Wired Examines Dojinshi
In the November 2007 issue of Wired, they look into self-published, fan created manga. The term for this is dojinshi. Markets for dojinshi started in the 1970s and have grown ever since. One of the largest dojinshi conventions is Tokyo Big Sight. Blatant copyright infringement goes on left and right. Most of the material is taken and modified from copyrighted works.
According to the article, there’s a popular phrase “anmoku no ryokai” which means “unspoken agreement.” As long as the artists don’t go too far (publishing too many copies) the publishers won’t crack down on the artists.
The publishers see this group of amatuer artists as sort of a farm system for the next generation of artists and they don’t want to destroy this resource. Plus, they think dojinshi might even increase sales of the original product.
I encourage you to check out the article. This is an interesting look into copyright and how both consumers and businesses might win if businesses take a look at the big picture before considering a more hard-lined approach to copyright enforcement.
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[Wired]
Interesting. I wish this type of thing would take off here. There are some but unfortunately most of it is garbage, yet somehow people like it. I don’t get some of the anime fans out here.