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Dōjinshi (同人誌; also romanized as doujinshi) are Japanese comic books (manga), often drawn by amateurs rather than by professional artists. The term is derived from dōjin (同人), meaning "literary group" or "clique", and shi (誌) which means "magazine" or "distribution".
Dōjinshi are made by artists who prefer to print their own comics and/or are looking for fame or fortune. Avid fans of dōjinshi art attend semiannual dōjinshi conventions, the largest of which is called Comiket (short for "Comic Market") held in the summer and winter in Tōkyō. Here, new and old dōjinshi alike are bought sold and traded by attendees. Dōjinshi artists are only allowed to print small numbers of books due to copyright laws. This makes a talented artist's or circle's dōjinshi a coveted commodity as only the fast or the lucky will be able to get them before they sell out. However, many dōjinshi artists are moving to online download and print-on-demand services, such as http://www.dlsite.com, http://www.dejipare.com/, and http://www.dojin-club.com/. Others are even beginning to distribute their works through American channels such as http://www.bdr517.com.
Over the last decade, the practice of creating dōjinshi has expanded significantly, attracting thousands of artists and fans alike. Advances in personal publishing technology have also fueled this expansion by making it easier for dōjinshi artists to draw, promote, publish, and distribute their works. For example, some dōjinshi are now published on digital media.
Perception
In Western cultures, dōjinshi is often perceived to be derivative of existing work, analogous to fanfiction. To an extent, this is true: some dōjinshi are parodies or alternative storylines involving the worlds of popular manga or anime series. However, many dōjinshi with completely original characters and storylines also exist.
Categories of dōjinshi
There are a few prevalent categories of dōjinshi. Seinen (青年, "young man") dōjinshi usually contain adult material and target adult males over 18. Yaoi and shōnen-ai dōjinshi feature male homosexuality and usually target adult women; yuri and shōjo-ai feature female homosexuality. Yaoi and yuri manga tend to include graphic depictions of sexual acts, whereas shōnen-ai and shōjo-ai are often milder in graphical content. Dōjinshi involving sexual themes is often referred to by fans as H-dōjinshi; the "H" comes from the Japanese word hentai (変態), meaning "pervert". Ippan (一般, meaning "general") dōjinshi do not contain adult material and are usually suitable for a broader range of audiences.
Dōjinshi sales
There is no set size for dōjinshi as each artist or circle is free to make it whatever size they want. Prices for dōjinshi can range from $1.00 USD to as much as several hundred dollars.
The largest American market for dōjinshi is eBay. Approximately 1,000 dōjinshi, often featuring sexual or romantic themes, can be found for sale at any given time. A single dōjinshi typically sells for between $10 and $25, though prices range into the hundreds of dollars for rarer articles. This is significantly higher than the typical secondhand price in Japan, which is typically 200 to 400 yen, or approximately US $2 to $4.
Many small websites offer dōjinshi for sale. These can be a great place to view nice scans of dōjinshi and get an idea of the artwork involved. Examples include DoujinshiPlanet.com (http://www.doujinshiplanet.com) .
Also worth mentioning are "CG Galleries", which dōjinshi artists frequently place online both as a catalogue of their commercial work and as a gallery of their personal artwork. Tinami (http://www.tinami.com), The Navigator of Manga Artists, is a large, indexed, searchable list of CG galleries.
Famous dōjinshi authors
- CLAMP started out as a dōjinshi group. Today, they are a well-known group among manga fans, and have their works regularly serialized in major publications in several countries, such as Japan and the United States. They also publish individual manga volumes.
See also
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