Noizi Ito & Tony Taka Combo
I have to give credit to MANGAOH CLUB. I ordered both Shining Wind – Collection of Visual Materials ($20USD) and Noizi Ito Art Collection: Kaen ($40USD) (Amazon JP) on August 30th, they shipped August 31st, and I received them on September 2nd! That has got to be the fastest I’ve ever received anything via EMS, especially considering it’s Labor Day weekend here in the US. All I have to say is a big “thanks” to both Japan and US postal services for delivering these babies at lightning speeds!
On the purchases themselves, I should first mention recently I’ve been avoiding artbooks. Mostly due to the facts of cost and me never looking through them more than once, I realized there’s very little point in buying them (also factor in the internet and being able to “obtain” them through other means as well). Thus over the past few months I’ve been buying only really figures and the occasional DVD. However, when I saw photos of the Shining Wind book on Akihabara Channel, I just knew I had to buy it! It’s Tony Taka for christ sake! For his works, I’m willing to give an arm and leg if need be as I did so long ago for some of his doujinshis!
As for Noizi Ito Art Collection: Kaen, well I needed to buy something else to pad and rationalize the order since I knew shipping was going to be a bit high. After seeing a few blog entries about the mook like from Loli Yuri Mania, I figured it’d be a good purchase as any. Plus I love Noizi Ito’s art as well so I had little doubt I would enjoy the artbook even if I was buying it semi-blind.
Was the fast shipping and irrational sudden spending worth it? Read on to find out, but given the fact the mooks have Noizi Ito and Tony Taka art in them, I think the readers already know the answer. What readers should really be pondering is whether or not I’m crazy enough to order another copy of the Shining Wind mook given the low cost and excellent work printed. Now that’s a question for the ages.
Noizi Ito Art Collection: Kaen and Shining Wind – Collection of Visual Materials front covers.
Shining Wind – Collection of Visual Materials front cover. Got to love the Xecty art and shiny flower patterns.
Shining Wind – Collection of Visual Materials back cover. The ex-queen of the Elf Kingdom is the blonde girl, who is voiced by Houko Kuwashima. She also does Xecty as well 
Kanon Seena (voiced by Nana Mizuki) and Xecty Ein.
Clalaclan Philias (Ayako Kawasumi) and Kureha (Yui Horie).
Kureha showing some mighty fine thighs plus Seena and Kaito Kiriya, the main male protagonist in the game (VA Akira Ishida).
Girl I don’t know about but still looks very fine and Haruto Saionji (Ryotaro Okiayu) and Kiriya.
Kiriya & Souma Akizuki (Souichiro Hoshi) and Clalaclan & Seena.
2-page spread of Xecty!
Main-ish cast of the Shining Wind PS2 game plus Xecty & Elwing (Ryou Hirohashi).
Houmei (Chiwa Saito) and another great Xecty photo. Think I’m a Xecty fan much? 
2-page spread of the mook’s cover.
This and the following photos are suppose to be images from game, I think. Not totally positive but it’s Tony Taka, so it’s all good right? Anyway, some great Seena art to start things off.
Kureha, giving off a more “classic beauty” type of feeling.
Hot female + vines = ALWAYS GOOD + Tony Taka = GODLY.
Clalaclan and her brother Caris. And yes, in the game you can pull a soul sword from him too
Really like the drawing of Houmei on the left as it gives off a relaxing but playful atmosphere for some reason.
More Xecty is always good in my books.
Hiruda and the ex-elf queen whose name escapes me.
Next section is the usual character bios and whatnot. Xecty <3
Kureha in a kimono just looks lovely.
Nice to see some of the characters from the first game appear as well.
No clue who this girl is and in what shape or form she’s related to the series. Still an awesome drawing though.
NPC and scrubs
Last section they talked briefly about the anime and I assume, the soul sword pulling scenes.
I think it can go without saying that buying Shining Wind – Collection of Visual Materials was definitely worth the cost. I was surprised by how much material was included in the mook given the insanely low cost; basically 1/2-2/3 were full page colored drawings. Considering how popular Tony Taka’s works seem to be, I’m surprised the mook still isn’t sold out already at the usual places. Heck, I even thought the guys over at seiyuu3 would have covered the mook by now since they seem like decent fans of the series. I guess the mook is a bit under the radar for the usual folks or something?
In any case, Shining Wind – Collection of Visual Materials is easily a recommended purchase for any (fe)male interested in 2D females. Tony Taka is a master at his craft and knows his audience, thus never fails to please. As I mentioned before, this mook is a steal given its 1980yen price tag (~20USD) and no T2 nor Shining Wind/Tear fan should be without. Given how hard it is normally to obtain a good piece of work with Tony’s drawings, especially for non-Japanese fans, Shining Wind – Collection of Visual Materials is simply a perfect buy.
Noizi Ito Art Collection: Kaen front cover.
Jumping straight into the mook since there are already a few reviews about it floating on the ‘net. Just one of the drawings from the Shakugan no Shana section that I thought was worth showing.
Characters from other various media if I remember correctly.
The Kujibiki Unbalance art is very nice as well as the one on the right of it.
I think one of the newer games she has worked on.
Simply love this drawing due to a combination of colors, dress, and the character’s attitude she’s giving off. The semi-hair tossing pose also adds that extra touch as well.
I swear the drawing on the bottom right looks a lot Nao from Mai-HiME… if she was nice and all ^^;;
Keep thinking this would make a great Nagato Yuki-ish drawing if the hair color was different.
While I get all fanboyish for Tony Taka, my love for Noizi Ito isn’t as high. Make no mistake I adore her works but if I had to choose between the two, Tony would win hands down. With that being said, however, Noizi Ito Art Collection: Kaen is a fine additional to any anime artbook/mook collector. More so if they’re big fans of Shakugan no Shana since it makes up 1/4 of the mook. Also do know this mook is hard covered, which means it’ll be durable, something I haven’t seen recently (or at least with any of the other artbooks/mooks I own). Even in the other reviews I read, I don’t think it was ever really mentioned; that or I’m just blind and never noticed.
If there is any downside to the mook, it would have to be what is included as I think a good majority of the images can be found elsewhere. I’m pretty positive like 1/2 of the Shana stuff is already published elsewhere.
So overall, am I happy with these two mooks? You bet your life on it I am! Sure the shipping cost hurt a little (the mooks plus shipping came to 8200yen) but after looking through the mooks, I can say the cost was worth every penny. They are so worth the cost that I’m seriously thinking about ordering another copy (or two) of the Shining Wind mook just in case
Woah! Thx moy for giving us more than a peek at the artbooks. Tony’s works are always droolicious. Adding the Shining Wind artbook to my list of bank-breakers XD
That Tony Taka one looks awesome. Perhaps I should look for a copy, but then I’m lazy as well, lol.
Thanks for the great images from both books! Tony sure is a master of drawing hot womens. Pretty jealous of you having both those books…
Damn, now you made me wanna get these even more.
Wow ! Tony Taka is always awesome as I see
Thanks for this pics.
I need to get Itou Noizi’s second art book. OTL
To bad I don´t have the money to buy the artbook for Shining Wind
It´s really nice and as always, T2 is awesome. Love his work.
Stripey, no problem. Glad I can help a fellow T2 fan out. Also do know the mook isn’t that expensive; like 1980yen. Not too bank-breaking right?
Adun, yes it is very awesome indeed. And for looking for a copy, I saved you some trouble and linked to mangaoh’s listing. Now go buy it dude! XD
Ashram, sure not a problem. And yes, I also enjoy the jealousy of others for the crap I’ve bought jk jk
Zeroblade, so get them! “Buy now, think later” is one of my many mottos!
kyouray, yep T2 just rocks period.
Kurogane, go go go! Buy it now! XD
manga, as I mentioned in the post, the mook isn’t that expensive. Just S&H will kill you.
dammit, i want my Shining Wind book now!!! I preordered that book months ago and it was gonna be shipped by the end of last month. however, last minute items popped up and I’ll have to wait until October to get….oh well.
artbooks are one of the main things i collect now, instead of anime dvds. even though it’s easy to get scans of most artbooks (i have scans of all my artbooks as well as other ones i don’t have, including this SW VM book already ^^), nothing beats having the real thing in your hand imho. oh yeah, speaking of T2, as always, his C72 work is another winna.
OH SHIT! Time to order this book too! To think I’ve spending money lately to get the FSN, Bleach doujin of his. Oh yeah~ Just received the Hayate no Gotoku doujin the day before at about 1000Yen.
moyism: Still to expensive if you don´t have a single penny to spend
maybe in december.
yesasia has it for USD$25.25 which includes shipping – that is if you don’t mind waiting a few months. I’m tempted to get it myself but given I’ve all my other artbooks just sit in the bookshelf collecting dust I probably shouldn’t.
> Girl I don’t know about but still looks very fine
I think that’s suppose to be Sheena with long hair.
sent’s ordered the mook I think…..
R8, I see. I guess if I had more space in my room I would be collecting more artbooks but it’s kind of limited at this point so yea. And yes, much agreement about owning the real thing versus just scans. And yes again, T2′s C72 doujin rocked as usual (<3 Hinagiku). BTW, think you can send me a copy of the scans for the Shining Wind mook? You know, for archive purposes *wink*
bj0rn, go order it now! It’s so worth the cost! And good price you got on T2′s c72 doujin which is more or less cost, me thinks. Beats the insane costs I piad when getting his older works!
manga, ah. December may be too late so I would try to save as soon and as much as possible.
hiero_yo, that’s not too bad of a price. And yea, your reasoning for not getting it is pretty much why I’ve cut back for the most part.
houkoholic, ooohh (on both the image and sent getting the mook). Can we expect a review from you guys once sent gets it?
then I´ll have to save up money fast. And find someone who can order for me since I don´t understand moonspeak
been using http://www.hlj.com but they didn´t have this artbook.
We try to keep our blog entires tied to seiyuu as much as possible. I covered Shining Wind (and the Tears X Wind anime) mainly because the cast is mind-blowingly full of big names and Mizuki Nana sang one hell of a kickass opening song for the game (currently her best song of the year by a long shot IMO), and not so much so because I was a big fan of the franchise. ^^;;
So unless said mook has some special goodies in terms of say a bonus voice CD, then I won’t hold my breathe for a review, even with excellent artwork (do love the Tony’s art though!) and all that. XD
manga, try YesAsia as hiero_yo suggested.
houkoholic, ah gotcha. And unfortunately, as awesome as a bonus vocal CD would have been, there is none
moyism: need to read every comment… I missed hiero_yo´s comment on yesasia…
and I´ll probably try mangaoh, a friend of mine wrote a guide on how to use mangaoh so.
But at the same time, I have the same problem as hiero_yo and most of the time the few artbooks I have are just collecting dust
In a “want/probably shouldn´t buy” situation.
but thanks for all the help.
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