Ask John: What H Manga Genres Haven’t Hit America?

Question:
What are some of the more overlooked subgenres of ero manga not picked up by domestic publishers?

Answer:
To be honest, I’m slightly hesitant to address this question because I don’t see a lot of positive value in focusing the attention of Americans onto aspects of manga and anime culture that Americans may find unsavory or offensive. However, at the same time, the purpose of “Ask John” is to encourage understanding and appreciation of Japanese pop art. So pretending that certain varieties of manga don’t exist contradicts my principles and does no service to international manga fans that want to know more about manga. There are a variety of erotic manga sub-genres that aren’t widely available in America. Most of them remain excluded from official American release because they’re either banned in America, or they skate dangerously close to illegality in America. All of these subgenres are legal and accepted varieties of manga in Japan, where they’re classified as legally protected artistic expression.

The best known type of erotic manga common in Japan but not commercially distributed in America is “lolicon,” named after the Japanese abbreviation for “Lolita Complex.” As its name suggests, lolicon manga focus on the sexual fetishization of young girls. Countless male and female manga artists routinely publish lolicon comics. Commercially distributed monthly manga magazines including Comic LO and Comic Rin exclusively publish lolicon serials.

Typical lolicon manga depicts preadolescent girls in sexual situations, but there is a further, small sub-genre of lolicon material. Less common, but still present is lolicon manga that places infants and very young girls in sexual situations. Serial anthologies like Comic Angel (not to be confused with the monthly Angel Club magazine) feature this variety of lolicon that the English speaking adult manga fan community referrs to as “toddlercon.” I don’t know if Japan’s manga community has a specific genre term for this sub-division of lolicon.

The male equivalent of lolicon is “shotacon,” divided into “straight” and yaoi shotacon. “Straight shota” involves underage boys engaged in sex with female partners either of similar age, or older women. Wolf Ogami’s “Super Taboo,” published in America by Eros Comics arguably represents “straight shota.” Yaoi shota depicts underage boys engaged in sex with other male partners, either their own age, or adult men.

Shotacon also has a parallel genre known as “jousou.” The theme of the jousou manga genre involves boys dressing and acting like girls, or the feminization of young boys. Jousou seems to frequently involve dominant girls encouraging or forcing timid boys to adopt female characteristics, but examples like the “My Pico” anime series present jousou in which the young boys naturally and willfully adopt a feminine appearance and personality.

America does not have any federal laws prohibiting bestiality, although depictions of sex with animals are certainly subject to federal obscenity law. At least 30 of the 50 united states have formal laws dealing with bestiality, which practically eliminates the possibility of commercial American publication of adult manga like Yantaro Keno’s “Oh! My Dog” and the Kemono for Essential anthology series. On a side note, I guess demonic tentacles aren’t considered “animals” as there doesn’t seem to be any significant legal obstacle to the distribution of “inju” manga or anime in America.

The one major variety of adult manga not widely distributed in America that isn’t excluded from American distribution for legal considerations is the variety known as “ero gekiga shi,” or “erotic realistic comics.” Toshio Maeda’s Inju Gakuen (La Blue Girl) and Yoju Kyoushitsu Gakuen (Demon Beast Invasion) may be the closest American commercial release adult manga has come to the genre of Japanese erotic manga created primarily for mainstream adult Japanese men. Ero gekiga manga are typified by an artistic design style that bears more in common with traditional Japanese shunga art than the highly stylized, anime influence erotic manga typically found in magazines like Tenma, Megastore, and Mujin. Japanese ero gekiga manga uses a highly realistic design style similar to European adult comic artists like Milo Manara and Guido Crepax. Because this particular drawing style is so different from the more anime influenced style of adult manga for young men, the ero gekiga genre has never been popular in America.