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Transcript of Mantan Web, Mainichi Shimbun (2018 ... - research.tees.ac.uk€¦ · Web viewThis identifies a...
Doujinshi and Comiket, a day of ‘Hare’
Tara McInerney, Teesside University
January 18th 2019
Abstract
Since 1975, the increasing success of Comiket (Comic Market) stands testament to the
popularity of doujinshi in Japan.: At first attracting only 700 visitors, Comikeit now
attracts roughly one million visitors yearly, (Mantan 2016), with nine million doujinshi
sold per market (Comiket 2009). Meiji University’s Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial
Library is entirely dedicated to the collection and preservation of hundreds of thousands
of fancomics (Meiji University 2014) – their status elevated to that of high cultural and
historical worth, worthy of their own archive. Whilst doujinshi are now a valued
commodity, seen as inextricable from the manga industry, they are still categorically
illegal. Doujinshi (fan-comics) are hailed as the foundation of the Manga industry,
(Lessig 2004), supporting creative talent, craft tradition and financial revenue. There are
many practical legal defenses for doujinshi that are widely agreed upon, a symbiosis
that has been acknowledged by lawyers and academics, (Lessig 2010), creators and
fans (Akamatsu 2015; Yonezawa 1994) alike. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe (the Japanese PM) commented that doujinshi ‘operate in a different market’
(SGCafe 2016) to original manga, and therefore do not warrant litigation. These
arguments sit well with Japanese lawyers, but if doujinshi have proven so beneficial to
the Japanese comic industry, why are fan-comics shrouded in taboo in the West? Even
before one attempts to sell a fan-comic, the sheer creation of them is culturally shameful
– not a parody, but a soulless copy. In Japan there is a learning model of creating
utsushi (replicas) that functions through applied copying, used in traditional crafts such
as basket-weaving, lacquering and now, even manga (in the West we may liken it to
rote-learning or embodied learning). In light of utsushi, I aim to examine the boundary
between copying craft and copying ideas. I hope to explain the inextricability of learning
Manga as a visual language with learning storytelling through reappropriation of
archetypes and the folkloric tradition of the East. I aim to depict this cultural and
cognitive dissonance between Japan and the West, this disagreement of exactly what
constitutes a copy.
Keywords
Japan
doujinshi
fandom
copyright
prosumer
manga
Introduction
We live in a world that celebrates ‘property’. (Lawrence Lessig)
You must be watchful of a tree, not the forest, because the forest will be lost when all the
trees die. (Yonezawa 2005)
同人 (doujin): ‘same person’, refers to a group of people with shared interests.
誌 (shi): short for 雑誌 (zasshi), which means magazine.
Doujinshi (同人誌)どうじんし: a self-published magazine or publication that caters to a
specific group of people. (Tofugu Richey 2016)
This article aims to explain the phenomenon of doujinshi and their circulation through festivals
such as Comiket. The relationship between doujinshi culture and the Japanese manga industry
will be examined, and the benefits of this proactive fan-culture. Due to limited resources in the
field of doujinshi study, I have orchestrated a number of interviews that have been recorded by
documentarian Louis Francis, in addition to drawing from first-hand observations on research
trips to Japan in 2015 and 2017. The aforementioned primary research has formed the basis for
some conclusions throughout the article.
Doujin
Henry Jenkins said, ‘Star Wars becomes participatory culture the moment (in which) a kid
playing with an action figure begins to make up their own story’ (via Philippe 2010); indeed, this
state of playful creation – playing with the properties of another story – is necessary to create
independent fanworks. The specific state of creation here is not synonymous with nor is it
tethered by the need for originality. It could be argued that the various properties that fans play
with will shape part of their identity; these properties become the essential building blocks to
fans’ interests, outlooks and personalities. (Jones 2010). The assimilation of aspects of pop-
culture into identity, particularly in Japanese culture, is ‘the absorption of another personality
into one’s own personality’, throwing the concept of originality, uniqueness or indeed ownership
of identity into question (Ohnuki-Tierney 1987). From the Japanese perspective, ‘copying
facilitate(s) self-understanding’ (Ishibashi and Okada 201704: 6); this iterative process of self-
identification creates doujin, communities of like-minded people, often devout fans of a single
franchise (Tofugu Richey 2016). Doujin create fanwork within a state of creativity that is not at
the behest of original thought, but rather manipulates derivative content, transforming it to create
new stories and new meanings, much in the same vein as a remixed song or a collage (Noppe
2014). All fans are offered these ‘building blocks’ for self-identification, self-education and the
proliferation of doujin communities. However, the above benefits are compromised by the extent
to which fanwork is permitted; in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the
‘building blocks’ do not belong to the fans, whereas in Japan, to an extent, they do (Lessig
2002).
Through fans’ responsive play with modern media, culture and popular stories, they
emerge as storytellers and artists in their own right, with a keen understanding of the
contemporary context that they inhabit. This reflexive, iterative and observational process is an
effective form of learning visual creativity, copying and response (Ishibashi and Okada 201704:
6). Unfortunately, learning through imitation is perceived to be indicative of a lack of creativity,
particularly in Western culture (Guth 2010: 8). It has a few strongholds; the cover song, for
example – but even the once invaluable practice of the Renaissance atelier or master study is
now a kind of taboo. The atelier method emphasized the importance of the craft of painting,
instead of the ideas that the painting depicts – they would follow later (Macfarlane 2007: 6).
