Fate/Stay Night Rin Tohsaka Portraits

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Rin Tohsaka Portraits is the second portrait book to come out from the Fate/Stay Night series. This art collection follows the now conventional format of portrait books: The majority of illustrations are exclusively for the art book. And like in an idol portrait book, she wears a variety of outfits and strikes several poses.

The cover art is the least flattering picture in the book. After you’ve managed to get past that, it’s smooth sailing. Rin Tohsaka Portraits is 64 pages and all in full color. Several well-known artists contributed as well, since they worked on the anime.

Though many artists contribute, the illustrations follow the model sheet for Fate/Stay Night, so it doesn’t look like fan art. Asako Nishida, character designer for Simoun and Vampire Knight, illustrated Rin with glasses. Poyoyon Rock, who isn’t part of the animation staff, also contributes an illustration.

Kanokon character designer Akio Takami illustrates Rin in her gym uniform. Atsuko Nakajima, character designer for Trinity Blood, draws the one with Rin in her apron. Nakajima’s personal style shows in the eyes.

As someone who regularly buys anime magazines, I really notice the animation illustrators because the top ones are always drawing those beautiful promo arts we see every month. Maki Fujii, one of my favorites, has several illustrations in this collection.

The book exclusive illustrations end on page 29. There are a total of 17 new art works for this book. At the half way point, focus shifts to older art works that have been published in magazines and merchandise.

Like with previous portrait collections, rough sketches with commentaries are provided for the new pictures. The rest of the book covers costumes, character development, and Rin’s storylines. That’s basically it for the art work.

I nearly forgot the cards! Though the true collectors out there wouldn’t dare open it, this book includes 8 small “photo” cards of Rin, selected from the portraits featured. I guess that way loyal fans can keep her close to their hearts!