Those who’ve been reading HD for awhile can probably guess that this review won’t be exactly unbiased. If Sano Toshihide were romantically available I would gleefully bear his offspring, but given that fate has kept us apart he’s still one of the artists I most admire in the field of Japanese 2D erotica (or out of it, for that matter). Assuming therefore that the book’s content is unimpeachable, we’re left to ask only about its presentation…. Read on for the juicy details:
Artist: Sano Toshihide (personal site)
Release Date: August 31, 2007
Price: 2,200 yen (tax included)
Publisher: Kill Time Communications
Format: A4 size, 96 pages, full color, fold-out poster included
Current Availability: [Amazon.jp] [J-List]

There isn’t much I can say that would add to or detract from the visuals here (there isn’t much I can say period with my jaw permanently affixed in this shit-eating grin); Sano’s brilliant work speaks entirely for itself. It’s worth going into a bit more detail regarding the content, however, as it is quite exceptional indeed. As anyone who has ever pursued them knows, obtaining limited edition telephone cards is an exercise in exorbitant cost and frustratingly low resolution. A collection of telephone card and other limited promotional art printed at higher resolution than the original is truly a godsend that I lapse into incoherence trying to describe. I mean, this is totally awesome. I need some sort of new hieroglyph-based language to describe how awesome this is, and am presently trying to avoid typing a several thousand byte string of exclamation points in lieu of coherent text.
Not only does this book contain nearly every bit of telephone card art from the three most recent G.J? releases (Queen Bonjourno, Tsuma to Mama to Boin, and Shichinin no Online Gamers), it also has a ton of promo art and illustrations from novels, event promotions and earlier Ripe games that he also illustrated – not to mention reprints of posters from magazines long gone, and the brand new original fold out poster especially created for the book. Most artbooks from eroge artists are just reprints of CG from the games with a few pages of promo art and character profiles, and this has a bit of that, but the vast majority is very high value content not available anywhere else (without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars at auction).
Putting my obvious inability to view this item in anything resembling an objective light aside, in my opinion this is a must-have addition to the collection of Sano Toshihide fans and fans of great erotic art in general. If you’re thinking of picking it up, the book is currently available at Amazon.jp and J-List!
Overall Score: Sanolicious
BTW, you’re missing a slash for the fold-out poster links ;)
>>moyism
Doh!! Thanks for catching that, fixing now. ;_;
AJ has it as well and because of that, this is one of the items that delayed my order the first time (2nd time being My-HiME/ZHiME stuff).
>>R8
AJ is so very odd in what they choose to flag as “adult”… not that I’m complaining, mind you. :3
Good god!! I will get this book!!
Shingo, you missed the one on the thumbnail image. And on the artbook, looks *very* tempting but this month is seeing me more broke than the norm. Hopefully next month I can maybe order this, if there are still copies around…
>>moyism
Damnation, missed both of them (or copied the second from the broken first)… Thanks for pointing it out. -_-;;
I’m sure the book will still be available next month, though I suppose there could be a gap between printings if the first round sells out quickly.
What are the chances of getting this in the states?
Nevermind…..my fingers just hit the order now button on Amazon Japan…..
Amazon.jp is indeed another purchasing option~ I should’ve listed it from the beginning, wasn’t thinking straight.
Edit: w00t! J-List’s order page is up as well.
I want to fondle the boobs that he draws.
And I have my own pair down here.
I MUST HAVE THIS.
Not only is his work more erotic than anyone can withstand, he’s also a brilliant artist.
I used to have a collection of telephone cards (technically, still do, somewhere… @.@).
I mainly got them from buying first runs of things, though I did buy a couple TokiMemo ones back in the 90s. ^^;;
I remember I had a duplicate of one card, and I had to make a call (no cell, no change)… and my friend got PISSED.
“That’s not meant to be used!!” OTL
Amazing! Thanks for the review, and we’re in your debt for bringing so much information about Sano to us in English!
Animaxis also has the book available, as of an update a few days ago (with more image coverage as well.)
How long should it take to get to me? Amazon.JP says it’ll ship in October?? Is that normal? I don’t mind waiting at all and I am happy they are up front about it- but I wouldn’t mind if it got to me sooner….
>>Work_Ethic
I don’t know anything about Amazon’s international shipping practices so I can’t help you there, sorry. If you live in the US it shouldn’t take more than 10 days, two weeks max if you had it shipped via air mail though. I have no idea why they’d say it would ship in October unless it’s out of stock.
That’s my thinking with this- it’s either already out of stock- or they have gone into second printing already. No worries anyway- I’m 99% sure that I will get it, don’t care if it’s 2/3/4 5th printing….i just want this book.
Thanx alot!!
Heh heh heh heh…….
I got my copy today!! Ahhhhhhh life is good!! Definetly have to agree with the quality and detail this book contains. Very nice indeed.
If I had any complaints they are minor- in your JPG image 6 I have to wonder what the hell is up with the characters left hand…..but I’m not really concerned about it.
Over all very reminescent of Masume Shirow.
Cheers!!
>>Work_Ethic
Superb! Glad to hear you enjoyed. :D
continuing my string of comments related to having my wallet getting the life sucked out of it, I also need to mention my gratitude in HD reviewing these books. There just aren’t many sites (that I know of anyway) that do what you guys do and with an abundance of sample pictures, so….thanks for putting me towards the edge. Thanks for making my wallet cry. Thanks…thanks a lot!