Crusher Joe Extra 2: The Doruroi Storm Interior Illustrations [Yoshikazu Yasuhiko]
I some time ago able to acquire volumes 1 - 10 of the original Crusher Joe light novels from a private seller. The original Crusher Joe light novels were written by Haruka Takachiho (高千穂 遙) from 1977 to 2005. These novels were published by Asahi Sonorama (now Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc.). A light novel is a short story more or less that is catered to a male demographic, primarily high school age boys, and are very much akin to SF pulp novels.
The interiors of these novels were illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (安彦 良和) who was the original character designer for the series and an artist I am very fond of.I am mainly archiving the artwork inside each book as they are not online and no one has attempted to archive.
While Crusher Joe Extra 2: The Doruroi Storm is written from the perspective of Crusher Dan, Crusher Joe's father, versus that of the Lovely Angels Kei and Yuri. Kei and Yuri's perspective on the narrative was given 2 years prior in Haruka Takachiho's Dirty Pair's Rough and Tumble.
I am archiving these illustrations in relationship also to Yas' design sensibilities in the 1970s for SF themed anime and manga as many aren't online either sans for his gouache paintings and settei drawings. Design properties from the Crusher Joe light novels appear in Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and were also featured in the cancelled Terrahawks anime (1974). Other design sensibilities from Yas' time working on Space Battleship Yamato can also be seen in these scans. Crusher Joe was eventually made into a feature length film in 1983 where Yas was very hands on with the production.
This book was heavily yellowed, but I am working on different processes to handle that as I do this more and more. These books are over 40+ years old, but this one is fairly recent due to the release date and was in great enough shape to bend without ruining it. I don't do this professionally, but I am trying to archive the best that I can. Its better that anything becomes public on the web just as it should.
Interesting fact about this text:
-Doruroi is actually a direct translation of the JP for 'Dolroy', where the Mabot Dongo comes from within the Crusher Joe universe. The planet of Dolroy within both novel series creates advanced humanoid robots and autonomatons, most of which are sex toys. Dongo's preoccupation with nudie magazines and hentai within the Crusher Joe novels as well as the 83' film are a nod to that.
-Crusher Dan is implied to be intimate with Yuri, and its implied that she is in fact Joe's father. This is never brought back up again in the series proper.
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