Doujin Work

Information of Anime

Najimi Osana wasn't into doujin stuff or anything from the otaku world.  When she went to help her friend Tsuyuri in selling her doujin works, Najimi was shocked to hear how much money they can make from selling doujin manga.  Driven by money, she decides to enter the doujin world.  Even through her drawings aren't great, she has a hard time adjusting to the new world.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

The story follows Najimi's path into the doujin world.  However, she doesn't realize how it works.  Realizing how she must study the otaku world by playing ero-games & reading ero stuff, Najimi is afraid in the adjustment.  She embarrassed to have her friends think she is a pervert that likes looking at sex & naked girls.  However, there are some circles trying to get her into this world by showing their support & helping her out by all they can.  However, Najimi would later get her first true fan (Junichirou Hoshi) & a rival named Kaneru Nitou with the similar doujin level as her.  From there, more ecchi stuff appears as the two try to improve their doujin works.  Nitou, who a yaoi freak, goes beyond what "normal" ero- doujin would have & Najimi improves her drawing skills, but uses the same face angles in the entire manga.

Things pick up when Junichirou's brother Ryuuichirou, a professional manga artist, gets his scripts wet & unable to publish it in the next magazine release.  Junichirou decides to use Najimi's work for publication as he's now working in the sales area in the same company his brother is editor to & dropping out of a good school.  Najimi manages to meet her three day target with the help of Justice as he was seen buying one of her mangas from an crowd.  However, Najimi rejects being a professional artist as it would require her to stop being a doujin artist.  The reason for it is the friends & direct interactive with her fans.  She hopes to achieve a professional status in the future though.

My Personal Review

Doujin Work is something that didn't meet my expectations.  I was thinking it would be something like Comic Party by introducing the doujin world.  Doujin Work does do it a bit, but not that I wanted.  But it still shows the doujin world in a different way.

Animation

The character designs are simple with little variety.  All the girls have round chubby faces with eyes that are almost the same as every female in the show.  The males are ok, but the only difference is basically the eyes.  As for fashion, it's plain as well.  Most of the designs are fairly simple.

The backgrounds are okay.  Has some detail, but not much.  It's mainly like quick work.  The transitions between scenes aren't bad as it has a bit of manga style layout.

The colours are mainly on the dull side with some bold colours.  The shading is dull as well as it seems to make the characters almost flat & one dimensional.

In terms of the animation movement, it's mainly silly stuff with comic movements.  As for the flow, it's not the best.  You can heavily see the frames being recycled very easily.  Not very smooth.

Sound

The sound effects are mainly on the silly side.  This gives the show it's manga feel & comedy appearance.

The seiyuus here are ok.  They perform their characters well & provide that punch.  However, none of the characters actually grew to me much.

The music is on the pop side.  They fit the show okay as most of it is actually sound effects.

Story

Basically Najimi entering the doujin world by going into the ero field.  It produces a lot of funny results as she gets embarassed in going into those ero shops & purchasing those items.  Although the doujin world does have a lot of ero related stuff, Najimi's character is too strange.  If she doesn't like it, she should stop despite the fact she is driven in because of money.  Nevertheless, not only is the show going to hopefully show how the doujin artists come about, but some character development on Najimi.  The show is short, so there are some quick fixes on her which does show when she gets a true fan of her work.  The viewers get to see how fast Najimi is adapting to the doujin world through working in otaku related places & researching ero works.  She even has a pen name Beauty Love.  Nevertheless, the show is fun due to it's continuous ecchi jokes.  However, that stupid tiny bloomer thing is really annoying on the screen.  I don't know what the creator was thinking.

Things pick up a bit when Nitou appears, but her character is a bit too childish & weird.  Aside from having more ero stuff, the show gets a bit deeper in the doujin work; particularly in the ero field again.  Although Junichirou's love for Najimi is rising, it doesn't go to deep even though he talks her into going into the pro manga field.  Instead, the misunderstanding mind of Nitou in thinking that him & Justice together builds up instead.  The only plot I found was Najimi rejecting the professional artist status to stay as a doujin one.  The whole show was pretty much reflecting on her progress of being an doujin artist from the very beginning & having a different view about it.  However, it was fairly weak.  This is probably due to the number of episodes & the running time.

For the ending, it was okay.  It doesn't do much as it's pretty much open ended.  However, I would like to see how Najimi would hold out as a professional artist with her crappy drawings.

Overall Conclusion

Doujin Work is a bit disappointing for me.  Most likely because of the fact that I was expecting a Comic Party type of show.  However, it does portray the current doujin world with all that ero stuff.  This show is recommend to watch if you want something funny or quick as the episodes are short as well as the show.

Doujin Work gets a seven out of ten.  The show is funny with all the ero humour & shows the current doujin world very well.  However, I feel there is something missing from it that makes it enjoyable.  I can't point it out.  But one thing is for sure is that it doesn't have a strong plot.

Last updated on October 28, 2008