Tidbits of New Official Information

Hero TV Fan vol. 2 came out on 11/16, Official Hero Book 2 on 11/18. There’s not much information available yet, but finally enough to warrant a post. I don’t think there’ll be anything revolutionary in these books since Hero Gossips was pretty definitive (but I’ll review them anyway once I get my copies hopefully next week). I’m including also some interesting stuff from Hero Awards 2011 pamphlet. There are some sample photos from Official Hero Book 2 here.

Again, thanks to translatorbros for translating.

Mixed stuff (not sure of which is from where):

  • The hospital Tomoe was in is located in Sternbild.
  • One of the residents of Oriental Town is a magnetic NEXT.
  • According to Nishida, Maverick isn’t a completely wicked man.
  • (partially paraphrased) Maverick was affectionate with Barnaby, in his own way. Things like cooking for him and such in private continued for many years.
  • (partially paraphrased) In episode 23, Barnaby’s memory did not return completely at once. At first he was roughly in his episode 2 state.
  • About Barnaby: The only people with whom he ever interacts without pretense and also shows his brittle aspects are his trusted family and his precious partner [大切な相手].

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Review: Katsura Masakazu x TIGER & BUNNY – Original Drawings & Rough Sketches Collection

Katsura Masakazu x TIGER & BUNNY:
Original Drawings & Rough Sketches Collection

Publisher: Shueisha
ISBN: 9784087823929
Size: A4 / 176 pages
Price: 1905 JPY (Regular Edition)
Available at: [CDJapan] [Amazon.jp] [YesAsia]

Tiger & Bunny’s character designer Katsura Masakazu‘s art book comes in two editions. What I have here is the Regular Edition, Limited Edition that comes out in February 2012 ships with original coloring version (as pictured on page 122 in the book) of S.H.Figuarts Wild Tiger. Limited Edition preorders have been sold out for months and it was made-to-order, so it’ll be hard to get unless you get very lucky and manage to snatch someone’s cancelled order. I have reviewed the extra goods that come with the Limited Edition here.

My camera battery went and died so some photos have been taken with a cellphone camera. They should still be clear enough to give an idea of what the book looks like.

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Review: Tiger & Bunny Official Anthology GO! GO!! 1

This one took me by surprise. I had absolutely no expectations, and this anthology has been a bit hard to find outside of Amazon Japan. I got mine from Hobby Search but do check around if your usual preferred shop has it available.

TIGER & BUNNY Official Anthology Comic
GO! GO!! Tiger & Bunny 1

Publisher: Movic
ISBN: 9784896018134
Price: 780 JPY [CDJapan] [Hobby Search]

Cover art: Arataka
Illustrations:
Ouno Miyu, Jiku
Manga: Kusunoki Jun, Sano Masaki, Watanabe Kyou, Nagi Mayuko, Fujii Haruka, K. Arima, Yukinari, YASUMI, Ootsu Mugi, Toonoyuugo, Hako*, Yuuki Akira, Hitaka*, Morino Hana, Eikichi, Takepon, Asami Nao, Riutagao, Tachikawa, Takana, KAY, Isumikawa Ichi, Ine*, Nekota Choco

(The ones marked with * I wasn’t sure how to romanize and google didn’t give much help.)

I’ve not had time to read all the stories in GO! GO!! 1 yet – I’m going for the artists I know first – but so far the bits I have read have been really fun. The artists are mostly known for BL doujinshi (I actually have some books by Eikichi and K. Arima in my collection), and I think Sano Masaki & Watanabe Kyou are the biggest names on the list. As always there’s a few that have art I don’t really like, but overall quality is good. Like the other anthologies, this doesn’t count as canon but the stories are approved by Sunrise – official logo is on the back cover.

The stories are pretty short – most only a few pages – and there are a lot of yonkomas. I think this mixture of styles suits an anthology like this pretty well. Many minor characters who haven’t gotten proper appearances in the other anthologies show up, too. For example both Mr. Lloyds and Doc Saito have their own stories and Karina’s manager Robert makes an appearance. If I had to nag about something, it’d be the lack of Lunatic. Can’t have all, I guess…

This one is a bit more challenging to read if your Japanese is shaky, because it doesn’t have furigana for kanji. Still definitely worth giving it a go, this is my favourite of the anthologies so far.

Samples:

There are two more GO! GO!! Tiger & Bunny anthologies planned, #2 comes out 10/25 and #3 near the end of November.

Hero Gossips and Roman Album on Oricon’s weekly book ranking

Both Hero Gossips and Roman Album made it to Oricon’s weekly general book ranking (this list excludes manga, it has an own list). The figures only include the retailers that Oricon tracks so the actual amount of sold books is probably higher.

23. Tiger & Bunny Official Guide Book Hero Gossips … 13,200 (estimated)
26. Tiger & Bunny Roman Album … 11,757 (estimated)

The first Official Hero Book sold really well, and judging from how fast Hero Gossips seems to be selling it’ll probably reach a similar number, depending on how many copies they’ve printed.

I’m actually having a hard time finding Hero Gossips in stock at the usual outlets where I shop, and Aki was wondering how many of those books have been bought by non-Japanese fans of T&B.

Review: Hero Gossips & Roman Album

The latest official books were released last week, and both finally arrived. These books cover the entire series, in addition to them there are the second volumes of the previous guide books coming later in October. I’ve only had time for a quick glance through both of them, but since they seem to be selling quite fast I figured it’d be best I do a quick review before they’re sold out, incase someone’s still pondering which one to get.

Tiger & Bunny Official Guide Book HERO GOSSIPS [contents]
Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten
ISBN: 9784048547123
Size: A4 / 112 full color pages
Price: 1050 JPY
Available at: [CDJapan] [Hobby Search] [Amazon.jp] [AmiAmi] [YesAsia]

Tiger & Bunny Roman Album [contents]
Publisher: Tokuma Shoten
ISBN: 9784197203390
Size: A4 / 120 pages
Price: 1200 JPY
Available at: [CDJapan] [Hobby Search] [Amazon.jp] [AmiAmi]

The books may or may not be in stock in the places listed above, but they’re the most reliable ones I know.

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