• If you're here for vtubers, I highly recommend you go to The Virtual Asylum instead.
    They'll love you there

NSFW [Lolicon History] Fusion Product Lolita/Bishoujo Special Edition [Translation]

NSFW

Hexasheep93

varishangout.com
Regular
You probably alreasy explained it in another post but what does SF mean?

Also, cant educational or academic institutions get access to the banned material? I guess Im thinking in the same way universities here in the west can apply to get access to nazi or other extreme writings and paraphernallia for the purposes of research and conservation.

Also as a little aside. What do you make of that video vice released a few days ago?
 

Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
You probably already explained it in another post but what does SF mean?

Also, cant educational or academic institutions get access to the banned material? I guess Im thinking in the same way universities here in the west can apply to get access to nazi or other extreme writings and paraphernallia for the purposes of research and conservation.

Also as a little aside. What do you make of that video vice released a few days ago?
SF=Science Fiction
I'm going to feel foolish if I were to learn this abbreviation is no longer common knowledge in English... Out of curiosity, what did you think SF stood for?

You would have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me about your second question. Normally everything published, even if it's by a private publisher, has to be submitted to the National Diet Library. However, the catch-rate for sub-culture magazines is low. It used to be a researcher could borrow a book and read it in a separate room, but from what I understand, the Ministry of Justice made it so people can no longer do this, and when you search the name for certain books in the National Diet Library, you won't find these books. No one knows if they've been destroyed, or whether someone submitted them to the library in the first place.

I haven't seen the VICE video. Does it say anything more profound than the previous hit-piece by the BBC?
I looked it up in Japanese and noticed at least the segments being discussed aren't treading any arguments that are intelligent or new (why interview a male mangaka creating comics for adults rather than someone like Takeuchi Naoko creating manga for girls when discussing the topic of normalising taboo sexual relations between an adult and a minor?). So I did some digging and translated a blog post by Igarashi Megumi (Wikipedia). She's the manga artist who got arrested for creating a kayak modelled after a 3D scan of her vagina and became a feminist; however, after leaving Japan, she realised she didn't have much in common with many western feminists who are no better than tyrannical authoritarian moralists.



Source: ろくでなし子 2020 January 1st (Internet Archive)

What I Think of People Who Mock Japan as a 'Hentai Lolicon Superpower' and Debase it as a Wicked Country.


Happy New Year.

Living in Ireland, I'm also spending my New Years at a Manga café with Omochi in hand.

Well, even on New Year's Eve when the new year begins, people are clamouring to complain about my tweets on Twitter. On the topic concerning the 'good security of Japan'.

In Japan, Moe-style Anime posters are hanging everywhere throughout the city and magazines with questionable covers are remorselessly being sold in convenience stores, and feminists are shouting 'sexual exploitation of women and children! Environmental sexual harassment!' and foreign media are mocking us as a Hentai Lolicon Superpower. Recently, voices were raised lamenting that in the Global Gender Gap Index 2019, our country is ranked the lowest at 121st place.

Back when I was living in Japan, I also thought Japan had a low cultural level while Europe and America were advancing nicely. However, after living in Europe and raising my children, I noticed something.


Japan is full of so many questionable things, so why is it incredibly safe?


Children in Japan aren't obligated to be accompanied by a guardian when going to school, and it is normal for children to go to school alone or in groups with other children. It's normal for parents to let their children play in the park or run errands for them.

Overseas, children are expected to be accompanied by their guardian at all times. For example, even in supposedly nice and safe areas where all the embassies of the world are lined up, there are muttering drunks, drug addicts, and perverts bumbling about. Pickpockets, purse-snatchers, and robbers are commonplace, and crimes are committed around the corner.

Now that these feelings have become a matter of fact for me, it makes me shudder just thinking about back when I, myself, was a child going out to play alone and returning home on the dark roads by myself. Tentatively, I googled the crime rate in Japan, and according to the UNODC survey in 2016, it was ranked 193 out of 195 in the world, statistically making it a wonderful and safe country.

Compared to 40 years ago when I was a child, I feel modern parents of Japan have a slight sense of danger, but even then, guardians aren't obligated to pick up and drop off their children. In Japan, where guardians are never reported for neglect even if they let their child watch the house alone, this safeness is astounding. On the other hand, the actual rate of sexual crimes against children is overwhelmingly high overseas, so it makes my stomach churn with anger seeing overseas media mock Japan.

When I muttered this, people came out of the woodwork to tell me 'there's incidents where if you take your eyes off them for a moment, children in the park will be bullied in the toilet' and 'the elderly are volunteering to patrol cause they're scared of people threatening to murder children', but overseas, 'taking your eyes off them for a moment' is outrageous, it's 'you can't let them out of your sight for even a split second', and even in such an environment, it would be strange to rely on elderly volunteers.

Some might say, 'no, even if a sexual crime occurs in Japan, it's difficult for victims to raise their voices so it's not counted in the crime rate!', but those people won't explain why the MeToo Movement happened in developed Western countries, or how the Catholic clergy around the world has been sexually abusing children for a long time, keeping it secret until it recently came to light. So such a statement isn't 'limited to Japan'. Speaking of which, in the documentary film 'Female Pleasure' on the theme of women's discrimination issues that I'm appearing in, the German writer Doris Wagner, who accused a priest of sexually abusing her from a young age, is also appearing, but her accusation was dismissed by the church, and her trial was also dismissed by her country, so even now, she continues to fight them. (By the way, this is a woman in a developed country ranked 10th on the Gender Gap Index.)
Female Pleasure (Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, it's a fact 'sex criminals and perverts exist in every country', and 'sex victims finding it difficult to accuse them of their wrongdoing has no relation to country or race'.
Nevertheless, with the recent development of SNS, it has become easier for individual victims to raise their voices. Even in Japan, a demonic journalist called Hirokawa Ryuuichi (広河隆一) has been socially punished, and women have come forward to accuse him of raping them under their real names (despite the bashing). Society is slowly, but surely, improving.

In addition, shouldn't we praise each other more and be proud of the fact Japan, which allows children to have so much freedom, has such a low crime rate and is safe? Of course, we mustn't become complacent, so if we steadily improve the environment for parents to accompany their children, Japan will be able to further reduce its sexual crime rate against children. However, this talk of restricting Moe-illustrations and questionable magazines is absolutely ridiculous.

With that said, it's time to celebrate the start of a new year, so to the people who want to say Japan is a wicked country, and to the feminists who want to say 'Japanese men (limited to ugly old men and Otaku) are evil!', even if their streets aren't overflowing with questionable things, even if their Gender Gap Index is high, when compared to developed countries like Europe and America where crime is happening around the corner, how about giving notice to the positive aspect of living in a safe and secure country?

I don't think there's much happiness to continue living while cursing the country you reside in.
lolita_fashion.png



Source: 『アニメージュ』 1982/06

Animage_1982_06.jpg


1981 SPOT PEOPLE
4th: Clarisse
Character Setting: Miyazaki Hayao
They say the 'Lolicon' fad is concentrating on Clarisse, but I feel that has nothing to do with me. However, young people these days are using Lolicon to mean 'yearning'. Everyone has such an experience during adolescence. In my case, there was a period I yearned for Bai-Niang (白娘) from 'The White Snake Enchantress' (白蛇伝). Though I graduated from that a year later (laughs). I believe it's something like that. Also, we didn't 'play' with our yearnings, and furthermore, we were embarrassed to talk about them openly. We had 'shame', you see? Whether that's good or not is another matter, but in any case, I don't like men who say 'Lolicon'.

EHdnlq0UUAElcKs.jpg




I often see this referenced in academic papers. This is for a character poll, and Clarisse won 4th place for one of the categories during a poll held in 1981. From what I can tell from a 6 month old reddit post, Brenten is scanning Animage, Animec, and OUT, so eventually the entire issue will be available on his Internet Archive account page (Archive Link). If you watched Okada's video about Fist of the North Star's theme being Lolicon, he also shares a couple other things. The first being Monkey Punch, the original author of the Lupin the Third manga, did not like Miyazaki Hayao's film adaptation. Second, Takahashi Rumiko did not like the Beautiful Dreamer film adaptation of her Urusei Yatsura manga. Both of their reasoning has to do with the quality and the level of disrespect to the characters in the source material.

Until Brenten gets around to it, you can see the other polls that were split between male and female readers, and some scans of the Animage issue here (
Link). The scans are kinda too small for reading.
 

Hexasheep93

varishangout.com
Regular
SF=Science Fiction
I'm going to feel foolish if I were to learn this abbreviation is no longer common knowledge in English... Out of curiosity, what did you think SF stood for?
Oh lol:shinobu_kaka: well now I feel dumb, although I personally refer to science fiction as Sci-fi

I couldnt think of what it could mean that is why I asked, though I assumed it had to do with manga or some other pop culture stuff, but wasnt completely sure.
You would have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me about your second question. Normally everything published, even if it's by a private publisher, has to be submitted to the National Diet Library. However, the catch-rate for sub-culture magazines is low. It used to be a researcher could borrow a book and read it in a separate room, but from what I understand, the Ministry of Justice made it so people can no longer do this, and when you search the name for certain books in the National Diet Library, you won't find these books. No one knows if they've been destroyed, or whether someone submitted them to the library in the first place.

I haven't seen the VICE video. Does it say anything more profound than the previous hit-piece by the BBC?
I looked it up in Japanese and noticed at least the segments being discussed aren't treading any arguments that are intelligent or new (why interview a male mangaka creating comics for adults rather than someone like Takeuchi Naoko creating manga for girls when discussing the topic of normalising taboo sexual relations between an adult and a minor?). So I did some digging and translated a blog post by Igarashi Megumi (Wikipedia). She's the manga artist who got arrested for creating a kayak modelled after a 3D scan of her vagina and became a feminist; however, after leaving Japan, she realised she didn't have much in common with many western feminists who are no better than tyrannical authoritarian moralists.


I havent seen the BBC one but I assume its not that different from the VICE one. Apparently some of the footage they took was without consent so theres that.

I do not know why there suddenly seems to be such a push to attack Japan over manga and Anime. Its not like the west doesnt have its fair share of "controversial" fiction, I mean one of the most watched shows today features incest lol.

Also, I find it funny that even as a younger man, Miyazaki still acted like a grumpy old guy:shinobu_kaka:
 

Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
Oh lol:shinobu_kaka: well now I feel dumb, although I personally refer to science fiction as Sci-fi

I couldnt think of what it could mean that is why I asked, though I assumed it had to do with manga or some other pop culture stuff, but wasnt completely sure.

I havent seen the BBC one but I assume its not that different from the VICE one. Apparently some of the footage they took was without consent so theres that.

I do not know why there suddenly seems to be such a push to attack Japan over manga and Anime. Its not like the west doesnt have its fair share of "controversial" fiction, I mean one of the most watched shows today features incest lol.

Also, I find it funny that even as a younger man, Miyazaki still acted like a grumpy old guy:shinobu_kaka:
I see. I was curious how you interpreted Brian W. Aldiss's British New Wave SF based on the context.
On that note, are words like 'play' making sense to you based on their context? Miyazaki Hayao used it, and I believe Yonezawa and the writer for the Mr.Dandy article also used the word.

Undercover journalism is important, so footage taken without permission isn't a problem to me. However, editing that footage without providing the raw source to push a misleading narrative is despicable. Japan's domestic mass media has been bashing Otaku ever since the late 1980s, and it only got a small reprieve in the early 2000s when Japan was experiencing a recession, and the awful Lolicon media turned out to be quite popular overseas, leading to the whole COOL JAPAN campaign to pump money into the economy. Igarashi's blog post was from 2020 in relation to whatever attack was happening then, and the occasional attack on Japan over manga and anime has been going on for decades. So VICE's article isn't something sudden or new; from my perspective, it's nothing more than beating a dead horse with tired arguments to generate ad revenue.


