by Ai Kohno
on December 2015
Style: Contains Extras, double page printing
Pages: 96
Format: Dust Jacket, Glue Binding
A whimsical adventure through imaginary planets filled with cute animals and scenes that lead you through a story
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The Mysterious Planets Coloring Book
The cover of The Mysterious Planets Coloring Book has been enticing me for months. That beautiful open book with planets floating out of it and an assortment of adorable elements made me fall in love. A little fairy, a reindeer and a Christmas tree in one corner with snow melting down the page was just so cute! Bunnies on the other side popping out between the leaves of the book just made me adore the whimsy even more. I can never get enough whimsy in my life or enough whimsical coloring books, so I had to make it mine!
Naturally, I could not wait for the English version of The Mysterious Planets Coloring Book which is due for release on 20 December 2016 and purchased the original, Japanese edition. As my book contains text in Japanese, I have relied on the publishing blurb from the English book which is:
“One day, while gazing at the night sky, a girl who wished she could fly suddenly turned into a beautiful bird. She flapped her wings and took off into the night sky, departing on an odyssey to many mysterious planets: a forest planet, a snowy planet, a flower-filled planet, a planet full of sweets, and a magical planet. Everywhere she goes, she meets the planet’s interesting inhabitants”
I love the romance of this story that formulates the illustrations in this coloring book. It reminds me somewhat of the lovely Daria Song and her beautiful coloring book, The Night Voyage.
Before I dived into my beautiful new Japanese coloring book, I visited the artist’s website to find more out about this mysterious illustrator 🙂 I think I could have quite happily stayed on her website for the rest of the day, if I didn’t have a review to write. Click her name, and the website becomes animated. The line art shown becomes beautiful colored images that allow you to navigate the site. It really is adorable. If you need cheering up, after a hard day, and a funny cat meme is not working then go here and enjoy some magic. Note that there is soothing music on auto play so if you are at work …
Cover & Layout
Usually, my Japanese coloring books tend to come with a paper dust jacket that is often colorable. I have recently noticed, that the newer books that are being published, arrive with a glossy dust jacket instead. The Mysterious Planets has a glossy white dust jacket with fold out flaps. The cover is beautiful. It has all been pre printed and features beautiful things bunnies, a snippet of Christmas, an island, fairy castle and sweet treats. The back of the cover features elements from the same theme but at its heart there is an image that perhaps, I am unsure, represents a topographic view of these mysterious planets. These elements are all part of the planets that the book revolves around.
The brown card cover protecting the book has been printed with illustrations of the various planets. On the front cover The Planet of Sea, The Planet of Forest and the Planet of Flowers are shown. On the back cover The Planet of Snow, The Planet of Magic and The Planet of Sweets are represented. Other elements like clouds, birds and stars are interspersed around the design.
The book measures 25.5 cm x 25.5 cm (roughly 10in x 10in)
The back cover image has been reproduced as the title page. I was hoping for a nameplate page but that was not meant to be 🙁 Over page, the Story starts with some introductory text on one side of the page together with some elements to color. As I cannot read the text in Japanese I presume that this is a general overview of the girl turning into a beautiful bird. On the facing page, the illustrations of a beautiful bird, with a necklace, soaring over the rooftops seems to support my assumption. I can’t wait to receive my English edition of the book to discover what the text means!
Illustrations in the book have been printed on both sides of the white medium quality paper. The paper has a slight texture to it which would make it ideal for layering with pencils. The book is in storybook form. All of the images have been orientated portrait style.
Illustrations
The book is divided into Chapters for each Planet.
The Planet of Forest starts the book which comprises earthy imagery, elaborate trees and cute animals like bunnies. There are some elaborate tree houses and mushrooms within this Planet. There are 6 pages comprising double page scenes within this Planet and 8 pages where the imagery is confined to one page.
The Planet of Sea follows featuring an array of marine life including coral, jellyfish, turtles fish, porpoises, sharks and shells. there are 6 pages of double page scenes within this Planet and 6 single page scenes.
The Planet of Snow this is such a cutesy planet! It has a Christmas flavour to it with Snowmen, Christmas trees, reindeer, a gorgeous sleigh loaded with gifts, Christmas lights, snowflakes and some cute animals as well. There are 4 pages that comprise double page scenes in the Planet of Snow and 8 single page scenes
The Planet of Flowers follows with a variety of flowers, including flowers in vases. There are two lovely mandala type floral pictures and a butterfly and a beetle in this selection. In this Chapter, only a pattern of flowers, has been printed as a double page scene. The remainder of the 8 images have been printed on one page.
The Planet of Sweets (my fave planet now makes an appearance) – there are sweet treats everywhere! Cupcakes, icecreams and lollipops, gingerbread houses and a giant cupcake house, plates of gorgeous cakes and even the Easter Bunny with an egg tummy, fruit, flans and cookies complete the sugar high from wandering into this Planet. Six pages in this Planet have been created as double page scenes. There are 6 single page scenes within the Planet of Sweets.
The Planet of Magic has an opening curtain that leads to an elaborate castle with an underground treasure of jewels, more castles follow which are surrounded by the sea, portraits follow and a cute juggler. Oddly, there are two mandala type images which is followed by a cute circus display. Anything can happen when it is magic, so I should not have been too surprised at the feast attended by an array of cute animals including a duck and a bunny. There are 8 pages which comprise double page scenes in the Planet of Magic and 4 illustrations on a single page.
It would appear, although I cannot be sure that at this stage, our beautiful bird has finished her exploration of the Planets and returns home to her life.
The next part of the book is labelled Girl’s Room”. it opens with a trail of stars to an open window, showing the bird flying over homes. A single sheet of rice type paper with a printed wreath of jewels and a crown appears. This can be used to color and overlay the picture of the girl that follows. Something similar was to be found in the Four Seasons Coloring Book where you can change the look of the picture with an overlay of paper. There are some cute interior scenes that follow. Within this section there are 6 pages used as double page scenes and 4 pages of single illustrations.
The main part of the book then concludes with the line art from the cover. On the reverse of the next page of text is also some line art with information about the artist. This art work is very fine and detailed.
Bonus
At the rear of the book printed on a pale beige paper the alphabet has been printed. Each letter is formed with a variety of intricate and detailed images. Unfortunately, you would not be able to cut these out and use them, as they have been printed on both sides of the paper. You could only color them within the book.
The Mysterious Planets Video Review
Enjoy The Mysterious Planets Coloring Book video review below:
Where to buy the Japanese edition of The Mysterious Planets
You can purchase from Yes Asia here or Amazon – Japan here
Often private sellers stock this book. I have found it listed here, here (UK seller) and here
Where to buy the English edition of The Mysterious Planets Coloring Book (English edition)
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Book Depository |
Happy coloring x
Lea
I LOVE it. I was tempted to order it on Etsy until I thought twice. It would be about $35, I have a dozen plus new books I haven’t touched plus a few more preorders coming in October and it’ll be out in two and a half months for $16. I hate being sensible.
Awesome review! I love your page-throughs even if they tempt me too much.
I think that is very wise 🙂 For the price of one book you could in effect buy two, so although sensible it gives you more value and more things to look forward to 🙂 In Australia, because of the currency and postage it is often cheaper for me to buy the Japanese books 🙂 I often suffer from this “responsible” and “sensible” thing too ..otherwise I’d have a pretty Czech coloring book on my desk now 🙁 Happy coloring x
What a lovely book! I like the idea of different themes planets. The illustrations are really charming. Will put this book on my wish list
It is super cute and I love the imagination of the story! Happy coloring x