Fujiwara Warawara Art Works Water Sprite

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fujiwara Warawara’s first art book, Water Sprite, came out at the end of July 2010 and includes a collection of art work that spans light novels, games, and promotional arts from as far back as 2002. When you’ve got that kind of a range covered, there tends to be a lot of variance in the quality of art work, but Fujiwarara Warawara has really stayed true to his style.

Fujiwara Warawara Art Works Water Sprite is A4-size and also hardcover, which makes it look a little wider than it actually is. The art book is 112 pages in total, although the color illustrations end on page 93. The rest of the book includes a color index and sketches of several of the illustrations presented in the book.

The cover art was new for the collection, but everything else is republished from a variety of sources. The first section of the book is entitled “Game” and goes from pages 4 to 63. The first ten pages feature the art from Shirokuma Bellstars♪, a visual novel. There is nudity in this book, though most of it is in the game section.

The titles for the games are neatly printed at the bottom of each page, next to the page number, for easy reference. The next 18 pages feature works from Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no.

The next 16 pages cover Yunohana, which is probably the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Fujiwara Warawara’s illustrations. I used to see pictures of that blue-haired girl (Yunoha) everywhere before I even knew who the artist was.

The game section ends with 15 pages of Natsu Shoujo Promised Summer which really showcase a slightly older illustration style from Fujiwara Warawara.

The short section for “Novel” starts on page 64, and includes illustrations from Hitokakera, Boku to Majo Shiki Apocalypse, and London Story.

The sections “Goods” and “Original” finish off what’s left of the color portion of the art book. Some of the illustrations in “Goods” feature other familiar series like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and Tristia of the Deep Blue Sea. The “Original” section covers pages 82 to 93 and features some of the illustrations from other collection art books like Sweet Girls, as well as the commissioned illustrations for Megami magazine and others.

The monochrome illustrations run from pages 98 to 109, followed by a two-page interview with Fujiwara Warawara, which finishes the book. The monochrome illustrations are mostly sketches, with the exception of one or two works. Compared to a lot of the other art books that came out at the end of July, Fujiwara Warawara Art Works Water Sprite is a bit on the expensive side for its 93 pages of illustrations. But it’s probably worth it for bigger fans of the art work. These days I find the style too generic!