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Scribbles, Vol. 1
In this stunning volume, Kaoru Mori―author of award-winning series A Bride’s Story and Emma―shares works from her personal collection of sketches and concept drawings. From familiar characters and settings to illustrations drawn from Mori’s own interests, Scribbles is a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes and into the sketch books of one of Japan’s most beloved creators.
258 pages, Hardcover
Published June 20, 2023
3 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Kaoru Mori
99 books851 followersKaoru Mori (森 薫) is a Japanese manga author. Her stories tend to be intricately drawn female lead historical dramas set in exotic locations like Britain and along the silk road. Her series include Emma (2002-2008), Shirley (2003-present) and the best known A Bride's Tale (2008-present).
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 4, 2023
I have no words - this is simply phenomenal.
July 9, 2024
Kaoru Mori offers up annotated pages from her sketchbooks, and they are simply gorgeous.
Characters from Mori's Emma and A Bride's Story series pop up alongside a new maid character named Lily, Marilyn Monroe, and characters from some of Mori's favorite musicals and operas.
There are lots of studies of English clothing from the 19th century, but there are also many cheesecake sketches of Playboy bunnies and other beauties in eyeglasses, swimsuits, miniskirts, yukata, and other clothing styles that pique Mori's interest.
I could flip through this all day. And there are at least two more volumes out in Japan!
Characters from Mori's Emma and A Bride's Story series pop up alongside a new maid character named Lily, Marilyn Monroe, and characters from some of Mori's favorite musicals and operas.
There are lots of studies of English clothing from the 19th century, but there are also many cheesecake sketches of Playboy bunnies and other beauties in eyeglasses, swimsuits, miniskirts, yukata, and other clothing styles that pique Mori's interest.
I could flip through this all day. And there are at least two more volumes out in Japan!
August 16, 2025
এটা আমার ভীষণ পছন্দের। লেখিকার বিভিন্ন সময়ে আঁকা ড্রইং এর খসড়া গুলো এখানে স্থান পেয়েছে। প্রতিটি ছবির পাশে তার নিজস্ব মন্তব্য ও চিন্তাভাবনা রয়েছে। ড্রইংগুলো মনোমুগ্ধকর!!
June 23, 2023
A beautiful collection of Kaoru Mori’s doodles - or scribbles as the titles says. There are images from her series of Emma and A Bride’s Story. Concept artwork, details for figurines, and things that inspire Mori-San and what she is passionate about! Like loving tight skirts and that for a business woman for her winter garb should be a tight black skirt and matching black tights. The books paper feels as if Mori herself just drew them in the spot and the printing is wonderful, you can see where lead from Mori’s pencil was rubbed! Overall it’s so lovely, I can’t wait for the second collection.
If you love Mori’s work, get it. If you’re an artwork fan or collect art books, get it as well! It’s a great study into another’s style!
If you love Mori’s work, get it. If you’re an artwork fan or collect art books, get it as well! It’s a great study into another’s style!
October 4, 2023
In Summary
Kaoru Mori is best known for her Victorian romance, Emma, and her Central Asian slice of life, A Bride’s Story. However, her repertoire isn’t limited to the 19th century, and Scribbles provides a glimpse of her wide-ranging interests. This collection contains ten pages of A Bride’s Story concept drawings and about a hundred pages of Emma and maid-related material, but the remaining half of the book is populated by illustrations ranging from bullfighters to military personnel to figures from Japanese folklore. The contents are almost entirely pencil sketches, but they brim with charm, and Mori-sensei’s notes are a lot of fun, too.
The Review
If you’re a fan of Kaoru Mori’s artwork, Scribbles is worth checking out. It’s a collection of sketches that Yen Press has packaged in fine fashion. There are no color drawings – the vast majority are pencil sketches with eight ink drawings thrown in. However, the book has been released as a hardcover, and when I compared it to Yen Press’ volumes of A Bride’s Story, I found the specs to be nearly identical. Both have dust jackets, the same dimensions, and the same brown covers with gold lettering on the spine. The weight and texture of the matte paper are also the same, as near as I can tell. The only difference is that the color used for the inner covers of A Bride’s Story are red, and Scribbles has a teal inner cover. Basically, Yen Press has maintained consistency with their Kaoru Mori titles so that they can all be shelved harmoniously together.
And the effort is worth it. Scribbles is not a manga with a story, but Mori-sensei’s artwork and commentary have a lot to offer to those familiar with her work.
If you’re acquainted with her historical works Emma and A Bride’s Story, you know that her illustrations are both a treat for the eyes and packed with exquisitely researched detail. Only a few of the drawings in Scribbles can be deemed polished, and some sketches Mori-sensei herself describes as “doodles.” Even so, the contents of this book are gorgeous, and the captions are an entertaining blend of research facts, thoughts about the subject matter, and the context in which she created her drawings.
In terms of organization, Scribbles has none. Drawings are not grouped by category, nor is there a table of contents. So it’s kind of a disordered, widely ranging collection. There are, as you might expect from the maid-obsessed mangaka, drawings of maids aplenty. However, the collection also includes bunny girls, cancan dancers, ballet dancers, and images inspired by operatic works such as Carmen. There are quite a bit of Victorian-era illustrations, but Edwardian and 20th-century business fashions are also included. Japanese garb is also featured, including Heian, Meiji, Taisho, and Showa styles along with a range of school uniforms. Subject matter includes humans, animals, and backdrops, but Mori-sensei definitely has a strong preference for female figures, from child to mature woman. And yes, there are a few nude sketches in the mix.
