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are self-published Japanese or English works, usually manga or novels. They are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from , literally "same person," used to refer to a person or persons with whom one shares a common goal or interest) and , a contraction of ''zasshi'', meaning "magazine"). Dōjinshi are part of a wider category of doujin including but not limited to art collections, anime, hentai and games. Groups of dōjinshi artists refer to themselves as a 'circle'.
Dōjinshi are made by artists or writers who prefer to publish their own materials. Avid fans of dōjinshi attend regular dōjinshi conventions, the largest of which is called Comiket (short for "Comic Market") held in the summer and winter in Tokyo's Big Sight. Here, over 20 acres of dōjinshi are bought, sold, and traded by attendees. Dōjinshi creators who based their materials on other creators' works normally publish in small numbers to maintain a low profile from litigation. This makes a talented creator's or circle's dōjinshi a coveted commodity as only the fast or the lucky will be able to get them before they sell out.
Over the last decade, the practice of creating dōjinshi has expanded significantly, attracting thousands of creators and fans alike. Advances in personal publishing technology have also fueled this expansion by making it easier for dōjinshi creators to write, draw, promote, publish, and distribute their works. For example, some dōjinshi are now published on digital media. Furthermore, many dōjinshi creators are moving to online download and print-on-demand services, while others are beginning to distribute their works through American channels such as anime shop websites and specialized online direct distribution sites.

Contents

Perception

Categories of dōjinshi

Comiket

Famous dōjinshi authors/Circles

References

See also

Related concepts

External Links

Perception

In Western cultures, dōjinshi is often perceived to be derivative of existing work, analogous to fanfiction and almost completely pornographic. This is partly true: dōjinshi are often parodies or alternative storylines involving the worlds of popular manga or anime series and an extremely large portion are adult in nature. Due to the language barrier presented with doujinshi and the wide variety available, most collectors in the US and Europe mainly focus on doujinshi that portray their favorite series.

Categories of dōjinshi

Like their mainstream counterparts, dōjinshi are published in a variety of genres and types. However, due to the target audience, certain themes are more prevalent, and there are a few major division points by which the publications can be classified.
As in fanfics, a very popular theme to explore is non-canonical pairings of characters in a given show (for dōjinshi based on mainstream publications). Many such publications contain yaoi or yuri (that is, homosexual) motives, either as a part of non-canon pairings, or as a more direct statement of what can be hinted by the main show. A prime example of such a show with yuri overtones, although never explicitly named, is ''Maria-sama ga miteru'', appropriately a target of many dōjinshi.
A major part of dōjinshi, whether based on mainstream publications or original, contains sexually explicit material, due to both the large demand for such publications and absence of restrictions official publishing houses have to follow. Indeed, often the main point of a given dōjinshi is to present an explicit version of a popular show's characters. Such works are known (by English speakers) as "H-dōjinshi", in line with the previous Japanese use of letter H (IPA pronunciation: ), to denote erotic material. The Japanese usage, however, has since moved towards the word ''ero'' ^[1], and so is the term almost exclusively used to mark dōjinshi with adult themes. Sometimes they will also be termed . To differentiate, is the term used for publications absent of such content.

Comiket

Comiket is the world's largest comic convention. It is held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first CM was held in December 1975, with only about 30 participating circles and an estimated 700 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a quarter of a million people. Many attendants come to exchange and/or sell their doujinshi.

Famous dōjinshi authors/Circles

★ Clamp started out as a dōjinshi group of 11 known as Clamp Cluster.

★ Ken Akamatsu, creator of popular manga such as ''Love Hina'' and ''Negima'', continues to make dōjinshi which he sells at Comiket under the pen-name Awa Mizuno.

★ Fred Gallagher, creator of ''Megatokyo''.

★ Rikdo Koshi, creator of the popular manga ''Excel Saga'', originally started out as a dojinshi artist.

★ Nanae Chrono, creator of the manga ''Peacemaker Kurogane'', has published multiple ''Naruto'' dōjinshi, most of a yaoi nature.

★ Maki Murakami, creator of ''Gravitation'' & Gamers' Heaven. Her circle 'Crocodile Ave.' created the popular ''Remix Gravitation'' aka ''Rimigra'' & ''Megamix Gravitation'' is one of the most graphic hard yaoi doujinshis to be found.

★ Monkey Punch, creator of "Lupin III" began as a dojinshi artist.

★ Artist Nobuteru Yuki sells doujinshis based on his animated works under his pen-name 'The Man in the High Castle'.

★ Yukiru Sugisaki, author of D.N.Angel and The Candidate for Goddess, started as a doujinka. She realized doujinshis about King of Fighters, Evangelion, etc. All were gag doujinshis.

★ Yun Kouga, a long-time published mangaka and creator of two well-known BL series, Earthian and Loveless, got her start creating dojinshi for series such as Gundam Wing.

★ Yoshitoshi ABe has published some of his original works as dōjinshi, such as Haibane Renmei. He cited the reason as, essentially, not wanting to answer to anyone about his work, especially because he saw it as so open ended.

★ Hajime Ueda the famous creator of Q.Ko-Chan and novelisation of FLCL.

★ Crimson Comics, a circle (or maybe even one person) of doujinshi author(s) who have made well over 50 H-Doujins on well over 20 different series, ranging from the popular to the obscure, such as One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Black Cat, Final Fantasy, and more.

★ Masaki Kajishima, creator of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki, has long used the doujinshi format to produce additional information about the series he has created, primarily Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki and Tenchi Muyo! GXP. These doujinshi can either be completely filled with his work, or he will contribute a work to the doujinshi title. Kajishima-sensei's doujinshi works break down into one (or more) types of works: manga-style (where he illustrates a new story, usually with limited text), interviews, early drafts of scripts for the series (giving fans great insight into the creative process), storyboards drawn by Kajishima-sensei that ultimately were not animated, story notes (or short stories) giving further little details of various characters, situations, or places in Kajishima-sensei's World of Tenchi. As of this writing, Kajishima-sensei does two doujinshi titles a year under the circle names "Kajishima Onsen" and "Kamidake Onsen." He has also used these to communicate with fans about his current projects, namely the Saint Knights Tale spinoff anime featuring Tenchi's half-brother and the GXP novels.

References

1. Article on the term Hentai explains the differences between Japanese and English usage.

See also

★ Artists

★ Dojin

★ Dojin soft

★ Dojin Music

★ List of dojin works

★ List of H dōjinshi authors

★ H dōjinshi

★ Niigata Comic Market

Related concepts

★ Amateur Press Association (APA)

★ Fanzine

★ Self publishing

External Links

★ Doujinshi Online - Reference Site With Circle/Artist Listings

★ Passion - Popular Doujinshi Fanlisting Site

★ Doujinshi DB - Huge User Submitted Database Of Doujinshi Artists/Circles/Books including name translations

★ Ultimate Anime Doujinshi - US Doujinshi site with search page listing information on several thousands doujinshi and large message board.