What’s Doujin?
In Japan, Doujin usually describes activities which people with same interest get together and build such things as comics(Manga), novels, games as well as other goods. This type of person not needed professional artists or writers. Many of doujin products are produced by armatures like a hobby and frequently published by their very own expense.

Group formed by individuals with common Doujin theme can often be called “Circle”. Within Circle, creators exchange their ideas and show actively works to the other person. Doujinshi or software is often created by Circle.

There are numerous Doujin Circles in Japan. Most of the Doujin items are publicized by Circle rather than by individual.

Doujin Circle and community is now Japan’s huge art culture and manga industry’s phenomenon.

History of Doujin

Concept of “Doujin” was basically acknowledged when Shotaro Ishinomori gathered artist friends and established “East Japan Comic Society” to share a corroboration magazine “Manga-Shonen”. Then Doujin Circle activities gradually did start to prosper with the “reader’s communication page” over a magazine “COM” (Now discontinued), which was first publicized in 1967. Then, self publication was costing a fortune, thus one bundled comics were passed in one Circle member to a different, with the help of their pages and circulating one of the creators for viewing.

The world of “Doujin” is growing because the number of participating creators increased. Circles began to form within universities like high schools and universities. Therefore, Circles were able to receive funds off their institution, thus it gave the chance for his or her Doujinshi to become printed. (Offset Print)

Individual Doujin activities began to increase if the animation series, “Gatcha-Man” was televised around 1972. Yet it turned out still not only a widely spread trend simply small selection of of Circles were gathering and exchanging their works. Doujin community was still being a closed realm.

Comic Market kept in 1975 has contributed a good deal for that general acknowledgement of Doujin culture. It begun with 32 Circles, and 700 participants, forming an area to switch and then sell on one another’s Doujin artworks. The Comic Market gradually became as being a major Doujin event from year upon year.

At beginning, many of the Doujinshi were featuring animation parody, then again gradually gained more erotic components which have made an erotic Doujinshi an increasingly popular theme.

When a certain Doujinshi gains its popularity, the quantity of creators who participate for the Circle increases. Therefore, they could afford costlier printing method for example offset. Because of this that made the caliber of such Doujinshi better.
Doujin Circles which did not have enough financial resource would publish their Doujinshi by copying or making of the printer. Before, printing was pretty expensive, but now days it is cheaper.

As many animation arrived on the scene in the media inside the 80th, more Doujinshi featured such anime themed Parody, including Yaoi and erotic Doujinshi. Some of the popular titles featured by Doujin creators then were: “Gundum” (1981), “Urusei-Yatsura – Only You” (1983), “Macross – Remember Love” (1984). In the late 80th, titles such as “Saint Seiya” (1980) and “Top o Nerae” became a huge hit which raised excitement among Doujin creators.

Around this time, Yaoi Doujinshi began to buy a general acknowledgement as a consequence of popular anime titles for example “Saint Seiya” and “Samurail Trooper”, which featured friendship between men.

Also, “Doujin Software” begun to appear during this time period because PC was growing a trendy domestic tool. Similar to “Comiket”, a celebration “Pasoket” was formed as being a spot to sell and exchange PC Doujin software. NEC’s PC-9801 series, Fujitsu’s FM-TOWNS and Sharp’s X68000 were popular hardware, thus Doujin software and CG were mainly built to are powered by these platforms. Among those, X68000 especially attracted many core-users because of its high machine spec which resulting in many sophisticated Doujin software titles to be born.

Inside the 90th, a title for example “Sailor Moon” was a huge hit among kid and even adult. “Sailor Moon” became another popular theme among Doujin creators. Since characters from “Sailor moon” were “Bisyoujyo Character” (Pretty Girl Character), many erotic and lesbian themed Doujinshi were created beyond Sailor Moon.

Within the mid 90th, Game themed Doujinshi did start to gain popularity. Many of them were featuring an erotic scene and Yaoi theme of in-game characters. Amount of game company that featured “Bisyoujyo Game” (Pretty Girl’s Game) has grown and a lot of Doujin creators begun to focus on Bisyoujyo Game due to its demand and popularity.

Around this time, lawsuits about copyright issue between commercial and Doujin publication stared to go up. Creating Doujinshi beyond copyrighted characters was considered legal since it was based on the thought that these Doujinshi are intended for non-commercial purpose, nevertheless for leisure. There are no licensing fee and business agreement involving the copyright holder and Doujin creator. Therefore, copyright holder had not been capable to restrict copyrighted character themed Doujinshi though he failed to like how these characters were presented on these Doujinshi. Although this has become a continuous problematic trouble in the industry in fact it is being declared that there ought to be some kind of law to set a guide. (Text by: Torakichi Hayama)

Class of Doujin

Original
Doujin works which all story and characters were originally produced by the creator.

Ani-Paro
Anime Parody. Featuring already existed anime characters or anime theme.

Yaoi
Doujin work featuring love or sex between male. Sometime method . Boy’s love.

Yuri
Doujin work showcasing love or sex between female. This word came to be being an the complete “Bara” (Rose) which features male homosexuality. The term “Yuri” was considered to be comes from a film called “Yuri-zoku series” by “Nikkatu Roman Porn”.

Loli-Con
Abbreviation for Lolita Complex. Doujin works featuring Child Pornography. It absolutely was declared that the word was originated in a manuscript “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov, a mid-life man loving an underage girl. **In the usa, Loli-con that presents child obscenity and pornography is prohibited by CPPA (Child Pornography Prevention Act). Take note to comprehend regulations carefully if you’re planning to write down Loli-con themed Doujinshi. This law refers to virtual characters as well.

Shota-Con
Doujin work offering underage boy romance. The phrase originated from a personality named Shota Kaneda from “Taiyou no Shisya Tetsujin 28 Gou”.

Neko-Mimi
Doujin work showcasing female characters with cat ears. Basically, the majority of the main Neko-Mimi characters are female. Their personality is incredibly much like Neko (Cat) and work like it. On Doujinshi, these characters might talk like “~meow” after their words.

Kemono
Different from Neko-Mimi, however Doujin work features human looking character with partially animal-like.

For additional information about Dojin go this useful resource.