I posted my tenth book review yesterday! This time, it was Sore o Nasumono - Shin Seiki Evangelion Concept Design Works, because cyharding asked about it. I hope you all enjoy this glimpse of Ikuto Yamashita and Seiji Kio's intricate concept art... and Yamashita's wacky ideas. (Werewolves in Evangelion?!) Some of the ideas that didn't make it into the TV series ended up appearing in various Evangelion spin-offs and merchandise, so I discuss that in the review as well! Oh, and the book also has some stuff for Evangelion video games, such as Girlfriend of Steel (Jäeger, this one's for you! ). If any of you have feedback or questions, feel free to post them here!

Thank you so much for posting this. I hope you didn't rush to post this for my sake. The illustrations are interesting and it's neat see where some concepts he created get seen in other Eva works. Another reason I was interested in the book is that I am fascinated by the show's production process, especially with concepts and plots points such as what's in the Proposal. A "what could have been" aspect to the whole thing. As someone who likes to write, that aspect is very interesting, seeing the creative process behind the show. Thanks again for posting this.

Got another recommendations question for you, LE! ^^ Figured I'd ask publicly if anybody else is wondering what to do.

Between the Evangelion Chronicle Illustrations (Revised, Asuka on cover--I'm sure one day a Mari cover version will be out :P) and Die Sterne Ver.2.0, which would you recommend? Maybe this is more of a tough one to choose between... Thanks for your help!

Literary Eagle wrote:I posted my tenth book review yesterday! This time, it was Sore o Nasumono - Shin Seiki Evangelion Concept Design Works, because cyharding asked about it. I hope you all enjoy this glimpse of Ikuto Yamashita and Seiji Kio's intricate concept art... and Yamashita's wacky ideas. (Werewolves in Evangelion?!) Some of the ideas that didn't make it into the TV series ended up appearing in various Evangelion spin-offs and merchandise, so I discuss that in the review as well! Oh, and the book also has some stuff for Evangelion video games, such as Girlfriend of Steel (Jäeger, this one's for you! ). If any of you have feedback or questions, feel free to post them here!

Thanks, but you still owe me a proper Girlfriend of steel book

Do you own the book about the two exclusive (and crazy) Saturn games, 1st and 2nd impression?

cyharding: You're very welcome! I'm glad if my reviews are being helpful. Yes, if you're interested in "what could have been", then Sore o Nasumono has some really nifty pictures for that!

Sailor Star Dust: Hmm... they're both interesting books, but if you're getting only one, then it depends on whether you're looking more for character pics or battle pics. I think that Die Sterne Ver.2.0 is better if your priority is images of the characters. Evangelion Chronicle Illustrations has beautiful pictures of the Angel battles, but most of the character pictures are not quite as good... they're still very nice pics, but many of the ones at the beginning have no backgrounds, so each character is just standing alone in a big white void. The character pictures in Die Sterne Ver.2.0 are more varied and interesting. I hope that helps!

Jäeger: Heh! Yes, I will get to a proper Girlfriend of Steel book eventually, and the book about the Sega Saturn games. A lot of my Evangelion video game books are in storage at the moment, so it might take some time for me to get them out again. Wow, I really need to figure out a way to rearrange my bookshelf so I can keep more of my Evangelion things together in one place... yikes, how did I end up with so much stuff?

Thanks for questions and comments, everyone!

Ah, the source of werewolf Asuka. And I see that you also noticed Rei's odd gun handling.

The wiki has a detailed article. Don't know how much you've been using it as a review aid.

Literary Eagle wrote:cyharding:

Jäeger: Heh! Yes, I will get to a proper Girlfriend of Steel book eventually, and the book about the Sega Saturn games. A lot of my Evangelion video game books are in storage at the moment, so it might take some time for me to get them out again. Wow, I really need to figure out a way to rearrange my bookshelf so I can keep more of my Evangelion things together in one place... yikes, how did I end up with so much stuff?

Thanks for questions and comments, everyone!

The saturn games book is a jewl, because both games are full with fanservice and fanfiction, they have no fucking sense (Shinji and his chicken dance ). I'm looking for that book, but not paying too mucg, so I'll never get it . i want it just for that crazy stuff, both games have nothing in common with GOS which despite not being canon it gets the "it could be" vibe (maybe because the work of the NGE creators themselves), and 1st and 2nd are just alternative (new angels!!!) fanfic stuff outsourced productions developed too early.

AR-99: Thanks for the links! Heh, it's fun to read people's reactions to the werewolf Asuka picture.

Jäeger: Yes, Shinji with amnesia ends up doing all kinds of ridiculous stuff in that first game! I kind of liked Mayumi from the second game, though. She's a cutie pie.

Thank you for sharing your collection with us through your reviews! I have one question. If I'm interested in character artwork, I should go for die Sterne, right? But is there another book with more emphasis on Kaworu?

robersora wrote:If I'm interested in character artwork, I should go for die Sterne, right? But is there another book with more emphasis on Kaworu?

