my own posts deleted because I posted a link to a torrent.

>>15
most awesum random pic evar.

>>18

Although, I know this totally and completely unrelated and you're probably never going to read this, I have something to say about that.

I'm currently writing a visual novel (currently, most of the art swamps my homepage http://buttercupsaiyan.deviantart.com/) that is both writing and drawings ... and I have one avid fan that confuses me deeply.

The series is mostly kid-safe, save for adult themes of war and violence and some very gently implied things.

Yet, privately, I feel quite differently and write stories and art for myself that I do not distribute, knowing that it would trouble others.

What I can understand is this: how can a fan become more attached to the character than me? I've had one or two people just tell me that I was "wrong" about Yukina or Matthew's personality in regards to their sexuality, if the topic ever comes up! [sorry, I was trying to avoid mentioning specific names of characters, but it slipped in]

So, my question to you is, knowing that the creator of such a series probably considered these things but opted to leave them out to reach a wider audience .... would you still consider it platonic if you had access to the full range of their concept material and private doodles/deleted story chapters?

I don't dare compare myself to Abe Yoshitoshi, but it's just some food for thought ... please don't think badly of me ...

>>21
I like it when stories take you out of your comfort zone, but they shouldn't push it so much that it becomes excessively disturbing. (Although I still like that sometimes)

In my opinion a relationship between Rakka and Reki if done right could have been very tasteful, but push it too much it would ruin the series.

ps, I was thinking the other day how awesome a Haibane Renmei Visual Novel would be ^.^
pity I can't draw :(

>>21

Oh, hey BCS I remember you and your work from the shoujoai.com forums back when I used to post there (under '3_Libras' most of the time if you remember me).

Anyways, to answer your question, I honestly don't think Yoshitoshi really ever had the idea slip into his head (much less consider) that their relationship (or the relationship between Reki and Kuramori, which it reflects) would be anything more than sisterly. Of course this is pure speculation about what he actually thought. Still, Haibane Renmei is influenced by Buddhism and Catholicism - The former frowns upon unproductive sex within practicing followers, while the latter frowns upon sexuality altogether - and like I said it's not quite our world and life they are experiencing. In fact, I would generally frown upon the conforming that characters do as Haibane in almost any other scenario.

Sorry, I suppose that dodges the question. While my opinion still stands, I guess I'll admit that I would try and mentally block ideas that don't coincide with the way I like to think about Haibane when thinking about the series as a whole (even if I would find the idea interesting to explore). I've heard theories about how many of the Haibane might have just come from the town of Guri, rather than another world, and after I thought about it and decided it wasnt the way things were (because of a line in the first episode) I tried not to think about it for similar reasons.

I suppose I get to be as a rabid a fan as others...but fans with deep interest in their fandom have a lot of emotional investment in the artist's work as well. This sounds really weird, but it's a good example: I fell in love with Rakka in an almost fatherly sort of way (which isn't to say I would have a problem in the future if I had a daughter who was a lesbian). And while I NEVER think an artist should try and cater to their fanbase, I fully support the fans to diverge their own entity from the artist's creation (which is why while I have my own idea of that universe (and hope that it's also Yoshitoshi's intended message) I wouldn't actually bitch to anyone about Haibane slash unless it was just done in a horrid way). Holy crap, I wrote alot...oh well, you should see me with the Zelda series. But I don't think badly of you; I enjoy being challenged to think.

>>15

here's a few in a similar style

all reposts, mind you

This might not be a repost, but oddly enough I found it when I ventured onto a shoujo-ai haibane yahoo group :p too cute not to save

You don't have to assert the existence of sexual (or even just romantic) overtones in a series to enjoy something like yuri or shoujo-ai.

To make an analogy: there's lots of fanart suggesting a romantic and sexual relationship between Ed and Winry from Full Metal Alchemist, but if I recall correctly, there isn't so much as a kiss between the two in the actual series (much to my disappointment).

The point I'm trying to make is that there's a difference between believing that characters X and Y have a genuine relationship based on the contents of the series itself and enjoying doujinshi or fanart that assigns characters X and Y the same sort of relationship without regard to the way things "actually are." It amounts to either believing that a relationship is canon, or acknowledging that it isn't. Although clearly, it's not a terribly easy distinction to make in many cases.

>>11
Given the emotional territory these two characters have gone through, I could see this. Reki giving Rakka a quick kiss goodbye on her way out (to take flight) would seem reasonable.

nurie?

ぬりえ = 塗り絵 = A drawing for coloring

I like how the eye shape is pretty much right.

okay... let me understand this..
Is this the exact same book as "An Omnipresence in Wired" or is it completely different?

and if so.. which one is better?
The U.S. version or the Import Japanese version?

Thanks

>>14
The new book is not identical to the original. As I understand it, the new release includes MANY of the pictures that appeared in the original, although a few have been left out. I also believe that the new release contains some artwork that wasn't included in the original.

Apparently the new English release also has a "How To" section by ABe, something you won't find in the original (or the Japanese version of the new release). Since I own the Japanese version of the new release, I still don't really know what this "How To" part is about, so if someone could do me the favor of explaining it, that'd be awesome.

>>16
It's two pages explaining how he creates a magazine spread.

I can scan it if you like, but your not missing much

>>17
Sure, if you have the time. :)

there was a double page spread of the picture labeled (C) on this page in between the two pages

Huh. I guess I'm really not missing out on anything special, after all.

>>13
same... what the heck? that's too much.

I got this for $25, not a bad price though $16 would rock.
I would of gotten Robot though if it haven't been hidden in the store somewhere.
A good buy none the less.