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Final Fantasy’s designer drew a Cinderella picture book, and it’s amazing【Photos】

Casey Baseel Nov 20, 2018
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A gorgeous take on the character that’s worlds apart from the Disney version, and can be read in English or Japanese.

Recently, there’s been a bit of a debate in Japan regarding publisher Kawade Shobo Shinsha’s line of storybooks based on classic fairy tales such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast. Specifically, critics say the artwork, drawn by two-person manga creative team Futago Kamikita, is too “moe,” which seems to be their way of verbalizing an overall anime-like aesthetic.

At least part of the grumbling is no doubt due to the fact that while those characters weren’t created by Disney, their Disney animated versions are so popular and famous that to many, anything that looks significantly different feels off-putting. However, to more open-minded readers, there’s nothing wrong with taking things in a completely different direction than Disney did, and it’s hard to argue with that sort of accepting stance when you see things like this.

本棚にあった絵本のシンデレラ。何と挿し絵がFFの天野喜孝さん。絵が美しい。 pic.twitter.com/8yqpKiNzni

— ことぶき師走 (@kotobuki_siwasu) March 27, 2014

If the art style looks familiar, odds are you’ve played a Final Fantasy game or two. The illustrations for this version of Cinderella come courtesy of Yoshitaka Amano, who served as the Final Fantasy series’ character designer for its first six installments, until the franchise transitioned to polygon-based graphics at a time when rendering his beautifully intricate art in geometric blocks was beyond the processing power of video game systems.

▼ Cinderella, stuck cleaning the house for her wicker stepmother and stepsisters

これか＞天野喜孝が描いたシンデレラの挿絵が、ため息が出るほど美しい - デザート公式ブログ https://t.co/u0amHiMzha

— チャーリーZ (@secretstar) April 8, 2016

▼ “Don’t cry,” Cinderella’s fairy godmother comforts her. “You are always a good girl, so as a reward, I will help you go to the ball.”

天野喜孝のシンデレラが話題になったが、それに登場する魔法使いにも注目して欲しい。まじて魔法使いだから！！黒魔法使ってくるから！ pic.twitter.com/kVnoDOkNEU

— βК【名古屋産】 (@BK1964) November 16, 2018

While the book was originally published in a small-page format, it’s since been reprinted in a larger size, all the better for admiring Amano’s unmistakable style applied to one of the most famous characters in children’s literature.

It should be noted that while the visuals are like nothing we’ve ever seen before for Cinderella, the story is as it ever was. If you don’t already have the plot memorized, though, you can still follow along even if you don’t speak Japanese, since the book is bilingual, with the story told in both Japanese and English text. Learners of Japanese who’re still far from fluent can also enjoy the Japanese rendering, as it’s written entirely in easy-to-read phonetic hiragana, as is often the case with Japanese picture books for children.

(ﾟ∀ﾟ)届いた！届いたぞ！！天野喜孝シンデレラ！！！これはすごい！！！美しい！！！一言で言うならば…美しい！！！！！ pic.twitter.com/TPAJscQdGp

— 童話に興味を持ったプテル(停止中) (@manabuAschesama) March 15, 2017

Officially titled Amano Yoshitaka Meiga Monogatari Cinderella (Yoshitaka Amano Masterpiece Tale Cinderella), the 30-page book can be ordered here through Amazon Japan, priced at 2,700 yen (US$24).

Sources: Hachima Kiko, Amazon Japan
Top, insert images: Amazon Japan

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s a little sad the Amano Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage isn’t pulled by a team of chocobos.