Artbook: Hakuouki Official Monogatari Emaki
Released in March 2010, this is yet another artbook to hop on the Hakuouki bandwagon as they try to milk that franchise for all it is worth. I find it very odd that with all the Hakuouki artbooks that have come out in the last year, not a single one has any artwork from the new anime show, it's all CGs from the video game.
There are about 30 pages of character pages, similar to what is seen in the other books for this series. There will be one center image of a particular character and several small CGs featuring that character scattered all around the page. This is mostly repeat from the other books as the main character images are exactly the same from what you will find else where.
Then there are about 16 pages devote to full (or almost full) page images. Some of these are in the chibi style, but most of them have the beautiful, slick look that Hakuouki is known for. Some of these images are again repeats from other books, or publications.
Then the book finishes up with 11 of the abstract-ish color images that I've seen used a lot of Hakuouki and several other otome games. As mean as this sounds I really wish they had included full page images of the CGs that they used as a base, rather then these kind of weird abstract-ish images. There are also several pages of text, which I'm pretty sure are interviews, but I can't read Japanese so I'm not sure.
Overall Review:
Sadly, I'd have to say I don't recommend this book. It just has too many repeat images and not enough new images to make it worth the hardcover price. If you're looking for a Hakuouki book you'd be better off buying one of the older books, which has a lot more high quality images in it.
_________________________________________________________
Title: Hakuouki Official Monogatari Emaki
Pages: 128
ISBN-10: 4048684914
ISBN-13: 978-4048684910
Amazon Listing
Index of Artbook Reviews
There are about 30 pages of character pages, similar to what is seen in the other books for this series. There will be one center image of a particular character and several small CGs featuring that character scattered all around the page. This is mostly repeat from the other books as the main character images are exactly the same from what you will find else where.
Then there are about 16 pages devote to full (or almost full) page images. Some of these are in the chibi style, but most of them have the beautiful, slick look that Hakuouki is known for. Some of these images are again repeats from other books, or publications.
Then the book finishes up with 11 of the abstract-ish color images that I've seen used a lot of Hakuouki and several other otome games. As mean as this sounds I really wish they had included full page images of the CGs that they used as a base, rather then these kind of weird abstract-ish images. There are also several pages of text, which I'm pretty sure are interviews, but I can't read Japanese so I'm not sure.
Overall Review:
Sadly, I'd have to say I don't recommend this book. It just has too many repeat images and not enough new images to make it worth the hardcover price. If you're looking for a Hakuouki book you'd be better off buying one of the older books, which has a lot more high quality images in it.
_________________________________________________________
Title: Hakuouki Official Monogatari Emaki
Pages: 128
ISBN-10: 4048684914
ISBN-13: 978-4048684910
Amazon Listing
Index of Artbook Reviews