Valkyria Chronicles - Development Artworks.

This must be the most excellent book I never get to own! Just popped by Parka Blogs (at http://www.parkablogs.com/) for a quick whiff of what's cool and awesome, and found this!

I've never seen the game "Valkyria Chronicles," but according to the wikipedia it's a turn based (not a word against turn based games from me!) taking place in Europe in an alternate universe in 1935. Two superpowers, The Autocratic East European Imperial Alliance and The Atlantic Federation are faring war (the Second European War) over a multi-purpose mineral called Ragnite.

It has been critically acclaimed by a numerous sources, such as writers for IGN, RPGland, RPGFan, G4TV's X-Play, Gametrailers,and Gamespot. It's graphic utilizes SEGA's CANVAS graphics engine, and resembles a watercolor painting in motion! (This I bravely copy/pasted from the Wiki. because it sounded so cool...) The in-game visuals should be some of the most beautiful in 2008, winning awards for Best Graphics from both GameSpot and RPGamer, and a score brilliantly composed. All this of course sprouted both manga and anime adaptions from the original game.
All this is truly amazing, but what I'm still awestruck about is this book called "戦場のヴァルキュリア (Valkyria Chronicles) Development Artworks". 400 pages of blissful awesomeness, filled with stuff I never knew I needed to know. Just reading the review at Parka Blogs was a direct linkup to pure inspiration!

I quote from PB:

"There's plenty of character design. There are so many characters I lost count somewhere. Each character has different drawn profiles, uniforms, weapons, armour and gadgets. Just like the game, all these are in watercolour style with pencils. There's also plenty of (Japanese) commentary.
Under the Weapons and Machine sections, lots of tanks are featured, among other war machines. You'll get to see the different sides of the tank profiles and 3D models before and after paint is added. They are very beautiful and detailed. Absolutely gorgeous. All the fact sheets are included, as with all the characters.
And there are also the set and background concept art for the locations. Most of them are development sketches and paintings."

"The book is split into different chapters, namely Story, Characters, Weapon Machine, Military Affairs Natural History, Geography, Illustration, Preproduction and Interview. It's loaded with beautiful concept art for all aspect of the game. Character designs, storyboards, background art, promotional art, etc."

I lack words. It sounds - simply fantastic! And the graphics looks great!

But... It's sold out, in Japanese, and is just out of reach on so many levels, that I probably never get to hold it in my unworthy hands.