blog:nattoli, +tag:AZ PLAY

Huke's Comiket 77 release was Black Rock Shooter Visual Works 2, and similar to the first volume, its content consists of the characters that make up the BRS world. There is a great focus on the villains in this volume, and impressively, none of the Black Rock Shooter illustrations that appeared in Huke's PICSIX are in this book, so there is no overlap.

Senmu (せんむ) isn't an artist I normally follow. I know he often puts out full color doujinshi, but I seldom place them on my "to purchase" list. And in all honesty, I think his art is beautiful. And I love his original designs with Kämpfer (けんぷファー) much more than the anime style. So what's the hold out? The page layouts.

That title sounds like it could be anything, but Nitroplus's Omekashi Nikubu Art Product is a collection of illustrations by the Nitro+ Chiral side of the group, who are responsible for such well-loved games as Togainu no Chi (咎狗の血) and Lamento: Beyond the Void. So if these names didn't ring a bell and the opening picture isn't enough, I'll let you know now, this one's targeted at the ladies ;D

When one thinks Trinity Blood, no doubt the first artist that comes to mind is Thores Shibamoto. But Kiyo Kyujyo's work might be even more familiar, considering it graces the covers and insides of every volume of the Trinity Blood manga, which has also been published in English.

It's hard for me to consider LEAF Illustrations Tatsuki Amaduyu Edition 1998-2006 a "doujinshi" aside from the very technical reason that you just can't buy it commercially, and it has no ISBN. Other than that, this over-sized 111-page book is beautifully made, with an attention to detail in construction that you seldom see in commercial books. Some of Tatsuki Amaduyu's best pieces are collected here, spanning eight years and everything from To Heart to Utawarerumono (うたわれるもの).

I was really hesitant about purchasing Itoh Ben's Comiket 77 release titled CROQUIS, because with a title like that, short of a complete misunderstanding from the author, it would mean sketches. But then as I looked around at auctions, it was listed as full color. So, here's what I now know about this doujinshi.

In the Love Plus world, Takane Makana is beautiful, popular, and head of the class and yet somehow, she's interested in you ^^; That's just a third of the fantasy that the Nintendo DS video game Love Plus is trying to sell you on. And while I don't think I'm sold on the premise, I am sold on the character designs. Mintaro (ミノ☆タロー) is the character designer for the game, and he also did the concept designs for Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ (ときめきメモリアル ~Only Love~).

Hashimoto Takashi's FC-G Artworks is a collection of the artist's work spanning more than 10 years, from 1998-2009. Surprisingly, that amounts to an A4 sized, 104 page art book. Hashimoto Takashi is probably best known as the original character designer for the Pia Carrot (Pia♥キャロット) series of games, that also spawned a movie and an original video animation with Pia Carrot 2DX. And as you may guess, that makes up a large portion of FC-G Artworks.

KEI, probably most known for his character design of Hatsune Miku, quite regularly puts out a full-color collection called 画 (Ga) at Comiket events. But with the Summer 2009 Comiket, he started to release a smaller collection of monochrome ink illustrations titled 画 Mini Vol. 01, and it looks like it will be a continuing series as one was released with the Comiket 77 edition of 画 (Ga) Vol. 05.

COLORS is a short, Touhou doujinshi released during Comiket 76 by the relatively unknown artist Tsuki (つき). In fact, this artist is probably even more unknown due to a recent name change. Though the circle remains the same, Chikatama (ちかたま), the artist's pen name changed from Chika (ちか) to Tsuki (つき) between Comiket 76 and 77 and this doujinshi was published under the former name. Since this is a bit on the short side with just 16 pages, I also want to talk about the Touhou and Vocaloid genres in general.

CARNELIAN's Benigyokuzui Remix 20-21-22 is the most recent color collection from the artist, not including her Comiket 77 releases. Benigyokuzui Remix is pretty much as the full title states, a re-collection of the individual Benigyokuzui volumes 20, 21, and 22.

CARNELIAN Art Works IV is a recent release of a combination of older and newer materials. If you follow CARNELIAN's work and releases, no doubt they're all images you've seen before. But the reason they're all collected together in Art Works IV is because this is the pamphlet to the fall 2009 gallery exhibitions organized by Art Jeuness, a group that promotes the arts and illustrators in Japan.