blog:nattoli, tag:AZ PLAY

Up until a few days ago, Spice and Wolf Complete was the only real art book out for the popular series. And while it delivers the bare essentials---illustrations from the anime, manga, and light novels along with story information---it's not so much an art book as a guide book. Still, since I like to be comprehensive when I can, I'll include it ^^

Benigyokuzui Taiwan Version 01 is CARNELIAN's latest collection of color illustrations. And as you may guess from the title, it wasn't released in Japan, but rather at Fancy Frontier 17 in Taiwan that was held in February.

Though anime sometimes feels like a flash in the pan, I do like to collect anime sketch and concept art books for shows I enjoyed for any particular season. The Art of PSG Vol. 1 Collection of Initial Design is one such book, featuring the early designs for the characters of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. Though there are some color illustrations, the majority of the book is penciled line art, but it gives real insight into the creative process behind the show's unique character designs.

CARNELIAN's Benigyokuzui Vol. 17 came out a little over a year after Benigyokuzui Vol. 15, so I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't any illustration overlap between the two doujins. That isn't to say there's no overlap from some of her other releases, but that's for another review.

Chisato Naruse's Drops was released for Comiket 79 and has a rather unique and interesting theme; all of the girls pictured quite literally have water droplets on them. It's something you see often in illustrations, but I never thought about it being the focus of a collection ^^;

At the end of June, Yasuda Suzuhito released his first ever art books, Shooting Star Carnaval and Shooting Star Bebop. Though sold separately, the books are a best as a pair, serving as an impressive collection of virtually everything Yasuda Suzuhito has published. However, since each of these books are quite loaded in terms of content, it's easier for me to just review them separately ^^;

For the one day event Magi Madoka ONLY - Mou Nanimo Kowaku Nai (魔まマ オンリーイベント～もう何も恐くない～), Nao Shirahane (DMYO) of Snow Ring teamed up with Nishimata Aoi from JOKER RING to create a most awesome Madoka doujinshi, Puella Magi Madoka Magica CONNECT. The doujinshi was part of a set that included a bag along with a clearfile that featured a joint illustration by the two artists with Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura.

After the review of Benigyokuzui Vol. 27, I was inspired to go back a ways and look through some of CARNELIAN's older doujins, which lead me to today's review for Benigyokuzui Vol. 15. It's one of the few older volumes that is full-color all the way through, with both fan arts and original works getting a full-page presentation.

So it looks like after 22 issues of Megami Magazine Creators and a bit of a break, the publishers have decided to change things up a bit. Though the content has remained essentially the same for Megami Magazine Creators Vol. 23, the actual size format of the magazine has changed. It's still A4-size in height, but it's about an inch wider like Newtype Magazine. It's also gone up in price, from the standard ￥980 to ￥1200 an issue.

CARNELIAN's Benigyokuzui Vol. 27 is less like an illustration doujinshi and more like a product catalog, seeing as how the majority of illustrations included come from merchandise releases. And speaking as someone who seldom buys the extras, it's a welcome addition to my small pile of CARNELIAN art works.

Masato @ Takashina has thrown naming conventions to the winds and decided to also call his Comiket 79 release 47PF, as he did his previous Comiket 78 release. Perhaps it's to show that 47PF (Winter 2010) is more or less a continuation of the previous idea, with a random assortment of fashionable girl illustrations from the past year just grouped together.

In case you missed the memo, DMYO is now known as Shirahane Nao (白羽奈尾). She actually had an illustration in Eshi 100 - Contemporary Japanese Illustration under her new name, even though she isn't Japanese, a point she mentioned on her blog ^^; Under her new name for Sunshine Creation 51, she released a full color collection titled WHITE ALBUM +A, which as you might guess contains fan art from White Album, but isn't limited to that.