[Artbook] Cielo – Kozue Amano Illustration works III

29Jan/0817

[Artbook] Cielo – Kozue Amano Illustration works III

While this artbook was published way back in 2006, I only caught glimpse of it at the local Kinokuniya last month. No, it wasn't there previously which makes me wonder about Kino's stocking policy. I also found out that many of the more coveted works, for example Tinker's artbook, never made it to Singapore (unless a special order was placed.) I wonder how much 2D goodness I missed. Anyhow, I'm really glad to have snagged a copy of Kozue Amano's 3rd Illustration book. Speaking of which, I found Kozue Amano's 2nd illustration artbook, Stellar, bootlegged at a local comic chain going for a S$30 per copy. Boy, am I tempted to check out the difference in publishing quality.

This gem of an artbook is made up of 80 pages of 5 colored segments - Aqua, Roman club, Crescent noise, short stories/extra works and Aria - and 9 pages of monochrome works. Encased in a hard-plastic jacket with hard-cover binding, this artbook is almost indestructible. It needs to be since it's slated to be the tanuki clan's heirloom for the next 20000 years.

Haruhi could appoint Kozue sensei to be her chief designer in any Genesis. It's not only the characters but her worlds that are breathtaking. This artbook tops my chart of 2D worlds to live in. (My dreams of riding in Alice's gondola has nothing to do with the rankings.)

Surely, a must-get for Aria fans!

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Dop
January 29th, 2008 - 09:17

I found a copy of that in a shop last year. I couldn’t grab it off the shelf quickly enough. Then I saw the price.
Sensible Brain: Look at the price of that! I can’t justify buying that!
Fannish Brain: But.. But.. But… Kozue Amano! ARIA!!! How can I NOT get it? If I don’t buy it now, I may never see a copy again!!!

Sensible brain lost, I’m happy to say!

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natsuneko
January 29th, 2008 - 10:08

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

D: D: D: D: D: D: D: ME WANTS!

And yeah, the sceneries are just gorgeous, I can’t get enough of it. Utopia has never been so striking ._.

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super rats
January 29th, 2008 - 10:32

I love all of the Kozue Amano books. Always transports me there, you know, like feel the wind in the hair water through the toes.

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Skh
January 29th, 2008 - 12:26

I preordered a copy back when it was released, as I didn’t want to miss it. Now if there could be a new Kozue Amano artbook, I would be overjoyed.

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Adun
January 29th, 2008 - 13:46

Good to see you bought one. Aren’t you glad I recommended it to you

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ron~
January 29th, 2008 - 15:52

need more scans!

I really like aria world as well, very beautiful

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Stripey
January 29th, 2008 - 18:36

Dop: Fannish brain is the wiser one! Glad you grabbed it. I bought the last copy of the local Kino stores and feel the pain of those who missed out

natsuneko: heh, if I’m not wrong you’ll be getting yours soon? Conversely, I want your Alpha and Stella!

super rats: Indeed. Having 3 artbooks is a testament to her powers that bring alive the 2D.

Skh: Looking forward to more of her artbooks myself. But for now, I need to secure Alpha and Stella.

Adun: Am very grateful indeed! Now to scour the world for her first 2 books. In fact, would you be posting on Alpha and Stella? I haven’t see a proper review of the 2 books in any of the blogs

ron~ : heh, actually I grabbed the scans off

http://konachan.com/

Just search of aria and out pours the goodies.

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Sylon Beta
January 29th, 2008 - 19:14

I know what this means…

TO KINOKUNIYA!

My fan brain and sensible brain are one and the same.

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Haesslich
January 29th, 2008 - 19:24

Damn, I need to see if I can find one of those up here now…

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Stripey
January 30th, 2008 - 00:16

And I need to call up Kino too about Stella and Alpha too. It’s odd though that these 2 books are in stock at amazon JP but Cielo is not. Does that imply first 2 artbooks are not as good her third?

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totali
January 30th, 2008 - 05:29

*ariagasms*

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lu-k
January 30th, 2008 - 11:52

Haaaa~ Kozue Amano works. Nothing strong enough come into my mind to describe the love I have for them hehe ^^
I managed to grab Alpha and Stella recently thanks to a kind of restock from Play-Asia. So happy ^^

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Myssa Rei
January 30th, 2008 - 17:04

Incidentally, I found a copy of Stella on Ebay, though I’m still divided if I should purchase it or not (what with my poor Philippine $100 credit limit). The International delivery cost is about $26 or so on top of the cost of the artbook itself, so it’s really a big investment on my part.

But darned, as an ARIA fan, I WANT to buy it. Decisions, decisions…

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vexx
January 31st, 2008 - 02:43

In the words of Igor (from the comic Dorktower) ……. IT MUST BE MINE!!!!!!! O.O

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jinyamato
January 31st, 2008 - 07:36

nice report made as usual stripey your works are as good as before
stripey seriously join irc… if you join irc…..

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Myssa Rei
January 31st, 2008 - 07:48

Curse thee Tanuki! The part of my brain that loves slice of life asserted its will, and absconded with my credit card to purchase a copy of Cielo~!

Not that I’m not unhappy of course, but darn, any single purchase of more than 50 USD kills my budget for the month. o_o

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Stripey
January 31st, 2008 - 08:55

totali: LOL! Man, I better not be enjoying Cielo in public XD

lu-k: Really looking forward to your reviews!

Myssa Rei: Congrats! I’m glad you made the right choice! Don’t worry you’ll be thanking me when your package arrives. Look forward to it!

vexx: Grabbing the last copy in Singapore somehow ups my satisfaction by quite a bit. The evil tanuki emerges! XD

jinyamato: Thanks! Do check out Adun’s review too. More great pics there!

http://www.moemoerabu.net/2006/09/11/cielo-amano-kozue-illustration-works-iii/

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