Book Review: Senran Kagura: Official Design Works

Wow, the producer Kenichiro Takaki is really unabashed at the selling point of Senran Kagura series of games. On page two, in case you missed it, they even printed the words "BOOBS" in big bold red fonts. That's the highlight of this book.

This is a 240-page paperback that's has been translated by Udon Entertainment into English from the original Japanese edition 閃乱カグラシリーズ公式イラスト集 -少女達の軌跡-.

This book features art for the following games:

Senran Kagura Skirting Shadows
Senran Kagura Crimson Girls
Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus
Senran Kagura NewWave
Senran Kagura Bon Appetit
Senran Kagura 2 Deep Crimson

The other selling point are the wonderful illustrations included. The pages are filled with beautiful anime style illustrations of the female ninjas. There are character designs, funny scenarios and pin-ups. The character designs are awesome. I like how dynamic the characters look.

This book is definitely not safe for work. Although all the important bits are covered up, there are still a lot of touchy-feely pieces, and of course more than a handful of those teasing almost-nude illustrations.

Right at the end are interviews with Righteous Boobage Artist Nan Yaegashi and Righteous Boobage Producer Kenichiro Takaki (that's what they call themselves). Basically they talk about what it's like to make a game that features so much boobs. Some parts are serious, like really talking about the IP and game making, while others parts are on character designs.

There are character profiles for the ninjas across the different games in the last few pages. Also included is an encyclopedia that explains all the terms, phrases and jokes from the past games. I even learned a new Japanese word "bakunyuu" that literally means "explosive breasts”.

I can see how fans of the game will be delighted with this book.

Senran Kagura: Official Design Works is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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