Source: 『月刊手塚ファンmagazine 36』 1983/02

Tezuka_Fan_Magazine_1983_02_Issue_36.jpg


There's hundreds of these small fan magazines, and as far as I can tell, no one has archived them. The following is a fan interviewing Tezuka Osamu about his works, and I translated the interview questions regarding the serial he was doing in Akitashoten's Shounen Champion. I'm still searching for stuff related to Tezuka on the topic of Azuma Hideo, since out of all the Mangaka, the one they say Tezuka considered to be his peer in terms of influence is Azuma Hideo. Tezuka is well-known for having a competitive spirit, hence the nature of his work that was being serialised alongside Uchiyama Aki's 'Andoro Trio'.

■Regarding 'Prime Rose'

——Right now, 'Prime Rose' is what you're doing, but are you going to be doing it between breaks on a year-by-year basis?

Tezuka: "I promise I won't take a break for a whole year. Even if it turns out to be unpopular, I won't take a break; I'll make it better without any breaks."

——There's critiques of your character that she's a Third-rate Gekiga one, but what do you have to say?

Tezuka: "I'm doing that on purpose. You could say I'm being very cheap and vulgar (laughs). The plot may make you think it'll be a simple Gekiga, but in fact, you'll eventually realise it's very much an SF story. Its punch line is like the finale in W3, I don't think it'll be quite understandable until right before the very end. It's going to be getting more vulgar from here. The vulgarity is such it makes me wonder if I'm the one who drew this, but I'm doing it on purpose, so please read it to the very end."
W3 by Tezuka Osamu (Link)

——I feel like Sensei is still following the path he's been treading, but both the Lolicon Boom and SF Boom are products created by Sensei's Manga, so now that they've ripened, it feels like Sensei, himself, is following them again.

Tezuka: "Let me put it to you this way, it looks like I'm riding the Lolicon Boom and various other booms, but you see, I'm merely taking advantage of them. In the case of the Lolicon Boom, I've never drawn with the theme of a Lolicon Manga. For example, suppose it's robots, I wouldn't draw a Robot Manga for robots. I'm just using them as a tool, you see. My true intention is that I'm planning to draw something else. For example, 'Dororo', I'm wondering if Dororo is Lolicon (laughs). Pinoko is fine, but supposing Pinoko is Lolicon, then Pinoko's style of Lolicon should be utilised more. However, that's just garnish for sashimi. I'm not creating 'Prime Rose' for Lolicon, there's more than that I want to tell the reader."
Dororo (Link); Pinoko (Link)

Prime Rose:



——"I'm of the opinion Takemiya Keiko's 'Fly Me to the Moon!' is the perfect Lolicon manga."
Takemiya Keiko's 'Fly Me to the Moon' (Wikipedia) is a Shoujo Manga with a science fiction plot loosely based on Robert Young's 'The Dandelion Girl'. Another female Mangaka called Nakata Aki (中田雅喜; Wikipedia) did an ero-parody of 'Fly Me to the Moon' involving Hirukogami Ken. This was originally serialised in Manga Burikko (漫画ブリッコ), but was compiled in Nakata's 'Pink Triangle' (桃色三角). The compilation has been remastered and is available for sale on Mandarake (Shop Link).

Pink_Triangle_01.jpg
Pink_Triangle_02.jpg


The original manga by Takemiya Keiko flaunts a relationship between the main heroine, Nina Flexible, who has ESP powers, and an American Air Force Major and NASA Class A pilot, Dan Mild. They have a 17 year age difference, and the word Lolita pops up on occasion. Trying to explain the complexities of the story beyond it being loosely based on The Dandelion Girl would probably take an hour long video.

fmttm_01_149.png



Source:『アニメージュ』 1982/05

Animage_1982_05.jpg


The 'Lolicon' Boom That Has Come This Far. Let's Follow the Front Line!


Lolicon is so prevalent among Anime fans right now, it makes one ask 'are all male Anime fans Lolicon!?'. Speaking of which, what exactly is Lolicon? Short special feature that returns to the origins of the boom once again and ponders it. Interview with Uchiyama Aki!

Animage_1982_05_01.jpg


①Let's ask the person who knows the most about Lolicon, Yonezawa Yoshihiro, "why is there 'Lolicon' now!?".

Animage_1982_05_02.jpg

Pic: Yonezawa

An article published in the 1980 December issue of 'OUT' titled 'Manga Modernology for Sick People Issue 1: Lolita Complex' is said to have been the impetus for popularising the term 'Lolicon' among Anime fans. The man who wrote that article——Yonezawa is also in charge of the Comic Market Organising Committee where many Doujinshi gather. We tried asking about the beginning of the Lolicon Boom among Anime fans from the beginning to present.


AM: "How many Lolicon fanzines (Doujinshi) are being exhibited at Comiket?"

Yonezawa: "About 30 out of about 700 total. Compared to before, they have increased considerably, but it seems they're about to hit a plateau."

AM: "Even magazines such as 'GORO' and 'NON・NO' have started putting together Lolicon special features."

Yonezawa: "You could say the word 'Lolicon' has become more open. The trend entered the 1970s with singers like Minami Saori (南沙織) and Yamaguchi Momoe (山口百恵), essentially cute girls singing risque lyrics, but it has considerably progressed from the social background where it was once considered strange. In other words, the word Lolicon itself has lost the dark image it once had."

AM: "The reason it became popular among Anime fans was because of Clarisse's extraordinary popularity in 'Castle of Cagliostro', right?"

Yonezawa: "Right. The current boom started around the Doujinshi called 'Clarisse Magazine' becoming famous. Before it trended, there was first a Bishounen Boom that centred on girls, followed by parodies that became mainstream, and lastly a Lolicon Boom that centred on boys. If I were to simply describe this Anime Lolicon, it would be play by boys based on Bishoujo characters from Anime."

AM: "However, Clarisse and Angie have completely different personalities, but they're grouped together as Lolicon because they're cute."

Yonezawa: "In the end, the definition of Lolicon in Anime is not clear because there are a lot of individual differences due to personal likes and dislikes."

AM: "By the way, the contents of the 'play' in Doujinshi are pretty mindblowing. There's even nude and lesbian scenes with Clarisse and Lana."

Yonezawa: "At first, they rode with nudes of Clarisse as parody, but probably due to the influence of 'Ero Gekiga', they turned into violent depictions. This is because a simple parody would soon get boring. So when they started thinking about what could work as a serious parody, it escalated into Lolicon Doujinshi with very intense content. In the end, Anime and Manga Bishoujo characters made for the most handy material."

AM: "Nowadays, there are many people who've gone beyond Lolicon and developed a '2D-Complex', where they can only love Bishoujo depicted in art."

Yonezawa: "Yeah. Liking the erotic scenes in Manga and Anime and thinking the girls in Shounen Manga and Shoujo Manga are cute isn't particularly strange. But who knows if they're directly attracted to just that. Rather, I believe it's better to think of Anime and Manga Bishoujo as easy targets for parody. That's what probably caused this boom. However, I believe this boom will also subside considerably by summer of this year at Comiket. As one might expect, when the number of Doujinshi increases, they're likely to grow tired of it."



After listening to Yonezawa's remarks, I decided to take a peek at Comiket 20 (Held at Harumi, Tokyo, on March 21st), but Lolicon Doujinshi turned out to be as popular as ever, and there were a notable number of them, along with fanzines related to 'Six God Combination Godmars' (六神合体ゴッドマーズ). There were also men crossdressing as girls, making me believe the roots of their 'Sickness' run quite deep.

N-kun, a long-time Circle member at Comiket, says, "It's sad that Doujinshi centred on serious work research like the ones in the past have all but disappeared. The 'Yamato' and 'Gundam' fanclubs have all been swept up in the Lolicon mainstream, it felt like I was in a different age." So I asked him if the Lolicon Boom ends this summer like Yonezawa predicted, what would be the next boom? N-kun replied, "Nobody has the ability to predict that now."


Animage_1982_05_05.jpg

Now you know what a Lanacon and a Hildacon are~.
It seems I should translate the Waseda University article.
Here's some info about their 'Anicom' Doujinshi (Link).


②The King of 'Lolicon' and Diaper Manga, Uchiyama Aki's fans are surprisingly made up of mostly middle schoolgirls!


Animage_1982_05_03.jpg

Pic: Uchiyama Aki

Among those that have been highlighted among Yonezawa reviews in 'OUT' is Uchiyama. It can be said he is the No.1 at selling Lolicon Manga as he handles 160 pages by himself every month. The manga that feature cute girls in diapers are very popular among middle schoolgirls. I visited that Uchiyama at his home (on the second floor of a Tonkatsu restaurant in Sugamo, Tokyo).



AM: "However, 160 pages a month is incredible. For a normal Mangaka, the average is..."

Uchiyama: "I suppose around 40~60. Well, I like drawing, so I just keep drawing and drawing."

AM: "Though since all of them are Lolicon Manga, you must be hearing voices saying 'it must be getting boring'."

Uchiyama: "Actually, I didn't know the word Lolicon when I first started drawing Manga. Somehow, it was by circumstance I had orders to do Girl Manga. Then one day, I was asked by an editor 'Uchiyama-san, do you know Lolicon?' to which I said 'nope' (laughs). So it was around 1979 when I started consciously drawing little girls for 'OUT'."

AM: "Meaning, you became a Lolicon Mangaka before you realised it?"

Uchiyama: "Right. Then I found out one of the tools for SM play were diapers and when I drew a Manga using them, it turned out to be strangely lewd and interesting. I even received fan letters from girls saying the diapers were nice."

AM: "It's interesting the fans coming to Uchiyama-san's Manga are girls."

Uchiyama: "After all, it's hard to draw erotica directly in Shoujo Manga. I suppose that's why girls filled with curiosity take cursory peeks at Shounen Manga and Ero-Manga."

AM: "Meaning the Lolicon element has already been accepted by even girls?"

Uchiyama: "Lolicon is based on the desire to move things that cannot resist to one's will. I believe that desire is universally within everyone's heart. At the same time, sexual desire is as natural as being alive. Those desires were suppressed around the time I was a middle schooler, when my sexual curiosity was at its strongest. I believe the only way for boys and girls to incorporate sexual things is in the form of Lolicon. So I don't believe there's as much of a Lolicon Boom as people say. Looking at the history of Manga, Lolicon Manga isn't that great, but whatever form it takes in the future, I believe Lolicon will survive."

Animage_1982_05_04.jpg



Lolicon magazines had a substantial female readership and plenty of the artists drawing for those magazines were women. Shoujo magazine editors were pretty strict back then, so those sorts of magazines were the testing grounds for Shoujo Smut before regular Shoujo Manga editors allowed that stuff to be published.

Been trying to find ways to nicely tie in the Yaoi (Bishounen Boom) fandom of the old Comiket whose participants were 90% female for the 1st Comiket with the Bishoujo (Lolicon Boom) fandom. One could say the Year 24 Flower Group and Yaoi Doujinshi acted as the flowerbed for Lolicon Doujinshi, since ero-parodies involving male Anime characters gave male artists the courage to try their own ero-parodies with Bishoujo characters. Azuma Hideo taking this out of Comiket and into commercial magazines was also pivotal in allowing BL (Boy's Love) to eventually be accepted by magazine editors and published commercially.
 

Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
Source: "Tide" 1982/09

Cover N/A

The Lolicon Syndrome Over University Students

By Iwata Kaoru

Iwata Kaoru is described by the Manga Burikko blogger as a reportage writer, but searching for his name leads to a politician going by the same name. Looking at Kaoru's author page on Amazon.co.jp (
Amazon) makes me believe they may be the same person. 'Monthly The Ushio' is a general magazine, and while it's still being printed in 2022 (Link), there's no archive list of their older magazines. This is what their 1988 September issue looks like to get an impression of its tone:
Monthly_The_Ushio_1988_09.jpg


The Burikko blogger also stresses there are a couple factual inaccuracies in this article, but doesn't specify which parts are inaccurate. However, it does depict the activities of university clubs and legendary figures such as Hirukogami Ken and Aoyama Masaaki when they were young men.