During a study of a master’s painting, an imitation of the idea was created as a byproduct of
studying the craft, but doujinshi artists are not simply imitating: they are transforming, elevating
and expanding upon stories. The fanwork is an ‘artform in and of itself, but what is under threat,
are the terms of our participation’ (Jenkins via Philippe 2010). Cory Doctorow also believes this;
he says that as fans, much like children, we are encouraged to play in a ‘sandbox’ (via Philippe
2010), which – while beneficial to honing creative skills – is simultaneously the place with the
strictest rules. Yet in Japan, fans’ creative play is protected by cultural mores (Mehra 2002: 39).
The cultural significance of doujinshi is evidenced through their enshrinement in purpose-built
edifices such as Meiji University’s Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library, where ‘hundreds of
thousands’ of Doujinshi are catalogued (Meiji University 2014). , whilstSimilarly, giant cultural
events such as Comiket, where approximately nine million doujinshi are sold per market (Koichi
2009) demonstrate that fan involvement is an irrevocable part of Japanese culture as a whole. .
Aside from solely satisfying fannish urges, doujinshi is seen to support the comic book industry
through creating artists and writers (Yonezawa via Koichi 2005; Lessig 2002), signal-boosting
fandoms and generating publicity for the source material (Mehra 2002: 39).
Doujin and Doujinshi
Doujinshi (or Dōjinshi) are Japanese fancomics and art books. They are sold at almost all comic
conventions in Japan (Noppe 2014). Indeed, some conventions such as Comiket and Comitia are
hosted specifically for the sale of doujinshi. Japanese fan-creations such as doujinshi are
invaluable to the manga and anime industry, to the extent that detailed popularity charts from
Comiket and websites such as Pixiv are used as forecasts for identifying popular franchises
(Loveridge 2017). This relationship was echoed by Comiket Committee member Yoshiyuki
Fudetani, who, at Comiket #93, remarked that industries and fans work in tandem and that for
this reason, companies are reluctant to prosecute fans (via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d,
2017e, 2017df). This is a singular phenomenon because whilst the Japanese copyright legislation
is nearly identical to that of the United States, Japanese authors, publishers and prosecutors alike
refuse to tackle the blatant infringement (Lessig 2002). Japan and the United States have
divergent cultural ideas of what constitutes reasonable and ‘unreasonable facsimiles’ (Schwartz
2014). The rationale behind this difference is that doujinshi is a boon for the comic book industry
in Japan (Mehra 2002: 48; Lessig 2002). Salil Mehra identified a ‘Japanese “fair use”’ (2002:
13), an ‘gentleman’s ‘agreement’ between fan and rights-owners – completely apart from the
western ideal of defendable fair use. The ‘gentleman’s is unspoken agreement’ (Lessig 2002) in
Japan at once allows for a limited mutually beneficial engagement with intellectual property
(Lessig 2002), but also prohibits the production of ‘copycat’ comics (Lessig 2002: 25). Mehra
echoes the opinion of many lawyers, publishers and academics, from both East and West, who
agree that the relationship of derivative fan-content with their supposed original Manga
properties is a symbiotic one. Even the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe commented that
doujinshi ‘operate in a different market’ (Abe via Stimson 2016) to original manga and therefore
do not warrant litigation. Abe also confirmed that ‘doujinshi […] are shinkokuzai’ (ANN in
Stimson 2016 n. pag), which, similar to the German Antragsdelikt, refers to illegal works that,
without complaint from the victim, cannot be prosecuted. In the United States doujinshi are often
referred to as ‘parody comics’ (Lessig 2002); this which may be an intentional misnomer to
defend doujinshi as parody work is usually permitted for sale under American law, whereas fan
comics are not. In Japanese culture and law, a definite distinction is drawn between parody and
fancomics, but unlike in the United States, where both fall within the terms of ‘fair use’.
