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What do The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Butareba: The story of a Man Turned into a Pig and Girly Air Force all have in common? If the title didn't make it obvious enough, Asagi Toosaka (遠坂あさぎ) was the illustrator and character designer of all three series. Let's dive into her art and why she is in a league of her own!
Before jumping into her commercial works, introducing her doujin circle is a great place to start. As an active member of the community, you can find many of her original works under the circle AliceSyndrome*. Toosaka’s doujinshi fully demonstrates her creativity and skills.
AliceSyndrome* allows Toosaka to explore creative freedom beyond her commercial projects, often resulting in unique and experimental pieces. Her art style is characterized by detailed designs, expressive faces and vibrant colors.
Her characters often feature intricate clothing and accessories, reflecting great attention to detail. Toosaka excels at capturing a wide range of emotions, making her characters feel alive and relatable. Her use of bold colors helps to create visually striking illustrations that stand out.
Toosaka’s artistic prowess has put her in the spotlight as an industry veteran and as such, she has been a regular contributor to the Eishi 100 yearly exhibit. This is an event where around 100 artists active in otaku related pop culture are selected to create a work around a specific theme. In 2022, that theme was “Road” and with plenty of room to get creative, Toosaka designed Select.
Union Creative must have fallen in love with Select as they are bringing it to shelves in early 2025 with pre-orders open. Select carefully descends a staircase, guided by the light of her lantern.
Her expression is a mix of intrigue and caution.
Union Creative always does a great job with the sculpt and painting. The flow of Select’s dress, layered outfit and hair looks great and there was great attention to detail with shading and accents in the paint job.
Toosaka does a wonderful job adding a bit of elegance through simple accessories like Select’s choker and hair ornament.
To preserve the original inspiration of the character, they made sure to keep the stairs as detailed as the rest of the figure.
Toosaka's commercial works have been equally as successful as her doujinshi endeavors with many series she illustrated getting recent anime adaptations.
AliceSyndrome* allows Toosaka to explore creative freedom beyond her commercial projects, often resulting in unique and experimental pieces. Her art style is characterized by detailed designs, expressive faces and vibrant colors.
Her characters often feature intricate clothing and accessories, reflecting great attention to detail. Toosaka excels at capturing a wide range of emotions, making her characters feel alive and relatable. Her use of bold colors helps to create visually striking illustrations that stand out.
Toosaka’s artistic prowess has put her in the spotlight as an industry veteran and as such, she has been a regular contributor to the Eishi 100 yearly exhibit. This is an event where around 100 artists active in otaku related pop culture are selected to create a work around a specific theme. In 2022, that theme was “Road” and with plenty of room to get creative, Toosaka designed Select.
Union Creative must have fallen in love with Select as they are bringing it to shelves in early 2025 with pre-orders open. Select carefully descends a staircase, guided by the light of her lantern.
Her expression is a mix of intrigue and caution.
Union Creative always does a great job with the sculpt and painting. The flow of Select’s dress, layered outfit and hair looks great and there was great attention to detail with shading and accents in the paint job.
Toosaka does a wonderful job adding a bit of elegance through simple accessories like Select’s choker and hair ornament.
To preserve the original inspiration of the character, they made sure to keep the stairs as detailed as the rest of the figure.
Toosaka's commercial works have been equally as successful as her doujinshi endeavors with many series she illustrated getting recent anime adaptations.
A Harem of Bunny Girls From The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy
A millennium ago, the world was engulfed in war. Six Dark Lords nearly drove humanity to extinction, yet hope persisted with Six Heroes battling back. Finally, the Undead King was defeated and body sealed in a mausoleum. In the present day, a young girl named Riselia Ray Crystalia discovers the ancient ruins of the mausoleum. By accident, she breaks the seal, awakening the Undead King, except this time he is a 10 year old child. Mistaken for a refugee, Riselia takes him in and their adventure begins!
That is the plot for The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy. Toosaka is the original illustrator of the light novel and responsible for the character designs. The anime adaptation was met with mixed reviews and is sitting at a rating of 6.2 on MAL, mainly due to a mediocre story and somewhat unlikable main character. As an anime rated R+ with a harem element however, the main female leads all have top tier designs!
Nippon Columbia is the distributor of the anime Blu-ray and they have also entered the realm of manufacturing figures. When thinking about what figure design would be good for a R+ anime featuring a harem, Nippon Columbia thought cast-off bunny girls would be a great idea. And they were right. As cast-offs, they are adults only so click the link at your discretion (if you are over 18).
Toosaka crafted a beautiful image of the four main heroines, Riselia, Sakuya, Regina and Elfiné in classic bunny girl outfits with a casino theme.
