blog:nattoli, tag:touhou

Minase Lin is a regular artist in Ｅ☆２ and her work also appears in Girls Girls Girls! Illustrations art books, but I've somehow missed out on buying a doujinshi from her until now. Star Dust -development- is a full color collection, released summer 2010. Many of the illustrations inside were in Ｅ☆２ Magazine, but this doujinshi has a leg up on the magazine with less text and better quality paper ^^;

Megami MAGAZINE Creators Volume 22 is the first issue of 2011, and like a few other magazines out, it includes a 12-month calendar. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard issue, though more artists I enjoy were included this time around.

Colorful Berry is a joint illustration publication by two artists, Ichiyou Moka and Konno Kengo, two artists with similar color palettes, but uniquely different art styles. Both covers of Colorful Berry are used like a front cover, and depending which side you come in on, you'll either start out with Ichiyou Moka's illustrations or Konno Kengo's works.

When I first opened up Tetsuya Ohno Illustrations PRISM way back in August, I was pretty disappointed overall. At the time, I'd felt that I'd just seen too many of the illustrations already in other books I'd purchased from him, and that there wasn't enough originality to it. Several months later, I can see it a lot more objectively for what it really does; PRISM is actually more of a 'best of' book including works from throughout Ohno's career, but without the filler.

Shoujo Cycle M.O.E., short for Morning on Earth, follows Akatsuki Katoh's original bicycle girl characters that have appeared in several of his doujins as they wake up across the world. The Morning on Earth collection showcases radiant backgrounds, with the special kind of lighting on the characters that only comes about in the morning.

As GELATIN enters its third year, this original color comics magazine has prepared a lively collection for its Winter 2011 issue, complete with a bonus calendar and a subtle increase in price. The artists featured are increasingly more familar after the past year, combining older favorites like Usatsuka Eiji (Zero no Tsukaima), toi8, and mebae with the likes of Shihou, Sime, and TNSK.

Initially, I thought Bougainvill was going to be by two artists, as it was listed as a co-authoring by Shirogane Hina and Kodama Naoka. But on looking through it, Kodama Naoka only contributed one illustration, so she was more of a guest artist for this collection. Luckily, it was Shirogane Hina's art work that it turned out I was interested in ^^

Hirano Katsuyuki has worked on several game titles and is probably best known at this point for his work on Record of Agarest War. But he's also the artist behind BLAZING SOULS, Steady x Study, Spectral Souls, and more. Hirano Katsuyuki Art Works includes art work from all of the above and still has room to delve into Katsuyuki's light novel illustrations as well. It's an impressive collection, focusing on his years of commercial art works.

Having been able to purchase Azalea Floating Miyasu Risa Illustrations directly from Amazon Japan only deepens my confusion as to what makes an art book +18. As usual, Miyasu Risa does what she does best and alternates her sweet girls between very naughty and nice. But if you've seen her work before, there won't be any surprises in Azalea Floating.

I grabbed Itoh Ben's SQUARE ENIX Fantasm -Preview- knowing full well that his 'previews' tend to be a re-hash of previous books, and anything new gets re-printed in the non-preview version of the doujinshi. Knowing all that, my motivation was the price tag of ￥294 on Toranoana which is an amazingly small amount to pay for anything really.

I've always thought that Masato@Takashina should be more well-known than he is, considering how long he's been around with his cute girls and colorful scenic style. My theory is the name is holding him back, because seriously, why would anyone need a @ in their name? I'm looking at you too, Ma@ya.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Illustrations INNOVATION collects the anime art of the series all in one book. It's not often that an anime series actually gets its own dedicated art book (that isn't a series guide in disguise). And INNOVATION is definitely all art book; full color and full page illustrations fill this 136-page collection all the way through.