Moe X Shogi: An Introduction to the Magic of Shogi

Ikaros Shobo, known for its many moe-related books such as Moe at Tank School, recently released a new book called Introduction to the Magic of Shogi, a book that teaches its readers how to play shogi through seven cute characters. Although the book is scheduled to go on sale on November 6th, many copies appeared in stores on November 1st.

According to Akiba Blog, a note on the cover of the book:

The amazing content of this book is something that cannot be found in traditional shogi books. Seven beauties transform themselves into shogi pieces to teach you the difficult rules of shogi, how to use each piece effectively, and secret techniques to winning shogi games. You will be able to learn shogi by trying to find out more about the girl you like.

According to the author of a shogi blog:

I have no idea how many copies this books will sell, as I never suspected that a book like this was ever going to be released. While the shogi part of the book stimulates my spirit as a collector, it also makes me think to myself: Why am I buying a book like this anyway?

While the book introduces the movement of each chess piece through a moe character, such as fu (pawn), kyo (lance), keima (knight), hisha (rook), kaku (bishop), kin (gold general), and gin (silver general), a majority of the actual shogi explanations did not include these the cute characters. This is to make sure people will pay more attention to the shogi instructions rather than the characters.