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Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book

July 13th, 2010, 8:04PM by nat | 5 comments

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 11

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book (鉄道少女百景) is a collection of all newly illustrated works featuring fictional girls at real life train stations and railways. Much like in previous pictorial books that have come out, information about the trains is provided throughout the art book.

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 1Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 2Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 3

This A4-sized, 64-page art book is quite short for a commercial production. It may even feel a bit shorter because every illustration except for the cover is a two-page spread. This means larger sized illustrations, but also fewer pictures overall. The cover art is by Kishida Mel, and in total, 23 illustrators take part in this production.

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 10 Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 7

Both Ame (雨) and Yuu (優)---who were both illustrators for RubiconHearts's Neko to Shoujo doujinshi---have illustrations in Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book. Though there are trains in both of the above illustrations, they weren't a requirement, and many of the scenes are staged neatly by railways.

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 4 Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 5

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 6 Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 9

I was impressed with the variety in the illustrations, and not just because of the artists, but because of the scenarios as well. There are reunion pictures, arrivals, departures, school trips---lots of everyday scenes that have been brought together in a creative way. Pictured above are illustrations from Hidaka Nami, Nabana, Jonouchi Nene, and toi8.

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 12Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 14Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 15

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 16Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 17Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 20

The backgrounds and scenery do a lot to elevate these illustrations; even when the character art work isn't engaging, having a fleshed out, detailed background makes just about anything look more finished and professional ^^; Naomi Yano was the photographer and writer for this book to keep the train and location details accurate. I would have liked to see the photo inspirations for some of these scenes, but I guess they were just for the artists to work with. The artists above from left to right are Konatsu Karasu, Tokunou Shotaro, Kajimiya, Saitom, Hagiwara Rin, and Akitu Taira.

Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 19 Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book - 21

While the train commentaries happen every six illustrations or so, the artists' commentaries are in the index, along with their romanized names and website addresses so you can easily find more of their work if you're interested. The beautifully illustrated scenes really make Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book a nice collection overall, even if it's a little on the short side.


  • Title: Railway Girls and Scenery Pictorial Book
  • タイトル: 鉄道少女百景
  • Pages: 64
  • Release date: 07/13/2010
  • Buy: Amazon Japan
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kyouray

14 years, 4 months ago

 

Really tempting. However our train stations and railways aren't gorgeous like that nor filled with beautiful girls :<

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Anonymous

14 years, 4 months ago

 

Beautiful artwork, this looks like a good one, nice find!

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Anonymous

14 years, 4 months ago

 

I think this book could have taken the train concept further! Anime girls next to trains with more detail! This would be great!

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Smithy

14 years, 4 months ago

 

Don't know why but I had originally though this book was fully illustrated by Kishida Mel...

Looks like a beautiful book, though would have preferred an even larger book collecting more art. Do agree that the appeal of this book isn't just the characters rendered in it but the way they are featured in such luscious backgrounds that create a unique atmosphere.

The illustration by Tokunou Shotaro is sublime, adore that one.

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nat

14 years, 4 months ago

 

Don't know why but I had originally though this book was fully illustrated by Kishida Mel...

That would have been amazing o_o