The cover says it all. Ruri! Ruri! Ruri! If Ruri's your favorite anime character, then this is the book for you. But what if you're not crazy about the underwhelmed child genius pilot of the NADESICO? Is there anything else there worth having?
The book starts off with a large number of illustrations of what Gotoh has really become known for over the last couple years, and that is his work as character designer on NADESICO. And, more specifically, a lot of pictures of Ruri. If it's a Ruri image you're looking for and Gotoh drew it (and he did draw most of them), then it will be inside these pages. There's serious Ruri, adult Captain Ruri (Movie version), and even catgirl Ruri. The other characters of NADESICO get some space too, but not nearly as much as Ruri, since she is far and away the most popular of the NADESICO crew. Still, it's enough to show why the characters are so popular.
But Gotoh has been a character designer for several other series as well, including ELF O KARUMONOTACHI (THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES), BAKURETSU HUNTER and the somewhat obscure HYPER POLICE. And, while all of these shows are indeed represented, they are certainly not represented in the quantity that fans of such shows might like. Still, there should be enough there to satisfy fans of those series.
In addition, there is also a section on DOUBLE CAST, part of the Yarudora series of PlayStation games that Sony and Production I.G produced together. The last section of the book is devoted to his original illustrations. Not surprisingly, they are all cute, young girls. Unfortunately, though, this section seems too limited as well; I would have liked to see a more diverse range of illustrations.
However, this is still a beautiful art book with some excellent illustrations. I imagine many people will buy it for the cover alone. If you enjoy art books, then this is certainly one that should be added to your collection.

NADESICO © Xebec/Nadesico Production Committee · TV Tokyo

THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES © Mediaworks · Amuse · Sotsu Agency

HYPER POLICE © MEE · KADOKAWA SHOTEN/COLUMBIA · Pierot · Sotsu Agency · TV Tokyo

BAKURETSU HUNTER © Akahori Satoru · Omishi Rei/MEDIAWORKS · Bakuretsu Production Committee · TV Tokyo

ISBN: 4-19-810003-9
¥1,980
Available now in Japan
Where to buy