Doujinshi
Doujinshi (同人誌), also romanized as dōjinshi, is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of doujin (self-published) works, doujinshi are often derivative of existing works and created by amateurs, though some professional artists participate in order to publish material outside the regular industry.
Groups of doujinshi artists refer to themselves as a sākuru (サークル, circle). Several such groups actually consist of a single artist: they are sometimes called kojin sākuru (個人サークル, personal circles).
Since the 1980s, the main method of distribution has been through regular doujinshi conventions, the largest of which is called Comiket (short for "Comic Market") held in the summer and winter in Tokyo's Big Sight. At the convention, over 20 acres (81,000 m2) of doujinshi are bought, sold, and traded by attendees.
Impact[edit]
John Oppliger of AnimeNation stated in 2005 that creating doujinshi is largely popular with Japanese fans, but not with Western fans. Oppliger claimed that because Japanese fans grow up with anime and manga "as a constant companion", they "are more intuitively inclined" to create or expand on existing manga and anime in the form of doujinshi.[22] Since Western fans experience a "more purely" visual experience as most Western fans cannot understand the Japanese language, the original language of most anime, and are "encouraged by social pressure to grow out of cartoons and comics during the onset of adolescence", most of them usually participate in utilizing and rearranging existing work into anime music videos.[23]
In most Western cultures, doujinshi is often perceived to be derivative of existing work, analogous to fan fiction and almost completely pornographic.[24] This is partly true: doujinshi are often, though not always, parodies or alternative storylines involving the worlds of popular manga, game or anime series, and can often feature overtly sexual material. However, there are also many non sexually explicit doujinshi being created as well. The Touhou Project series for example, is known to be notable for the large amount of doujinshi being produced for it that are not pornographic in nature.[25][26] Some groups releasing adults-only themed materials during the annual Touhou only event Reitaisai in 2008 were only estimated at 10%.[26]