Moving from the Commercial vs Doujin Dichotomy to the Open-area Public vs Closed-space Private Spectrum

I wrote a lengthy discourse on the nature of doujinshis in 2013.
“Reexamining the role of Doujishi in 2013” (Japanese only)
10 years have passed by since then.

In the past, it was fairly easy to divide the world of Japanese manga, anime, video games into the realms of commercial publishing and doujinshi publishing. One is corporate while the other is more private, limited in reach and less commercialized. But after many years of how numerous Internet firms have drastically changed the creative landscape, plus the tectonic shifts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, I feel this dichotomy must be reevaluated.

It is my opinion that the biggest change is related to how the creative platforms and their respective audiences are not tethered to each other as strongly as they were before. In the past, not only would each magazine would have their own communities, but those who sought a deeper interaction with manga, anime, and video game community would commonly dive into the world of doujinshis.

• Large mass media commercial publications – Audiences all over the nation would feel a loose sense of interconnection.
• Specific genre specialist publications – Communities would form around the publication and/or each genre.
• Large scale doujinshi marketplaces – A sense of interconnection was established between people that regularly attended the events and helped foster an well-established community.
• School clubs and small local community publications – While they might be small in scale, they have protected a sense of community that is all their own.

Among those listed above, the relationship between the commercial publishing and the doujinshi realm stands out the most—Both have influenced each other, yet managed to keep themselves relatively distinct.

There is a tendency for authors to pursue different inclinations depending on which medium they employ—going though a commercial publication versus doing a doujinshi. Furthermore, the readers’ expectations are different depending on if they enjoying a commercial or doujinshi publication. Even with regards to the copyright policies and corporate perspectives, doujinshi are many times treated as a tolerated existence within certain limitations, and very rarely have the doujinshi world conceptualized as a threat to the commercial publishing sphere.

But as the Internet enjoyed greater popularity, the bonds that tethered communities to each platform became increasingly less strong. Originally, doujinshi’s status was that of a method of expression reserved for individuals to engage in avocational activities, and thus the realm was expected to act as a platform that would enable authors and readers to pursue creations that cannot easily exist within the confines of commercial publishing.

But as with the advent of Twitter and YouTube, it has become possible for individuals to disseminate their creations to a global audience effortlessly and easily with little interference. Not only did it become possible for someone to create material that traditional commercial mediums never contemplated before, but they could create vast and loose communities with themselves in the center. If you were to use the old analogies, people were now empowered with a platform that could encompass wide audiences, a domain previously exclusive to mass media, but at the same time build strong communities around themselves, which was something that was relatively unique to the doujinshi realm.

Thus I believe it might prove more useful to contemplate the creative media landscape not only in terms of the commercial versus doujin dichotomy but to one that incorporates an open-area public versus closed-space private spectrum.

The open-area public creative sphere has traditionally been considered the mainstay of commercial publishing and other elements of mass media, but technology now enables individuals to independently pursue such prospects, and in fact, this is something that many people are actively engaging in right now.

A closed-space private realm is not one that is guarded by somebody like a secret society, but rather, a creative space comprised of numerous like-minded individuals that share their private realms with one another. Even while this private realm might physically be hosted within a public space (e.g. a corporate Internet platform,) entering this distinct and unique community entails some degree of effort and understanding.

I want to reiterate here that it is not easy to draw a line between open-area public creative realms with the close-space private creative realms. The difficulty here mirrors how it is sometimes hard to demarcate mainstream culture from their subcultures, but I believe it is possible to differentiate the open-area public from the close-space private by understanding the self-awareness of the actors and identifying the intent of the creations. Furthermore, there are numerous layers that divide these two spheres of creative endeavors. The spectrum is a gradation and a creator is not forced to totally choose one over another. There can be instances where the work and/or entire genre might shift its position over time.

I believe importance should be placed on trying to identify if a work aspires to reach a wide audience and be shared by many, or if the creation of the work is aware of a private space and intends to pursue its own unique set of values, and thus be part of a sandbox that the creators and the audience can enjoy. Please be reminded that these goals may not be mutually exclusive. But I do believe that most creations are born of a choice to concentrate on one element over the other. In the former, the creator does not question being part of the wide-open world, while in the later, the constructs their own world and is unafraid if others do not share his or her vision.

I am sorry that I jumped to ahead to reach this conclusion, but the rationale behind this analysis is based on the fact that the ideals revolving around the commercial publishing versus doujinshi publishing remains surprisingly resilient in Japan despite the fact how drastically the anime, manga and video game landscape has changed.

In other words, aspects which are commonly associated to the doujinshi community, e.g. building communities around an individual, engaging in inside jokes, prioritizing self-satisfaction, and pursuing creations that are not tolerated within commercial mass media, is actively being created and shared through corporate online sharing platforms such as YouTube and pixiv, as well via online subscriptions platforms such as Fantia, Patreon, and pixivFANBOX, going well beyond what is traditionally conceptualized as being part of the doujinshi realm. If one were to follow the older definitions and theoretical constructs, any creative endeavor that takes advantage of a public and corporate platform should be identified as belonging to the commercial realm. But the legacies of commercial versus doujin conceptualization endures in numerous different ways, and thus I believe it is fair to say that the goal of creating works that are not confined by profits-driven corporate interests and enjoying them like-minded individuals has been transplanted into new platforms and continues on.

In summation, the differentiation between the commercial from the doujinshi realms continue on even today in some fashion, and it is the platforms that have changed the most. The open-area public versus closed-space private spectrum helps appreciate how the previous dichotomy adapted to new technology.

As generative AI becomes more advanced, we can expect a situation where the independent agency of a creative work will be threatened more and more. As it stands, the assumption that a creative work came into being through the efforts of a person can no longer be assumed to be true. But as long as people remain people, I believe the psychological hunger to join bonds and share ideals will remain intact. It is my belief that audience will remain curious not only in the work but of the author behind the work, and communities will continue to form revolving this interest. In the future, as the status of the author becomes more important than the work, and the community surrounding the author may win higher acclaim, and thus I believe it is only natural that the closed-space private realm will considered ever more important.

When everything is shared via the online networks, where the veracity and authenticity of what is shared is questioned, we cannot avoid the question of whether something anachronistic as doujinshis can still retain its validity. Can there be a rationale for doujinshi to exist that goes beyond its far-reaching freedoms that enable parodies to exist? I believe it can, as it can be the ultimate conduit through which people who share similar hobbies and values can offer creations to anyone that wishes to partake in this semi-private and yet commons like sandbox playground—The realm of closed-space private expressions.

Just as the zine culture was rediscovered recently in the English-speaking world, I believe there is a valid role for doujinshis in the wired world. The key, I believe, is to understand what role communities will play in the creative landscape in the future.