The Oxford DictionaryLinda Hutcheon defines parody as an ‘ironic quotation, pastiche,
appropriation, or intertextualityimitation of the style of a particular writer, artist or genre with
deliberate exaggeration for comic effect’ (1989 :93), but yet the majority of doujinshi are not
ironic, but sincere creations. Nobuteru Yūki for example, began his authorial manga career as a
doujinshi-ka (doujinshi creator) and has since become director and character designer on an
impressive number of manga, anime, video game sequences and feature-length animations
including the popular The Vision of Escaflowne (1996) anime, the Cardcaptor Sakura 2 (2000)
films and Ragnarok Online (2002) video games. Despite his industry success, he has returned to
the creation of doujinshi, which curiously, are all based on the anime and manga that he has
officially worked on. Nobuteru creates unofficial work with his doujinshi circle ‘Man in The
High Castle’, producing publications such as the Escaflowne Fan Book that is so loyal in tone,
execution and appearance that it could be mistaken for original content (doujinshi.org). As a
result, Nobuteru’s doujinshi are some of his most famous work (Anon. 2006: 192).1
Nobuteru is not alone; Maki Murakami (Gravitation), Yoshihiro Togashi
(HunterXHunter) and Nanae Chrono (Peacemaker Kurogane) have all returned to and sold
doujinshi after publishing their own manga. Numerous doujinshi-ka claim that doujinshi is to
create content that would not be suited to conventional modes of publishing (Fudetani via
Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). Yuichi Abe (Director of Ultraman Zero The
Movie and Prince of Tennis) sells a variety of fan-films and fancomics, commenting that he
continues to produce unofficial works, explaining that he has greater freedom of expression in
his fan activity (via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). Harumo Sanazaki
(Bara no Kishi) has expressed that she is delighted to meet people who enjoy her personal work
and feels a kinship with them (via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). Their
responses reflect the intentions of Comiket laid out in their public statement, ‘Ideals and Vision’,
and the importance of community is epitomized in their slogan ‘Friendship Forever’
(Comiket.co.jp 2014). Yoshiyuki Fudetani (Comiket Committee Member) corroborated that
professionals returning to fanwork is a common occurrence and that as editor for the biweekly
serial Young King, he identified a rift between freedom of expression in self-published material
compared to that of official publications. He argued that the distinction between professional and
amateur is becoming less pronounced within the manga industry, stating that ‘some amateurs
have better skills than the pros’.2 Yonezawa also identified this destabilization of boundaries
between pro and amateur, citing high production value in amateur work (Koichi 2005), also
suggesting that the manga market may be moving away from the centralized control of
publishing houses (Lovink 2017).
Why respond?
There are widely understood and universal motives to create fanwork. Despite usually
being non-profit and often at the expense of the fan (in terms of time, money and stigma) – there
is the potential for pleasure and the potential to share their work with other like-minded fans
(Jenkins 1992; Fiske 198792). These rationales broadly apply to doujinshi, but there are other
reasons to create doujinshi that can be discerned due to the success of doujinshi within Japan,
such as the importance of freedom of expression, self-identification and the potential for self-
education.
In a 2017 interview with Keiko Takemiya (Terra E 1977-80) she described doujinshi as a
plaything, something created to satisfy one’s own desires, and yet in a conversation with Mitsuru
Sugaya (Game Center Arashi), he explained that doujinshi were also considered a fundamental
strategy for learning manga creation skills. Sugaya continued to explain that during his career as
a manga-ka, many of his colleagues created doujinshi openly; it seemed to him odd to pretend
that you could learn manga without imitating the work of others (Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017b,
2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f). The educational benefits that Sugaya mentions are evidenced by
Ishibashi and Okada (201704), who, through a series of controlled studies, have demonstrated
that adaptive copying from exemplar artworks (similar to atelier methodologies) proves
beneficial for creativity, additionally stating that the choices of exemplar works affect creator
self-identification. This is particularly pertinent, in the case of Sugaya’s best-selling manga
Game Center Arashi, in which the narrative relies upon remixing content and imagery from 80s
video games. The protagonist Ishino Arashi conquers video games closely resembling Space
Invaders (1978), Break Out (1976) and Galaxian (1979). Arashi is seen within the fabric of the
game itself, sometimes surrounded by 8-bit enemies, all illustrated by Sugaya. The above video
games were released within a two-year window of the initial run of this manga from 1978 to
1984 in the serial CoroCoro; these were first-in-the-field, groundbreaking video games, and
Sugaya extols the games for the significant influence that they had on the creation of Game
Center Arashi. Whilst Sugaya understands the inevitability of visual intertextuality between
comics, and the benefits of doujinshi to comic artists, other manga professionals such as Keiko
Takemiya are still somewhat critical of the place of doujinshi within the modern industry.
These interviews indicate that creators such as Sugaya see less of a dichotomy and more
of a permeable membrane between the roles of fan and creator, while some uphold the view that
the two roles are distinct. The view that fanworks are illegitimate forms of expression is an
exemplary effect of Lessig’s notion of a ‘read only’ culture, as opposed to a ‘read/write’ culture,
which enables ‘interest-based learning’ through creative response (2008: 80). Creators in other
countries, such as British comic author Alan Moore, have echoed this sentiment: ‘If the audience
knew what they needed, then they wouldn’t be the audience [] They would be the artists’
(Moore and Vylenz 2003). This overly axiomatic statement and the simplistic view that it
purports warrant scrutiny; the roles of ‘artist’ and ‘audience’ are of course performative, subject
to consolidation through ‘reiterative’ enactment, and therefore temporal (Butler 1993: xii). In
highlighting the temporality of these titles, their fluidity becomes apparent. This reflexive,
‘read/write’ (Lessig 2008) activity is seen prominently in the online fandom space, where images
can be viewed and ‘copied and dispersed at the flick of a finger’ (Steyerl 2015: 12). Abercrombie
and Longhurst echo this notion with their ‘diffused audience’ (1998: 39) model, suggesting that
being the audience is inescapable, we do so at every moment in the created world or the ‘world
of spectacles’ (1998: 83) one is a member of an audience. So, by this logic – whilst artists are not
creating, they are audience members – the boundaries destabilize. The statement ‘the audience
doesn’t know what the audience wants’, whilst pontifical, is indicative of a ‘read only’ (Lessig
2008) gap between audience and creators, who like ‘magicians’ (Moore and Vylenz 2003)
conceal their tricks from unenlightened onlookers.
