Kasai Ayumi’s long-running work for Reijin is being collected in a major artbook project, following a Tokyo solo exhibition centered on more than three decades of cover illustrations for Takeshobo’s BL magazine.
The project is built around Kasai Ayumi Artbook Reijin 1993–2025, a three-volume collection covering the illustrator’s cover work for Reijin from the magazine’s first issue through 2025. A special boxed edition is also planned, collecting the three books together with bonus items.
For Western BL readers, the release matters because Kasai is not only a novel illustrator or cover artist attached to individual series. She has been tied to Reijin since its first issue, making her artwork part of the magazine’s visual identity across several eras of commercial BL. Reijin launched in the early 1990s and has long been associated with more adult-oriented BL manga, while Kasai’s covers gave the magazine a recognizable look rooted in sensuality, elegance and darker romantic imagery.
The artbook follows Kasai Ayumi Solo Exhibition: Reijin 1993–2025, which was held at Vanilla Gallery in Tokyo from April 4 to April 19. The exhibition featured more than 60 original cover illustrations selected from Kasai’s Reijin work, along with a new piece drawn for the exhibition. Original goods, reproduction artwork and a limited exhibition photo spot were also part of the show.
Takeshobo first announced that the artbook project would include three volumes released around July, with the exhibition works included in the collection. Current retailer and bibliographic listings show the special boxed edition as a 432-page A4-size set collecting the three planned volumes: Reijin 1993–2004, Reijin 2005–2014 and Reijin 2015–2025. Some listings now place the boxed edition in late September 2026, so readers should check their chosen shop for the most current release date.
The boxed edition is listed with codex binding, a format meant to let the pages open flat so the artwork can be viewed more fully across the page. Retail listings also describe a special box using newly drawn artwork, comments from Kasai for the included pieces and a large illustration card set with handwritten signatures as a limited-edition bonus.
Kasai’s career in BL illustration extends beyond Reijin. Her listed representative works include cover art for Inukai Nono’s Boukunchou wo Kainarase series, Yakou Hana’s Kenai Reizoku series, the manga Otoko no Hanamichi and earlier artbooks such as Biyaku and Nuregoto. However, the Reijin project stands out because it focuses on one of her longest continuous relationships with a BL publication.
The timing also gives the release a broader archival value. BL art is often remembered through individual manga volumes, drama CD jackets or novel covers, but magazine covers are a major part of how the genre’s commercial image developed. By collecting Kasai’s Reijin covers across 1993 to 2025, the artbook offers a visual record of how one illustrator helped define the face of an adult BL magazine over more than 30 years.
Kasai Ayumi Artbook Reijin 1993–2025 is currently planned as a three-volume artbook project from Takeshobo, with the special boxed edition listed through Japanese retailers.