The key feature of this figure set is how well they blend together and accuracy of recreating the image. Using the casino table as the central element, each figure can be easily placed with connecting pieces.
Toosaka also did a great job adding enough difference to each girl to make them stand out individually. Aside from the obvious color differences, each girl has a variation in legwear and leotard accessory.
Riselia has a garter belt with thigh high, lace stockings and some added frills around the base of the leotard.
Red was a good choice for Riselia as it contrasts nicely with her long, flowing white hair.
The pose and expression is warm and inviting. Having Riselia resting on the poker table works well for this figure.
The playing cards and martini glass is a nice additional accessory which completes the casino theme.
Sakuya on the other hand has a much more embarrassed expression which is also reflected in her outfit. Having a jacket to help cover up and darker tights prevents much skin from showing unlike the rest.
Being situated next to Riselia, blue and white is a perfect color combo. The blue jacket matches her hair while the white leotard provides cohesion with Riselia’s hair. It creates a gradient-like transition which is a nice touch.
The pose allows for different appeal points to be easily showcased compared to Riselia. It also keeps Sakuya fully visible if the set is purchased and will still look good if displayed solo.
To the left of Riselia, we have Regina sporting a similar pose, leaning against the table.
Regina has a flirty expression with her to give sticking out and a cute wink.
Keeping the same consistency as Sakuya, some elements are the same as Riselia but with variation. Regina has no stockings but instead as a garter band.
Her leotard has a splash of tuxedo mixed in which pushes into the casino theme. It also adds some white to mimic the same gradient shown with Sakuya. We also have light blue to provide a softer color palette that can work with blonde hair.
The biggest drawback for this figure is that you may want to display it from behind if purchasing separately. If the pose was adjusted to have more to the side it would give the view in a display.
Finally we have Elfiné positioned in the back. Toosaka's original art included fishnet stockings which I think was a great choice but unfortunately was changed in the figure.
She follows more similarly to Sakuya with less exposed skin and the inclusion of a semi transparent shawl.
Being positioned in the back of the group was managed quite well. Elfiné is fully visible sitting on the table. The purple color also does well with grabbing attention.
Elfiné’s design has a bit more elegance to it, providing unique charm. In addition to a removable top, the shawl can also be removed to give a bit more options with displaying.
That is the plot for The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy. Toosaka is the original illustrator of the light novel and responsible for the character designs. The anime adaptation was met with mixed reviews and is sitting at a rating of 6.2 on MAL, mainly due to a mediocre story and somewhat unlikable main character. As an anime rated R+ with a harem element however, the main female leads all have top tier designs!
Nippon Columbia is the distributor of the anime Blu-ray and they have also entered the realm of manufacturing figures. When thinking about what figure design would be good for a R+ anime featuring a harem, Nippon Columbia thought cast-off bunny girls would be a great idea. And they were right. As cast-offs, they are adults only so click the link at your discretion (if you are over 18).
Toosaka crafted a beautiful image of the four main heroines, Riselia, Sakuya, Regina and Elfiné in classic bunny girl outfits with a casino theme.
The key feature of this figure set is how well they blend together and accuracy of recreating the image. Using the casino table as the central element, each figure can be easily placed with connecting pieces.
Toosaka also did a great job adding enough difference to each girl to make them stand out individually. Aside from the obvious color differences, each girl has a variation in legwear and leotard accessory.
Riselia has a garter belt with thigh high, lace stockings and some added frills around the base of the leotard.
Red was a good choice for Riselia as it contrasts nicely with her long, flowing white hair.
The pose and expression is warm and inviting. Having Riselia resting on the poker table works well for this figure.
The playing cards and martini glass is a nice additional accessory which completes the casino theme.
Sakuya on the other hand has a much more embarrassed expression which is also reflected in her outfit. Having a jacket to help cover up and darker tights prevents much skin from showing unlike the rest.
Being situated next to Riselia, blue and white is a perfect color combo. The blue jacket matches her hair while the white leotard provides cohesion with Riselia’s hair. It creates a gradient-like transition which is a nice touch.
The pose allows for different appeal points to be easily showcased compared to Riselia. It also keeps Sakuya fully visible if the set is purchased and will still look good if displayed solo.
To the left of Riselia, we have Regina sporting a similar pose, leaning against the table.
Regina has a flirty expression with her to give sticking out and a cute wink.
Keeping the same consistency as Sakuya, some elements are the same as Riselia but with variation. Regina has no stockings but instead as a garter band.
Her leotard has a splash of tuxedo mixed in which pushes into the casino theme. It also adds some white to mimic the same gradient shown with Sakuya. We also have light blue to provide a softer color palette that can work with blonde hair.
The biggest drawback for this figure is that you may want to display it from behind if purchasing separately. If the pose was adjusted to have more to the side it would give the view in a display.
