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CRADLE Misaki Kurehito Illustrations

December 27th, 2010, 6:38PM by nat | 5 comments

Kurehito Misaki Illustrations CRADLE - 24

CRADLE Misaki Kurehito Illustrations is an impressive collection of the artist's works from 2005 through 2010. As some of you may recall, earlier this year Misaki Kurehito released a doujinshi art book called REW, which also featured illustrations from the same time period. And yet, surprisngly, there isn't a significant overlap between the two art books, and CRADLE is the better book based on print quality alone ^^;

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Both the standard and the limited edition versions of CRADLE came out on December 22, with the major difference between the books being that the LE version is hardcover and the standard is paperback. The "bonus" you get with the limited edition is a clear file with the cover illustrations, and a slip cover case, with the white version of the cover art work. The first few illustrations inside feature the cover girl, and one of them was also the cover for the doujinshi art book REW.

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As can be expected with hardcover books, the binding is tight and there isn't any image overlap for page spreads, so the center of the illustration gets cut off. This isn't a big deal in CRADLE however, because most of the illustrations are single pages, and they all have huge margins. So huge in fact, that while the art book is A4-sized, the majority of illustrations are better suited for a B5-sized book.

Kurehito Misaki Illustrations CRADLE - 8 Kurehito Misaki Illustrations CRADLE - 9

CRADLE Misaki Kurehito Illustrations includes two fold-out pages that display like posters with a little running over onto the opposite page. Misaki Kurehito creates beautiful backgrounds for his characters, but the two featured on the posters are easily the most impressive.

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CRADLE heavily features Misaki Kurehito's original illustrations, many of which have appeared in magazines like E☆2 and Dengeki MOEOH. His fan arts however, didn't appear in CRADLE so the bundle of Touhou, and To Heart illustrations that appeared in REW are exclusive to that art book. Several of the commissioned works from Toranoana are included in this book, along with his illustrations for the AUGUST/ARIA Calenders over the years.

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Accompanying each illustration in the vast white margins is the publication information along with the original size and time period when it was drawn. As a result, there isn't an index, and instead the book ends with a 7-page interview with Misaki Kurehito. It's pretty much illustrations from start to finish in this 152-page art book.

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From about page 87 onward, all of the illustrations are from Boku To Kanojo Ni Furu Yoru (ぼくと彼女に降る夜), a light novel. I wasn't familiar with any of the work, so it made this section quite refreshing as far as new content goes. The illustrations are just as lovely as his usual works too, though there are more spreads in this section that the rest of the art book.

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CRADLE Misaki Kurehito Illustrations is a really gorgeous collection, and definitely the book to choose if you're debating between this and REW. As a collection CRADLE really meshed, concentrating more on choosing top-notch art works that being a comprehensive collection. Definitely a must have---in standard or limited edition---for any fan ^^


  • Title: CRADLE Misaki Kurehito Illustrations
  • タイトル: Cradle(クレイドル)-深崎暮人画集-
  • Pages: 152
  • Release date: 12/22/2010
  • Buy: Amazon Japan, eBay
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Anonymous

13 years, 2 months ago

 

A little bit disappointed by the b5 sized illustrations :(

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Smithy

13 years, 2 months ago

 

This looks like a book I definitely need to pick up as I do like Misaki Kurehito's artworks.

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Lonigus

13 years, 2 months ago

 

Looks damn good! But indeed those B5 sized artworks are to small considering how much space is left for the little tiny text there... But anyways Iam gonna buy it (to bad the limited is soldout on cdjapan :( )... Ty for review once again!

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Mazryonh

13 years, 3 weeks ago

 

I got this artbook recently. Beautiful stuff, and the only things I could see as improvements would be more inclusions of stuff from Misaki Kurehito's illustrated games such as "Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete" and "Suiheisen Made nan Mile?" Why not stuff from Kuroya Shinobu as well?

There's been a lot of light-novels-to-anime conversions lately (such as Ookami-san or Bungaku Shoujo), and I hope that Boku To Kanojo Ni Furu Yoru will get one where the visuals stay close to the original artist's. Artists like Creayus, Cradle, and Carnelian really should do anime design more often!

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nat

13 years, 3 weeks ago

 

It's probably because those other games have their own art books, that both came out in the last year or so. Fans do get upset when they pay for a lot of repeat illustrations! At least that's what the reviews on Amazon JP tell me ^^;

And I bet Kuroya Shinobu wants to release his own book too, eventually.