Monthly_The_Ushio_1982_09.jpg

Depicted are 'Mutation', 'Anicom', 'The Lolicon Complete Works', 'Lolicon Hakusho', and the 'Fusion Product Lolita/Bishoujo Special Edition'.


■Unable to Date Female University Students on Equal Footing


Northwest of the capital, past the trees near the sacred precincts of Waseda, a strange Circle called the 'Virgin Alliance' was launched April of this year. The official name of the Circle is 'Waseda University Virgin Alliance・New Special Committee for Sexual Culture and Purification'.

The moment it was established, they erected a boldly written sign next to the bronze statue of Marquis Okuma saying, 'Chancellor Shimizu! Please make us men'. It further reads, 'We'll protect honourable virgins, promote the status of virgins, protect female virgins from wolves, and bring the hammer down on men and women who have sex as fashion'.

Ishida Makoto-kun (3rd Year, 1st Literary Department) says this.

"Last year, according to a certain mini-communication magazine survey, two-thirds of Waseda's students were virgins when they graduated. 80~90 percent of 1st year undergrads were virgins. As a result, the number of shy, withdrawn, and meek students are increasing. We established this club to give them courage. Our primary active policy is the pursuit of virginity (the way of life for virgins), and secondly, to protect members from the vile hands of female students."

June of this year, two months after the 'Virgin Alliance' was launched, 15 female university students from 12 universities formed their own 'Nice Middle Research Club'.

The club was established with the main idea 'there's already too many weak male students. Let's learn from the Nice Middle we admire'. Watari Tesuya (渡哲也), Tsuyuguchi Shigeru (露口茂), Kobayashi Akira (小林旭), and Fuji Tatsuya (藤竜也) among other middle-aged men with a 'scent of danger' were selected as their ideal men. Members visit the production and record companies these men belong to, working diligently on 'activities' where they collect posters and coloured papers.

"Whenever we enter a Saten (Kissaten; Tea House), they fluster over what to order. Anyways, boys these days aren't clear at all. They're indecisive and very stingy. We're ashamed of being from the same generation as them. Unlike them, a nihilistic and lone wolf-type Nice Middle is far more charming. If possible, we would like to have a close relationship with a man like that... that's why we created this club." (Manager Yamamoto Yumiko-san [山本由美子]=Pseudonym=Hosei University Literature Department 2nd Year)

The 'Virgin Alliance' and 'Nice Middle Research Club', it can be said these two represent the typical Circles that symbolise the recent student spirit. Women grew stronger in inverse proportion to men growing weaker... This is the undeniable reality of campuses in the 1980s.

As a result, where did the male students, unable to have an 'equal' relationship with their fellow female students, flee? You guessed it, they found their answer in 'Lolicon' that is experiencing a big boom.

Lolicon. Its official name is 'Lolita Complex'. Translated to Japanese, you could call it a predilection towards Shoujo, or Shoujo Fancier. The origin of the term is the novel 'Lolita' written by Eastern European-born Vladimir Nabokov in 1955. This novel is a work whose sensational contents depict a story of a 50-year old university professor becoming beguiled by a 12 year-old girl and drowning in sexual love, but connected to this, people started calling men who long for Bishoujo 'Lolicon'.

It's been nearly two years since Lolicon trended on campuses, coupled with the increasing percentage of virgins among university students, it gradually grew in power as male students became unable to talk to female students the same age as them. One theory is that students who weren't adept at written tests, due to the influence of the preliminary standard university entrance examination, began to avoid their cheeky and argumentative peers, even when having negotiations with girls, and turned to younger girls 'who'll obediently listen to what they say'.


■Rebellious Lolicon Manga

The direct instigator of the Lolicon Boom are Manga Doujinshi created by the hands of students.

In Tokyo, Comic Market, which can be called an exhibition and sales of these Manga Doujinshi, is held three times a year. Among the exhibition magazines that can be said to number between one to two thousand, Doujinshi which introduced the Bishoujo from Anime and the cute protagonists from Shoujo Manga, cut-and-pasted as they were, began to appear all over.

"Comic Market currently has 20~30 Doujinshi specialising in Lolicon and they're thriving. For example, one of them is called 'Youjo Fancier' (幼女嗜好). A young man called Hirukogami Ken is releasing them, and they say he's the first human to advocate for the civil rights of Lolicon in Comic Market. What's more, he dresses in hunting cap, sunglasses, mask, and a raincoat, and people call out to him at exhibition and spot sale venues with 'Nii-san, there's an interesting Doujinshi here'. His reception is so enthusiastic there's even dummies showing up now..." (Freelance Writer Mihiro Kuruto [三尋狂人].)

Publishing companies that print established Manga magazines have taken notice in the popularity of the Lolicon in this Manga Doujinshi world. Among them, 'Shounen Champion' is featuring a creator called Uchiyama Aki (内山亜紀) and has serialised his Lolicon Manga, which has gathered overwhelming support. In addition, following this Uchiyama Aki as Lolicon Mangaka, Azuma Hideo and Taniguchi Kei are currently active. Nowadays, they're even releasing magazines specialising in Lolicon such as 'Lemon People' (Amatoria-sha) and 'Hey Buddy'.

On the other side, Tankoubon that introduce and analyse the Lolicon Boom from the side are being published. The 'Lolicon Complete Works' (Gunyusha Publishing) released May of this year, and 'Lolicon Hakusho' (Byakuya Shobo) released in July are among them.

For the former, Hirukogami Ken, who lit the fire of the Lolicon Doujinshi Boom mentioned earlier, has been appointed as a supervisor. With a Shoujo dress-up doll in the appendix, the work is filled with Bishoujo nudes, basic knowledge of Lolicon terminology, and articles such as a high schoolgirl roundtable talk. For the latter, it's a reprint of the designs and articles related to Lolicon from Manga and Anime Doujinshi with the catchphrase 'Lolicon Doujinshi Best Collection'. I visited Gunyusha Publishing in Kanda, the publisher of the 'Lolicon Complete Works', and spoke to Yamada Hiroyoshi-san (山田博良) (42 years-old) of the Editorial department. Yamada-san opened the door by explaining the average image of the Lolicon youth into the following four elements.

These are the four elements. 1) They don't know women (virgins). 2) Feminine in personality. 3) Timid and unable to do bad things. 4) Grades are top class in school.

"Originally, there are many Lolicon among those who would ride the main current of society's elite course. For example, Tokyo University. There are students at Tokyo University recording all the TV commercials that show Bishoujo models and talents, and making a list of them. I believe the books we publish are accepted by youngsters because they're seeking the 'innocence' found in Bishoujo not found in adult women."


■Many in High-Ranking Universities

Allow me to give the best evidence for the point Lolicon students stand out in national universities and high-ranking private universities. Known as Tokyo University's Unique Circle, the 'Idol Production Research Club' investigated and released the results of an opinion survey asking for the idol image among Tokyo University students.

(Results shown in attached table. My book 'Trends and Measures in Campus Business' [キャンパス・ビジネスの傾向と対策]=Gakuyo Shoubo=Citation.)

Table 1: Idol Conditions Tokyo University Students Desire

Image Colour:

1: White (83)
2: Pure White (41)
3: Pink (31)
4: Light-blue (27)
5: Red (25)
Total: 380

Body-style:
1: Slim (430)
2: Glamorous (145)
3: Petite (101)
4: Thick (48)
5: Normal (44)
Total: 1010

If You Attach an Animal to Idol Image:
1: Cat (82)
2: Squirrel (32)
3: Dog (31)
4: Deer (25)
5: Bird (19)
Total: 362

Table 2: Next Generation of Idols Recommended by Tokyo University Students

1: Sugita Kaoru (杉田かおる) (85)
2: Ito Tsukasa (伊藤つかさ) (82)
3: Matsumoto Iyo (松本伊代) (49)
4: Yakushimaru Hiroko (薬師丸ひろ子) (45)
5: Washiwabara Yoshie (柏原よしえ) (31)
6: Yokosuka Yoshimi (横須賀昌美) (29)
7: Kawashima Naomi (川島なお美) (25)
8: Kasahara Rumi (松原留美子) (18)
9: Awaya Noriko (淡谷のり子) (18)
10: Kobayashi Nobue (Shounankou) (小林信恵(湘南高)) (15)
None (191)
Total: 795

The 'Idol Research' was launched in May 1980 with the motto 'Let's Create Stars with Our Own Hands'. So far, they held an 'Idol Contest Selected by Tokyo University Students' on the campus's gorgeous pasture for grazing horses, where they had amateur middle, high, and university schoolgirls compete twice. The opinion survey mentioned above when they held this contest is only for reference purposes only. As you can see from the results, a 'slim, white-coloured, catty and cute female' is captured as their idol. Meaning, it's nothing other than Lolicon-oriented. Names such as Matsumoto Iyo and Yakushimaru Hiroko can be construed as their taste in Bishoujo.

Actually, during the '2nd Idol Contest' held in December of last year, out of the 1200 applicants, a 14 year-old middle school first year girl, Takeda Kumiko (武田久美子), was selected for the Grand Prix, and it could be her selection was deeply rooted in Lolicon-orientation.

"The motivation for creating our club was we wanted to show a real gal bursting with youth and energy to Tokyo University students who had few opportunities to interact with normal girls. That's why we changed the method of judging for the contest. For example, sumo wrestling. We had girls enter the sumo ring in Tokyo University's sumo club and compete dressed like that, it was pretty ridiculous." ('Idol Research' 2nd Generation Representative Wada Masaki [和田雅樹]=Third Year Law Student.)

You could say the situation can already be referred to as Sick.

What kind of symptoms does this Lolicon Syndrome show in universities besides Tokyo University? Here's another piece of interesting data. This is the result of the 'Lolicon Severity Survey' they compiled in July of this year with the cooperation of the campus magazine departments in each university. They used the format of having each mini-communication editor score their own university, and the results are quite amusing in their variety. (Refer to Table 3)

Table 3: Lolicon Condition at Each University

University Name: Lolicon Severity and Campus Status

Tokyo University:
☆☆☆☆☆ Takeda Kumiko, who was sold by 'Tokyo University Idol Produce Research', is 13 years-old.

Hitotsubashi University: ☆☆☆☆☆ More and more male students insert pictures of neighbourhood girls into their pass case.

Gakushuin University: ☆☆☆☆ Often see scenes of them sitting on benches with elementary schoolers in a park near the university.

Waseda University: ☆☆☆☆☆ There are so many Lolicon students it's said to be a university that granted civil rights to Lolicon. Percentage of virgins is also 70%.

Keio University: ☆☆☆☆☆ Students are exiting the level of hobby and challenging Lolicon in real life.

Chuo University: ☆☆☆ The campus is in the mountains. There are so few women, they have no choice but to flee to Lolicon!!?

Meiji University: ☆☆☆ There's glimpses of Lolicon discussions in the student counselling office.

Kansai University: ☆☆☆ There's countless Lolicon students in the engineering department. So those who tinker with machines have a high predilection for Shoujo!!?

Ritsumeikan University: ☆☆☆☆☆ A hive of Lolicon. They're passing around and reading Lolicon Manga.

Doshisha University: ☆ Everyone's popular with female university students, so there's few Lolicon. However, there's a few passionate fans of Ito Tsukasa and Matsumoto Iyo.

Kyoto University: ☆☆☆☆☆ Lolicon is spreading so much there's a Circle called 'Sailor Suit Research'.


The first thing you'll notice from this table is the fact Lolicon is spreading to elite schools such as Tokyo University, Hitotsubashi, Waseda, Keio, Gakushuin, Ritsumeikan, and Kyoto University.

For example, Hitotsubashi University. There's a hidden trend among male students to secretly take photos of girls from the elementary school near their dorms and homes, and insert them in their pass case.

