Doujinshi Essay

“Aww man, the series is over already!?” Im sure this has gone through many viewers’ minds after an awesome series has ended with the final episode. Many viewers wish that the show was continuing or that at least their favorite characters hooked up, but usually that isn’t the case. But what if, by chance, that it was? Doujinshi are just that. Doujinshi are amateaur or professional magazine, most often manga, published independently by a group of fans. (Galbraith) Die hard fans who want a story to continue after it officially ends create doujinshi, in various ways. Some take characters from established series and place them in new stories, alternative couplings, parallel worlds, or involved in more sexual encounters that were never intended by

Daniel H. Pink suggests that “anmoku no ryokai is the heart of a new business model because allowing consumers to produce keeps fans interested in the work, cultivates new talent in amateur artists, and provides free market research on what is popular and what people want.” (Galbraith) Also according to Yasuhiro Arai, author of Copyright Infringement as user Innovation, “anime and may other industries can benefit from doujinshi. The doujinshi markets provide a possible source of talented creators, serve to promote the sales of original works, and provide new styles and ideas that can be incorporated in commercial anime and manga.” (Arai) Arai also argues that “the weak incentive of copyright holders to litigate has caused the positive externalities of doujinshi to become relatively large and thereby stimulated the creation of new styles and ideas by Sakuru, which have enhanced international competitiveness in Japanese anime and manga industries.” (Arai) Keiji Takeda, another main organizer of Japan’s doujinshi gatherings, has this to say on the topic, “ the doujinshi are creating a market base, and that market base is naturally drawn to the original work. This is where we are finding the next generation of authors. The publishers understand the value of not destroying that, and as the manga weeklies falter and decline, new talent is more important than ever.” (Pink) Anmoku no ryokai is not just a deft way to avoid conflict, it is also a business