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As the title of the book suggest, this book features the background art of anime and manga works. I must say that I have not heard of any of those anime or manga before. And that's a good thing because it means I get to see new creations.

This is a large 160-page paperback. The paper quality is the low gloss matte type. The book's printed in Japan so the binding and paper quality is fantastic.

The beautiful artworks are mostly printed large, one per page. 40 artists have contributed their art to the book so we get to see a nice variety of styles. There are the loose paintings, very classic anime background art and more painterly ones.

Some artworks are really just about the environment while others have, usually, a teenage girl in it.

The designs of the backgrounds and scenes are really beautiful. What I like most is actually the colour palette used. These artists really have a way with colour usage to bring out the best atmosphere and mood. There's a lot to learn just by studying the colours used.

The downside is the tutorials at the back are all written in Japanese. That's weird considering the introduction has English translation.

Overall, it's a book I can easily recommend to those who like anime and manga style background art. And if you like this book, be sure to check out Makoto Shinkai's film artbooks too.

This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.

Everyday Scenes from a Parallel World is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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