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Azure Striker Gunvolt Official Complete Works is an artbook and settings materials collection dedicated to Azure Striker Gunvolt and Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 released by Inti Creates and edited by the Dengeki Game Book Editorial Department. It was announced on May 12, 2018 alongside Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX, and was released on June 22, 2018 in Japan. It was available outside of Japan (without translation) for the first time at PAX West 2019.[1] As a bonus, the original book also came with a Lumen album, Morpho Song Re-collection -2018 Remix-, with remixes of seven select tracks from then released games.
An expanded version of the book with Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 content and some removals and additions of various store bonus illustrations is included as a bonus item in the 10th Anniversary Box version of the Azure Striker Gunvolt Trilogy Enhanced. Although it is technically a bonus item, in truth the new Official Complete Works was conceived as the main product and was bundled with a game collection because Inti Creates has difficulties publishing books as standalone items. The creation of the new Official Complete Works was also motivated by the original being out of print and resellers selling it at very high prices.[2]
Although no official English translation exists, the entire book's text was given a fan translation by Sidier. Link to translations below. Please note that it's almost entirely pure text, so the concept art notes will be hard to make sense of without the pages as reference.
Contents
The original artbook mainly serves as a compilation of content released online and across various Dengeki Nintendo magazine character profiles, with the following content:
- One or two pages dedicated to every major character, showing their key art, full in-game portrait(s), in-game sprite, a general profile, and comments by the character designers.
- Glossary of terms for the specific subjects covered by the Dengeki Nintendo profiles.
- Story summaries for both games.
- Most concept art for the series, including stages and previously unreleased material.
- Cutscene images and character skill cut-ins.
- Game covers, drama CD covers, holiday wallpapers, many of the retailer bonus illustrations for the Nintendo 3DS and Switch Striker Pack, Gunvolt 1 sales milestone images, and others.
- Cutout: Joule, Cutout: Copen, and Cutout: Quinn, with some changes from the original magazine versions to match the Audio Drama - 2nd Edition Striker Pack Bonus drama CD adaptation.
- All 4koma comics.
- A staff interview with key figures behind the Gunvolt series, director Yoshihisa Tsuda, scenario writer/game planner (and LAiX director) Toshiaki Tai, main illustrator and concept artist Yoshitaka Hatakeyama, concept artist Munehiro Araki, and Inti Creates CEO Takuya Aizu.
Trilogy Enhanced Bonus Version
The following content was added:
- Profiles, designer comments, and concept art for GV3 characters, including Moebius.
- GV3 stage concept art.
- Glossary of GV3 terms (two pages).
- GV3 story summary.
- Store bonus illustrations for GV3 and GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle, as well as a previously unreleased bonus illustration for the 3DS Striker Pack featuring Nova and Gunvolt.
Changes to content from the original version:
- Certain risque store bonus illustrations were removed. Purportedly, this was because the Trilogy Enhanced is rated CERO B (12+). The omission of previous illustrations and/or addition of Cychronicle ones wasn't originally planned.[3]
- The Cutout stories were removed (presumably because the Trilogy Enhanced comes with the audio adaptations as a feature in the game itself).
- The listed VAs for Copen and Lola were changed to reflect the Trilogy Enhanced recasting.
- Sprites were added to the profiles of GV1 and GV2 characters who only received ones with the Image Pulse system in GV3.
Naming
The original version is named Armed Blue: Gunvolt Official Complete Works, but written in Japanese it is Armed Blue Gunvolt Armed Blue Gunvolt Sou Official Complete Works (蒼き雷霆ガンヴォルト 蒼き雷霆ガンヴォルト 爪 オフィシャルコンプリートワークス), representing how it covers the first two games.
The expanded 10th anniversary edition is written as Armed Blue: Gunvolt Official Complete Works △, but the Japanese text calls it Armed Blue Gunvolt Series Official Complete Works (蒼き雷霆ガンヴォルト シリーズ オフィシャルコンプリートワークス) without the triangle symbol.
In the English trailer description for the Trilogy Enhanced, the book is called Azure Striker Gunvolt Official Complete Works, but given the current lack of any English version of the book, this is basically a symbolic title.
In some Japanese promotional materials the book's name is shortened to okowa (オコワ).
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