"It has the sensation I'm committing a crime, or rather, I'm doing something naughty. I somehow agree with OB Tanaka Yasuo's (田中康夫) fetish of wearing those panties. As a university student suffering from the triple pain of 'unfashionable, unpopular, and unpitiful', don't you suppose this is the perfect sedative drug?" (Campus magazine 'Hitotsubashi Mercury' Editor Nakada Yuu-kun [中田勇君]=Third Year.)

In Gakushuin's case, they're on the verge of falling ill. According to the staff of the campus magazine 'Shounen Gakushuin', it's said there's often scenes of them sitting on benches with girls from the neighbouring kindergartens while they're drinking beer in the parks near Big Box in Takadanobaba, playing and letting the girls ride on their shoulders. When they're called 'Ojisa~n', they look so happy it sends a chill down one's spine.

In some cases where they're always forced to tinker with machines, like the engineering club at Kansai University, a tendency to prefer younger girls who moved at the flick of a switch like a machine appeared.

"When I joined the engineering department, I became so busy, I don't have time to play with girls my own age. So, that's why I want a girl that'll be quiet and listen to what I say. The only girls who'll listen to me with no thoughts of their own are little girls." (Campus magazine 'Hot Corner' editorial department Niwa Toshihiro-kun [丹羽寿宏]=4th year sociology student.)

Kyoto University is so famous as a mecca for Lolicon that it is called 'West Tokyo University'. Rivalling the Tokyo University's 'Idol Research', there's unique Circles even here. In addition to conducting comparative studies on middle and high schoolgirl sailor suits, they play a role as a liaison council for Matsuda Seiko, Matsumoto Iyo, and Yakushimaru Hiroko among others (concert information, and so on).

Their largest annual event, which has a history of four years, is dozens of male executive committee members walking around the city dressed in sailor suits during the 'masquerade procession' that precedes the school festival every autumn. This has become a regular event.

"We were borrowing used sailor suits from female university students, but everyone seems to fancy them. So we're considering a reexamination of the goodness of sailor suits as a form of fashion." (Association Representative Nishida Naohisa-kun [西田直久]=5th year science department.)

I believe it's safe to say Lolicon Syndrome has taken a firm hold.


■University Students Waiting in front of Elementary Schools

Let's move the topic to students that have taken the form of Sick one step further.

The stage is Waseda University. In the university, as of October of last year, a Lolicon research magazine crafted by the hands of the students is being published. The title is 'Supplementary Issue Anicom・For Shoujo Fanciers'. The publisher is the Waseda University Anime Club, which was established in April 1978. The group has thirty members split between three main activities. 1) The screenings of pre-existing Anime works. 2) The release of self-produced Anime. 3) The publishing of the Doujinshi 'Anicom'. 'Supplementary Issue Anicom', as part of this third activity, is edited by the hands of volunteers with certain interests among the group members.

"There were Lolicon Doujinshi that introduced most of the cute protagonists in Anime, but there was nothing definitive. So, at the time, we thought we should release a comprehensive magazine and decided to to publish a Doujinshi." (Group member Terada Tooru-kun [寺田融]=Second year law department.)

'Supplementary Issue Anicom' was so well-received the first edition in October last year was sold out, and the second printing was released in February of this year. They say they sold 1200~1300 copies, so you could say it is a best-seller in the mini-communication world. In terms of content, on the first page following the cover, you'll notice it drives home the definition of Lolicon by stating, "In this book, we don't call anything but girls under 14 years old 'Shoujo'."

So, it runs the gamut from Anime heroines and diagrams of tampons for Shoujo to cute elementary schoolgirl uniforms and Tokyo's 17 elementary school uniform guide, it's filled with articles such as the Encyclopaedia of Youjo and Shoujo. The contents of the full-scale edition goes into intricate detail.

"Among them, the 'Elementary School Uniform Special Feature' is illustrated referencing the many photos by members who deliberately went out of their way to the schools to take them. Many publishers have done similar since then, but we can say we were the first in this field. If you ask us, we believe Lolicon to be nothing creepy or nasty, but rather it's much more bright and cheerful." (Member Terada Youichi-kun [寺田洋一]=1st department 2nd year.)

The image of a university student well in age standing in front of the gates of an elementary school taking photos of girls is undoubtedly strange indeed. However, it's still too early to be surprised. At Waseda, there's even a Circle called the 'Puffed Sleeves Club' whose goal is to share 'intimate conversation' with middle schoolgirls.

As a separate organisation of the 'Waseda Shoujo Manga Research Club', they just started this spring. Their current members are four 1st year students.

"As the name suggests, 'Shoujo Manga Research' is a club for reading and studying Shoujo Manga, but among the members, there's one guy who really liked middle schoolgirls, so we called for the formation of a new club as a joke, but we really started one." (Club vice-president Yoshimura Misaka-kun [よしむらみさか]=1st year politics and economics.)

The 'Puffed Sleeves Club' was named to represent the opinions of Lolicon students who feel the puffed sleeves of sailor suits hold an indescribable innocence.

The club activities are after school where the members venture to middle schools in Tokyo with a lowered 'Walkman Recorder' to have 'conversations' with budding middle schoolgirls. Of course, seeing them as suspicious university students, the girls run away. So they put on an 'exaggerated and stinky performance'.

"Umm, excuse me. Do you know the way to the station?"

When asking for directions in this fashion, they record the conversations of the girls answering on their Walkman, and afterwards, they play the tapes back to their buddies, competing and gloating over the sensuality and quality of the voices.

"Selecting cute girls is a skill. A tacky surfer-cut is no good. I want a gal that looks like a middle schooler in her uniform. However, even though we converse with middle schoolgirls, we don't consider them as sexual objects. Rather we prefer to view ourselves as bodyguards that protect them. I dunno if you could call it a 'little sister desire'." (Previously mentioned, Yoshimura-kun.)

You could they're also 'purity'-oriented.

Waseda_Supplementary_Issue_Anicom_1981_10_2nd Print.jpg

Cover of Waseda's 'Supplementary Issue Anicom: For Shoujo Fanciers' (October 1981). List of Anicom Covers and Information (Link). In the 1982 February issue of OUT, they did a collaboration by creating a fictitious Anime project called 'Self-Defence Force Japanese' (自衛戦隊ジャパニーズ) about Bishoujo burning with patriotism, protecting Japan from foreign devils. It's supposed to be on p61, but I don't think I see it on this blog (Link).

■Keio University's 'Monomaniac Writer'


It was clear students yearning for innocence is deeply rooted. However, this consciousness needs to know that if you make a misstep, you may very well step into the realm of Hentai.

I present to you a mini-communication that is a sample of that form. To put it bluntly, its name is 'Mutation' (突然変異). It is published by 'Mutation Company' (突然変異社) run mainly by the students of Keio University.

In the same magazine, they composed an article called '6th grader 4th class new opening' in the second issue published last year, and under the headline of 'I'm a Slave Volunte~er', there's a message from an elementary schoolgirl with her photograph that was well-received.

"Well, it would be troubling having our magazine seen as equal to a Lolicon magazine. Among our writers, there's one monomaniac Lolicon human we happened to have write articles." (Magazine editor, Nishimura Teruo-kun [西村照夫]=4th year literary department.)

I met that 'Monomaniac Writer' in a tea house in Shinjuku. His name is Aoyama Masaaki (青山正明) (4th year law student). My impression from looking at him is that he's a very normal young man.

He stepped into this world when he was a middle school student. Nursing an interest in child pornography, he ordered magazines from Europe and enjoyed them by his lonesome. Currently, he's a student writer undertaking Tankoubon related to Lolicon while serialising the sequel to the '6th Year 4th Group Class Newspaper' in 'Hey Buddy', the aforementioned Lolicon commercial magazine.

"I guess it was around when I entered university. I've gotten really interested in stuff like elementary schooler canvas shoes, or pieces of gum that had been chewed up and spat out in addition to used sanitary napkins... So, I collected those things and continued life whilst indulging in masturbation in my bedroom. The napkins were collected from the school toilets during sports day, but it's kinda hard getting around the notion some of them may belong to the PTA. Direct sex with children? I sometimes think about trying, but can't quite muster the ambition. Though I may consider it if there's a chance I'll never get caught."

What an extreme statement. According to him, he says when it comes to adult women these days 'there's parts he can't stand such as how thickly they pad themselves with make-up'. I wonder if that's what turned him into a Lolicon. But tidying up the problem with just this doesn't go down well with me. Because in real life he's properly living with a woman the same age as him. I was shocked when he told me his female partner is fully aware of his Lolicon-orientation. You could say either modern young women are somehow progressive or that they're very understanding...


■Reverse Flow Injection of Mothercon

So why do you suppose Lolicon students spread so rapidly on campus? There's certainly a history that a desire for sailor suits and other fetishism have captured adults in Japan since long ago. However, it would be best to say those were a kind of morbid play for middle and old age men past 50. The problem with the Lolicon that is currently trending is that most of its fans are university students who are supposed to be the most sexually open in their 20s.

Known for receiving consultations regarding sexual problems from young people over the telephone, Oojimi Toshihide (大慈彌俊英), the hospital director from the 'Daijimi Clinic' (Tokyo, Ikebukuro), analysed it this way.

"The overwhelming majority of the current youth (as the nuclear family advances) are the eldest sons of their family. Meanwhile, mothers themselves stick out as the spoiled type raised as the only daughter. As a result, a mother complex has nestled itself in quite a few male students. I believe Lolicon is a reverse flow injection of this Mothercon."

Regarding the analysis that the increase in the number of eldest sons is behind the Lolicon Boom, the writer, Fukiage Ryuuichirou (吹上流一郎), concurs. He continues and points out that 'this is the best evidence we entered a period where men have become gentler'.

"In other words, boys are much too kind to girls the same age as them and have lost their identity. It's precisely because they cannot meet them one-on-one that they have stepped into the Lolicon world where they can take a 'leading' position to girls younger than them. Just the other day, I happened to peek into a group meeting of people with psychosomatic disorders, and I recall being quite surprised most of the attendees were the eldest sons of their respective families."

Though there's no evidence Lolicon is one stage of a psychosomatic disorder, In the scheme that Kyouiku Mama→Examination War→Uniform First‐round Entrance Examination... When you connect the social conditions in which modern university students grew up, you cannot help but feel like you understand the reason why Lolicon is so prevalent.


Super Lolicon Fortress and Her Majesty's Petite Langie:

While they're not mentioned in the article, this was a project by the students of Tokai University's Manga Research Club. No one knows the exact year in the 1980s they created this, and the source quality is pretty poor. It's a parody of 'Super Dimension Fortress Macross' and 'Her Majesty's Petite Angie' to create the Valkyrie Langie (Rangie?) to fight a giant (Rusher Kimura; a Japanese pro wrestler). Minky Momo, whose anime was being broadcast a few months before Anicom's Anime Lolicon Severity Chart, also appears. Angie's anime wasn't popular during its original 1977~78 broadcast, though Azuma Hideo's interest in the character caused it to boom in popularity afterwards with his 'Hyper Doll' tribute that was serialised in 'My Anime' (マイアニメ).
Hyper_Doll_1982_Azuma_Hideo.jpg
 
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Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
Lolita Period
Caught an embarrassing mistake made in the Aoyama and Shimuzu three-man talk. I wrote 'a manga gallery' when it's supposed to be Manga Gallery (まんが画廊; Manga Garou; the name of a specific Manga Café). Glad I caught it without committing the same error in another translation. (Wikipedia Page)

Azuma Hideo's assistant, Oki Yukao (沖 由佳雄), used Manga Garou to scout for individuals to enlist them to draw for the first Lolicon Doujinshi 'Cybele'. Several of the people who worked on Cybele would move on to working in Lemon People and in their own Doujin Circle 'STUDIO BAKI'.

