I made a post last week highlighting that Mediaworks had just released a sequel artbook to Guren called Kaen. Well, I received said artbook a couple of days ago and now have my impressions of it.

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I actually got this a few months ago, but my computer was having problems and some things happened and I never got to use my scanner on this book. Eventually, I gave up and decided to go with a few pictures (please forgive the uber poor quality of the first pic, I suck with cameras.) Anyway, this artbook features the work of Kozue Amano, the artist behind ARIA (which I’m sure you can tell from the over.) The full title of the artbook is Cielo: Kozue Amano Illustration Works III. Yes, this is his third book. Unfortunately, his other books are uber rare now, so good luck at finding them for anything below twice their original price.

One of my favorite things about the book is its build. As you can see from the first thumbnail, the book comes with a hard plastic cover, which leaves only the book’s binding exposed to the cruel outside world. The book itself is hardcover, which is nice. If it’s one thing I hate, it’s bent binds in softcover books. Annoys me to no end. It’s a surprise that this book only costs about 300 yen more than the average softcover artbook. I’m sure they could’ve gotten away with a bit more. This artist seems popular. At least, popular enough for all of his previous books to have sold out.

The artbook is split into six sections: Aria, Roman Club, Crescent Noise, Short Stories/Extra Works, Aqua, and Monochrome works. I must admit, I’m very unfamiliar with his work. I have yet to read a single chapter of ARIA or AQUA. I’m not sure if the work in this book is new or not. Usually, in these kinds of books, they’re just reprints of earlier released art (telephone cards and such) but usually the sources for the artwork are noted on the page. In this, they are not. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. The art in the book is excellent regardless.

Apparently, Ito Noizi released a new artbook a few days ago. It’s called KA-E-N this time around. Judging by the cover and her past artbook, we can expect there to be a fair amount of Shakugan no Shana art. If I were to make a guess, it should also contain some Haruhi stuff as well. I’m sure. I’m sure MediaWorks will also through in some of her past miscellaneous illustrations that she’s made since her last artbook release (2004.) I’ll be sure to show you guys some pictures when I have it in my hands, which could be as soon as next Monday.

Amazon link

Here’s a nice one I found during my road trip, which started Saturday and ended on Tuesday. I don’t have much to say about this one. I doubt this artist is famous or anything. I’m not sure if he even produces any doujin since there is no works or doujin link on their site.

Homepage:

Since I don’t know anything about the above artist, I decided to put two artists in this post. One of the reason I really like this artist is because all of the Disgaea fanart. He has this really cute style (ie. really big eyes and soft colors for that really cute look.)

Homepage:

Here’s another good artist: Natsuo Mibu [壬生夏生 / みぶなつき]. What draws me to his work are his character’s eyes. They remind me of the eye quality of works by Fujishima Kosuke or Ito Noizi. If his artwork seems familiar to you, it may be because he is the character designer for the tetsudou musume figures. Besides that, it doesn’t seem that he has done all that much more, besides a few illustrations here and there for some magazines and doujin.

Sample pictures:

PS: Lumines high score = 300+ K. Somewhere about level 95 but below 100. I’m almost skilled enough to get Lights.

Hmm, loli + shoujo ai + sukumizu + catgirl + eyepatch = instawin!

Here’s something that got my interest. It seems as though Shimada Humikane (島田フミカネ,) one of my favorite artists a.k.a. digital bs tuners, and Projekt Kagonish (if you’ve never heard of them, you’re not alone) are putting together a little OVA featuring mech girls (I think) called Strike Witches. It seems as though Gonzo has somethimg to do with the production (which I like, though I suppose MANY anime fans will disagree with me.) If anyone is familiar to the series of figures of hybrids between girls and figher planes, the Shimada Humikane is the same character designer.

The anime seems to be about these girls who use magic to transform themselves into mech girls of some sort. From the homepage description:

The world had recieved the attack from the existance of the mystery that appeared suddenly. Only girls who have magic can stop them. They install arms (me. as in weapons) in an own body, and fight in the sky, the land, and the sea. Fights of girls who defend the world start now.

The premise of the series seems kinda cliched. The whole “an outside threat is attacking the earth and only magical girls can stop them” thing seems kind of common, even though they are transforming into cool looking mech girls. To be honest, the only REAL reason I want to watch this series is because of Shimada Humikane. Here’s hoping that the series retains the charm of his artstyle and doesn’t fail my expectations.

OVA homepage:

Shimada Humikane’s page: Digital BS Tuners

Some pics:

Here’s a pretty good artist, Yusuke Shiba. I don’t know much about this one, either, but that’s okay since Akiba Angels has just posted an interview with him at their site. It’s only 19 questions, but at least it lets you get to know the artist better. I’ll quote it here.

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I must admit that I do not know that much about this artist. It doesn’t appear that he/she/it has worked on any anime/manga/etc. In addition, he/she/it hasn’t worked on any doujin.

It’s all quite a shame. For not being a doujin/anime artist/mangaka, this person has some really nice looking art. Maybe I will find more info once the actual site it finished (apparently, the webmaster is still working on the site, and has been for a very long time. Before I first visited the site in December of 2004.

Homepage:

Some pics:

Here’s a name you might have heard before: Okama. He’s done work as a character designer for a couple of newer anime series including Aim for the Top 2, Himawari, and Getsumen To Heiki Mina. He’s also worked on:

• Cloth Road
• Wings of Rean
• Garasu no Kantai

And has worked on various other anime such as Kamichu!

Homepage:

Some pics:

Here’s another good artist for you guys: Jason.  He’s an artist that used to work with Squaresoft (now SquareEnix.)  He worked as a monster and character designer for a few of their games.  Here a list of the games he has worked on:

• BAHAMUT LAGOON
• FINAL FANTASY7
• PARASITE EVE
• FINAL FANTASY9

Currently, he’s a freelance artist.  He seems to do a lot of design for TCG (mainly the illustrations on the cards.)

Homepage:

 

 

Some Pics:

Noizi Ito is most likely one of my favorite artists.  Her style is so smooth and cute.  She’s done the art for a couple of novel series including Shakugan no Shana and Suzumiya Haruhi, the former being compiled into an manga series and both being turned into an anime series.  She has also been involved in a couple of doujin artbooks.  I’d recommend picking up Guren somtime.

Her website:

Here are some pictures: