Hello

I'm back from Taiwan.

Some of the loot I got on my visit. My "I'm in Taiwan but I'm pretending this is Japan"-loot.

Umakoshi Yoshihiko Toei Animation Works (Revised Version) - Collected works from the Character Designer and Key Animator for the Heartcatch Precure series. The revised version includes 44 additional pages from the original print release. Honestly speaking, originally I was only going to pick up this one book, since I feel Heartcatch had the strongest and most memorable character designs from the Precure Franchise (Not to say the rest weren't great), but after buying it and taking a look through the contents I realized I had to get them all. I'm a sucker for art books that show the inner workings and processes that led to the creation of something. Some of Erika's keyframes are pretty... interesting, to say the least, hahah.

Takahashi Akira Toei Animation Precure Works - Collected works from the Character Designer and Key Animator for the Suite Precure and DokiDoki! Precure series. Mana is probably my favorite leader from any Precure series I've watched, personality-wise (Though Miyuki comes close). It was actually really interesting to see how some of her earlier designs looked like, I thought the double-ponytail design actually looked really cute.

Kawamura Toshie Toei Animation Precure Works - Collected works from the Character Designer and Key Animator for the Yes! Precure 5 and Smile Precure! series. Personally, for me, Smile Precure! had my favorite designs out of the entire Precure franchise, so this book was a must-get. ハッピーシャワー！！

Inagami Akira Toei Animation Works - Collected works from the Character Designer and Key Animator for the Futari wa Precure series. I'll admit I got this one mostly for the sake of collection. I get really picky about making sure I actually have the entire set, otherwise it ends up bothering me way too much. With that said, the book is equally as good as the rest of them, it's just I happened to be more of a fan of some of the other Precure series.

Futago kamikita x All Precure - A collection of fully coloured illustrations spanning 10 years from the Precure Manga. A really beautifully illustrated collection, and a must-get for any Precure fan out there!

Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX Design Archive - Probably my favorite pick-up of the lot, this book has a massive collection of every bit of design work that went into the production of the 3rd season of Symphogear. I was actually blown away by how inclusive it was, and will definitely be keeping an eye out for if I spot the previous 2 books in the series.

Expelled from Paradise Masatsugu Saito Design Works - I really liked the designs from Rakuen Tsuihou, so I ended up picking this up. It goes into some detail on early character concepts, as well as character sheets and even some mechanical designs.

Seifuku Shikou - A really nice book on the details for various JK uniforms, actually goes really in-depth into things like how the shirts are hemmed, how various ribbons are tied, the types of skirts and even patterns, coats, socks and shoes. Really good book if you want to draw schoolgirls more accuately.

Also bought the Atago keychain to go with the Seaport I got in Japan. So cute together.