Doujinshi
Doujinshi (同人誌), also romanized as dōjinshi, is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels.
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.
Not a literary magazine in fact, Meiroku Zasshi nevertheless played a big role in spreading the idea of doujinshi.
The first magazine to publish doujinshi novels was Garakuta Bunko (我楽多文庫), founded in 1885 by writers Ozaki Kōyō and Yamada Bimyo.
Created and distributed in small circles of authors or close friends, doujinshi contributed significantly to the emergence and development of the shishōsetsu genre.
[citation needed] It has been suggested that technological advances in the field of photocopying during the 1970s contributed to an increase in publishing doujinshi.
[4] Over the last decade, the practice of creating doujinshi has expanded significantly, attracting thousands of creators and fans alike.
[8] This rapid increase in attendance enabled doujinshi authors to sell thousands of copies of their works, earning a fair amount of money with their hobby.
[11] As in fanfics, a very popular theme to explore is non-canonical pairings of characters in a given show (for doujinshi based on mainstream publications).
Many such publications contain yaoi or yuri (stories containing same-sex romance) themes, either as a part of non-canon pairings, or as a more direct statement of what can be hinted by the main show.
Sometimes they will also be termed "for adults" (成人向け, seijin muke) or 18-kin (18禁) (an abbreviation of "forbidden to minors less than 18 years of age" (18歳未満禁止, 18-sai-miman kinshi)).
At this time, the legal analysis seemed to conclude that doujinshi should be overlooked because they are produced by amateurs for one-day events and not sold in the commercial market.
[18][need quotation to verify] In 2006, an artist selling an imagined "final chapter" for the series Doraemon, which was never completed, was given a warning by the estate of author Fujiko F. Fujio.
The Yomiuri Shimbun noted, "Fanzines don't usually cause many problems as long as they are sold only at one-day exhibitions," but quoted an expert saying that due to their increasing popularity a copyright system should be set up.
[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.
