Ask John: How is Doujinshi Received in America (part 1)?

Question:
What [do] American anime fans, especially fanzine fans, expect from doujinshi? How popular is doujinshi and how is it consumed in the U.S.? How do American anime/manga fans legally acquire adult-oriented doujinshi? How often is Japanese doujinshi translated to English and distributed in the U.S.?

Answer:
This inquiry may be divided into two halves. The first two questions relate to the American fan community’s reception of Japanese doujinshi. The second two questions regard the commercial distribution of doujinshi in America. So I’m going to divide this inquiry in half and first address just the first two questions. My answer to the later two questions will follow separately.

Although there are broad revenue figures for anime and manga sales in America, there are no statistics for the number of American anime and manga fans, nor the popularity of particular types of manga and anime related goods. However, it doesn’t require researched statistics to assert that Japanese doujinshi isn’t remotely as common or popular in America as it is in Japan. While Tokyo has specialty stores like Melon Books and Toranoana, and regular conventions like Comic Market and Sunshine Creation that specialize in fan created works, imported doujinshi are quite rare in America for a number of reasons including their expense, the difficulty of obtaining them, and the fact that they are amateur or independent creations.

Prior to the 1990s and the widespread consumer use of the internet, Japanese doujinshi was almost entirely unknown in America. America did have its own anime fanzine community in the 1980s, for example, the Anime Hasshin club’s newsletter, “The Rose.” But America didn’t really become familiar with Japanese doujinshi until online scans and information raised awareness. Contemporary American otaku are aware that doujinshi encompasses a variety of creative works: comics, illustrations, novels, computer games, music, and models & toys. But I think that Americans still initially think of doujinshi as fan created pornographic parody comics, despite knowing that erotic doujinshi constitutes only a small percentage of Japanese fan creations. Erotic doujinshi are more frequently distributed online and are more popular among American collectors than non-erotic doujinshi because H books provide something otherwise unavailable. Conventional manga – either professional or amateur – is commonplace, and American readers gravitate to the popular, established professional manga series that are familiar and are theoretically the best Japanese comics available. Erotic parody doujinshi provide an explicit look at familiar characters unavailable through legitimate “canon” works.

The simple adage that “sex sells” applies. Erotic doujinshi are attractive to Americans because, by their nature they provide forbidden temptation. Erotica is, itself, attractive to many manga readers. Erotic parodies and homages provide a gratuitous underground peek at favorite characters that would be impossible in legitimate, mainstream publications. Furthermore, because of their unlicensed, independently published nature, doujinshi are more costly and more difficult for American collectors to procure than typical commercial media. Numerous Japanese specialty retailers like Toranoana and Melon Books don’t accept international orders. Major mainstream retailers like Amazon don’t carry doujinshi. The difficulty of obtaining Japanese doujinshi typically forces American fans to resort to online scans and unauthorized distribution. Ironically, the independent nature of doujinshi allows Japanese creators to directly offer their works to international fans, but few doujinshi artists do so, possibly due to xenophobia, but more likely due to lagnguage barriers and a lack of awareness that they have an international fan following.

Original physical copies of Japanese doujin products are a rarity in America. Few domestic retailers offer them, and relatively few American collectors avidly purchase them. Erotic printed doujinshi comics – both “conventional” and yaoi – are probably the most consumed type of Japanese doujin product in America. Trailing far behind are doujin animation, games and illustration CD-ROMs. Japanese doujin music has a tiny following in America. The penetration of doujin novels and figures or toys are negligible in America.