Book Review : 竹画集 刀語絵巻 通常版 (Book of Pictures by Take, Picture Scroll of Sword Story)

[Jac'Kee]

Katanagatari (刀語) is a light novel series written by the author Nisio Isin and the art for both content and covers are done by Take. While Nisio Isin may not be a household name, he happens to be the creator of the light novel series known as Bakemonogatari, which had its prequel animated into an anime series which enjoyed a fair amount of popularity.

The story of Katanagatari is about self proclaimed tactician Togame who recruits a 'swordless-style' fighter by the name of Shichika Yasuri, to aid her in the collection of twelve legendary swords made by a legendary swordsmith. Similar to Bakemonogatari, Katanagatari was given the anime treatment starting year 2010. An episode of each story (which subsequently follows each released volume and the number of swords collected) is released once every month during this year. Till now, 9 episodes have been released and the series is about to reach its animated conclusion.

This artbook is a compilation of Take's illustrations for series, hence the title. This book is unique on many accounts, first and foremost for Take's illustrative style. The art style is a fusion of vector graphic art with anime style done with a twist of simplicity.

Unlike most typical novel covers which one would expect, the sort with full rendering be it realism or animation styled, the book consists of a series of illustrations which favour strong use of colours and composition. The colour pages are presented in a scroll like fashion like the book's namesake, coupled with prose and description to each volume which each illustration was made for. It works very well to enhance the strong Japanese feel.

I have nothing but praise for this book as I feel even a person who cannot read Japanese nor fond of the more 'anime-like' styles can appreciate the gorgeous art within. While the book is not entirely in colour; light novels usually come with companion illustrations which are black and white within( all of which have been compiled together with the cover illustrations) the greyscale artworks retain a strong sense of value usage.

What's great about this art book is that not only does it compile the artworks within the light novel, it also compiles the fully coloured preproduction character designs as well as Take's exploration with visual shapes and its elements. Here, not only does one see the vast amounts of research he did with various shapes for each character, it shows colour exploration into each character for each illustration. The art within this book looks deceptively simple to reproduce, but as a graphic designer and illustrator myself, I can assure you that what Take has achieved is by no means a simple task.

The artbook's layout is done beautifully and its obvious a lot of thought was put into its presentation. Even the covers unfold like a scroll to reveal illustrations of characters in the back, and a map of the world and the route traveled by the characters in the story.

While the price is a tad steep (3900 yen with tax), it is not too much to pay for a book which stands out on being extremely unique and bringing new flair to anime styled art. This artbook is a gem for graphic designers and artist alike both as reference and collection. Those who are neither industry workers or professionals can enjoy the glorious eye candy within.

Be warned, this is a compilation, thus many spoilers await for those who are following the anime series for its story and are not familiar with the light novel series.

You can find this book on Amazon JP | YesAsia.com
More info regarding the anime series is available HERE.

Book Details :

Paperback: 152 pages
Publisher: 講談社 (Kodansha)
Language: Japanese
ISBN-10: 406214672X
ISBN-13: 978-4062146722
Release Date: 2009/1/20
Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 9.7 x 0.6 inches

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

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Additional pictures from the book

   
   
   

That is all, thank you and I hope you have enjoyed the preview to this wonderful book.

[xiao1chi]

Wonderful! I do hope they come out with an english version, I'd love to get my hands on a copy

[gad]

usually i have a complete dislike to anime and manga
but there is something very appealing in this book, and the style and simplicity of the characters
but it seems you forgot to mention the name of the anime it self

thank you for the great review

[Jac'Kee]

Thank you both for your kind replies : )

Gad> I'm sorry if it was made unclear but the anime's name is 'Katanagatari'.

[strap]

This was a nice discovery to me, refreshing style!
Thanks for digging that up!