For the most part, I don't normally purchase anime guide books, visual books, or anything with similar words in the title. Those kind of collections tend to have less in the way of art, and more in the way of screen shots, backgrounds, and voice actor interviews. And while it's true, Angel Beats! Official Guide Book has all of those things I mentioned, it also has a ton of promotional art works from series, along with tribute illustrations and works by the original character designer, Na-Ga.

Angel Beats! Official Guide Book is A4-sized and 240-pages in length---definitely one of the largest visual books I've seen. The collection starts out with a double sided fold-out poster, featuring a clean version of the new illustration of Tenshi from the cover, and Yui with the band members together on the other side. The first section of the guide book is Characters and runs from pages 8 through 34, devoting one to two pages introducing each character. The next section, Story goes from 36 through 63, and gives screen shot summaries of each episode along with cuts from the original sketched animation story boards for each episode.

The Gallery section runs from pages 68 through 149 and features mainly full page or half page illustrations, which is really quite rare for guide books. The anime style art works come from a variety of sources; magazines, CD covers, DVDs, and even the 2011 Angel Beats! Calendar. There are even some illustrations just from promotional goods like dakimakuras, and Pizza Hut wallpapers.

Angel Beats! art works by Na-Ga start on page 106 and continue through 123, and are all featured one illustration per page. The ones by Na-Ga that were included with the BD and DVDs are also in this visual book, along with others done for conventions over the past year.

Starting on page 124 are Angel Beats! art works by notable guest artists like Mebae, Fujima Takuya, Atsuya Uki, Naru Nanao, Tatsukichi, Keiji Gotoh, Zekkyou, Annindoufu, Jyuu Ayakura, Sino, Shaa, Mitha, and many more.

The illustrations pretty much end at that point, but the is still a lot more content in Angel Beats! Official Guide Book. From pages 152 through 164 are cross-talks with the voice actors; one with Harumi Sakurai and Shun Takagi, another with Ryohei Kimura and Hiroshi Kamiya, and a third with Michael Rivas and Hana Kanazawa. There's another interview section with Na-Ga and other staff, followed by the Sound section which goes over the music in the show along with coverage of the Girls Dead Monster Starring LiSA Tour 2010. The last section is Design and focuses on the background art, instrument designs, and weapons.

The last 28-pages of Angel Beats! Official Guide Book feature the chibi comics that ran in Dengeki G's magazine from 2009 through 2010. Although I wouldn't normally recommend a guide book, Angel Beats! Official Guide Book touches all the bases, and still provides an art book's worth of illustrations in this 240-page collection. It's definitely a great purchase for any Angel Beats! fan ^^

• Title: Angel Beats! Official Guide Book
• タイトル: Angel Beats! オフィシャルガイドブック
• Pages: 240
• Release date: 12/22/2010
• Buy: Amazon Japan, eBay