Ask John: Do Manga-ka Make Adult Versions of their Own Manga?

Question:
Is hentai manga usually drawn by the original artist of the “clean” manga?

Answer:
Only in very rare cases do “legitimate” manga artists draw hentai versions of their own creations. I can only think of two examples. Years after the conclusion of the Orange Road manga and anime, Izumi Matsumoto created some risqué digitally colored KOR manga; and Johji Manabe has published some erotic Outlanders art.

It’s much more common for famous manga artists to parody other creator’s works, such as Johji Manabe’s series of Dirty Pair adult manga, Hiroyuki Utatane’s You’re Under Arrest doujinshi featuring Natsumi, Miyuki and Nakajima; and Koshi Rikudo’s hentai doujinshi parodying virtually everything. Professional manga-ka Yoshimasa Watanabe has also drawn numerous Dirty Pair doujinshi, but he doesn’t really count considering that hentai manga and anime is all that he does.

Generally all of the true pornographic manga involving famous characters is doujinshi created by Japanese fans, not by the characters’ original creators. It seems that creators generally don’t mind fans placing characters in compromising situations, but if the original creator had wanted to do so, he or she would probably have just drawn the original manga as a hentai manga to begin with.