I finally got my hands on Hanamura Mai’s amazing art book! >w< I had been waiting to get it for so long and I finally found it in Kinokuniya. This is one expensive artbook by the way but worth my every penny. ^____^
Isn’t her art just gorgeous. I really like the illustration for the cover of the book. It has a very rustic feeling to it. And Shin looks gorgeous in it as well. Haha.
Here’s a group illustration with Shin, Toma, Ikki and Kent plus the heroine. The details in her illustrations are amazing. *__*
And on the left we have Ikki, Toma ❤ and the heroine. On the right are solo illustrations and other smaller ones as well. And the oh so very HOT one on the top right is TOMA!! <3333
Oh my god. *________* *drools* (Oh, Toma is my fav by the way)
I absolutely love the illustration of Shin and Toma together. Toma makes suspenders look so hot. And the next one of Toma…. (head spinning due to too much excitement).
Black and white illustrations here.
Here is Ukyo. Finally a large illustration of him. Not a big fan, though I have a friend who loves his characters (she loves both sides of him)
What I like about the illustration on the right is that she drew the Heroine with a different hairstyle. And she looks so adorable in it. Look at that, two gorgeous hunks as childhood friends. Only happens in our dreams… well for most of us. lol XDD
I love how Toma is infront (yes Shin, it’s Toma’s turn to shine) and is wearing a hoodie(love hoodies). Ikki looks really hot in this as well. And Kent looks real good too. Without his usually specs. Overall, this is one of my favourite group illustration.
Now comes the part of illustrations from the gameplay. So if you are scared of any spoilers please don’t scroll any further.
I did not play this otome game by the way. I can’t even understand japanese very well and I can’t read kanji so yeah. I usually read up the gameplay from other blogs. The main reason I was interested in this otome was because of the art. It’s gorgeous.
I’ll start with Shin.
I like Shin’s character design. He was the first character I knew in the game and thought he was really cool but soon found out that he’s personality is not my type. lol He’s too serious. I prefer brighter guys.
And despite being the youngest, I think he has the most amount of kissing scenes. lol XD I was quite surprised when I found out.
Next up is Ikki.
I find Ikki really caring and I think he can make girls blush so much more than the others can. Haha. He’s probably the second character I like best in this game.
Hot Ikki in a suit. >w< Next is Kent!
Kent. My least favourite. I found his route so boring when I read it. =__= He’s so expressionless… most of the time. I think even Mori from Ouran is better than him. lol XD And the pool scene. Kent gets a pool scene with the heroine. I was thinking maybe his route needed more excitement therefore the pool scene. Haha. I must say though, he looks good in that suit and that hairstyle suits him better.
*To Kent fans: This is just my personal opinion. Don’t bash me for not liking him. XP
Finally, we reach TOMA! ❤
As I mentioned earlier, Toma is my number 1!
I have a thing for blond haired guys. Even though he had a psychotic personality at one point, I still found him so irresistible. lol I actually thought that Toma’s route was one where the heroine’s and Toma’s love for each other was very strong. I thought she too was getting a bit nuts. lol Perfect for each other. Hahaha.
Moving on to Ukyo.
I didn’t really fancy his character. I thought his route was quite a sad journey for him.
There’s a character profile segment in the book as well, but I’ll just put up Toma’s part.
Hanamura Mai’s sketches are amazing. When will I ever get to sketch like that.
And I have reached the end of this art book review.
Hope you had a nice time looking at the pics. There are many more illustrations that I did not include here (the book is so thick and heavy). Please support Hanamura Mai and get the artbook if you love her works!
Till the next review. Ja ne~
Namia's Haven 
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Between Amnesia Artworks and Amnesia Artworks II, which one would you recommend more? I can only pick one, but which one would you recommend? I’m a huge visual person and i love the amnesia art too, but I also have to consider weight cause of shipping :S
Thanks ^_^
I would recommend the Amnesia Artworks. It is a little thicker then the 2nd book and has more content. There are more illustrations in the first book (around 50 pages) as well as the game play illustrations. The second book has newer illustrations and 1 or 2 from the 1st book (around 30 pages). And of course the 1st book is more expensive.
The 1st book comprises of illustrations from Amnesia and the 2nd book comprises of illustrations from Amnesia Crowd. So, it also depends on which game one you prefer since a big portion of the book are of the game play illustrations. Unless you don’t have a preference. But I must say I love the illustrations in the 2nd artbook as well. Sorry, not really helping.
I think buying the first book is good. Maybe later on you can get the 2nd artbook. ^^
Another suggestion is if you only want a book with the Amnesia illustrations without the game play and character designs, you could get Hanamura Mai’s Translucent artbook as it contains illustrations from both Amnesia books, but not all and her other illustrations too. I did a review you can view here https://namiahaven.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/translucent-hanamura-mais-artbook/.
Ok, I’ll stop confusing you now. Hope that helped….a bit. ^^
That clears things up a bit actually!! Thank you so much for your help 🙂
As for Hanamura Mai’s Transclucent book, how many pages is it? The amnesia artwork is only a third of the book right? The other third is for desert kingdom? And the last third are for interviews (which are a waster of weight/pages for me as I can’t read Japanese either and I’m such a huge PRETTY ART person LOL XD)? So out of amnesia artworks, amnesia artworks II, and translucent – the first two might be the best ones to get or?
Sorry if I sound a bit confusing ^^; Thanks again ❤
Sure. Glad to help. ^^
Amnesia Artworks- 200 pages
Amnesia Artworks 2- 128 pages
Translucent – 128 pages
For Hanamura Mai’s Translucent, Amnesia(67 pg), Desert Kingdom(24 pg), Other artworks(19 pg) and Interview(13 pg). By the way, this book is cheaper than the other two.
Oh, I am also a huge PRETTY ART person, lol XD, and I also can’t read kanji and understand very minimal Japanese. But the good thing about her book is that they inserted many smaller illustrations in the interview as well.
I think the first 2 Amnesia books are better to get if you want more of her Amnesia illustrations. ^^ Once you get those 2 you won’t have to get her Translucent artbook since the Amnesia illustrations in it are from the first 2 books. Unless, you want it as a collection or to support Hanamura Mai’s other illustrations as well.
Hope that helped. 🙂 Will be doing the Starry Sky artbook reviews soon. Are you a fan? ^^