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Attention Hold
Circle: Alias Nanigaya
Artist: Orie Asato
Published: February 21, 1999
Pages: 64: 33 manga, 13 art/text, 9 all-text, 5 4-koma, 3 title, 1 all-art
Size: B5
Cover: Smooth, high-gloss paper. Full color.
Interior: Black ink on sturdy white paper with dark blue end papers.
Genre: normal humor
Characters: Link, Sheik, and a lot of minor Ocarina of Time characters. Various Super Smash Brothers characters appear in the 4-koma.
Rating: PG

Alias Nanigaya was a popular and prolific circle for years. When they finally ceased publication in 1999, they had produced more than 100 doujinshi. If this book is typical of their work, they must have been greatly missed.

Attention Hold is purely a humor book, toying with the routine gameplay situations in Ocarina of Time. Unlike most humor doujinshi, though, Attention Hold is a very high-quality production. Panel layout and composition, speed lines, and other effects are used skillfully. The anatomy is excellent, enhancing the natural and dramatic poses. Although Epona often looks terrible, and there's some lack of background detail, the faces are beautiful. Link's face is what will grab your attention on every page. The precisely drawn, amazingly expressive eyes make this book fun even just to look through.

Most of the book is based around putting three "types" of Link through the same situation. Each is drawn distinctly and consistently, and the book identifies which Link is acting in case you can't tell.
- Boku (polite "I") Link is based on the artist's impression of the character, and is probably closest to how most people imagine Link. He looks friendly and innocent, and takes a rational, good-humored, heroic approach to all situations. He's also supremely unlucky.
- Ore (rude "I") Link is based on the Link that appears on the game's package. He both looks and acts far more mature and cunning than Boku Link, and seems to excel at everything. He tries to get through by sheer charisma and arrogance.
- Jara (joke) Link is very cartoonnish, based on Link's polygonal appearance. He blunders through every situation in the most irrational way possible. He has a heavy hick accent and ends sentences with -jara.

Add to this a few cute Super Smash Brothers comics at the start, and you have a very fun book. The jokes are funny and can usually be understood, at least partially, without understanding Japanese. Most of the text is typed in the easy-to-read Minchou font. Some is in a very bold version of Gothic, making the kanji hard to decipher, and a little is hand-written -- some legible, some not.

I highly recommend this book to Ocarina of Time fans in general. The idea of contrasting different versions of Link is strong on its own. Supported by Orie Asato's art and talent, it earns Attention Hold a spot in my favorites stack. This doujinshi is fairly common, compared to most, but will not be cheap. Expect to pay at least $15 for it.

front cover
Front cover.
back cover
Back cover.
interior 1
Young Ore Link amazes with his rendition of his own theme.
interior 2
Boku Link reminisces in Kokiri Forest.
interior 3
Jara Link can't swim his way out of a paper bag.

- index --