Manga Garou Advertisement:
Manga_Gallery_Advertisement.jpg

Manga Garou Interior:
Manga_Gallery_Interior.jpg



Source: 『東大オタク学講座』1997/09

Toudai_Otaku_Lecture_Okada_Toshio_1997_09.jpg


'Toudai Otaku Lectures' is a transcription compilation of lectures Okada Toshio did years earlier at Tokyo University with many guest speakers regarding Okada's own definition of Otaku. Before this book, Otaku was written as 'おたく', but through this book, Okada popularised its spelling as 'オタク'. Aoyama Masaaki did a lecture on 'Drugs', but unfortunately due to his arrest for cannabis possession, Kodansha (the publisher) wouldn't allow Okada to include his lecture, which may be forever lost to time. There's an interview with Aoyama regarding drugs after his arrest here (Interview).

Another familiar name, Shimizu Kazuo (the guy who did the Lolicon Period talk with Aoyama), also did a lecture titled 'Glory and Shadow of Imaginary Warriors' with another speaker about their interests in the occult. For me personally, the lecture I found interesting was the one with Kobayashi Yoshinori (小林よしのり), who does political manga to brainwash young people (he's very popular in Japan). Yoshinori is anti-Otaku, though Okada lumps him in as an Otaku regardless.

The lecture I translated is the 10th one between Okada Toshio and Aoki Mitsue, a female mangaka who married Ogata Katsuhiro, one of the guys Hirukogami Ken mentioned among the four editors responsible for the Lolicon Boom. Ogata was the editor for 'Fusion Product' and 'Pafu', and also worked with Ootsuka Eiji for projects like Manga Burikko. While the topic is 'Yaoi', it's the only lecture that talks about Lolicon specifically, and has several amusing stories. Aoki also has a homepage listed on Gainax's personal website (
Aoki Mitsue Profile Timeline).

10th Lecture:
The Endless Ambition of 'Yaoi'


Originally, there's an image that Otaku is a man's hobby. You would assume that would be the case from the existence of Bishoujo characters. Of course, there are also 'Yaoi-type Bishounen', but Bishoujo own the royal road. Mecha, robots, and Kaiju are also things boys enjoy. Basically, being tone deaf to mecha is taken as granted to be the fate of girls.

There are few girls who enter the male Otaku society, but they do exist. It's a given such girls would be popular, but it's hard for them to be taken seriously. Roughly speaking, Otaku training itself is designed to put girls at a disadvantage. Garage kits are too severe for girls who never built a plastic model before. Getting permission from her parents for an all-night screening party is difficult.

Of course, there are exceptions, but it feels they're no more than mere exceptions.

However, when one goes to Comiket, that common sense is thrown out the window. There are many girls. In a ratio of about seven to three. Apparently, even in the Otaku world, girls are underestimated as being socially vulnerable.

Among them are talents freely and happily pursuing the Otaku path as 'Female Otaku' within the male Otaku society. One such girl is Lady Aoki Mitsue (青木光恵). Even in her manga, she cheerfully declares she likes looking at and touching girls with big boobs. When I asked about this during a conversation, she simply replied 'I also have big boobs'. She replies with a difficult-to-tsukkomi response.

Well, I called that Aoki-san because I wanted to talk to her about the female Otaku way of life, how they live, and their attitude towards life.


■Garden of Yaoi


Okada: "Our next guest is a female Mangaka who loves girls, Aoki Mitsue-sensei. I'll be using the Kansai dialect today so long as I'm talking to Aoki-sensei. Our current theme is 'Female Otaku', but I wasn't certain whether I should've called it 'Women and Otaku' or 'Female Otaku'. I know a lot about male Otaku, but I'm mostly in the dark when it comes to female Otaku."

Aoki: "Girl Otaku is 'Yaoi' (nods and raucous laughter in the venue). That is all. My recently hired female assistant is very knowledgeable in that area. Until now, most of the assistants that came to me were 'girls that publish Lolicon-zines despite being girls'. Yeah, that was a thing; it was a trend."

Okada: "Uwaah... I both kinda wanna be their friend and not be their friend..."

Aoki: "Aren't there people who made their debut in 'Manga Burikko' (漫画ブリッコ) when they were sixteen years old? You know what I'm talking about."

Okada: "More like approached by Ootsuka Eiji (大塚英志).

Aoki: "True (laughs). I was working part-time in an editorial department doing such tasks as organising simple postcards and removing typesetting, and Oo-san held out 5000 yen and said 'This is part-time work. Can you make a receipt?'. And I was wondering 'What kinda part-time work?'. Cause the girls that were doing that were coming as assistants to my place for 10 years. The girls that came to me from a new route said 'All my friends are Yaoi'. Different from the usual fare."

Okada: "When it comes to 'Yaoi', the image in my mind are 'people who publish Doujinshi with male nudity'..."

Aoki: "I believe that would be anyone's image (laughs)."

Okada: "Who's being stripped naked now?"

Aoki: "Right now, it's probably a very wide range."

Okada: "Three years ago, I found a Downtown Yaoi book in a commercially released Tankoubon."
Downtown (Wikipedia)

Aoki: "Downtown, huh? I also drew that (venue bursts into laughter). Though it wasn't Yaoi."

Okada: "What were you drawing? What I saw was Matsucchan tied up with gum tape over his mouth being rolled into a dark room. Then Hama-chan comes in saying something like 'quickly get comfortable, I'm the only one who understands you'."

Aoki: "Hamada × Matsumoto. In the Doujinshi world, there's someone called 'Itou Seiko'-san (イトウセイコ) who paved that road with Downtown, but I've been friends with that person for a long time, so Itou-san introduced me to the existence of Downtown as well. Saying 'Aren't they hilariously funny comedians?'. Though it was long before 'It's 4 O'Clock' (四時ですよーだ), but she took me to see them at that time and I fell in love. That Itou-san started her Doujinshi and drew it there. I believe she was probably the first person in Japan to start doing Downtown books."
4時ですよーだ (Wikipedia)
Itou Seiko (
Twitter)

Okada: "So it was Yaoi right from the get-go with Japan's first Downtown Doujinshi?"

Aoki: "Well, the first is... no, it was (laughs). But in the beginning, it wasn't that intense, rather it was a little cute. Before I realised it, Hama-chan was turned into a girl and was put into a test tube in a laboratory. I was thinking oi-oi, but Yaoi drawn by girls has incredible power. I also think men's ero-manga is incredible, but not that kind of incredible. It's changing the setting without permission. For example, I had a friend who made a 'Hikaru GENJI' (光GENJI) Doujinshi, but they were requested by the Creator-san 'please write with this and this setting'."

Okada: "It's not an individual book, but rather a collaborative work with the same setting, right?"

Aoki: "Right. So the setting was things like 'Moroboshi-kun is a boy working part-time in a tea house near his high school. He has a baby-face, but he's much older', 'Younger kids go to that high school', and 'Osawa-kun, who's older even among the members, is a high school teacher'. The setting was very detailed. There are many Doujinshi like that."

Okada: "Are those kind of Doujinshi normal drama?"

Aoki: "No, they're 'Yaoi'. There's no normal drama."

Okada: "I'm stereotyping, but when I hear 'Yaoi', I'm imagining a world where a man tells another man to 'show me yer arse!'."

Aoki: "Though you could say 'there's some difference between Yaoi and Homo'."

Okada: "What's the difference?"

Aoki: "There's no poop sticking to the tip in 'Yaoi', whereas the tip's glazed with it in Homo (laughs)."

Okada: "Aah, one student has just gone home in amazement (laughs)."

Aoki: "Pardon my language. I'm fine with dirty jokes. The assistant girl I talked about earlier has other assistant work, and at one of those jobs, everyone's just chatting away about 'Yaoi'. But the Sensei didn't like that kind of chatting and said 'Homo is gross. Cause there's poop on there!'. And then the Yaoi-loving assistant girl glared at the Sensei and retorted 'Yaoi can't poop~!'. There seems to be a point in that area, so if someone asks you what is the difference, that's the answer you should give them."

Okada: "No, no, for real (laughs)? Isn't there plenty of 'Yaoi' without actual sex? Like it's just a slur of words. But even without actual sex, 'Yaoi' is essentially an SM world."

Aoki: "Hmm, when you put it like that, is erotica any different? Even in the stuff men read."

Okada: "You're absolutely right. There's definitely SM in men's ero-manga. So that's why Japan's Lolicon comics are very popular in America! When I asked an American, they told me 'you can't express SM in such a straightforward way'. In that country, both men and women welcome SM expression, so if the girl being beaten doesn't look like she's having fun, they consider it gender discrimination. In art, but it's the same even in videos and photos. Even if they're whipped, they have to look at the camera with a smile. There'll be problems if the partner looks like they're in pain when they're hit. When it comes to the truly hardcore, such as 'men bullying women' and 'torturing little girls', it seems you can only buy those through mail order. I'm already amazed from watching American porno videos. The scenes where a man is riding on a woman and the woman is on top are split evenly as if they're measured with a time recorder. It makes me wonder if men will be condemned for discriminating against women if the man stays on top for longer."

Aoki: "Aren't those personal hobbies?"

Okada: "Even personal hobbies are socially restricted. Sooner or later, racial problems will enter the picture and there may be 'pornographic videos that need to show five racial groups' (bursts into laughter). In that country, I wonder if they'll do it like 'Power Rangers'."

Okada: "If I were to mention female Otaku terms aside from Yaoi, there's 'Zuka' for starters. Takarazuka Opera. Then there's Pink House Otaku's Pinky, and Cosplay doesn't feel unique to girls... Ah, there's 'Shota'."

Aoki: "But Shota is different from Yaoi."

Okada: "Ah, there's some people who don't know (laughs). Though the people sitting in the front row of this lecture may understand all these terms (laughs). Shota, you see, is an abbreviation of 'Shotarou Complex', which comes from Shotarou Shounen from 'Tetsujin 28-go' (鉄人28号)."

Aoki: "Short pants are wonderful! (Laughs). Speaking of which, it may be too late, but everyone knows what 'Yaoi' is, right?"

Okada: "Guess I'll explain. In general terms, it's a genre of Homo. 'Yaoi' is the act of turning anime or manga characters into Doujinshi to ignite one's Homo delusions."

Aoki: "It's originally an abbreviation of 'No Peak. No Climax. No Meaning.*', you see. I suppose Homo manga are all like that."
※ヤマなし。オチなし。意味なし (YAmanashi. Ochinashi. Iminashi.)

Okada: "The Yaoi I saw long ago was 'Voltes V' (ボルテスV)."

Aoki: "Who × Who, huh? I'm curious."

Okada: "Well, I forgot. Sorry (laughs). But from that period, it was 'No Peak. No Climax. No Meaning'. Heinel was being bullied and Prince Sharkin was being stripped naked."

Aoki: "There was a trend where handsome enemy characters did that."

Okada: "There were two trends: either the strong enemy characters come out strong or they get caught and bullied. I wonder if research papers have been published about this. I would be glad if a complete collection on the historical research of Yaoi books were published."

Aoki: "It'll say on the cover 'this is how the history of Yaoi went!'. It started with 'The Monster Prince' (怪獣王子) and entered 'Heroic Purgatory' (エロイカ)... and so on. That might be good. It's deep, very deep."


■The World is a Daily Life of '×'

Aoki: "I don't have many 'Yaoi' friends, but when I asked someone who knows about it, like my female assistant from earlier, she told me don't be silly. She also doesn't have a boyfriend, so I'm kinda scared. I, you see, am friends with a Seiji Biblos-type Mangaka-san and I once went to work at that person's place as an assistant for fun, but she had videos running all the time. She would record TV programmes, Anime, and whatever she liked on three 120 minute-long tapes and keep playing them back-to-back. Whenever there's a nice scene, everyone will stop what they're doing and scream '○○-samaa~!', 'his face's sooo cute. Let's rewind and watch it again!'."

Okada: "I have a mental image of someone snacking on potato crisps at home without a boyfriend, but am I far off the mark?"