A prime example of the Japanese perspective on this reflexive creativity is with the case
of Disney drawing inspiration from Osamu Tezuka’s manga, Kimba the White Lion (1950–54)
for their feature film The Lion King (Minkoff, Allers 1994) (Andersen 2012). TakaYūki
Matsutani, the director of the anime adaptation of Kimba the White Lion (1965), confirmed that
they would be ‘happy’ for Disney to have created been inspired by The Lion King derivatively,
which is perhaps significant of the greater Japanese perspective, this ‘gentleman’s ‘agreement’
(Mehra Mehra 2002: 39-4002) to borrow respectfully.3 Conversely, Disney is infamous for its
repertoire of copyright lawsuits, with the landmark Mickey Mouse Protection Act (1998) – but
there is a greater understanding in the Japanese creative industries that it is precisely this sharing
of culture that creates a functional ‘mythology’. Then stories become ‘emergent from life’; it is a
story without one ‘author’ (Barthes 1977). Further to the point of performativity, Barthes
explains this: ‘the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author’ (1977: 147–
48), which refers in a general sense back to the notions of creator and viewer – and they are
performative – only valid whilst being enacted, not static but fluid states. Barthes’ concept also
discloses that once creations are created, the creator ceases to exist – their purpose is nullified.
The creations then exist apart from their creator, the creation endures as a free agent and –
crucially to the question of doujinshi – the Death of the Author signifies that all works are
subject to response.
Doujinshi-ka as prosumers
Challenging the tension between artist and audience, creator and viewer, producer and
consumer – is the core principle of prosumerism (Toffler 1980). In The Third Wave (1980),
Alvin Toffler argues that consumers are a consequence of the Industrial Age and that with the
dawn of the Post-Industrial Age, consumers will be replaced by ‘prosumers’. Prosumers would
engage fully in the consumption and crafting of content, products and services. Toffler’s theory
has captured the imaginations of consumer behaviourists and marketing analysts – becoming
somewhat of a business buzzword. Whilst his conclusions are speculative and often
controversial, they are useful as a framework for assessing the functionality of this ‘hybrid
economy’ (Noppe 2014: 333) in Japan. Although the prosumer is often an individual, engaging
in prosumption from their ‘electronic cottage’ (1980: 10), these activities encapsulate the
‘read/write’ (Lessig 2008) phenomenon present in Japan’s thriving doujinshi culture. In the
specific case of doujin – as the definition of this word in English is (approximately) ‘people like
me’ – here, the sharing of works is not a transaction across boundaries of producer and
consumer, but a transaction within a larger body, a collective of like-minded individuals,
working towards the same goal. Toffler’s concept of the prosumer, whilst usually relevant to an
activity that is conducted by an individual, here, is relevant to the collective doujin working as an
individual whole.
Doujin communities have a firm idea of ‘what they want’. Neil Gaiman proposes that ‘...
fans know exactly what they want, fans want more of the last thing they read and they liked’ (via
Philippe 2010), which is true to some extent, although Jenkins contends with this by proposing
that fanwork is not simply a replica of the original as Gaiman suggests, but rather the result of
the ‘fascination’ and ‘frustration’ (Jenkins 2006a, 20066b) with the shortcomings of an original
work or to rectify the mistakes of the original. Ultimately, particularly in the case of doujinshi,
fans do want and will endeavour to create ‘more of the last thing […] they liked’, but often with
significant non-canonical alterations – such as romantic couplings (or ‘pairings’) (McLelland and
Welker 2015). Doujin who ship a specific romantic ‘pairing’ may take upwards of 300 tables at
Comiket; in the case of slash pairing Viktor Nikiforov/Yuuri Katsuki from the anime Yuuri!!! on
Ice (2016), this pairing amassed 150 tables (Comiket Catalog #93, 2017), carrying the work of
300 different circles, with several artists in each circle. This case supports Jenkins’ claim, as
within the official main narrative of Yuuri!!! on Ice, the romantic pairing of Viktor
Nikiforov/Yuuri Katsuki is narratively canon, and yet the pinnacle of these characters’ romantic
encounters was a frustratingly uncertain kiss. It is perhaps then no coincidence that the majority
of the material on sale at Comiket #93 was explicit in nature (Comiket Catalog #93, 2017). This
identifies a strong mutual awareness of specific desires within the doujin community, in addition
to supporting Jenkins’ assertion that fans create fanwork to fix perceived shortcomings of the
original source material (19922006).
