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Nonami Takizawa – Grand Finale DVD Mook (Picture Book + DVD)
Shogakukan Inc. / Sabra
Catalog # NEOBK-7683 – All Regions DVD – 16:9 Aspect
Running Time: 00:15:07

I got this after being asked if I was going to do a review of it. I don’t normally do ‘requests’- but this was Nonami. I couldn’t resist.

The book or Mook is a glossy photo book with a soft flexible cover. The images are on a good stock and there’s about 75 pages.

Nonami poses in a studio, on a beach, and some other out door settings. I can’t really discern a theme for the book. They’ve got her wearing bikinis, bra and panties, a few ‘theatrical’ costumes meaning stuff one wears for a photo shoot rather than street wear.

In a few pictures, Nonami is basically bare with some lace over her.

There are about 7 or 8 two page spreads which are nice to look at but aren’t particularly good for scans. Most of the page are full images covering the entire page (no visible white spaces). A few pages have multiple images. There’s even a page or two of thumbnails of images that didn’t make the cut for inclusion as full pictures.

Of course we all know that the photographers snap 100′s and 100′s of images in order to fill a 100 image book. And if we didn’t know that from our experiences, then certainly we can see it happening in the DVD.

The DVD runs a few seconds more than 15 minutes. We get to see Nonami at work, and we see her playfull camraderie with the crew and staff. The DVD is all behind the scenes meaning that these are not scenes of a gravure video. These are scenes about the making of the Mook.

Of course, Nonami is awesome to watch in motion,and it is fun to watch how she moves slightly after each click of the shutter. We really see how much effort and work goes into a photo shoot from set design, to costumes, jewelry, accessories, lighting, reflected light, even furniture and props. Then there are the stylists who make sure that Nonami’s hair and make-up is exactly right.

At the end of the day, when we see the finished photobook or a finished DVD, we watch and enjoy or look at and enjoy. We rarely think about the work that went into the making of it.

With this book and the accompanying DVD, you do see how much work and effort is involved. For me, this just adds to my enjoyment of the model as well as the finished product.

These Mooks are not inexpensive. They may cost less than a full scale DVD, but when you add in the cost of international express shipping, the cost is not insignificant.

Still, for a Nonami fan, this Mook is very worthwhile. Available at cdjapan and JList.