This week’s Podcast Stats:
Time: 19:02
Download Size: 13.1 MB

Opening theme:
“Lights, Camera. Action!” by HALCALI
Opening theme to Getsumen To Heiki Mina

Ending theme:
“Yumemiru Otome” by Mai Mizuhashi
Ending theme to Doujin Work

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Name: Doujin Work
Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 12
Released: July 3, 2007 – September 18, 2007
Based On: Doujin Work manga by Hiroyuki
Director: Kenichi Yatani
Produced By: REMIC, Media Factory
US Distribution By: N/A

Major Japanese Cast

Najimi Osana: Masumi Asano
Tsuyuri: Momoko Saito
Justice: Hiroki Yasumoto
Junichirou Hoshi: Kazutoshi Hatano
Sora Kitano: Kimiko Koyama
Kaneru Nidō: Ito Sakata

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 9/10 (x 2 = 18 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)

Total: 142/190 (74.7%)

Review

Doujin Work is about a college student, Najimi Osana, who finds out that two of her friends – Tsuyuri, who she knows from college, and Justice, who is a childhood friend – draw doujinshi for a living.

Having just been fired from her part-time job, Najimi decides to earn her millions by drawing doujinshi as well, even though both Tsuyuri and Justice try to tell her that it’s not all that profitable. On top of this, Najimi has two major problems: she can’t draw, and she gets incredibly embarrassed when dealing with perverted things.

With the help of Tsuyuri, Justice, Hoshi, a boy who becomes her first fan, and Kaneru, a friend/rival of Najimi’s in finding success in the doujin world, Najimi attempts to become a successful doujin artist.

Doujin Work starts off on a pretty good roll, hitting you up with one good perverted joke after another. However, in the last quarter or so of the series, it seems to start losing some of its momentum.

Probably the best thing about the story itself is that the development of Najimi as a doujin artist seems realistic, as she struggles through most of the series just to sell her books, as one would expect for a beginner, though the very end is kind of a stretch. It’s not necessarily the best story you’ll see, but I wouldn’t really consider it bad either.

On technical aspects, probably the weakest aspect is the animation. While it was done in a particular style intentionally, at times the lack of budget definitely shows through. Close-ups of characters are generally done well, but when you are looking at a wider shot, animation tends to take a major hit.  The music is also only so-so, though not bad.

Overall, if you’re looking for a quick laugh (the 12 episodes are only half-episodes), and don’t necessarily care about having excellent animation, then you may not mind taking a look at Doujin Work.

First Watched: July – October 2007
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Indifferent

Genshiken 2 certainly isn’t a surprise, given that Media Blasters has already released the first Genshiken series and has already licensed the Genshiken OVA and Kujibiki Unbalance.

However, for the first license to come out of the Summer 2007 season (that I can think of) to be for Doujin Work, well, let’s just say that Doujin Work was about the last series I expected to be licensed out of that group, considering it’s length (12 14-minute episodes), it’s subject matter (doujin), and it’s quality (eh, could be better).

In any case, I guess that ends my watching Genshiken 2 on the side now that it’s licensed, and I guess it depends how much Doujin Work will be selling for before I know whether I’d buy it or not.

[Oops, forgot to rewrite the intro]

The episode starts with Najimi riding the train out of it, not reliving that her doujin is on sale in actual stores. She then snaps out of it and asks Tsuyuri and Justice if they’ve ever had the chance to turn pro, and both of them say that they have, and Najimi asks them why they haven’t. They just tell her that they like doing things at their own pace.

Najimi and Tsuyuri then hits the store that is selling her doujin and, while it is the center display, no one has bought any copies yet. Tsuyuri then suggests to Najimi that she buy a copy. Najimi thinks it’s ridiculous for her to buy a copy of her own doujin, but she’s finally talked into it. So Najimi goes up to the register decked out in a disguise to buy her own doujin. Unfortunately for her, the cashier recognizes her. That evening, Hoshi calls up Najimi and says that two copies sold that day. Hoshi’s brother guesses correctly that the two purchasers are: Najimi and Hoshi.

On the third and final day, Hoshi desperately tries to sell Najami’s manga, but to no avail. Suddenly, Kaneru, Justice, and Tsuyuri all show up and decide that they are going to buy a copy as well. Everyone else in the store sees Justice buying a copy and concludes that if Justice is buying it, it must be good, and they all grab a copy as well. As a result, all 100 copies end up selling.