If you’re an Emma or maid fan, there’s a lot to like. Drawings related to the Emma series are featured on pages 2 through 13, 40 through 67, and 85 through 100. Illustrations include concept drawings for the Yujin figures series created for Emma, and captions include details that didn’t make it into the manga and Mori-sensei’s thoughts about the characters. Sketches from Mori-sensei’s other maid manga Shirley take up pages 74 through 84. And finally, the book includes an unexpected maid-related treat. Apparently, Mori-sensei still had maids on the brain after Emma concluded, so she sketched a three-part maid mini-manga for herself, and you can find it on pages 168 through 177.
To fans of A Bride’s Story, I’m sorry to say there isn’t nearly as much material related to that series. Only ten concept drawings are included in the collection. However, their captions provide an interesting glimpse of the early stages of that work.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
Kaoru Mori is best known for her Victorian romance, Emma, and her Central Asian slice of life, A Bride’s Story. However, her repertoire isn’t limited to the 19th century, and Scribbles provides a glimpse of her wide-ranging interests. This collection contains ten pages of A Bride’s Story concept drawings and about a hundred pages of Emma and maid-related material, but the remaining half of the book is populated by illustrations ranging from bullfighters to military personnel to figures from Japanese folklore. The contents are almost entirely pencil sketches, but they brim with charm, and Mori-sensei’s notes are a lot of fun, too.
The Review
If you’re a fan of Kaoru Mori’s artwork, Scribbles is worth checking out. It’s a collection of sketches that Yen Press has packaged in fine fashion. There are no color drawings – the vast majority are pencil sketches with eight ink drawings thrown in. However, the book has been released as a hardcover, and when I compared it to Yen Press’ volumes of A Bride’s Story, I found the specs to be nearly identical. Both have dust jackets, the same dimensions, and the same brown covers with gold lettering on the spine. The weight and texture of the matte paper are also the same, as near as I can tell. The only difference is that the color used for the inner covers of A Bride’s Story are red, and Scribbles has a teal inner cover. Basically, Yen Press has maintained consistency with their Kaoru Mori titles so that they can all be shelved harmoniously together.
And the effort is worth it. Scribbles is not a manga with a story, but Mori-sensei’s artwork and commentary have a lot to offer to those familiar with her work.
If you’re acquainted with her historical works Emma and A Bride’s Story, you know that her illustrations are both a treat for the eyes and packed with exquisitely researched detail. Only a few of the drawings in Scribbles can be deemed polished, and some sketches Mori-sensei herself describes as “doodles.” Even so, the contents of this book are gorgeous, and the captions are an entertaining blend of research facts, thoughts about the subject matter, and the context in which she created her drawings.
In terms of organization, Scribbles has none. Drawings are not grouped by category, nor is there a table of contents. So it’s kind of a disordered, widely ranging collection. There are, as you might expect from the maid-obsessed mangaka, drawings of maids aplenty. However, the collection also includes bunny girls, cancan dancers, ballet dancers, and images inspired by operatic works such as Carmen. There are quite a bit of Victorian-era illustrations, but Edwardian and 20th-century business fashions are also included. Japanese garb is also featured, including Heian, Meiji, Taisho, and Showa styles along with a range of school uniforms. Subject matter includes humans, animals, and backdrops, but Mori-sensei definitely has a strong preference for female figures, from child to mature woman. And yes, there are a few nude sketches in the mix.
If you’re an Emma or maid fan, there’s a lot to like. Drawings related to the Emma series are featured on pages 2 through 13, 40 through 67, and 85 through 100. Illustrations include concept drawings for the Yujin figures series created for Emma, and captions include details that didn’t make it into the manga and Mori-sensei’s thoughts about the characters. Sketches from Mori-sensei’s other maid manga Shirley take up pages 74 through 84. And finally, the book includes an unexpected maid-related treat. Apparently, Mori-sensei still had maids on the brain after Emma concluded, so she sketched a three-part maid mini-manga for herself, and you can find it on pages 168 through 177.
To fans of A Bride’s Story, I’m sorry to say there isn’t nearly as much material related to that series. Only ten concept drawings are included in the collection. However, their captions provide an interesting glimpse of the early stages of that work.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2023
Happy Pride to Kaoru Mori and to all the women she loves drawing.
September 1, 2023
Absolutely wonderful book by the master artist Kaoru Mori. Doodles and sketches accompanied by a sentence or two of her thought process behind the art. She is one of my top 5 mangaka.
December 31, 2023
I love Mori’s work, so it’s a no brainer that this would end up on my shelf the second I saw it. Truly one of the best books I own. 🩷
February 4, 2024
A collection of Mori’s sketches, her art style is great as always so it was fun to see all those sketches and read the little descriptions about each one.
June 16, 2024
Ain't nothing like kaoru mori art
February 12, 2025
kaoru mori's appreciation for form, figure, pattern, and movement are exemplified in her sketches, her commentary is glibly self-aware
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews