「Book Review」Little Busters!: Visual Artbook
Friday, February 17, 2017
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Just as the title reads, there is actually a confirmation by Sekai Project about an English adaptation of this wonderful series however it has been nearly a year since and I highly doubt that the adaptation is fully translation yet. Despite so, I have a friend who is into this series and has purchased this book, so I've taken the chance to do a review on it!
Similar to my book reviews before, I will not be providing images of every page of the book but enough to give a brief idea of what each section of the book contains. As Little Busters does have a H Visual Novel side as well, be warned that some images can be very sexual but there is nothing explicit. Going by that, I will use the less sexualised images for this review too... so if you want to see more, you know what to do!
This book comes with a rather different packaging, rather similar to that of Blu-rays. The images above are the front and back covers of the case and the book is slid out from it. The book itself is in the image below and it looks very much like how a fairytale book would look like.
The book starts with character descriptions and I have taken one of the heroines -- Natsume Rin as an example. The introductions come with a full sized drawing of her and several smaller ones to showcase some of her different outfits, hairstyles and expressions.
Following that is a recap of some of the scenes in the anime series, complete with screencaps. The humorous screencaps are a great addition because it brings back many fun memories of the show itself.
More screencaps and some frame-by-frame sequence on the right page. There are already hints of fanservice in the book, but there's definitely a lot more to come.
After which comes the next section -- the main part of this book -- the illustrations. While there are a few single page art, most of them spans two pages. As Rin is the main heroine, we get a lot of her be it solo or with other character(s).
Something I like about Little Busters artwork is that it is clean and adequately detailed. It also uses very vibrant colors that create a lively atmosphere, such as the green lush fields in the images above. With regards to the one below of Rin and Sasasegawa Sasami (purple haired), we see that characters in Little Busters!: EX are also featured in there too~
Her overly-shoujo impression of Kengo is awkwardly cute as well... or maybe a little creepy too?
Baseball is a huge part of the story and we'll definitely have a few shots of that in here.
As given from a series with 18+ routes, this book is definitely rather fanservice-y. We have the three heroines from Little Busters!: EX right off the bat and they are dressed in their swimsuits.
Rin and Noumi for the second fanservice shot and I guess there's something about their shy expressions and the way that they are holding down the hem of their shirts that appeals to males? o.O
More fanservice and we see that they focus a lot on Noumi which isn't that strange, considering that she is one of the more popular heroines in the series and even had a Nendoroid and a whole VN of her route.
And no book will be complete without some alternate outfits. This time round we have a Christmas theme and again, Noumi (sorry for the light glare, it wasn't intentional) and Rin. Yui makes a impromptu appearance at the bottom of the page where I imagine them to be preparing Christmas cakes.
But well, though fanservice is peppered throughout the book, it isn't in all pages. This page is one of my favorites in the whole book. I love the gradient making up the sky and how the Milky Way just stretches across so cleanly. The falling stars tie in perfectly with the theme and the heroine too. Just perfect!
Blues and greens in this book look really beautiful and this is a clear example. Though she didn't leave a deep impression on me in the anime as her route was too short and rushed, this page is another one of my favorites. The effect of the water and the water bubbles, matched with the calming blue and soft rays of light creates the perfect mood to go along with her expression. The artist goes a step further to contrast this with Riki's shocked and worried portrayal in the background. Hn.
Evening glow with sharp rays of sun that light up these besties features. I like how the fence actually has appropriate shading and highlights to complement the light. The stark shadows on the figures also goes to show how bright the evening sun is. Of course, the artist didn't forget about the other side of the fence though I felt that a little more effort could have gone to making the mountains more detailed.
Some bromance to satiate the fangirls. If I'm not wrong these two men in the first image below also had a route together in the Visual Novel :D
Back to the heroines from EX.
And well of course, Rin and Noumi again.
Next up in the Dakimakura section. Here we have the illustration on various covers. I'm pleasantly surprised by how many Rin had. Some of them were rather lewd (still nothing explicit) and I have taken those which I find alright as an example.
Noumi has her own fair share of covers as well but here I'll like to draw attention to Kyousuke because though I knew this existed, it still makes me happy to see an official male Dakimakura being made from a series so orientated to male viewers!
Her overly-shoujo impression of Kengo is awkwardly cute as well... or maybe a little creepy too?
More illustrations on the other heroines. I love how each illustration is so calming to look at~ The colors has a huge role to play in this but I think the crisp anime artstyle is also very important! Enough shading is also given to the characters to complement the setting and lighting.
And last but not the least there are more illustrations. I have picked out those that have traditional Japanese outfits (kimono) for this section.
And last but not the least....
A group shot!
~ Reina-rin
