The artbook has 144 pages in B5 format. The content is divided into 11 thematic chapters. At the very beginning, the author greets us with an explanation of the meaning of the publication's title. Aikyo refers to a charming, enchanting nature or a nostalgic feeling. Enjoy the warm atmosphere of the artworks with unique, beautiful touches.
Konomi's most popular illustrations are the covers of the Liar Liar light novel. In the reviewed artbook there was no absence of material depicting the heroines of this title. In addition, we can see also here the original works of the creator, as well as the heroines of another light novel - Cross Connect.
Kimishima Ao is the artist responsible for character designs for many visual novels. Both the more famous ones and the lesser known ones. He has also designed several covers for CD singles. The publication contains a lot of original artwork, but also graphics from, for example, Rewrite (Key), Summer Pockets (Key), Koi x Shin Ai Kanojo and Einstein Yori Ai o Komete.
This review will cover two artbooks, as they belong to the same series. Both publications contain the official illustrations of the third season of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun showing the series' heroines in various situations.
The artbook named Red Queen published by Kadokawa is a collection of original illustrations by Akasa Ai. It counts 128 A4-size pages printed in full color on excellent quality paper. Print quality is impressive - especially when viewing the whole thing live. The publication is divided into eight chapters. The penultimate one shows the author's creative process, while the last two pages show thumbnails of all the pages.
Xenoblade 2 is still my favorite game of all time. You can find my review of the original Japanese collector's version here, and there I describe in more detail why and take a closer look at how the Western version differs from the original - in every possible aspect. Although the artbook included with the collector's version is really decently made and shows quite a lot, I couldn't get past the publication that is the subject of this review.
The artbook features illustrations by Tomose Shunsaku, the artist responsible for the drawings for the light novel by Kinugasa Shogo titled Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e, telling the story of a group of students at an elite, private high school. The illustrations thematically include primarily characters from this novel, while further down the page are his original works and characters from other titles.
Another 1/7th scale Kurumi figure has landed in my collection. This time dressed in kimono. As soon as I saw it, I just couldn't resist and it immediately ended up in my shopping basket. The figurine was priced at ¥20000, and the quality of workmanship leaves no doubts that it is worth the price.
As I already wrote in my review of another artbook by this author - I fell in love with his design as soon as I watched the first season of One Room. Here we have an issue dedicated to another series where he was also responsible for the character designs - Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko.
Nanao Naru is an illustrator whose character designs have been used in many visual novels and their adaptations. These include Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two (and both Shaft studio adaptations), Sola, Da Capo, Canvas 2: Niji-iro no Sketch, Shuffle! and Wind -A Breath of Heart-. This artbook contains quite a few original illustrations that have appeared in various magazines or doujin circle publications founded by the author, Ice to Choco, but also some of the titles mentioned above. Sources for each drawing are given on the final pages.
Another bunny in my collection. Unfortunately, this time the scale is only 1/7, but the price is in the same range as most figures of this type. This means that the attention to detail, quality of painting, and quality control should be on a very high level.