Figure 1: Scan of Comiket Catalog 93 Map depicting East Hall with tables dedicated to Yuuri!!! On Ice. B5 publication, 1309 pages. 2017 © Comiket
Doujin circles such as OJmomo produce doujinshi for the Yuuri!!! on Ice fandom, which
are visually professional publications, utilizing production techniques common to popular
manga. As Yuuri!!! on Ice is an original anime with no previous manga release, the subsequent
doujinshi undergoes a form shift, from screen to paper, anime to manga doujinshi. Explicit
doujinshi such as OJmomo’s Waking or Sleeping must negotiate loyalty to the original anime
canon, whilst incorporating the explicit ‘genre-specific’ narrative features of yaoi manga that do
not feature in the original narrative (Mizoguchi 2008: 152). In stylistic terms, Yuuri and Viktor
in Waking or Sleeping are illustrated to evoke the visual aesthetic of ‘bishounen’ comics.
Bishounen manga, which depicts beautiful boys who possess exceptional physical beauty, are
majorly made by and made for a female readership (Mizoguchi 2008: vii). The original anime,
Yuuri!!! on Ice, depicts Viktor and Yuuri more modestly – so whilst the ‘bishounen’ aesthetic is
common to official works within the boys love genre (McLelland and Walker 2015), within boys
love unofficial works it is a common embellishment, often accentuated beyond that of the source
material. The similarities between the anime and subsequent doujinshi by OJmomo are broadly
apparent in the anatomical proportion of the characters’ bodies and line art, while some
embellishments such as the ‘bishounen’ aesthetic and ‘genre-specific’ narrative are fan-
orchestrated. It is the responsibility of the doujinshi-ka to negotiate their ‘affinity and loyalty’ to
the original source material (Lamerichs 2007: 11), whilst devising content (both visual and
narrative) to satisfy their own discontent with the original (Jenkins 1992). ‘Mere copyists’
doujinshi-ka are not (Lessig 2002), but rather negotiators of their own enjoyment and ‘creative
learning process’ (Lamerichs 2007: 59).
Figure 2: Scan from OJmomo’s doujinshi Waking or Sleeping - Yuuri!!! On ICE Unofficial Fanbook #09 - OJmomo / yoshi - Independent publication - Released: 30/12/2017 - © OJmomo / yoshi
A main tenet of prosumerism is that in a third-wave society, the exchange of currency
will be minimized or compromised (Toffler 1980: 11). Whilst Toffler’s prosumer model very
closely reflects doujinshi industry, it would be fallacious to suggest that doujinshi festivals are
exclusively non-financial ventures. Comiket alone attracts 550,000 visitors biannually, making it
the largest comic convention, of any kind, in the world (Mantan 2016, CComiket.co.jp 2008) and
single-issue doujinshi are indeed sold – they can be sold from anywhere between 200 and 1000
yen on average (currently, £1.31–£6.56). Originally, early doujinshi would be exclusively printed
as anthologies of work from one specific doujin circle; this was a financial inevitability to cut
production costs due to limited and costly printing methods in Japan, before wider
commercialized printing (Sugaya viain Francis 2017a). Production costs of modern doujinshi are
relatively low as their typical format is B5, with approximately 26 pages. In addition, as
doujinshi rarely resemble a usual perfect-bound manga tankoubon (B6 with 100+ pages) there is
no aim to imitate the original product here. Fudetani claims, quoting the Comiket ‘ideals and
vision’, that the priority of Comiket is for attendees to collectively enjoy a ‘Day of Hare’, free
from everyday responsibilities, that there are no customers or vendors at Comiket, but rather
‘participants’, furthermore suggesting that the majority of circles price their goods to cover only
production and time costs (Fudetani via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d, 2017e, 2017f) (see
endnote 2). This de-emphasis on financial exchange within doujinshi festivals such as Comiket
and the forcible removal of consumer/producer roles mimic Toffler’s definition of prosumerism.
In The Third Wave – Toffler unveils a society that promotes the exchange of information without
monetary consequence, a society that is simultaneously ‘primordial’ whilst equipped with ‘high-
technology’ (1980: 276); the digital software and hardware that a vast majority of doujinshi
exploit reflects this scenario. He posits too that prosumerism supports communities: the ability
for fans with ‘similar interests’ to be ‘dialled up instantly from anywhere in the country’ will be
a great force to sustain prosumer activity, and so by this assertion, Comiket’s emphasis on
participation, like-mindedness and creativity helps to ‘sustain and enrich’ these doujin
communities (1980: 374).
Education circles
Comiket was started by the doujinshi circle Meikyu (迷宮) in 1975, which began as a
group for studying the works of various manga artists, including famous shoujo manga-ka Moto
Hagio (Osaka 2009). These study circles now total 35,000 per event (Comiket.co.jp 2008) – and,
as previously stated, are used as predictors by the anime and manga industries to judge
popularity and trends in franchises, an invaluable gauge. These educational ‘circles’ are similar
to the atelier method in their aims, their methods and the size of the group. The atelier was the
standard vocational method for artists from the middle ages to the nineteenth century, similarly
imitating the works of a chosen master, in a similarly small group, similarly for the learning
outcomes of improving one’s craft skill. Moreover, these workshops would generate
communities through a ‘multi-layered process of socialization’ much in the way that today’s
Japanese circles generate fanatic communities. This is the basis of Japanese utsushi, copying
until craft becomes rote, second nature – and only recently seeing a resurgence in western
educational institutions under the titles ‘embodied’ or ‘rote learning’ (Guth 2010: 10).
