It’s a Wonderful Life

October 9th, 2008 by Shirukii

Pictorial evidence delivered

Birthdays are interesting phenomena, you gather your friends in celebration, congratulations all around for doing absolutely nothing but staving off death for another year, at which point another number is added on to the ticker which inches you closer to your inevitable fate.

But to hell with that, with roneriness a thing of the past, birthdays are awesome and even though mine is still about a month away, mai waifu decided to surprise me with an early present!

After proclaiming ARIA as my favorite series of all time, these art books couldn’t have been a more fitting gift. Also, I’ve always wanted to start collecting art books, but passed up many (including the likes of Shakugan no Shana and Fate/Stay Night) due to their high prices. And damn if these things don’t put a sizable hole in one’s wallet, ringing in at about $30 each, the price nearly doubled once shipping and some good ol’ Canadian customs raep was tagged on.

The books themselves are gorgeous, each of them come encased in a hard plastic sleeve and the quality of the paper/hardcovers feels great.

Despite the covers being ARIA centric, a fair bit of the artwork in the books is from Kozue Amano’s past works like Roman Club and Crescent Noise, as well as some bonus art from extra works.

However, the ARIA art is what it’s all about and even though I don’t know much about art, or at least not enough to do a formal critique, I found the artwork to be absolutely stunning. So much so that after receiving them I spent a good two hours flipping through them multiple times while profusely thanking my girlfriend for such an awesome present.

The only pseudo complaint I have about the books is that the art isn’t well spread over all the characters, there seemed to be a serious lack of Akira and Athena in particular, and not a whole lot of Alicia either. However, this is me forcing myself to pick out something bad to say because the character who got the most attention was Akari, my favorite of the ARIA maidens.

With all the ARIA manga released in hand (except for AQUA 1, which evades me to no end), these art books and the plan to grab the DVD box sets, I fear I will soon be joining the ranks of ARIA addicts. It’s a good thing these figs are out of production.

Well, so ends my brief revival on this blog, back to the daily grind of university life. Once again, thanks to my wonderful waifu for quite literally the best birthday present I have received to date <3 I love you.

~ Shirukii ~

22 Comments »


22 Responses to “It’s a Wonderful Life”

  1. on 09 Oct 2008 at 8:14 pm1 PyrrhusOnline

    Well, there goes my “jump out of the cake” idea.

  2. on 09 Oct 2008 at 8:16 pm2 lolikit

    Nothing to troll here. Moving along…

  3. on 09 Oct 2008 at 8:17 pm3 lolikit

    Oh also happy birthday, and FUCK YEAH ARIA.

  4. on 09 Oct 2008 at 8:20 pm4 totali

    OMG.

  5. on 09 Oct 2008 at 8:36 pm5 Lumi~

    @ PyrrhusOnline: That was going to be part two of Shirukii’s birthday present. Way to spoil it, you jerk.

  6. on 09 Oct 2008 at 8:42 pm6 Shirukii

    @ PyrrhusOnline: Can I just have the cake instead ;_;?

    @ lolikit: DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, TROLL THE UNTROLLABLE, ROW ROW ARA ARA~

    And my birthday isn’t for another month D:

    @ totali: Indeed.

    @ Lumi~: Sweeeet. I trust you’ll be wearing nothing but cake?

  7. on 09 Oct 2008 at 8:50 pm7 PyrrhusOnline

    @Lumi~: I may have spoiled the cake idea…but does he know what FLAVOR it is?! Buahahahaha!

    @Shirukii: It’s possible. I’ll consider it. But first…you should let me clean your socks.

  8. on 09 Oct 2008 at 9:05 pm8 Adun

    Yes, join the ranks of the ARIA fandom! Happy Birthday as well.

  9. on 09 Oct 2008 at 10:14 pm9 Hey, it is that Linall guy

    D’aww, happy pre-birthday present Shirukii. Art books are always fun. They always make me sad that the anime never looks as good as the art books though.

  10. on 09 Oct 2008 at 11:39 pm10 blissmo

    Happy birthday, I’ve never seen ARIA

  11. on 10 Oct 2008 at 1:08 am11 Jay

    Aw, that’s nice. Thanks for showing us, Shirukii, how much more our RONERY lives suck in not knowing the care of a woman who loves us (besides our mothers). You are the worst slave driver in my history of employment. T_T

  12. on 10 Oct 2008 at 1:48 am12 Parka

    This looks like a pretty nice art book. Thanks for sharing.

  13. on 10 Oct 2008 at 4:55 am13 IcyStorm

    Happy birthday ~

    ARIA ARIA ARIA :D Whoa, you love Aria as much as the rest of us?!

    And looks like they’re great artbooks; gonna have to ask my friend to get them when she’s in Japan.

  14. on 10 Oct 2008 at 7:35 am14 ItAintEazy

    Remember, we need photo evidence of actual anime DVDs acquired with a medium of exchange.

  15. on 10 Oct 2008 at 8:22 am15 TheBigN

    Happy Birthday. :3

    Now where did you buy the books from?!? o_O

  16. on 10 Oct 2008 at 9:39 am16 lolikit

    IcyStorm, slowpoke.jpg, Shirukii and I were having a threesome with Aria long before you knew what it was.

    Also, Shirukii, my trolling power is all expended—as you can tell if you go to notdotq’s main page ;)

  17. on 10 Oct 2008 at 1:48 pm17 Zeroblade

    Wow, that’s a wonderful gift! I need to go get my box set as well as find a copy of both Aqua 2 and Aria 1 now.

  18. on 10 Oct 2008 at 7:39 pm18 Avisch

    Artbooks are so damn fun.

  19. on 11 Oct 2008 at 7:15 am19 Vadigor

    >Aw, that’s nice. Thanks for showing us, Shirukii, how much more our RONERY lives suck in not knowing the care of a woman who loves us (besides our mothers). You are the worst slave driver in my history of employment. T_T

    Ain’t that the truth. Q_Q

    And have fun with those art books, I’ll congratulate you when it’s your actual birthday. =p

  20. on 13 Oct 2008 at 1:57 pm20 Shirukii

    @ Pyrrhus: If you’re inferring what I think you’re inferring, I don’t want the cake anymore D: Or perhaps I’ll just scrape the “icing” off before eating.

    @ Adun: Well I’ve been part of the fandom for quite some time now, just didn’t have any merchandise to prove it, haha. And thanks, one month early though =P

    @ Linall: Yea, shitsux in that regard, but animation that looks good and maintains a consistent framerate would run the production team into the ground.

    @ blissmo: WHAT. WHAT?! Do it, now, you can’t let such an awesome series pass you by.

    @ Jay: Haha, sorry about that, but hey, it’s not like I’m going off topic, it’s all still anime related, and she’s such an amazing waifu, I can’t help it :3

    @ Parka: It is indeed, if you like ARIA, pick one up.

    @ IcyStorm: Go for it, totally worth it, even more so if you don’t get raped by shipping/customs.

    @ ItAintEazy: Yea, yea, I’ll get on that next…when I get some money ._.

    @ TheBigN: Animaxis

    @ lolikit: Yea, I noticed, holy shit have you ever taken the Jason trolling to a whole new level.

    @ Zeroblade: I have AQUA 2, find me AQUA 1 and we can trade!

    @ Avisch: Very much so, I had no idea you could waste so much time sitting around looking at pictures.

    @ Vadigor: *continues to rub in* :3

    And thanks, I hardly ever see you on msn anymore, granted that I’m not on much myself…but still!

  21. on 19 Oct 2008 at 11:24 pm21 AS

    A bit late but Happy Birthday ^^. As a ARIA fan myself, I would be happy getting ARIA artbooks as well xD, as for paying for them…maybe xD.

  22. on 26 Oct 2008 at 12:48 pm22 Runningkid

    Welcome to the club! and happy birthday!

    I too am busy with uni life T___T, but we can do it!

    Also, you might be interested in the PS2 Aria cg book, got some pretty pictures in it ^^. Or better yet, get the game play it and review it xD

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