青騎士 [Aokishi] [Der Blaue Reiter] #10 B

This striking anthology volume from Kadokawa presents its tenth installment with a cover that immediately draws the eye: a tall, elegantly dressed figure in a vivid purple jacket commands the foreground, surrounded by a cast of charmingly stylized characters — including a red-haired figure in a green coat and white-uniformed attendants — all set against an ornate, storybook-green building reminiscent of a grand European hotel. Golden birds take flight across the composition, tying together the issue's subtitle, Haruka naru Wataridori-tachi ("Distant Migratory Birds"), in a wonderfully cohesive visual poem. With its lush Art Nouveau sensibility and a roster of manga creators listed on the cover, Aokishi #10B continues to make a compelling case for itself as one of the more visually ambitious anthology magazines in contemporary Japanese publishing.