Doujin Work, vol. 1

Doujin Work volume 1 (Packaged with the first DVD)
Media Blasters
HIROYUKI, 118 pp.
Available here.

I've been reading Doujin Work through scanlations before it had came out, so now that it's available in legal English form I scooped it up right away. It came with the first DVD of the Doujin Work anime, which was a good deal for $14.95 at Best Buy. Now, onto the review...

There's no real plot of Doujin Work, it just follows Osana Najimi through her adventures in the Doujin world. It starts out rather comically, with Najimi asking Tsuyuri what perverted thing she does alone and why she's sleeping in class. It starts with "Ma" and Najimi assumes this is something completley different than drawing manga. As soon as Najimi enters the doujin convention, her thoughts change on Doujin and she quickly agrees to make her own in order to make a living. She meets Justice (a lollicon), his lolli Sora, Hoshi (a boy that is crushing on her), and her yet-to-be named rival.

It just follows their Doujin antics in 4koma style. We see Najimi playing an ero game, her first publication, drawing a certain part of the anatomy shown by Justice, and Justice's protectiveness over Najimi. I can't really explain what happens, it's sort of a comedy slice-of-life revolving around doujin, with plenty of perverted humor thrown in for a few good laughs.

The characters are the propelling force of this 4koma, with most of the humor coming from things they do or say. This is especially the case for Najimi, being a newbie to the Doujin world, with her being uncomfortable drawing and reading about hentai. Justice is an overprotective lollicon, who sells his Doujin for next-to-nothing. Tsuyuri is defiantly a pervert, working on sadistic manga and being a gateway to the Doujin World. Sora is a non-innocent lolli, who is madly in love with Justice and draws Doujin despite being about eight years old.

The art is better than your average 4koma, with no use of chibi's or super-deformation. No matter what the characters are doing, they manage to stay looking realistic.

The quality I must say is not so great. I do commend Media Blasters for bringing over such an under-the-radar title, but they could have done a better job with it. The trim size is smaller than your average manga, thus making it look weird next to other manga on your shelf. The paper quality is so-so, but how they printed the text was a bit small and hard to read. They could have done better, but it's (barley) passable for now.

Art: 4
Characters: 5
Four Koma Execution: 5 (for humor)
Quality: 2.5

Total: Rounded to a 4. An A-. It could have been better if the release was more quality, but other than that it's one of the better 4koma on the market. It's genuinely funny, and it tells the Doujin World how it is. It's executed better than the similar title Comic Party. I recommend Doujin Work, but only for those who may have an interest in it, such as people who actually make Doujin or to otakus that want to enjoy a 4koma with good humor.