First Line - Rei Kushima's Illustration Book

Title: First Line
タイトル: First Line
Pages: 16 (including covers)
Release date: 12/31/2009

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I went for this doujinshi because of the cover girl, she just looks like someone who belongs in the Black Rock Shooter universe! First Line is Kushima Rei’s first publication, and it came out during the Winter 2009 Comiket.

This A4-size, 16 page, staple-bound doujinshi feels shorter because several of the pages feature a “Making of the Cover Illustration” commentary. Kushima really has quite a lot to say about the process.

So technically speaking, there are only eight illustrations, one of which is a variation on the cover. While I think the coloring looks great, and the eyes really draw you in, a lot of the poses seem too stiff. Kushima Rei has redjuice listed as an admired artist on his profile page, and I think there’s some imitation, especially in the faces.

The commentary occupies five pages, with alternating pictures and text pages. When it first came out, the PSD of the cover art was available for download so you could follow the process, but it’s not available anymore. First Line really comes across as a first book, and though the pictures are nice, there doesn’t seem like enough content to really fill it up.