More smexy distractions at work for instant stress relief :D
Ryu & Dr. 2011 Nara Chiharu Calendar 龍＆Ｄｒ.2011 奈良千春 カレンダー
Price: 1.500 (Yen)
Rating: PG (Smexy men hugging each other but SFW)
13 cm x15 cm Desktop calendar with 13 CD-jacket sized glossy postcards of the smexy men of illustrator Nara Chiharu-sensei!
I have been waiting for sensei to release an artbook for the longest time but I guess these lovely postcards will have to do for now. I’ve been a fan of her works and her illustrations for BL novels are simply awesome. A quick check seems to reveal that she has illustrated no less than 50 novels since 2004, including this one of Kuchibiru de Kowasareru 唇で壊される。 BLCD/novel that I’ve reviewed before.
There’s something about the expression that her men have, especially her droopy-eyed semes. They exude a dangerous aura and have a certain charisma that can suck you in. Her ukes on the other hand, have hungry-come-smex-me look which are so… so…delicious. Her men simply ooze sexy! And her illustrated sex scenes in those novels can only be summed up in 2 words.
SIZZLING HOT.
It is no wonder that she is one of the most sought after BL illustrators in Japan for many years now and was often tasked to illustrate some of the most provocative BL novels in the market, including the infamous threesome BL novel 3 Shake シェイク by 秀香穂里 (that was adapted into an equally nosebleeding BLCD (Suzuki Tatsuhisa + Ken Takahashi Hiroki x Takeuchi Ken) and S&M-themed Kuroi Aijou 黒い愛情 also by the same author that was adapted into a Midorikawa Hikaru x Hirakawa Daisuke BLCD. Chiharu-sensei also illustrated other popular BL novel series like Saki Aida-sensei’s (英田サキ) Esu エスtoo.
Anyway this calendar postcard set contains 13 illustrations from BL novel Ryu & Dr. series by Kifu Kaname-sensei 樹生 かなめ. Seems that the long running series is over 14 volumes already. And it seems to tell the story of a doctor and a yakuza. Please enlighten me if you know better. I’m surprised it hasn’t been adapted into BLCD yet.
The photo shows the package of the calendar.
Back view.
Unpacked. Calendar side.
Unpacked. Front cover side.
Overview. Well, I kind of like the fact that they separated the illustrations from the actual calendar. Otherwise the illustrations would look “dated” after 2011. Apart from the main cover that was printed with the year 2011 and series title.
The CD casing… hmm… well… is a CD case. It’s like… cheap-looking. It doubles as a desktop calendar stand. I don’t really see how functional that is cos you can’t see the calendar if want to see the illustration ^^;; they definitely lose points with me for the non-packaging. The calendar months can be folded and there are pre-cut dotted lines so that you can easily split and tear them into small name-card sized cards if you want to slip them into your wallet.
Illustrated card flipped over, its a postcard! The size of the postcard is relatively big but an A4 or bigger sized artbook would have been so much better.
Despite being restricted by typical BL novel pose requirements (first found out from Kazuaki sensei’s interview), these illustrations still look very dynamic and creative.
It’s a real pity that none of her 18+ illustrations are included :( Trust me. They are incredibly HOT.
This is taken from cover of 龍の恋、Dr.の愛
龍の右腕、Dr.の哀憐 Cover
竜の仁義、Dr．の流儀 Cover
龍の純情、Dr.の情熱 Cover
龍の灼熱、Dr．の情愛 Cover
龍の兄弟、Dr.の同志 Cover
龍の求愛、Dr.の奇襲 Cover
龍の危機、Dr.の襲名 Cover
龍の復活、Dr．の咆哮 Cover
龍の恋情、Dr.の慕情 Cover
龍の烈火、Dr.の憂愁 Cover
龍の宿命、Dr.の運命 and 龍の初恋、Dr.の受諾 Covers
The very first pic was taken from 龍の勇姿、Dr．の不敵 Cover. I really hope she’ll be able to release an artbook in the future :) These postcards are great but I definitely want a full collection of all her works!
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
I click on the picure because it says “random distraction”
and OMG its eye candy indeed wwww
and.. OMG NARA SENSEI!!!!!!! D8!
but I have never seen this series before D8!!!
I want that calendar… ;~;
@K.K hehe yep her works are hot! The calendar is still available but let’s hope sensei releases an artbook full of all her works!
I love her art! I remember buying all the S-novels and wondering who drew all the sexy art for it, looked her up and been a fan ever since <3
@Yumii: Yes, if I can read Japanese very well, I’ll probably buy the novels she illustrates too X3 Let’s hope she releases an artbook that has all her work!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
These made me scream. ;A;
Nara Chiharu is my favourite illustrator not just because of the art style, but also because of the way she put the characters into a certain concept. ♥ …and indeed, her 18+ (especially BDSM) illust is so detailed and yummy! *_*
I think the 4th postcard is my favourite! *A*
Gotta love that tattoo~
@SnowMiyu: Yeah X3 let’s hope she releases an artbook of her own soon! The tattoo pic is so sexy XD One of my favs too!
That’s interesting to know. I wonder what other restrictions there are in making illustration for bl market?
Speaking of bl novels i didn’t even know till yesterday that Kazuaki did artwork for novels too. The bl illustrations from her art book i thought were for manga, but turned out to be novels instead. I had order some using proxy without knowing. When i opened package yesterday and turned through the pages of the book i was sad to see it be novel because i can’t read it.;_;
But the few artworks inside it are very pretty. It was very interesting seeing her draw out yaoi scenes sense i’ve never seen yaoi works done by her yet.*_*
I wish there was a list of her manga works. That way i wouldn’t get mixed up buying novels. Proxy’s aren’t cheap…
on the topic of it Tokyobuyers messed up on my order bad that i don’t think i want to try them again even though there service is reasonable pricing. Is there another proxy service that you know of that is responsible and has a service fee like tokyobuyers? Have you ever had problems with a proxy service before? ;_;
@sigma: yeah that was her comment in her artbook :D I’m not sure if there are any other restrictions cos I haven’t read about them.
:O oh dear… that means you’ve gotta pick up the language so that you can read them now! Kinda like a motivation? *thinking positive*
Yeah those pretty covers we see are of BL novels. She did quite a number of them :) She doesn’t have a BL manga to her name but drew some non-BL manga: Kai Yorihito Kaiyori Shiki but it seems the covers contain copyrighted materials so maybe we can’t find them now.
I see… that’s terrible! I hope you settled things with them? Maybe I’m lucky cos I’ve not had major issues with proxy before. You can try kaimonodaikou.ninja-x.jp I’ve used their service a few times and so far so good. Their rates are ok too.
Wow! The artworks are amazing! I love the details and color. If this artist ever release a art book let me know.*V*
So many pictures to drool at~!
“restricted by typical BL novel pose requirements”
BL has Restrictions now?o-o
@sigma: totally XD I’ve been waiting for a long time!!
O~ Kazuaki mentioned that in BL novel covers, there are pose requirements such as they have to show the faces of seme and uke clearly and then have to give them ero ero poses XD so that’s why they’re often restricted by certain tried and tested poses.