Aoki: "There's potato crisp grease stains on the manuscript and there's takeout bentou boxes (laughs). I was only there for a full day, but I got to watch the entirety of 'If I See You in My Dreams' (夢で逢えたら), so I learned a lot. BGM was constantly playing there, most of which was by TM Network (TMネットワーク) and as you would expect, she would shout 'his solo voice is sooo good~'. She was playing all sorts of stuff endlessly, it was making me dizzy. I don't get how she could keep doing that for years. As for her. When she went to the place of a Sensei who had a long history as a Mangaka, there was a nearly 40 year-old assistant that's always been working there, managing the life of the workplace. Their life is endless."

Okada: "The editor should extend a helping hand..."

Aoki: "They did, but I'm laughing here, she looks at Editor-san, and went and did Yaoi saying 'Editor ○○-san (male) is on good terms with part-timer △△-kun (male), huh? Suspicious' (venue bursts into laughter). She's always thinking about '×'. 'Which do you think is the 'Uke?' 'Eeh~, △△-kun's definitely the Uke' and so on, getting excited about such trivial stuff, it sounds like she'll say 'then let's make a ○○ book' with people sharing similar interests."

Okada: "Speaking of which, on a television talk show, from such a small detail as 'they're laughing at the same gags despite being seated a far distance', it makes one think 'these two are suspicious'..."

Aoki: "There are many people addicted to entertainment-type 'Yaoi', who'll watch their videos carefully. Once, someone would record 'Yoru no Hit Studio' (夜のヒットスタジオ) and mention 'isn't that the performer of the programme sitting behind the moderator?'. Look at that, '○○-kun and ××-kun are always chatting away happily, huh... Hah, this is it!', and she's gonna make a book about it. Falling for talent is a terrible thing. Because she has to record a lotta videos."

Okada: "Manga is much better, huh? It's easy to check cause the characters are introduced in just that work. So what's going on with Yaoi's source material now? It used to be anime, but it's expanding much further."

Aoki: "Anything and everything."

Okada: "During the Summer Comiket, it was Kaworu-kun (カヲル)."

Aoki: "That's right. As a personal interest, I have some objections to that, though."

Okada: "Also, they don't mix anime characters with real people."

Aoki: "Ah, that's cause they're different races."

Okada: "Yeah, yeah, cause their races are different (laughs). Kaworu-kun × Nan-chan (Unnan's Nanbara [南原 清隆]), and so on..."

Aoki: "I never heard about that (laughs)."

Okada: "For example, if it were similar anime produced by Sunrise, it would be like Sunrise's 4 stars sitting with each other."

Aoki: "They used to do that in Yuuki Masami-san's (ゆうきまさみ) manga. There was a backstage-like thing where Cosmo is getting a perm. I've never seen anything but that kind of stuff in Yuuki-san's manga. There's quite a few talent like that. They pass each other in the studio and the drama starts there. Artists often appearing on the same programme. That's why it's common for different groups and artists to get involved. Cause the real world is interconnected. But in anime and manga, their worlds are separated. So, you need to puncture the world layer."

Okada: "I don't see very much 'Dragon Ball' Yaoi. Though Vegeta seems to be loved as a stubborn boy. Shall we ask everyone in the classroom? Has anyone seen 'Dragon Ball' Yaoi?"

Aoki: "Ah, there's quite a few. Many are raising their hands."

Okada: "Who and who?"

Student: "Kaka × Vege I believe."

Okada: "... Who?"

Student: "Kakarot and Vegeta."

Aoki: "For short. If you shorten it, that means it's used quite often, so they're very... (venue bursts into laughter)."

Okada: "It's nice to have a space where you can say 'Kakarot' (laughs)."

Aoki: "Very happy. After all, girl Otaku are all about 'Yaoi'. Everything's already 'Yaoi'."

Okada: "It feels like they have a Yaoi lens in their eye, so whenever they look at something, it appears as Yaoi."

Aoki: "And it cannot be taken off. It's a natural part of 'em."

Okada: "Even when looking at Hashiryuu (橋本龍太郎) and Ozawa Ichirou* (小沢一郎)..."
※These two are crusty old politicians.

Aoki: "I think so, definitely."

Okada: "In the past, I was forced to do such humiliating play before Kakuei (田中 角栄) (bursts into laughter). Speaking of which, there isn't much Lez-stuff drawn by girls."

Aoki: "No, I think there's a lot. I've seen a lot of that stuff in 'Sailor Moon'."

Okada: "'Sailor Moon' has a lot. But men draw Lez not because they wanna draw Lez. It's more like 'I wanna draw Sailor Moon naked, but I don't wanna draw bastards. What should I do? I know, Lez!'."

Aoki: "In the case of men, I don't get the impression they're doing it cause 'I like Lez!'. But girls really love Yaoi."

Okada: "Indeed, men are different from actual Lez-lovers. Cause aren't they immediately strapping on ridiculous gear around their waists?"

Aoki: "Not really. I had a classmate in high school who loved manga and was a big fan of Takemiya Keiko-sensei (竹宮恵子), and I thought I could talk on the same wave-length with that girl, but we're on totally different wave-lengths. That girl was all 'I hate girls! Female characters are nothing but a nuisance!'."

Okada: "Nuisance."

Aoki: "That girl was drawing manga herself, but the main characters are blond and black haired beautiful foreigners and she would never show any girl characters cause she said she absolutely hated nuisances that get in the way. She says girl characters are nuisances whenever she reads manga and it's annoying; whenever I listen to her, it makes me want to pull away. The idea the popularity of a work drops when a female character appears may ring true. I also read something like 'Misato, you're annoying! You're too attached to Shinji-kun' in Doujinshi for 'Evangelion'. I retorted 'it's not a big deal. It has nothing to do with you' while reading, but it really upsets them. But the person, herself, seems quite serious. That's why they get upset whenever there's a character that gets in the way of the 'Yaoi'. There's many settings where the heroine is the daughter of a doctor or has a relationship with the boy protagonist. That's probably where they got the weird idea the girls are 'interfering'."

Okada: "I'm saying it like this, but it feels like you're describing 'women's work'. Cause when a guy draws a parody of 'Sailor Moon', they don't think 'Tuxedo Kamen, you nuisance!'."

Aoki: "Well, a nuisance is a nuisance, but there's a difference in the way they bear grudges. I'm amazed listening to them. In the workspace of a Shoujo Mangaka-san who draws long serials, because the scene of carnage go on for so long, such topics continue to be discussed even during the last four days. During the last four days, they're all divided as they talk about 'I am ○○-sama and △△-sama!', 'I prefer this!' 'No, I don't approve! Unforgivable!', and so on. Completely different from normal girls talking about boys; anyone who cannot keep up with such topics look like they're so hurt, they're about to cry and whimper 'I wanna go home~. I wanna go ho~ome'."

Okada: "Sounds kinda fun. It feels like a garden of women, doesn't it?"


■Otaku Shoujo's Love

Okada: "Aoki-san's gotten to know a lot of girl Otaku, right?"

Aoki: "Hmm, I know more boys... I guess. The girls who are generally 'girls that like girls' draw ero-manga and stuff."

Okada: "So there's girls even in such special genres, huh?"

Aoki: "Girls that draw Lolicon ero-manga definitely exist in this world."

Okada: "Many of those manga creators are women, but are the ones who draw those manga 'girls who like girls'?"

Aoki: "I believe so. Also, when I started drawing in those sorts of Lolicon magazines, I guess there were people who were happy to be approached by men. Female Mangaka who draw in Lolicon magazines are people who have boyfriends. The 'he's a dull guy, but he seems to approach me a lot' sort."

Okada: "There's merit in being able to select from a large pool. For example, even if 30 year old dirty Otaku approach you, you have the advantage of choosing the best one from the bunch... Gah, I'm saying terrible things (laughs)."

Aoki: "Comiket marriage (laughs). I believe there's such a pattern. The typical model of a girl who draws Lolicon Manga is they read Lolicon with a side of mecha when they're in middle school. Like the stories written by Akahori Satoru (あかほりさとる), stuff with pictures of a baby-faced girl riding on a mecha. Then they join a Circle that publishes that line of Doujinshi and got friendly with a man five years older than them, and as they go out with each other, she becomes the Circle's mascot. There's many girls with pasts like that."

Okada: "Even in the Circle I once belonged to, the girls were really popular. Because SF and Tokusatsu-related stuff are full of men, a girl that nods in understanding when they talk about 'Tsuburaya Eiji' (円谷 英二) is like digging up a treasure trove."

Aoki: "Like 'there's a girl like that!?' (laughs)."

Okada: "(For some reason, he puts his all into this) Ooh~ 'she's the one! Go—!' (laughs)."

Aoki: "Such girls were popular. Even when quiet, a lot of men approached them."

Okada: "How does a girl like that become an Otaku?"

Aoki: "One of the girls that comes to my place as an assistant said there's a place on top of the department store in Ikebukuro where a notebook is placed. She'll draw an illustration in the notebook and afterwards, someone will write something as a reply, like a kind of exchange. One day she goes in there and goes 'ahh, there's a new notebook' and reaches out her hand, another boy reaches out his hand and their fingers touch, like an old love comedy. From there it's 'go ahead' and 'no, you go ahead', then 'umm, do you like manga or anime?', that sort of encounter."

Okada: "How romantic... It's romantic, but her boyfriend may need to get better taste."

Aoki: "She didn't really go out with that Onii-san, it sounded like they got into a fight and broke up. The reason is because she got angry at him for sending a letter in a Doujin Envelope (laughs)."

Okada: "That's also romantic in a way (laughs)."


■Unforgivable Cosplay

Okada: "When it comes to girl Otaku, Cosplay has recently been made into a hot topic in the media. Did you do something like that, Aoki-san?"

Aoki: "Hmm, at first I had a desire where I 'wanted to try', but somehow I never got the chance; back in middle school I didn't know Cosplay was really embarrassing. It'll stick to you."

Okada: "Ehh, I did my first Cosplay at twenty, you know?"

Aoki: "There's people like Okada-san, but that can't be helped (laughs). People who do it past twenty, their surroundings are packed with so many people, they'll probably have no choice but to follow that path for the rest of their lives. But Cosplay these days is a little different than it used to be."

Okada: "Now you don't sew them yourself, you buy 'em."

Aoki: "The girls doing Cosplay now have no idea what an Otaku guy's talking about."

Okada: "There's many girls aiming for a chance to make their debut."

Aoki: "I listened in on a conversation at a spa venue, and it seemed like it's a normal conversation between men and women, like 'she really looks good in that Cosplay, huh'."

Okada: "There's something wrong with those people. It's been increasing in the last three years, but there are girls doing girl Cosplay with no knowledge of the source material."

Aoki: "There are, there are (laughs)."

Okada: "So, there's many wearing a white plugsuit who have never seen 'Evangelion', and guys go 'ehh~, you never seen it~!?'. I hate, hate these girls so much, it makes me want to scream 'I'm gonna bury you in Harumi, you bitch!' (bursts into laughter)! The reason they're Cosplaying is because Cosplay is starting to be introduced in regular magazines the last two to three years. So the people thinking it'll be their chance to make their debut are increasing."

Aoki: "Cause those sorts of girls don't buy books or watch videos. Also, moving back to 'Yaoi', there's 'girls who want to be boys' among female Otaku. They don't like real men, but they want to do it with Kojirou (小次郎) and there's the ones who say 'I want to become Kaworu-kun and take a bath with Shinji-kun' (laughs)."

Okada: "They've gotten perverse, huh?"

Aoki: "They're twisted beyond twisted (laughs). For example, no matter how much they like Shinji-kun, they won't go in the direction of wanting a relationship with him as a woman, their desire is 'they want to have a relationship with a male Shinji-kun as a man' to the bitter end. That's why those people badmouth Misato-san."

