redjuice's Ignition (Doujinshi)

Here we are! The third and final redjuice doujinshi I own!

Now the question remains: Don't I ever get tired to seeing redjuice pictures everywhere? Isn't it about time I broadened my horizons to include other talented artists? Shouldn't I fangasm somewhere else?

The answer is no, yes, and it depends. Let me show you why.

I covered a lot of redjuice's good points in my previous reviews, so this one will be mostly gleeful picture-spamming.

Ignition is redjuice's thrid doujinshi. Released at Comiket 7 and 52 pages, it's the longest of his three doujinshi in my possession. The cover features an girl in telltale redjuice style and perspective. The back cover is basically a sheet of white, so I won't bother to show it. To make up for it, Ignition comes with a plastic transparent slide. Not a sleeve, not a print, just a...plastic page with a picture on it. I have no idea what it would be used for, but I like it nonetheless.

We begin with some unexpected Loups Garrous fan art.

Then Ignition dives into a dark theme. I was expecting sexy mecha girls and Vocaloids frolicking in fields. Instead, I got Pluto O - V of Violin fanart, possibly the darkest of all redjuice works both in colour and content.

From the darkly coloured pages, we return to standard rejuice subjects, namely futuristic girls in tight outfits and everyone's favourite cyber idols. During that short trip into the darkness, I decided I liked how redjuice plays with darker themes. I wouldn't mind seeing more one day.

I absolutely love how he portrayed Meiko. For once she's elegant and sophisticated, not drunk on the floor. The rest of them are gorgeous as well, of course. I kove how redjuice played with their outfits (Luka's is especially delicious). 



While most of Ignition's pages are fully coloured spreads, there are also a few pages depicting rough sketches and concept art. While I prefer finished pieces, I also enjoy seeing the process of creation, especially with an artist as prolific as redjuice.

I'm sure you all recognize Racing Miku ver. 1.0. I'm digging the orange theme.

Some of the pieces in Ignition take on an almost pencil-like texture. I mentioned in my Inside review that redjuice's style hasn't changes very dramatically, but I was wrong. He clearly plays with several styles in Ignition. Am I totally pleased with this new, sketchier style? Not particularly. I've always been a fan of bolder colours and harder lines, but it's nice to see redjuice pushing his own borders. An artist's got to experiment, after all.

Many pieces in Ignition have pale or blank backgrounds. The pictures below were done for Supercell.

That's not to say he doesn't create spectacularly vivid backgrounds when he wants to.

Both images below were created for Sony Magazines and feature very vibrant backdrops.

Once again, I feel obligated to mention redjuice's mastery of perspective. There is just the slightest angle on the picture below, but it lends it a world of movement. This picture also features an army of 3D Danboards. Another experimental piece, perhaps?

Ignition is generally good at optimizing space, but there is one page where a large portion of the page is left blank. It's really a shame they could not cram a smaller picture into the empty area, or even a rough sketch, but hey, what do I know about publishing?

That being said, redjuice once again shows off his new, muted style. It's amazing how simple alterations in colour can give an entirely new feel to a picture. The ones below were featured in Gelatin.

Near the end, we find several two-page spreads dedicated to Genesis and commissioned by ASCII MEDIA WORKS. 

Such a beautiful costume...and such wonderful boots.



Of course, Ignition isn't complete without some lovely mecha ladies.

Ignition also contains two tutorials, albeit, they're very condense and nowhere as comprehensive as the tutorial included in Inside. It's really more an advertisement for Let's Make Character CG (prices included and all) than anything. I'm a little annoyed an entire page of this doujinshi is dedicated to advertising, but hey, that's life, right? Nevertheless, I feel a little shafted. If only there was another beautiful piece of art in its place...

The picture below seems to be commissioned especially for the magazine, although if Lets Make Character CG teaches me to pump out pictures as gorgeous as her, I would happily spend 2520 yen + shipping!

Finally, in the last few pages of Ignition, we get a tribute to Wooser and Darth Wooser, along with the strangely out-of-place "moe" picture redjuice always includes at the end of his doujinshi. The "moe" girl appears to be advertising a new berry drink at McDonalds (Wow Japanese McDonalds, you certainly are different from the McDonalds we have here at home). Don't quote me though, the copyright is actually censored.

As usual, I'm very happy with this purchase. Does it stack up to his older doujinshi—I can't exactly say. I fell in love with redjuice for his mecha girls and futuristic themes, and while elements of such still exist, a large portion of this doujinshi strayed from what I expected from redjuice.

Of course, a stray in style is never a bad thing, per se, but we humans are habitual creatures. So while it's wonderful to comprehend the scope of redjuice's style, I wouldn't mind if, say, he released a doujinshi dedicated specially to futuristic girls.

I managed to snag Ignition for a very affordable price off Mandarake, which just goes to show with enough stalking, you'll always get what you want (ok, that's slightly creepy when applied to worldly situations). I'm sure copies of Ignition still float around eBay and other auction sites, and are readily avaiable through proxy servers. After all, redjuice is a big enough name to warrent some

For now, I'm hoping redjuice will pull a Huke and release a full artbook. Imagine, two-hundred pages of redjuice goodness! What I wouldn't give to have all his works in a comprehensive, sturdy package... 

Crave more redjuice? Visit him at deviantART.

Size: A4
Pages: 52
Price: ???
Purchased from: Mandarake

Hup, hup,
Jenn