Media Review – Sparks of Tomorrow (Nijuuseiki Denki Mokuroku – 二十世紀電氣目録-ユーレカ・エヴリカ-)

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Originally, I had planned to do a larger post reviewing several alternate/fantastic historial anime that have come out recently. That post is still in the works, but I’ve been so smitten with Sparks of Tomorrow that I knew I had to give it a little feature before it finishes airing!

The Japanese title (Nijuuseiki Denki Mokuroku – 二十世紀電氣目録-ユーレカ・エヴリカ-) actually translates to 20th Century Electricity Catalog Eureka Evrika but oof, what a mouthful! Sparks of Tomorrow feels much catchier to my ear and is far easier to type, so that’s how I will be referring to it from here on out.

The official website has a great summary, so I will be helpfully borrowing from it.

──A little while ago.
Kyoto in the early 20th century, having evolved differently from the history we know today. In a world where only steam engines had advanced, the city was shrouded in smoke.
With challenging art backgrounds reminiscent of Impressionist paintings and intricate animation, it depicts the dreams of boys and girls shining in an era of upheaval and innovation.

In a nutshell, it’s the story of Sakamoto Kihachi and his attempts to bring his older brother Seiroku’s vision of a modern electrical world to Japan. There’s the mystery of what’s happened to his brother, but I don’t want to delve to deeply into that and spoil anything. There might potentially be a budding romance between Kihachi and Inako, but right now there’s more focus on friendship, discovery, and some general slice-of-life situations. But everything comes back to electricity and the promise of the future.

I shared the primary character designs on Instagram and Facebook a while back, but they’re absolutely worth sharing again because they’re so cool. I love how distinctly Meiji-era they feel, but with enough funky steampunk vibes — especially on the male characters — to remind us that this is definitely an alternate history and not accurate. I’m quite inspired to try reproducing some of these outfits, honestly.

 

I really appreciate all the little bits of Meiji-era life in Kyoto and the details that are included in not only the main characters, but also the backgrounds. Whether it be the sake brewery Inako’s family owns, bolts of yuzen-dyed fabric drying high above the shopping street, or the girls sharing anpan at lunch, these little glimpses add so much richness for any fan of (recent) historical Japan. Addo in the fact that Inako has multiple kimono that we see throughout the show’s progression so far and it all comes together to make me very happy. I hope we’ll get to see more variety on the other girls too, aside from their school uniforms!

 

Another neat feature I’m really enjoying is the use of alternate art styles to help evoke eras or feelings. When Kihachi is imagining the hopeful future that electricity will bring, everything looks like Taisho or early Showa advertising paintings, and when we’re getting a bit of backstory about some characters, the style shifts to looking like nearly woodblock prints. I have my fingers crossed we’ll see more stylistic choices like this as the series evolves.

If you’re a fan of steampunk, mystery, science, Meiji-era fashion, alternate history, friendship, and adventure all rolled up together I can’t recommend Sparks of Tomorrow enough! I can only hope it keeps being as engaging as the first few episodes were!

Watch Sparks of Tomorrow on Netflix here!

Bold Pop Art

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I fell in love with this komon as soon as I saw a close-up of the pattern — stylised roses made up of tiny dots. It’s got a Charles Rennie Mackintosh art & crafts meets Roy Lichtenstein pop art feel to it and I couldn’t say no. I already have several other plans in mind for her, including something for Halloween, but I knew for her debut I absolutely had to honour the pop art vibes. This piece also happens to be absolutely enormous, which gives me a lot of potential for dressing people up in the future! Who knows, I might even fit into it myself thanks to a neat new thing I’ve purchased recently. But more on that later…

Breaking up one black and white pattern with another, we have my beloved hakata tsuke obi. This is one of those pieces that always cooperates., and I’m of the mind that hakata goes with everything. Such a bold and graphic combination needed an equally vibrant accent and what better than hot pink shibori? I do kind of wish I had an obijime that was solid pink too, but part of me likes the little hint of sparkle the silver brings.