Finally we have Elfiné positioned in the back. Toosaka's original art included fishnet stockings which I think was a great choice but unfortunately was changed in the figure.
She follows more similarly to Sakuya with less exposed skin and the inclusion of a semi transparent shawl.
Being positioned in the back of the group was managed quite well. Elfiné is fully visible sitting on the table. The purple color also does well with grabbing attention.
Elfiné’s design has a bit more elegance to it, providing unique charm. In addition to a removable top, the shawl can also be removed to give a bit more options with displaying.
Butareba: The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig
For fans of the isekai genre, truck-kun is an all too familiar character. As an easy reason to have a character die and be transported to a fantasy world, truck-kun is an indispensable character, running over protagonists within minutes of a story's start. It has also become an inside joke for authors poking fun at the lazy premise.
Another isekai trope which can get repetitive is being reincarnated as different objects and species. In an effort to create a compelling story and differentiate themselves, authors have been increasingly creative. It has gotten to the level of being reincarnated as a vending machine…
Butareba doesn't have a particularly creative title but the concept is unique and truck-kun is sadly(or perhaps thankfully?) missing. The story follows a man who, after eating raw pig liver and losing consciousness, wakes up in a fantasy world. The big twist, he is now a pig. A cute one at that!
In this new world, he meets a mind reading girl ostracized by society due to her freak ability. This telepathic girl, Jess is a gentle and sweet girl who is easy to love. Together, they embark on an adventure, with the pig trying to navigate his new life and help Jess gain acceptance. The dynamic between the two is great and the series does well with blending humor with the deeper themes it explores, keeping it light and fun.
Toosaka's illustrations really helped bring out the comical yet moving scenes and both Jess and her little pig were liked well enough to get a few figures.
Bandai added Jess and our piggy friend to their prize figure line, the Relax Time series. As a prize figure it is very affordable but quality is also a little lower than scale figures. The figure is a cute combo of the two and makes the pig pretty moe.
FuRyu brings us a non-scale figure of Jess in their mid-priced Tenitol line. It showcases Jess in her standard outfit with a cute pose.
There is more detail and texture shown on her hair and clothing.
The paint has better coloring and uses shading not shown in the prize figure.
Good Smile offers a 1/7 scale that has the most detail and also has the highest price. It is available for pre-order and should be released in the coming months.
The pose is significantly more dynamic incorporating movement into the clothing and hair.
The sculpt adds more realistic texturing of the clothing and intricate details. The way the clothing wraps around Jess’s body has a realistic look to it.
The paint job is top notch fully utilizing shading and clean, vibrant colors.
Asagi Toosaka's artistry is something I am confident we will see more of in the future. She is someone to keep on your radar for the next potential hit series!
Thank you for reading!
Another isekai trope which can get repetitive is being reincarnated as different objects and species. In an effort to create a compelling story and differentiate themselves, authors have been increasingly creative. It has gotten to the level of being reincarnated as a vending machine…
Butareba doesn't have a particularly creative title but the concept is unique and truck-kun is sadly(or perhaps thankfully?) missing. The story follows a man who, after eating raw pig liver and losing consciousness, wakes up in a fantasy world. The big twist, he is now a pig. A cute one at that!
In this new world, he meets a mind reading girl ostracized by society due to her freak ability. This telepathic girl, Jess is a gentle and sweet girl who is easy to love. Together, they embark on an adventure, with the pig trying to navigate his new life and help Jess gain acceptance. The dynamic between the two is great and the series does well with blending humor with the deeper themes it explores, keeping it light and fun.
Toosaka's illustrations really helped bring out the comical yet moving scenes and both Jess and her little pig were liked well enough to get a few figures.
Bandai added Jess and our piggy friend to their prize figure line, the Relax Time series. As a prize figure it is very affordable but quality is also a little lower than scale figures. The figure is a cute combo of the two and makes the pig pretty moe.
FuRyu brings us a non-scale figure of Jess in their mid-priced Tenitol line. It showcases Jess in her standard outfit with a cute pose.
There is more detail and texture shown on her hair and clothing.
The paint has better coloring and uses shading not shown in the prize figure.
Good Smile offers a 1/7 scale that has the most detail and also has the highest price. It is available for pre-order and should be released in the coming months.
The pose is significantly more dynamic incorporating movement into the clothing and hair.
The sculpt adds more realistic texturing of the clothing and intricate details. The way the clothing wraps around Jess’s body has a realistic look to it.
The paint job is top notch fully utilizing shading and clean, vibrant colors.
Asagi Toosaka's artistry is something I am confident we will see more of in the future. She is someone to keep on your radar for the next potential hit series!
Thank you for reading!
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