Doujinshi Review: “The Contract” by Lavender-Ice

3 Sep

“The Contract” is another Madoka themed doujinshi, this time by Lavender-Ice and a group of other English speaking artists on deviant Art. I don’t normally purchase doujinshi through people on deviant art and it is usually because they sell out long before I even discover they’re available. In this case, I discovered “The Contract” during its pre-order period and was thus able to get myself a copy.

Book and Stickers

Book and Stickers

All pre-orders of “The Contract” came with the buyer’s choice of 3 stickers. I chose my favorite 3 characters from the series; Kyuubey, Mami and Homura.

Madoka & Mami

Madoka & Mami

The majority of the illustrations in this book are by Lavender-Ice. She’s started the book off with a number of pages dedicated to each individual character.

Printing Close-Up

Printing Close-Up

One of my main concerns with doujinshi printed outside of Asia is the quality of printing. I don’t expect it to be on par as self-publishing seems to be a much bigger deal in other countries. The printing in this book isn’t the greatest (something to consider should you choose to use the printing service that I will mention later) in that is has that “this was printed by an inkjet” look to it, with a bit of screening and fuzziness. I would say it’s about the same quality as if it were printed in a magazine.

Sayaka & Kyouko

Sayaka & Kyouko

The next pages feature Sayaka and Kyouko, followed by Homura and a gijinka version of Kyuubey which is quite adorable (not pictured).

Kyuubey and Homura

Kyuubey and Homura

Then there’s another page of Kyuubey and Homura (I’m not sure why she drew these two twice; maybe they’re her favorites!); this time with Kyuubey in his normal form.

Twosomes

Twosomes

More pages feature Mami and Charlotte (not pictured) and then onto some illustrations of two characters together.

Guest Illust. by Minxy & KL-chan

Guest Illust. by Minxy & KL-chan

The rest of the book features illustrations by a myriad of guest illustrators, all of which are very talented. These two are by Minxy and KL-chan.

Guest Illust. Kurot & Hiromi

Guest Illust. Kurot & Hiromi

Also showcased are artworks by Hiromi (right) and the infamous Kurot (left).

There’s a lot of other great illustrations in “The Contract” and these are by no means the ones I chose to photograph as being the “best of the lot”. They are merely meant to be a sample of what’s contained therein. I felt that since this book is so accessible to English speakers, I would avoid showing off the whole thing. This is your call to support the artists. :)

It’s worth noting that “The Contract” appears to have been printed by Lulu.com. I only noticed this because I was browsing Lulu for artbooks and happened across it there even though I ordered my copy directly from Lavender-Ice. I paid the same price for the book as you’d pay if you ordered it from Lulu, which is $22. If you’d like to purchase a copy of your own, it is still available here.

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