blog:nattoli, tag:AZ PLAY

Edel Farben was released December 2008 and is a gorgeous collection of color illustrations by You Shiina (椎名 優) from the circle Tenkyudho. I have a couple of art books by this artist, and I have to say, this self-publication is my favorite book from her.

Hayate no Gotoku!! POSTERS! is a collection of exactly that, posters. The art work centers around the characters from the second Hayate no Gotoku!! series, and features new pictures of the thirteen main characters, originally drawn for this book. All the new illustrations are done by Masahiro Fuji, the J.C. Staff character designer for the second series.

During Comiket 76 Ryo Ueda released a compilation of the Touhou art work that was done primarily for C-CLAYS titled Tonbo. Considering the pieces in this collection were only previously available on more expensive items like stick posters and CDs, it's great to finally be able to have it all in one place. Only interested in the pictures? Skip the reading and click here for a slide show of all the images.

When I buy older art books and doujinshi, it can really be a mixed bag. On the one hand, I can see the artist's progression, and sometimes even different styles. But other times, the work isn't polished enough and can look quite amateur. I'm please to say though, that Takoyaki's doujinshi releases, new and old haven't disappointed. a Chroma first came out during the winter 2005 Comiket 69.

There sure are a lot of big anniversaries this year; CIRCUS turns 10, Gundam is celebrating their 30th anniversary and Nitroplus is also turning 10 years old this year. Comptiq has released a Nitroplus Complete magazine to celebrate the anniversary, containing info on all the Nitroplus games (and upcoming ones) up until this point.

Photo portrait books of popular celebrities have been a relatively popular thing in Japan for ages, but it wasn't until recently that these same style of books started popping up more regularly for anime characters. The main selling point for idol portrait collections is that the majority of pictures in the book are all new, and taken exclusively for the book. So for the anime collection, they've taken the same approach, which is pretty impressive.

Yasuomi Umetsu's first new art book in ten years, titled Visual Art Works BORDERLESS, just came out today so I felt it was the perfect time to review his last art book, titled Yasuomi Umetsu Art Works Kujuku. Though you may not know his name, you've undoubtedly seen his art work featured in A Kite, Mezzo Forte, Mezzo DSA, Girl's High, Gatchaman and Casshan: Robot Hunter.

The long awaited art book "PEACH-PIT Rozen Maiden Illustrations" was finally released late last month. The book is hardcover, full color and 88 pages long, which is a bit on the short side of a commercial art book. Although PEACH-PIT consists of two artists, Sendo Banri (千道 万里) and Ebara Shibuko (えばら 渋子), since they don't feel the need to distinguish who drew what, neither do I ^^

Mixture, produced by Kaori Minakami (水上カオリ) is a gorgeous collection of Vocaloid illustrations inspired by the Vocaloid original songs themselves. This doujinshi was released during Comiket 76, is 24 pages long and entirely in color.

Momose Hisashi's Rio Miku is a collection of illustrations of (you guessed it) Hatsune Miku and Rio de Channel that span a few years for this artist. Though more familiarly known as Momo, I kept the artist's actual name for the category because it's a lot easier to search for than just "Momo."

True Tears was one of the few series I actually followed week to week last year, so when I found out True Tears Memories was coming out, I bought it despite what I know about visual guides.

During Comiket 76, Itoh Ben (伊藤ベン) released his completed Typemoon Laboratory [ -Ver. Fate- ] doujinshi. I say completed, because for Comiket 75, he released the Typemoon Laboratory [-Preview-] which is nearly entirely included in the finished one. So if you were picking between the two, definitely get [-Ver. Fate-].