It’s an interesting proven fact that usually most widely used subculture is cooked up by somebody that seeks profit only, then is fed into a hungry young crowd of fans. This is not always true in Japan, though. The skill is perfect for the art’s sake is exactly what comic market followers are craving for.
Yoshishiro Yonezawa, a novelist, critic plus a passionate supporter of popular manga subculture, created a concept of founding a company, a niche which will be open for all the non-professional manga artists who form their particular circles called doujinshis to create manga mimic artwork and magazines (which are called doujinshis, too). The idea became extremely popular as Comiket, the most important comic market on the planet, takes place in Japan each for three days consecutively each time in the winter months plus summer. There are other than 35 thousand circles engaging along with sudden expenses millions of attendees.
It is a space where freedom of expression is preached on the large scale, and organizers never wanted so large a success with their creation. Before Comiket, the younger generation who studied in high school graduation or university, taken part in comic markets as amateurs, and ceased to join after graduation. However in mid-seventies this changed drastically. It had become not really a hobby, but a lifetime passion, as much artists got appreciation and followers due to a growing rise in popularity of doujinshi phenomenon. There are other than two thousand doujinshi markets taking place in Japan each year, and Comiket is by far the most used one.
The idea have spread beyond Japan as comic markets opened in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, China as well as Usa. The volume of doujinshi circles mushroomed as markets provided great opportunities for any large numbers of amateur artists and mangakas (manga artists).
First the predominant portion of doujinshis creators were women, about eighty percent. Within the 1980s more males became interested, now the ratio appears to favor female artists only slightly.
We conclude that doujinshi can be a visual cultural phenomenon which is shaped mostly by youth, yet its meaning and consequences have global importance.
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