Another reason for doujinshi is the platform for skill enhancement and language
acquisition that it provides in comparison to the scarce institutional education routes for aspiring
manga professionals (Suan via Francis 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017cd, 2017e, 2017f). College and
university comics courses have been taught in American educational institutions since the 1940s
with the School of Visual Arts NYC, in 2004 with the Center for Cartoon Studies and much
later, in the 2000s comics courses gained popularity in the United Kingdom and Japan.
Traditionally and for the most part, the Japanese route to professional manga authorship is via
doujinshi (in English; fancomics); they are hailed as the foundation of the manga industry
(Lessig 2002; Tofugu Richey 2016; Japan Times 2014) due to doujinshi’s positive effect on
creative talent, craft tradition and financial revenue. Established manga-ka such as Akamatsu
Ken (Love Hina, Negima!, UQ Holder) argues that ‘The larger a pool of amateurs there is, the
better professional artists’ skills get’ (Akamatsu via Green 2015).
Even when for non-profit purposes, the very creation of fanwork is culturally shameful –
not a parody, but an unoriginal, soulless, self-serving copy. As Christine Guth explains, in the
Western countries, copying (in craft or content) signifies ‘lack of imagination and slavish
devotion to the past’ (2010: 8). This is reflected in British opinion of the Japanese in the 1900s,
one British Diplomat stating that ‘the Japanese never originated anything’ – and the Japanese
were discounted as a ‘society of copyists’ (Schwartz 2014: 303). To understand the western idea
of the copy – and the stigma attached – it is important to consider the opposite – originality.
Schwartz unveils a particularly ‘atlantocentric’ and ‘racist’ western notion of originality that
stands in opposition to Japanese ‘copyists’ (2014: 303) based on their eminent borrowing of
American technologies in alignment with Meiji’s Wakon Yosai principle (Japanese Spirit,
Western Technology) (2014: 301). The learning outcomes for creative courses across the United
Kingdom, particularly at the highest level of achievement, will use the term ‘originality’ or
‘innovation’ (QAA 2017: 11). Originality is prized as a standard of creative fluency, of
professionalism within the arts – but what is the cost of preoccupation with the original? Barthes
proposed that destroying ‘every point of origin’ (1972: 2) creates a mythology – and in the
classical sense, a mythology is upheld by oral tradition. This would be a mythological canon
dependent not just on the interaction of its audience, but on the interpretation and appropriation
of its contents – subject to alteration through centuries of imperfect verbal recounting. In this
vein, destroying the idea of the origin (or original) could create the foundations for a fully
responsive, reflexive, creative community (Hoare 2001: 15). As American and British copyright
laws are ‘based on the charming notion that authors create something from nothing’ (Litman
1990: 1), there is limited potential for self-actualization and self-education through the creation
of fancomics outside of Japan’s fruitful ‘hybrid economy’ (Noppe 2014).
There are many examples of scenarios in Japan where the fandom is not simply tolerated
– but encouraged to flourish. These digital or physical environments are created for the express
purpose of facilitating the fandom – we will call these affinity spaces (Gee 2004), of which
Comiket is a prime example. Its late president, Yoshihiro Yonezawa, also identified the
importance of supporting this particular type of creativity:
‘[] making a fanzine was like a one-step method to become professional.’
(昔はプロになるためのワンステップみたいな形で同人誌はあったと思う
んです。)
‘By continuing to provide this kind of space, I want to support new artists/writers,
I want to support hand-drawn work.’
(このような場を用意し続けることで、新たな作家が出てきてほしい、描
き手が出てきてほしい。). (Koichi 2005)
He identifies the link between learning from copying and becoming a ‘professional’, particularly
highlighting that apart from Comiket, perhaps that place does not – or did not – exist. This
echoes antiquated methods of learning: the master-study in renaissance painting, even the cover
song – a mode of learning and appreciation that persists today. This ‘skill at doubling’ (Schwartz
2014: 301) is particular to Japan; across many Japanese disciplines it would seem that copying is
the ideal method of adapting oneself to a task, to learn a new skill. This ideology can be
discerned in martial arts, lacquering, Buddhist practices, Tea Ceremonies (Chanoyu), Japanese
Traditional Painting (Nihonga), textiles – and across most – if not all – Japanese traditional craft.
Guth noted that ‘copying should be interpreted in relational terms’ (2010: 8), that perhaps
copying to learn a craft is unavoidable, but copying in other areas must be approached
differently. Yonezawa echoes this notion in his declaration that a simple ‘copycat’ will be
prohibited from selling at Comiket, and also, to not create a ‘feature-length’ story that might
overshadow the original source material (Koichi 2005). However, Manga, as a culturally
significant visual practice, has always been subject to ‘embodied learning’ (Schenk 2013) – the
idea of sensory or kinaesthetic imitation to understand a practice or craft. A manga-ka, for
example, may employ a host of artists for jobs such as inking, shading, screen-toning – all of
which must be learnt first-hand from the original manga-ka, through imitation; Guth explains this
as ‘copying the actions of a master until these become second nature’ (2010: 8).
