The 156th volume (May 2013) of Megami Magazine has a nice mix of posters from the winter and spring anime seasons. The front cover features the main girls from Girls and Panzer in their beach attire. Girls and Panzer seems to be the featured series in this volume with a related freebie and being placed on the large poster. More on that can be seen at the end of this post. To start things off, below you will find the pin-up posters included in this volume. As usual, any super ecchi ones are censored and can be viewed by clicking on the links.
The first poster shows Honoka and Umi from Love Live relaxing by the pool in what seems to be a beach-side resort. Not only is this illustration cute with clean lines and nice use of complimentary colours for their bikinis, the background is also detailed and visually appealing. The only thing I could find fault with is that there’s no refraction in the water.
All of the Little Busters posters previous to this one have been rather good so I was a little disappointed with how flat and awkward Kud’s face looks here. The choice of colour for the walls also makes Kud’s hair blend in a bit, which isn’t a good thing.
At first glance this Railgun poster doesn’t look too bad, but when you stare at it for a while it seems like you’re looking at a cross between a stick drawing and anime. Everyone’s limbs are far too long, thin, and straight. Saten’s hands don’t even look like they’re in the water even though she’s splashing Uiharu.
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This is your typical ecchi poster courtesy of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT. Maria looks like she’s having fun playing with Sena’s melons.
A bunny girl and squid girl at the beach. The quality is about average by Megami standards, but I’m sure Senran Kagura fans would enjoy this.
This poster really captures the moe essence in Tamako Market. It’s perhaps one of the few times when a polka dot or wallpaper-like background works well.
Someone who watched Kotoura-san is going to have to tell me what’s happening here. I’m assuming it’s part of a fantasy seeing Kotoura as a sexy teacher. She actually looks pretty good and the writing on the chalkboard subtly draws your attention to her figure.
Ai-chan wins! It’s great to see an Oreshura poster with my favourite character featured, but the way her thighs are drawn makes it look like her right leg extends into her stomach.
Compared to all of the Star Plus One posters that have come before, this one seems a bit plain, but the brightness of the characters still shines through.
Henneko has some cute characters and this poster manages to capture that cuteness. The art style also matches that of the anime perfectly.
I’m not surprised to see Nyaruko dressed like this, but I am surprised to see Tamao like that. I feel like they could’ve done something a bit more with this one since it seems rather boring. The part where Tamao’s legs cover Nyaruko’s knees also seems off; Tamao’s legs should be higher if they’re on Nyaruko’s knees, or lower if they’re not.
A lot of people have complained about the art style in the new Hayate no Gotoku series, and I have to agree with them, it’s not as nice as the old style. Whoever drew the illustration for this poster really tried to bring out the beautiful-woman-at-the-beach look, but it’s sad to say that Maria’s face just isn’t conducive to that.
When I heard about Photo Kano I thought there would be some beautiful animated scenes, but instead you get some panty shots like this.
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Having the faded paper look for the background is an interesting artistic choice for this Hyakka Ryouran poster since it matches the style of the series. There are no black ink droplets here though.
This one may be unfamiliar to some of you, it comes from an as-yet unaired series called Aura ~Maryuuinkouga Saigo no Tatakai~. I’m not sure how this girl got into this situation but it looks um… interesting…
Megami typically doesn’t do this, but here they’ve split a poster in half to have two illustrations on the same page. On the left is an illustration of the girls from Kiniro Mosaic, another soon-to-be aired series, doing the hair of one of the girls. On the right are the girls from Yuyushiki seemingly making fun of the girls on the left.
The final pin-up poster in this volume is another illustration from Chikaoka Sunao. It’s more dynamic than her other illustrations with two girls running down the street, but still has that calming atmosphere about it.
Within the content of the magazine was a section devoted to Nanoha, specifically the upcoming third movie. Considering how good the first two were, I’m really looking forward to seeing the third.
Something completely new to me and that I’m sure is an entirely new section is Woman Beautiful Climax. This section is dedicated to the most independent female characters in anime. I’m sure all of them would make great role models.
In the Anime Character Catch Up section, there are some new anime to note. First off is Fantasista Doll, which will begin airing this Summer. Prism Nana is also listed here, but still does not have an air date.
Other Summer series mentioned in this section include the new season of Highschool DxD, Aura, the Neptunia spin-off, Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou, Silver Spoon, and more.
One thing that Megami used to include but hasn’t recently is a collectible trading card. This is the first I’ve seen in a while and is of Jubei from Hyakka Ryouran.
The back cover has a beautiful backdrop advertising the complete Steins;Gate Blu-ray box. If I had money I’d buy a copy.
As I mentioned earlier, there was a Girls and Panzer freebie included in this volume. It’s a booklet with different details about the characters and series.
The most interesting part of the booklet in my opinion was where it outlined all of the different places in Oarai where the series took place. Not only that, but there’s now Girls and Panzer ads and merchandise everywhere in town. New destination for an otaku pilgrimage? definitely!
The B2 size poster in this volume features Hayate and her guardian knights from the second Nanoha movie on the first side. The illustration was drawn very cleanly and the vivid colours help to bring the characters to life. Taking a closer look at the stitching in Hayate’s clothes and the trees in the background also gives you an appreciation of the amount of work and attention to detail put into drawing this.
On the poster’s reverse side is the illustration we saw on the cover of the magazine without all of the text. While it is cute, personally I think it’s an average illustration though big Girls and Panzer fans will no doubt like it.
Overall this was an average volume. There were a few illustrations that could use some improvement, but nothing was terrible. The Love Live poster was by far my favourite and I actually liked the Nanoha poster this time. The Kotoura-san poster also deserves a notable mention. If you’re really into Girls and Panzer then I recommend getting this volume for the B2 poster and booklet. The booklet would definitely come in handy if you decide to make the Girls and Panzer Oarai pilgrimage.