Aoki: "By the way, I have a video screened at the 'Gainax Festival', but... It's an adult video called 'Come and Break My Virginity' (私の処女を破りにきて). I heard rumours 'there was an AV where the girl moaned and called out a character's name' and when I drew that in a manga, the Director-san himself sent the video to me. There's a comment written by the Director-san, but that Director-san wrote he 'was very scared' because he was a normal person, he wasn't an Otaku or anything. The Actress-san was an amateur, but she was a big fan of 'Yu Yu Hakusho' (幽遊白書), and of course she's a 30 year old virgin that draws Doujinshi. Then she said 'being a virgin is a burden', so she resolved to go into AV cause she thought if it was a professional Actor-san, he would do a good job. However, when it came time for the actual sex scene..."

Okada: "Like they've stumbled into a documentary."

Aoki: "Yeah. They couldn't shoot the AV cause the Actor-san was so turned off he lost his erection. What was the character's name the Actress-san said...?"

Okada: "Tobikage."

Aoki: "That's right, Tobikage! She blurted out 'Tobikage...'. Well, she must've been thinking that if she went that far, she would have to somehow endure it, so the Actress-san thought in her head she was 'Kurama' and made up a story where she was a man in a story involving Tobikage. So she was like 'My*... My Tobikage...' (bursts into laughter)."
※Translator Note: She uses 'ore' (俺), which is generally used by men as a personal pronoun.

Okada: "And then the Actor-san got confused and read 'Yu Yu Hakusho' in the corner of the room. That really moved me."

Aoki: "The Actor-san said 'I'll try to match her somehow' and made that kind of effort, and tried to liven things up with stuff like 'look-look, Yusuke is watching', but it sounded different from 'My Yusuke' in her head, so she suddenly made a serious face and said 'Yusuke would never talk like that!'."

Okada: "That video was supposed to be shot in one day, but it ended up being a one-night, two-day training camp. At night, the Actor-san read 'Yu Yu Hakusho' and agonised over 'none of this makes sense' (laughs). Then they panned the camera and the Actress was drawing a manuscript for the Summer Comiket. Furthermore, she was clutching a character keyholder with a 'gyu'. Saying 'just you wait, I'm gonna lose my virginity...'. But the end result turned out to be good. They had to put out a video somehow, so it was like a forced documentary, and midway, they put out an explanation for first-time viewers by showing art drawn by an ero-Gekiga creator saying "what is 'Yu Yu Hakusho'...?".

Okada: "I never thought someone would have to explain 'Yu Yu Hakusho' in an adult video (laughs)."

Aoki: "The composition was good. They were laying down illustrations going 'she's become this character and now the actor intends to be this character!' howa~n."

Okada: "Then came the climax, the girl suddenly says 'Tobikage, don't leave me' and the Actor-san replies in a troubled tone 'I have to go now. The gates of the underworld will be closing soon...' backing away from her (burst into laughter). That development was incredible."

Aoki: "That was truly a documentary-like video, when I asked the Director-san, he didn't know the Actress-san was an Otaku at first, so he was scared witless the whole time. With a look of orgasm in her eyes, she says stuff like 'Tobikage, I*, I...'..."
※Translator Note: Again she uses 'ore' (俺), which is generally used by men as a personal pronoun.

Okada: "Midway, there was a scene where the girl's cheeks were puffed out. The Actor-san thought she was on drugs or something and was trying to employ brainwashing tactics such as 'Otaku should be social!'. But the girl didn't know why she was being beaten, and was gripping a keyholder with a confused face with a 'gyu' (laughs)."

Aoki: "I thought the scene that was very Otaku-ish was the one where a girl would normally say 'Itai' (It hurts) when she's beaten. However, the reaction when a normal person is hit is not 'Ita!', but the line 'Itai'. Otaku often say 'uru-uru', why's that? She said 'Itai' with the tone of that line. When I heard that, I sighed 'aah, it's not good if you say out the onomatopoeia' (laughs). It's no good, don't say it out loud."

Okada: "Many people do it unconsciously. People whose daily conversations lip-sync the ones in anime. Everyone needs to be careful (laughs)."



Aoki's Pixiv Page:

Despite the talk being about Yaoi, Aoki likes drawing cute girls, though her art style is an acquired taste.
 
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Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
Source:『美少女症候群Lolita Syndrome』 1985/08

Fusion_Product_Lolita_Syndrome_v01_1985_08.jpg


Was pleasantly surprised to find out the entire 'Lolita Syndrome' series by Fusion Product have been digitally archived. It's a reprint and catalogue of Doujinshi categorised into different genres all revolving around Lolicon (synonymous with Bishoujo).

You can view these books by searching for '美少女症候群' on Sad Panda. I highly recommend checking these out, since it gives an idea what is considered Lolicon in 1985 and what is considered Lolicon in the early 2000s.

Table of Contents (v1):
Chapter 1:
Lolicon, Its World
Chapter 2: Macabre Heaven, Shoujo Hell
Chapter 3: Hundred-Thousand Tentacles
Chapter 4: Mecha-Fetishists' Party
Chapter 5: You Got Lana-chan and Lum-chan
Chapter 6: Mecha Anime de Culture
Chapter 7: Sexy SFX Gals
Chapter 8: Shoujo is a Girls' Thing
Chapter 9: Nekomimi, More Nekomimi!
Chapter 10: Bishoujo Fantasy Surpasses Time and Space

This holds historical value since many of these Doujinshi haven't been digitally archived. While Miyazaki's Clarisse was popular after Cybele during the early Lolicon Boom with a few magazines like 'The Anime' insisting that Lana is the better heroine, Lana and Lum usurped her popularity in the Lolicon Doujinshi world by this point.

For me, chapter 9 is interesting cause it shows an entire chapter of the legendary catgirl Doujinshi series 'Mieko Metamorphosis' (みーこメタモルフォセス) by Takahashi Chiko (Digital E-Books of Chiko's Mieko and Super Nyan Nyan). Manga Burikko had a special feature on Nekomimi in their July 1983 issue titled 'Nekomimi Daisuki!', which had an illustration by Kagami Akira and was around when the Moe definition of catgirls were taking off in the Doujin world, and Chiko's doujin was a notable mention in it. Like Noraneko from 'Black Jack' (1975) by Tezuka Osamu is considered to be the first proto-catgirl, but Osamu is more akin to a western furry with his Disney-style art. So Chibi-Neko from 'The Star of Cottonland' (1978) by Ooshima Yumiko (大島 弓子) would be the first proper Shoujo Manga catgirl that's popular with Lolicon followed by Sham from 'Sham Cat' (1979) by Azuma Hideo being the first proper Moe catgirl in a commercial magazine. It's around 1983 when the Doujinshi world was being flooded with Nekomimi, with the 'CAT PEOPLE' Doujinshi being the oldest and hardest to find (there's at least 7 books), and the 'Mieko Metamorphosis' Doujin series being legendary. It's unknown whether Azuma Hideo was influenced by Chibi-Neko or if he was influenced by C'mell from the 'The Ballad of Lost C'Mell' since he's an avid reader of science fiction; the Japanese translation of the short story had C'mell illustrated the following way in 1985.


C'Mell from 'SF Magazine' (SFマガジン) 1985/12:

C'mell.jpg

CAT PEOPLE v7:
CAT PEOPLE_v7_1985_12.jpg

Mieko_Metamorphosis:
Mieko_Metamorphosis.jpg


In any case, I translated the introduction to the first chapter cause it shows how much Lolicon has grown from the Animage issue interview where Yonezawa says 30 out of 700 Doujinshi at Comiket were Lolicon in 1982. By 1985, over a third of all Doujinshi became Lolicon. Rather than people growing bored of it, Lolicon assimilated anything and everything. Okada released a video a couple days ago about Moe being Japan's most powerful weapon, so Uchiyama Aki's ominous words "whatever form it takes in the future, I believe Lolicon will survive" rings true.

Chapter One
"Lolicon" is the Keyword to Becoming Immersed in the 2D-World.


It's been a while since the so-called Lolicon Boom became established among manga and anime fans. Separating from the original meaning of the word, "Lolicon" has combined itself with every genre, and it currently came to present a situation where more than 1/3 of the works exhibited at Comic Market, where thousands of Doujinshi are sold on the spot, are Lolicon (Ero) Doujinshi.

If you were to ask what Lolicon means to manga and anime fans, the only response you would be given is that it's the title to recognise yourself as a being who seeks out 2D images rather than reality. Like how the anime protagonists Minky Momo and Creamy Mami cast spells to transform themselves, Manga Shounen call themselves Lolicon to immerse themselves in the 2D-World (the fact Lolicon does not necessarily mean the Shoujo are sexualised is made clear from the fact that girls who like the cute characters from manga and anime often prefer to call themselves Lolicon and Shotacon as well). Furthermore, the word Lolicon promises freedom from all guilt as the ultimate indulgence——Because it's "Sick". Thus Lolicon equalling Bishoujo Syndrome is one pattern of self-satisfaction, without succumbing to any criticism such as the escalation of Ero-guro or the creation of Doujinshi for monetary gain, rather it swallowed them all and continues to grow bigger and bigger even now.

This book is a work that reprints illustration and manga works published in such Bishoujo Doujinshi into genres divided by their primary motifs. As representative of Lolicon Manga in chapter one, we picked 'Moving Angel' (むうびんえんじょお) from Shiroi Gunpan-san's (白井薫範) individual zine 'ELF'. It's a bright Lolicon Manga, for an immature Shoujo-orientation that's become rarer in recent years, that will satisfy the desire to tease a girl's body.


I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas~♪
Please by all means do check out the digital scans of the Fusion Product 'Lolita Syndrome' Doujin anthologies.
Currently, I'm working on translating Shimizu Kazuo's attempt at an analytical map regarding Lolicon Fanzines in 1981 from the same Fusion Product book in the OP.
 
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Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
Hopefully everyone has had a Happy New Year (and Lunar New Year).

While I finished a translation for Shimizu's article about Lolicon doujinshi, there's still a lot of stuff I need to research, and the possibility I would either need to cannibalise one of Shimizu's other articles on Lolicon doujinshi, or translate that as well. In the meantime, I decided to translate a roundtable talk between many familiar names in this thread regarding the topic of third-rate gekiga back in 1978. By now, you should have a better understanding of what Lolicon means in Japan, so the discussion about how to make third-rate gekiga better appeal to a new demographic of younger readers should be interesting.

Source: 「プレイガイドジャーナル 1978/08」

Playguide Journal_1978_08_Cover.jpg


Name Cheat Sheet:


Kamewada Takeshi (亀和田武): Editor-in-chief of Gekiga Alice (劇画アリス) who had Azuma Hideo serialise 'Absurd Diary' (不条理日記) in it. (Wiki)

Takatori Ei (高取英): Wrote 'The Tsukuru' article translated in the first page of this thread. Editor-in-chief of 'Manga Erogenica'. Takatori and Kamewada are both responsible for the Third-rate Gekiga Boom. (Wiki)

Kawamoto Kouji (川本耕次): Editor of Kannou Gekiga, and Editor-in-chief of Shoujo Alice in addition to being a member of Labyrinth. Major player in the Lolicon Boom who appeared in the Fusion Product roundtable talk. (Wiki)

Labyrinth Members:

Aniwa Jun (亜庭じゅん): Goes by the name Haduki Ryou in this talk, one of the co-founders of Comiket alongside Yonezawa. (Wiki)

Yonezawa Yoshihiro (米沢嘉博): Goes by the name Aida Yutaka in this talk. Wrote several articles translated in this thread. (Wiki)

Takamiya Narikawa (高宮成河): Another founding member of Labyrinth alongside Jun and Yoshihiro. Doesn't have any pages dedicated to him despite being the one that edited Labyrinth's Wikipedia page and Jun's posthumous work. (Labyrinth's Wiki)

BS Manga Night Chat (14th Season: May 2000 3rd Night: Absurd Diary [Azuma Hideo]):

Japanese programme that thoroughly discusses one manga work for about an hour. Okada Toshio is often present. Check the wikipedia page for a list of all the manga and their authors (there's also mooks that transcribe the first 11 seasons, and a book for a selection of various nights). (Wiki)



Labyrinth 78 Compilation

Special Feature: Our Manga Part 3
Have You Seen Third-Rate Gekiga?