Yes, for character art that is "new" (by that I mean pictures that aren't just screen captures from the anime) and art that is "finished" (meaning, not rough sketches or things of that nature), I think Die Sterne Ver.2.0 is a very good book. It also has more Kaworu appearances than Der Mond and Carmine combined, making it a more appealing choice for Kaworu fans.

There are quite a number of books that include some interesting Kaworu-related stuff (they are among my most precious treasures ), such as the Neon Genesis Evangelion Newtype 100% Collection which has a few early Kaworu sketches and confirms that he was someone very special to Shinji. But for a book where Kaworu is the star and there's more than just screen captures from the anime, then I guess that would be All About Nagisa Kaworu: A Child of the Evangelion. It's not entirely an art book, though... there are a bunch of interviews and such as well. I'll add it to my "upcoming reviews" list for you!

^
Thank you very much! Now I have something to look forward to as well :)

I posted my eleventh book review yesterday! Since the previous one covered some of Ikuto Yamashita's wacky older ideas, this time I covered some of his wacky newer ideas with a review of Evangelion ANIMA Visual Book! (What can I say, I like to keep things organized. ) I hope you enjoy the review, and if you have any feedback or questions, feel free to post them here!

Next, I'll get back to tackling the request list. Upcoming reviews will include a book about life-sized reproductions of Evangelion stuff, two books filled with pre-production sketches, and of course the lovely All About Nagisa Kaworu: A Child of the Evangelion for robersora. After that, hopefully by that point I'll have gotten my Evangelion video game books out of storage, so I can start reviewing some of those for Jäeger.

^

Literary Eagle wrote:I posted my eleventh book review yesterday! Since the previous one covered some of Ikuto Yamashita's wacky older ideas, this time I covered some of his wacky newer ideas with a review of Evangelion ANIMA Visual Book! (What can I say, I like to keep things organized. ) I hope you enjoy the review, and if you have any feedback or questions, feel free to post them here!

Next, I'll get back to tackling the request list. Upcoming reviews will include a book about life-sized reproductions of Evangelion stuff, two books filled with pre-production sketches, and of course the lovely All About Nagisa Kaworu: A Child of the Evangelion for robersora. After that, hopefully by that point I'll have gotten my Evangelion video game books out of storage, so I can start reviewing some of those for Jäeger.

Still, waiting for the release of the novel and enjoy those Utatane character illustrations. The hell, there is an artbook, models........and no book?? Seriously??

I posted my twelfth book review today! This time, it's Nerv Fuji-Q Branch: Real Life Size EVA-01 Construction Project, which shows how three special exhibits were made for Evangelion: World... a life-size reproduction of Evangelion Unit-01, a life-size entry plug seat, and a life-size statue of Kaworu. Enjoy!

Wow, I can't believe I've written a dozen reviews already. I still have plenty more books to do, so stay tuned! And of course, remember that I keep the first post of this thread updated with links to all of my Evangelion book reviews, so you can always check there to see if there are any that you've missed. Thanks for your continued support, everyone!

So that's what that book is. I've seen the cover before but never knew what was inside.

How many pages is it total? And roughly what proportion are work-in-progress photo vs finished products?

Did not see this when I went to Eva World, or if it was there, I missed it since I was focused on getting Eva World-specific things and didn't examine everything.

TMBounty_Hunter wrote:How many pages is it total? And roughly what proportion are work-in-progress photo vs finished products?

It's a rather short book, 26 pages total. Five of those pages are for the making of Unit-01, and eight are for the completed Unit-01 (the "making of" pages have more pictures but they are smaller in order to fit them all, while the "completed" pages have fewer pictures but they are larger... in fact, a number of the completed Unit-01 pics are two-page spreads). There is one page that has pictures for the making of the entry plug seat and the Kaworu statue (lots of pictures but they're small), then the completed entry plug seat gets two pages (one large picture, and a bunch of closeups of the details), and the completed Kaworu statue has two pages (again one large picture, and a bunch of closeups of the details).

AR-99 wrote:Did not see this when I went to Eva World, or if it was there, I missed it since I was focused on getting Eva World-specific things and didn't examine everything.

I saw photos of the store from September 2014, and they were still selling the book at that point... the book is still being promoted on the Evangelion: World official website as well. But with the huge amount of beautiful Eva things there, it was probably easy to miss. The good news is that used copies aren't too hard to find online, so you can still track one down if you'd like.

26 pages? Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo that's way too short.

Thanks for the info!

Literary Eagle wrote:I saw photos of the store from September 2014, and they were still selling the book at that point... the book is still being promoted on the Evangelion: World official website as well. But with the huge amount of beautiful Eva things there, it was probably easy to miss. The good news is that used copies aren't too hard to find online, so you can still track one down if you'd like.

I was there in later October. And I admit, the display of Eva food I as soon as I walked in from the Eva World side (Halloween was coming up) distracted me. I also didn't look closely at the right side of the store. By this point too even though it was not yet halfway through my trip, my check in luggage was already ~75% full.

Having been there IRL and able to connect with what the book shows would make this more relatable than the rest of my Eva library.