I feel like Koutaro (こうたろ) is one of those artists where you may not know the name, but you've definitely seen his work. If you tuned into the girls baseball anime Taishō Yakyū Musume last year, then you were looking at his adapted character designs. Operating under the circle name Nijiiro Zakura, Nijiiro Densho is the 5th colorful illustration book released in this series.

And if you ordered Nijiiro Densho when it was on sale on Toranoana, it came with a specially illustrated 2010 New Year's postcard by Koutaro, as pictured above.

This collection is B5 sized and is 32-pages when you count including the covers. They're included in the page numbering either way ^^; The first 13 pages are all original illustrations, and I'd say they're the highlight of the collection. There is some nudity in this collection, but it's kind of expected from Koutaro.

There are a few copyright illustrations in this collection, namely four from the aforementioned Taishō Yakyū Musume and one Black Lagoon illustration of Revy (that unfortunately looks like it was enlarged to fit the print resolution). And the two groping girls are from a PC game called Tropical Kiss (トロピカル KISS).

The book finishes with three pages of line art along with some smaller tiled illustrations of characters from a website (I think). Nijiiro Densho is a very standard release from Koutaro. I have a few by him, and knowing what to expect makes it an easier purchase overall. Of course, with this many color illustration doujins under his belt, you'd think there would be room for an art book release in the near future! And one that isn't Rio de Channel related ^^;

And by the way, it's still on sale on Toranoana for ￥1050, they're still giving out the postcard. Though realistically, is anyone really swayed by the little extras?

• Title: Nijiiro Densho Book Collection Vol. 5
• タイトル: 虹色伝書
• Release Date: 12/31/2009
• Pages: 32 (including covers)
• Buy: Toranoana