Haha, okay, so, as from my last post, I’ve given it some thought, relaxed myself, and I have come to a “final conclusion” about spending $46.17AUD for the “Higurashi no naku koro ni Character Illustration Book”. So, first of all, I would like to present to you the firm, and essentially, the un-opinionated points. First of all, the book cost 2,381 Japanese Yen. The current exchange rate, translates to $38.80AUD. Shipping the book from Japan would have cost at least $10AUD and there is no guarantee that it would arrive on time, or at all for that matter. The book contains 128 pages, 84 original full colour artworks, along with an artist Q&A, one sided poster, and a 12 page merchandise list. That’s all assuming I can count properly. All artworks are textless, full color, and are done by the original artists from both seasons of the series. Any text is in Japanese.
Okay, so opinionated things now. We shall start with the negatives just to be a little pessimistic. Now, the main reason I thought I wouldn’t like what was inside, I knew that there was going to be a lot of fan service. Now, that was from some blog or something (I don’t remember the web address or anything) and from which, they had said a lot of the images had already been leaked on to the internet, of which I had trouble finding. They were not kidding when they said that it had a large amount of fan service! The poster is definitely fan service as it has Rika as a “catgirl” and in a pose that makes her look vulnerable? I don’t know, but I’m not the type that would put up that sort of a poster. I was much rather hoping for the famous “Rika and Hanyuu in front of the moon” pic but noooo… Approximately 28 of the artworks are “material that is designed to amuse or excite the audience with sexually-derived content”, and I would not be surprised if people disagreed with me and said that there was less than 28 designed that way. Personally, not high enough quality art with too much fan service from the artists of the first season. Some of the art from the first season artists are rather low-res, felt kinda rushed and not very detailed. The first season artists were cheap. It had all the DVD covers from the first season but only one from the second season?
The positives? The book is nice and large, has a decent number of original artworks. It is nice, thick and high quality paper that it is printed on, and generally well ordered and presented. The art from the second season artists was a lot better, was more detailed and high-res. Much less “sexually-derived content” by the second artists, and overall the second half of the book was what I was looking for. Much like any Higurashi fan, more Rika and Hanyuu pics would have been better but nevertheless, it does have a fair image gallery of them two.
Price wise, judging by quality of paper, amount and content of art, the current exchange rate, and the fact that it was official merchandise of a series I now seem to almost(?) have an obsession with, it wasn’t that bad. Had I known what it contained detailedly, I would not have payed the amount I did pay for the book. I get paid standard about $8 an hour, buying that book cost me 6 hours of work. Although I’m regretting spending $46.17 on such a book, I’m not kicking myself anymore. I am not mad, nor am I happy. I am just plain confused now… I am very confused. Now, I am unsure of what to do with my money… I do plan on buying more Higurashi merchandise, (I have my eyes on things already) but where’s the money? *cries* I’m so confused right now…
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