Outside of Japan, the traditional and revered method of ‘utsushi’ (learn by reiteration)
(Guth 2010: 8) for teaching Karate, for example, is somewhat derisively considered ‘autocratic’
(Callej 2001) as it offers little room for personal interpretation. Wado-Ryu Karate Master
Hironori Ohtsuka’s writings on ‘kata’ and ‘igata’ explain that ‘igata’ was dead form, pure copy,
stiff, rigid and prone to shatter, whilst ‘kata’ is an interpretation of the original, it is living,
something mutable and applicable – like water around a rock (Shaw 2008). Ohtsuka describes
‘kata’ in the same way that Jenkins describes fanwork as ‘a living, evolving thing, taking on its
own life, one story building on another’ (2006a, 2006b: 256). Therefore, this divide between
what constitutes original and derivative is not purely a geographical or a cultural one, but is a
divide that exists within Japanese ideology too, although in Ohtsuka’s writing represents perhaps
a more reflexive, interpretational relationship with the copy. Indeed, the more masterful Japanese
craftspeople will purport the importance of self-expression – but in conjunction with periods
copying and learning first-hand from one’s sensei (Guth 2010: 15). This comes full circle to
Yonezawa’s claim that Comiket benefits new writers and artists by providing a safe platform to
express themselves as individuals – ‘kata’, after learning through ‘utsushi’ – studying and
copying their favourite artists and manga-ka (Koichi 2005).
In Japan this learning model of creating utsushi – or replicas – a method that functions
through applied copying (Guth 2010: 8), is used in traditional crafts such as basket-weaving,
lacquering and now, manga. Following Guth’s assertion that all copying must be ‘considered in
relational terms’, from a practical perspective, replicating the form and techniques of comic-art
without the content is not only incredibly droll – its benefits are limited. As Scott McCloud
claims (in the McLuhanesque vein), the form, ‘the vessel’ (1993: 6), should be crafted bespoke
to its content – the medium is the message. So what good, when practicing for communication, is
practicing the medium alone? It is practicing the words of a language without stringing together
coherent sentences – an inextricability of form and content.
The ideological conflict can be Despite Neil Gaiman’s previous quote (and the fact that
he does not read fanfiction); he asserts that ‘that all writing is useful for honing writing skills’ –
whether it is writing a novel or ‘Smeagol-Gollum slash’, it still encourages ‘learning as a writer’
(2012). Both he and Alan Moore share a similar opinion on the fan; Gaiman has said that the
author is not the fan’s ‘bitch’ (2009), that they should leave the author ‘alone’ (via Philippe
2010), whilst Moore states that creators are ‘magicians’ and that not everyone is capable of
magic (via Moore and Vylenz 2003). Their opinion differs, however, in the case of fan-response,
when Gaiman says transformative works are ‘an absolutely cool and legitimate response’. Moore
suggests, rather derogatively, that derivative work is a ‘kind of incest’ or ‘inbreeding’,
completely devoid of ‘imagination’ (via Smith in Moore 2011), proposing the fanwork as an
illegitimate form of self-expression or even self-development.
Despite Moore’s harsh claims, a great deal of his own material is transformative, and I
will contend, fanwork by definition. His publication Lost Girls is a comic that taps into European
folk stories from the public domain, pornographizes them and offers them up in a mid-century
time frame. It is the epitome of a fanwork; it features Alice from Lewis Caroll’s Alice in
Wonderland, Dorothy Gale from Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and Wendy Darling from J.M
Barrie’s Peter Pan. Whilst Lewis Caroll embraced the transformation of his work, with over 200
adaptations being released twenty years after its initial publication, Alan Moore evidently does
not, to the extent that fans are, to him, ‘emotionally subnormal’ (Moore via Flood 2014).
Moore’s bibliography is awash with derivations, including not only Lost Girls, but From Hell,
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Miracleman, Watchmen, as examples. His acclaimed
Watchmen comic, which is a self-professed critique of the superhero, stars a host of anti-heroic
superheroes, based on ‘Action hero’ characters featured in the Charlton Comics (Moore via
Cooke 2000). Not to mention that his most famous work, V For Vendetta is based on the story of
Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot of 1605. Much like doujinshika in Japan, Alan Moore has
been the audience of – and found inspiration from – a plethora of stories, and has then proceeded
as creator to author his own derivative, transformative works. All the aforementioned works are
highly original in their own right, but could not exist without its source texts. Like doujinshi,
these publications all blur the audience/artist dichotomy absolutely.
Moore’s work elucidates irrespective of the harsh opinions that he harbours, derivative
work is absolutely ineludible. Creativity is a conversation, and in the response there is growth as
nothing exists, nor can anything be created in a vacuum (Lessig 20027). Lawrence Lessig
proposes that this is the natural course of creativity and always has been. It is only in the twenty-
first century that this natural course has been disrupted (Lessig 2002: 37) – moving from what he
calls a ‘read/write’ culture to a ‘read-only existence’. Yet, without a wider understanding of
usage rights – creators have little self-defence in their output. Jenkins contends also that – as is
the case in Japan – larger corporations with the means to do so must allow the fans some
ownership of the intellectual property within legally sequestered franchises such as Star Wars
(2006a, 2006b: 21).