Afterwards, Hoshi’s brother is about to finalize a professional contract with Najimi when he informs her that she’ll have to give up writing doujin if she turns pro. This makes Najimi hesitate, but Hoshi’s brother pushes Najimi’s hand down on the contract, causing her to stamp her approval on it, then runs off.

Najimi and the rest of the group chase after him. Najimi yells at him to stop, and that she doesn’t want to give up writing doujin, and that she won’t go pro if she has to stop, and that she wants to “hand her book to every customer.” Justice, Tsuyuri, and Sora finally corner him and trick him into jumping into a river, ruining the contract. Tsuyuri then offers Najimi an entry form to the next comic sale, and Najimi gladly accepts it.

That was a fairly decent conclusion I guess. One of the things I liked about this series is that Najimi seemed to improve at a reasonable pace. She didn’t suddenly become a master doujin artist all of a sudden. She was able to improve in small increments, and was able to start selling a few more copies and a few more copies after that. The ending was sort of dues ex machina I thought in that Najimi was able to sell all 100 copies of her doujin thanks to Justice picking it up and everyone following him like lemmings, so she didn’t actually sell the books on the book’s own merit, though I guess in the end it didn’t matter since she didn’t turn pro anyway.

The main thing I didn’t like about this series is that I think it seriously lost it’s humorous edge in the final few episodes and turned more into a narrative about Najimi’s doujin adventures instead of comedy about her adventures. I think the start of the series hit several home runs as far as humor, but the writers seemed to either run out of jokes or resorted to recycling old ones at the end.

I certainly don’t think this is a bad watch, especially since the entire series would only take about 3 hours to watch, but it definitely could have been better.

The episode starts with Hoshi and his brother, who is depressed over leaving his manuscript in the car (and subsequently having it get rained on by leaving the sunroof open), riding the train. Hoshi’s brother remarks how the artist spared him, but is too busy to fix the manuscript, and that he’ll have to find a new artist. Of course, Hoshi has the perfect idea of who this artist should be.

Meanwhile, Kaneru and Najimi are selling touched-up versions of the doujin that they created at the beach at the next comic sale. Hoshi and his brother then show up and Hoshi hands Najimi a business card for some company’s sales department. Tsuyuri tells Hoshi that she thought he was in college, and Hoshi tells her that he was attending Tokyo University until the day before, but he quit so he could find a job to accomplish his new purpose in life: promoting Najimi’s manga. Of course, just about everyone there thinks Hoshi is insane for doing this.

Seeing where this is going, Hoshi’s brother pulls Hoshi aside and asks if he’s intending Najimi to be the replacement artist. Hoshi tells him that this is the case, but Hoshi’s brother objects. The two go back to Najimi’s sales table, and Hoshi tells her that they’re starting with a run of 30 copies of her newest manga, and that he got hired on the condition that they would sell out or else they would fire him (again, making everyone else think he’s insane). Kaneru tries showing Hoshi’s brother her book in an attempt to get a break too, but he doesn’t seem too open to the prospect. Hoshi then takes a copy of Najimi’s book and leaves.

Afterwards, several people show up and start buying Najimi’s book after reading on the internet about a doujin with “faces drawn at only one angle.” Najimi remarks that she’s happy they’re selling, though not necessarily at the reason they’re selling. Soon she sells out all 30 copies she brought to the comic sale.

Somewhere in the building, Hoshi and his brother have another argument about Najimi acting as the stand-in artist for Hoshi’s brother’s work. Hoshi’s brother tells him that she has no chance, and that he must be convinced of her worth, and Hoshi agrees. Hoshi then returns to Najimi’s table and informs her that he’ll now try to sell 100 copies of her doujin instead of just 30. Hoshi then tells Najimi that if her 100 copies sell out in 3 days, then his brother’s magazine will serialize Najimi’s story until it ends.

Well, we’re definitely winding down, as Najimi is finally finding some success selling her book. However, Hoshi goes off the deep end and puts all his chips towards trying to sell Najimi’s doujin professionally. However, I’m not sure how humerous this episode actually was. I mean, we actually get plot development in this one, but I’m not sure where the jokes are. Here are a few gag laughs thrown in, but nothing consistent. Unfortunately this story seems to have lost itself in the last few episodes.