Solatorobon 5th Anniversary -WINTER-

Heyyyyyyy all~!

It's that time of the year again! More SOLATOROBON!

This run was just released some time last week by CyberConnect2 - it acts as a sort-of sequel to the summer edition that was released last year in August-September.
[My (p)review of the summer issue can be found here ---> Solatorobon 5th Anniversary -SUMMER-]

As such, we have Solotorobon 5th Anniversary -Winter 2016-!



This issue features more of the less-prominent characters in the series like the hybrids (Nero, Blanc, Baion) and (my favorite little maid/assistant) Flo Financier~

The cover connects with the summer edition to form a combined art piece, which itself is featured on two pages inside the book itself:


[Awesomesauce]

Anyway, one of the first images is by the same artist of these covers, and featuring two very uncommon faces - Caninu!Blanc and Caninu!Nero~ O.O


[Despite only featuring in-game for a few seconds, they still get some love~ That Nero blush~]

Surprisingly, this issue doesn't really feature as many illustrations as I'm used to - but here are the ones that stood out to me!


[We have Rose, who's wearing Carine's hat~ Interesting to see her representing the unused "Red Data Children" characters...]


[(Almost) the full cast, in dynamic glory! ]

Moving on to the comics, we have some interesting shorts going on regarding the Winter season. I don't even read Japanese, but these were pretty easy to get once I took a closer look!


[A four-page short, where all the Felinekos are being bummed out by the winter cold, prompting Red to engage in some robo matches to fire up the populace!]


[A two-page short of Blanc and Nero learning about the perils(?) of Kotatsu, or Japanese heating tables - this one is legitimately adorable~ >///w///<]

From here on out we have content produced by the staff - there are some interviews all in Japanese, but I'll focus on two illustrations by WAKA and Mamesuke, two of CC2's main artists tied to Solatorobo's art direction...

First, we have the Kurvaz gang (Opéra + Gren + Calua) waiting in anticipation of Spring~ Like the summer edition's depiction of Red, Chocolat and Elh 5 years later, this is a nice reworking of the group's general appearance - giving them a more oriental style suited to their guild's theme:


[Gren is by far the most interesting-looking here...that Bishounen hair~]

Next, Mamesuke delivers her usual chibi flair, which is always appreciated~


[5 years really flies by, doesn't it?]

Lastly, we have little doodle-well-wishes compiled into a two-page spread. It isn't much, but it's nice to feel the love people have for this series~



And that's about it! There were some pages I didn't bother showing, but these are the definitely some of the highlights of this winter edition!

Overall, it's pretty good! I would really only recommend it to avid fans of the series as the art is more limited here, but if you want to own a bit of Solatorobo memorabilia, this isn't too bad at all~! If you have the summer edition, you will definitely be hard-pressed to get this Winter edition too!

I hope you enjoyed this small preview! Do consider getting it to support both the CC2 team which gave us Solatorobo, and to keep the fandom flames burning! Peace out!

Have a great week,
-Gabriel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you wish, do take a look at the other previews I made for:

Solatorobon 3!
and
"Solatorobon 4" + "Cyberconnect2-chan 2013"
and
LTB ARCHIVES (SOLATOROBO) Volume 1 -BLUESKY-