Conclusion
The significance of doujinshi, cosplay and merchandise for the manga industry in Japan is that
manga is completely integrated into Japanese contemporary culture like ‘air’ (Kinsella, 2000: 4).
Manga is a 420 billion yen ($5.5bn; £3.3bn) industry circa 2009 (Syed 2011) compared to the
$870 million American comic book industry of the time – evidencing the respective cultural
importance of comics. In addition, the decline in sales via the direct market of single-issue
comics in the West highlights a need for strategic change (Macdonald 2018), not just of how
comics are marketed, but the liberties that fans are given to respond. Considering that Japan was
a party to the Berne Convention in 1899, its copyright and intellectual property laws are in sync
with most other industrially developed countries, and yet evidently, they are enacted in different
ways. In the United States, from 2011 fancomics/doujinshi have been banned from conventions
altogether, despite 16 per cent of the United States’ GDP in 2014 being attributed to derivative
works – equalling 5.6 trillion dollars (Computer & Communications Industry Association
[CCIA] 2017). Japanese artists and publishers know that prohibiting doujinshi would ‘alienate
their consumer base’ (Tofugu Richey 2016) and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expresses that the
relationship is economically sustainable. This suggests that the convergent approaches have
cultural differences at their core, not legal ones, particularly with respect to learning approaches
and idea generation. Western and Japanese legal structures – whilst similar, are behaving
differently here in response to similar issues, which may suggest a more holistic explanation of
events. ‘Culture influences law’ (Varner and Varner 2014: 1), especially in the case of Japanese
fan-culture; the positive correlation between the industry and the fan industry highlights the need
for this fan participation for industry growth in the West too.
Fan work is necessary for industry growth, it is necessary for the kindling of fan
communities and it is necessary for the comprehension of working methodologies. The
educational empowerment of fan-artists of all kinds will coincide with a move towards a
‘multitude of singularities’ (Lovink 2017: 170) where creative control is ‘decentralized’
(McLuhan 1964: 55).
Afterword
This article is part of a larger vein of research that has taken me to Japan twice to delve into the
culture surrounding doujinshi. Many of the quotes in this text are from recorded interviews
conducted over December 2017 and will become available in documentary format by December
2019 through Optic Nerve Films.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to The Daiwa Foundation and Newcastle University for funding the research;
Christine Guth, David Crowley for their guidance; Yūki Tsujita, Yukari Yoshihara for their help
and guidance in Japan; Keiko Takemiya, Tomoko Yamada, Mitsuru Sugaya, Chie Kutsuwada,
Harumo Sanazaki, Ai Takita-Lucas, Stevie Suan, for their insightful and comprehensive
interviews; and Louis Francis for filming and organizational assistance in this undertaking.
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Contributor details
Tara McInerney is a Visual Storyteller who currently lecturesand Senior Lecturer in
Ccomics and Graphic Novels at Teesside University. She specializes in Manga,
fan studies and LGBT studies, and her visual sequential work combines fiction
with her academic interests. Most recently she has been testing the applications
of the ‘self-insert’ in queer (or ‘slash’) fanfiction as a method for critical self-
authorship of identity. She has exhibited internationally and has resided in
Birmingham, Limerick, Calpe, Cardiff, Kyoto, London and now, Newcastleis
currently working on a feature-length documentary examining Japanese doujinshi
culture. She studied at Cardiff School of Art and Design and gained earned an a
mastersMA degree in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art,
London.
Contact:
Tara McInerney, 61 High Quay, City Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear,
NE12PD, United Kingdom.School of Computing, Media and the Arts, Teesside
University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX
E-mail: [email protected]
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8195-6706https://orcid.org/
Notes
1 Nobuteru Yūki explains on his personal website that some of his unofficial doujinshi for
productions that he worked on such as Keiko Takemiya’s ‘To the Earth’ (Terra E) work would be
sold out by 1 p.m. at comic conventions, such as Comic City in Osaka
(http://web.archive.org/web/20080503094840/http://www.ac.cyberhome.ne.jp/~say/hall.html,
accessed 22 December 2017).
2 The filmed interview with Comiket Committee Member Yoshiyuki Fudetani was conducted at Big
Sight Convention Centre, Tokyo, on 29 December 2017 and is confirmed on the official Comiket
Website (URL below). It is pending official video release in December 2019, whilst a trailer for the
upcoming documentary will be available late 2018
(http://www.comiket.co.jp/info-a/TAFO/C93/C93collectings.html, accessed 1 January 2018).
3 The full sentiment of Takayūki Matsutani is as follows:
If Disney took hints from ‘The Jungle Emperor’ [by the cartoonist Osamu Tezuka in making
Disney’s ‘The Lion King,’] our founder, the late Osamu Tezuka, would be very pleased by
it. Rather than filing a claim, we would be very happy to know that Disney people saw
Tezuka’s work. (Takayūki Matsutani, President, Tezuka Productions in Mehra 2002)