I would like to try something more calm and muted with this soon and lean entirely in the opposite direction, but for now I’m very happy with how fun and punchy this coordination is! It also ended up looking a fair bit like the visual symptoms I get when I suffer from a migraine with aura. Entirely accidental, but hilarious.

Items used in this coordination

Elegant Minimalism

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One beautiful vessel. One delicate blossom. Does it get more simple than that?

I feel like this is a very zen “arrangement”, if you can even call it that. It reminds me both of an enso, and the concept of mu. I actually spent far more time than I’d like to admit getting it to feel like a cohesive, balanced unit instead of just a stem stuck in a vase.

The vase itself is a stunning piece, hand-made by my friend Aine. Please be sure to check out her work here. I also have a beautiful sake tokkuri and cups she made and they’ll be showing up later this year in a fun little entry currently in the works. I knew I wanted a blossom that was sculptural and interesting on its own but that would allow the vase to shine. I looked around at the fresh flowers available locally and nothing really stood out to me until I found clusters of these allium-like stems in the Aldi parking lot, of all places. You really can find beauty in the most mundane of places if you open yourself to it.

Birthstone Ensembles – July – Ruby

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Another month, another beautiful birthstone! For July, we have the bright and bold ruby. If you saw my sneaky little addendum to the series last week, you’ll know that I just did garnet for January, and I wanted to make sure Ruby was a much flashier and more vivid ensemble despite them both being red.

I was also feeling the urge for a bit more contrast, since so many of these outfits have been very monochrome. Of course the kimono had to be red, so I took the opportunity to feature this vintage komon again. It’s bright red with a hint of a magenta undertone, just like an actual ruby. I had this black, gold, and red nagoya that still hasn’t been used much, and I though it would tie in the black and gold accents on the kimono and bring some metallic sparkle to the outfit. Red, black, and gold accessories to finish things off, including this haneri that I use way too frequently. In fact, I think I may have used it last time I used this kimono. Oops!

Seasonally, the motifs here are somewhat wintery (ume, tsubaki), which doesn’t exactly suit the July theme, but eh. This is more of a vibe project. Maybe next year I’ll focus on seasonal/birthday flowers and see how that goes!

It also reminds me of a more casual riff on the very first kimono and obi I ever purchased. That kimono is still one of my fondest treasures and I really should get her out and feature her sometime soon.

Items used in this coordination

Kumiko trivet kit from POJ Studio

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Kumiko is the millenia-old Japanese art of exquisitely fine decorative woodwork. It relies entirely on precise cuts and is held together with carefully calculated pressure-fitting – no glue or nails. Typically, kumiko is used in windows and shoji screens, allowing a breeze and dappled sunlight to filter through.

It’s something I’ve been fascinated by for a long time but I always thought it was way beyond my skill-set and I was certain I didn’t have time to learn such a delicate new skill. Enter POJ Studio and their mission to highlight and uplift traditional Japanese crafts and craftspersons. Unfortunately at the moment the kumiko kits are not listed on their site, but they will hopefully be restocked in the near future.

I chose the gomamon (胡麻紋, geometric sesame seed motif) trivet kit. It came tucked neatly into a beautiful little paulownia box, which will make a lovely pen case or something.

I was worried it would be a long and frustrating project, but the whole thing took me maybe ten minutes. There is an instructional video that’s helpful but definitely not necessary. Here’s a (sped up and compressed) video I took of myself assembling it so you can see how easy it is.

@kimono_tsuki

Together, let’s make an adorable wooden trivet using this kumiko kit from POJ Studio!@pojstudio kumiko diy woodwork japanese trivet pojstudio

♬ original sound – Kimono Tsuki 着物月 – Kimono Tsuki 着物月

It was a lovely, almost meditative experience and I’m very tempted to grab another kit if and when they’re available again! And of course, it makes a great protective trivet for my favourite maneki neko teapot from HomeGoods.