Corsetier meets the Fairy Tales

Title: &nbsp;Corsetier meets the Fairy Tales
タイトル: &nbsp;Corsetier meets the Fairy Tales
Pages: &nbsp;28 (including covers)
Release date: &nbsp;08/15/2010

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Kaori Minakami‘s second corset-themed doujinshi came out for the Summer Comiket, and unlike the last book, Corsetier Meets the Fairy Tales is entirely illustrations by Minakami. In this volume she explores illustrating corsets to fit fairy tale characters like Snow White, Thumbelina, and several others.

Corsetier Meets the Fairy Tales is B5-sized and 28 pages including the covers, but unfortunately it doesn’t make the most of that space. Some pages are little more than placeholders with character information only. Others are photographs of corsets. The Thumbelina cover illustration actually appears in the book twice. While the page count sounds good for a doujinshi, there are only seven illustrations in this book. I felt let down at that, especially considering the higher than average price tag of ￥1155 on Toranoana.

Still, I did really enjoy this new take on classic characters. Most of the above are quite recognizable; Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter is also included along with The Little Mermaid. The corset designs are beautifully detailed but also functionally realistic; you can really tell accuracy was important to Kaori Minakami when designing these.

After the Mad Hatter the presentation changes from color to monochrome, with the last eight pages presented in black and white. Only one character illustration, Sleeping Beauty, is included in the monochrome pages. The rest is used on an index with artist comments and some photos of doll corsets by Kaori Minakami.