Kannazuki Noboru Illustrations

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This isn’t the first visual book release for the Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica series. However, Kannazuki Noboru Illustrations – Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica is the definitive collection of Kannazuki’s work, with page after page of gorgeous illustrations.

I feel like I’m getting spoiled with great art books lately and this one is no exception. The book starts out with a double-sided poster that shows two full length body illustrations of Corticarte. The art isn’t new. One poster was a dakimakura illustration.

The spreads have a tiny amount of overlap, so the art works look complete without bending the book backwards. Most of the illustrations in the front half of the book are from the DVDs, and even the DVD art box. They are the kind of illustrations you don’t see as often.

I didn’t like the inclusion of 8 pages of in-game CGs. The small images fit 6 CGs to a page. The quality just doesn’t measure up with the rest of the art work in the collection, especially with the visible pixelation in some images. But that’s really a minor complaint. It doesn’t occupy a significant portion of the book.

Aside from the CGs, every illustration in the book has a full page or a spread. It’s not something I see often, even with so many art books. Kannazuki Noboru Illustrations is 128 pages, with the color art ending on page 112.

There are a couple of these “set” type illustrations, where the pose is the same, but the clothing and facial expressions change. I used to think it was kind of a cheap way to fill space, but at least for these the changes are significant!

There is a small monochrome section at the end, but even the black and white illustrations get full page treatment. The monochrome gallery runs from pages 111 to 126, which only leaves room for a short interview page and the copyrights pages. There is no index in Kannazuki Noboru Illustrations. The image information is in a small corner of each illustration.

Although I’ve only watched the anime, I’d much rather have Kannazuki Noboru’s illustrations for it than the animation designs. I think this is really one of those art books you can appreciate even if you have no connection to the series, because it’s just that good!