There is a word called seinen manga. This word scooped up the energy, which was only demonstrated in the works of shounen manga, to release that energy to a much broader audience. Unfortunately, it slowly lost its original potential, and could only establish itself by adjusting to the sensibilities of society. And within the established hierarchy, its first-rate branches (Big, Action, Young Comic) and second-rate branches (Goraku, Shuuman, etc.) have completely sunk and lost their fervour.

Week after week, the only thing delivered to us were nothing more than 500 yen meal sets along a conveyor belt. For those of us whose primary diet is manga, even if it's a meal set, we'll eat it, but it's inevitable we'll grow tired of the same old taste, and the initial freshness of shoujo manga's sugar candy and pudding à la mode will also fade.

In the midst of the mass stagnation of manga, third-rate gekiga has exploded within each individual through the enclosure of ero, far more interesting than the lacklustre entertainment delivered to us every week. I can hear voices saying third-rate is nothing more than ero-manga, but long, long ago, manga used to be third-rate in the world of expression, so I would like to remind you even shoujo manga was a ghetto within the realms of third-rate until a few years ago. Whether you read it or not is up to you, but it's time to discard the prejudice that you don't read it cause it's ero, manga can also depict ero and it's about time we began to acknowledge that is also our manga. (Takamiya Narikawa [高宮成河])


■Roundtable Talk: Third-Rate Gekiga Battle Royal of Manga


Introductions.

Kamewada Takeshi (Gekiga Alice Representative):

Editor of magazines that can only be purchased through vending machines. Participated in the editing of 'Manga Daikairaku' (漫画大快楽) and 'Manga Banban' (漫画バンバン), building a new age. Afterwards, he transferred to Alice Publishing, and is known for his agitation in the back cover arousing interest in every issue. His real photo finally appeared in a recent issue, causing a controversy, making him the face of vending machines in name and reality. 29 years old.
Playguide Journal_Kamewada_Takeshi.jpg


Takatori Ei (Manga Erogenica Representative):
He's been on this path for over a year, becoming the editor-in-chief of 'Erogenica' and forging his own path, dramatically increasing its circulation. In the doujinshi 'Coffee Time' (コーヒータイム), he writes shoujo manga critiques, attracting the attention of certain maniacs. Recently, he was drawn in and spoiled by the story of Nakajima Fumio (中島史雄) of returning to Osaka for a marriage interview, becoming the face of Third-rate Gekiga both in name and reality. 26 years old.
Playguide Journal_Takatori_Ei.jpg


Kawamoto Kouji (Kannou Gekiga Representative):
A third-rate maniac since his schooldays, growing in momentum until he began editing third-rate gekiga. He's been editing 'Kannou Gekiga' for half a year and is currently publishing the Third-rate SF Shounen Magazine known as 'Peke'. A central executive committee member of the Third-rate Gekiga Kyouto-kai Gi (三流劇画共斗会ギ). He also draws Gekiga and wants to become the face of third-rate gekiga. 24 years old.
Playguide Journal_Kawamoto_Kouji.jpg


Labyrinth 78 Referees:
Haduki Ryou (葉月了) = Aniwa Jun (亜庭じゅん)
Aida Yutaka (相田洋) = Yonezawa Yoshihiro (米沢嘉博)
Takamiya Narikawa (高宮成河)

Playguide Journal_Have_You_Seen_Third-rate_Gekiga.jpg


Takatori: "Right when I joined, I was taught by my current sempai these were created for middle-aged geezers or for manual labourers like truck drivers, those sorts. However, when there were no girls at my cram school, I went to the stands to read ero-manga instead of going to cram school, you see. Completely different from them, and it used to be the editors around me were much older, but it somehow dawned on me I'm doing this for young guys who are sexually unemployed."

Kawamoto: "In short, it wasn't about whether the contents were good or bad with these editors, you see; their criteria for serialisation was whether this person ever wrote a manuscript before, they selected people for such boring reasons."

Kamewada: "Yeah, put simply, they had no policy."

Kawamoto: "There were no editorial policies for magazines."

Kamewada: "The criteria editors have in the form of whether or not this'll sell is truly vague."

Kawamoto: "Simply put, what's been created till now is at the centre of it; for example, since they used blue on the cover and it sold, they think if you use blue, it'll sell..."

Everyone: "Hahaha."

Kawamoto: "Well, but this is the truth. That's why the cover of 'Kannou Gekiga' is all pink."

Haduki: "Like it sells through the editor-in-chief..."

Takatori: "That inside front cover is amazing, like Itasaka Gou (板坂剛) on the final page of 'Movie Art' (映画芸術).

Haduki: "So now they say the target audience is the younger generation."

Takamiya: "As previously stated, we've advanced from creating for factory workers and truck drivers......"

Takatori: "Well, there's more and more truck drivers, factory workers, and geezers, but they're changing the focus between 18 to 25 year-olds. Well, simply put, making it in the sort of form it can be an ingredient for masturbation. So, on one hand, a cram school student will read 'Erogenica', you see, and they'll be thinking 'c'mon, third time, c'mon fourth time, ahh, thank god!!'. On the other hand, you'll have the sort that's sexually hungry, unable to catch a woman, you see, and ero-gekiga calms their desires through masturbation, acting as a safety-valve for the system. But I think it'll be a double-edged sword in that they'll go straight to the bang as a way against the system that'll make the old establishment frown. That's the difficult part."

Kamewada: "I believe it's going both ways."

Takatori: "Well, you see, what I believe had the greatest impact were the middle schoolers that brought them to school. It was about 40 people, you see, and then came the letters with the exact same message from papa and mama."

Kamewada: "Right. They came with the exact same message."

Takatori: "They have their names written on the back."

Kawamoto: "That's cause the Communist Party's pulling the strings behind the scenes."

Takatori: "Yeah, it's true!"

Everyone: "What, what? Really?"

Kawamoto: "Err, it's Ishiko Jun* (石子順), Ishiko Jun."
※Ishiko Jun (Wiki); a movie and manga critic with deep ties to the Japanese Communist Party.

Haduki: "What!? Him!?"

Takatori: "Ishiko Jun in Yoyogi?"

Kawamoto: "That guy's organising that kinda stuff behind the scenes. You know, he did 'What's Happening to Children's Manga?', using it as a means to banish vulgar manga. He's relentless."

Takamiya: "He's really doing that?"

Kawamoto: "Since he's been so relentless, anyone that attracts his attention gets a letter. Likely written by Ishiko. It goes around, you see, he writes people a letter and then they finish it off by signing their name."

Aida: "Like a chain letter."

Takamiya: "If he's doing that, then there must be something like a sample."

Kawamoto: "That's cause you cannot make the same sentence without a sample. So, they all went for 'Comic Gang' (コミックギャング).

Takamiya: "For 'Gang'!? What's wrong with that?"

Kawamoto: "I don't know what was wrong. Probably something that shouldn't be in a gekiga. There doesn't need to be something erotic for there to be something wrong. He doesn't bother with manga that much, so why he's fussing about just gekiga is cause he has a problem with gekiga."

Takatori: "However, when you compare 'Shounen Magazine*' and 'Shounen Champ' to the past, the eroticism has gotten incredible."
※Shounen Magazine (Wiki)

Kawamoto:
"However, even if it's allowed in 'Shounen Magazine', it's not allowed in gekiga mags. For example, in the magazine 'OUT' published by us (Minori Shobo), there was a line about what would happen to this earth if the words 'Omeko' (Sex) and 'Okome' were mixed up. It was also in 30 or 40pt, huge typesetting, but there was absolutely no problem. If it was a gekiga mag, you would get called out for that."

Kamewada: "Even if you say pussy in a literary magazine, it's truly humiliating you can't do that in 'Jitsuwashi' (実話誌)."

Kawamoto: "That's why magazines guised as sex at first glance are subject to much harsher restrictions in terms of expression."

Haduki: "Being guised as sex makes it already a failure as far as the system itself is concerned."

Kamewada: "In regards to that, talking to mangaka, what gets me flying into a rage, you see, though it's a little different recently, Haku's saying he wants to draw shounen manga. What an unpleasant bastard, there's something that makes me doubt his character."

Kawamoto: "Do you know Otama Jakushi (小多魔若史)? There's a mangaka like that who used to work as an exclusive assistant for 'Jump'."

Aida: "I believe you're referring to Yanagisawa Kimio (柳沢きみお)."

Kawamoto: "Yeah, he didn't want to be tied with such a cheap exclusivity fee, so he jumped ship and is now drawing ero-manga. But when I met him, he's the opposite in that he never wants to draw shounen manga ever again. He's making a living on just ero-manga, so as long as it's an ero-manga, he'll draw it for shounen magazines, but he won't draw anything else."

Kamewada: "Ahh, that's an insight."

Takatori: "Same goes for Dirty Matsumoto (ダーティ松本); he's said even if you give him a million yen, he wouldn't draw in 'Big Comic' (ビッグコミック)."

Kawamoto: "I believe Muraso (Shunichi) (村祖俊一) also needs to say that much."

Kamewada: "That's why guys saying to calm down and do ero need to get out more."

Takatori: "Muraso can defend himself, but he draws in 'Big Comic', and he also draws in 'Shounen Magazine' and 'Erogenica'. So it's not like that. Though he doesn't draw much in 'Big Comic'."

Aida: "What about Hachuu Rui (羽中ルイ)?"

Takatori: "He's an exclusive for 'Manga Joe' (漫画ジョー)."

Kamewada: "He often used to say he 'really wants to draw shounen manga', but there's just something that oozes out of his ero-manga."

Takatori: "Hachuu Rui is a poet. He published a poetry collection in high school and is still writing them now. Well, his high school days were interesting. Poetry and violence, he boxed for 3 years, so it's like a fighting elegy. He's done it with Ya-san* in Shinjuku. So he stuck a Shoujo in those scenes of violence and it drifted in and grown into magazine poetry."
※Ya-san: A Yakuza member.

Kamewada:
"That guy's mentally homo. It got late when I was at Lemonsha (檸檬社) and the station was nearby. So when we went home together, he would say 'please stay at my house'. And while we were walking, he would only handle other men with just his right hand like during his boxing days."

Everyone: "Gyahahaha."

Kamewada: "He's no good."

Everyone: "Hahahaha."

Kamewada: "It's been a long time since I last walked out in the middle of the night. It's kinda scary."

Takatori: "Since he had 'that' sort of violence, I asked him if he wanted to try drawing a boxing manga, but it was still in the afterglow of 'Tomorrow's Joe' (あしたのジョー). So he said he would try it after that afterglow went away."

Kamewada: "What was unusual about what he drew in the past was that it was never normal sex. How do I put it? It would be stuff like slicing thighs with a cutter knife and inserting it. Then there's two women doing lez and suddenly a monster jumps out, wearing a fundoshi, and right when you're wondering what's going to happen to the girl, it grasps the girl's genitals and rips it apart. Like throwing a lump of meat at the reader, screaming this is bad."

Everyone: "Gyahahaha."

Takatori: "They don't draw 'em completely naked."

Takamiya: "The ones doing third-rate gekiga are a maladjusted bunch."

Kawamoto: "Right, its representative is Shimizu Osamu (清水おさむ)."

Kamewada: "When I was in charge of Lemonsha, the opening begins with two colours. There's a man eating an apple, forcibly giving an enema to a girl, and what's depicted is ridiculous beyond ridiculous. He drew the apple brown, you see, so it's like he's eating shit like it's delicious, super delicious. The editor-in-chief saw it and said, "Kamewada-kun, this is bad. This is drawn using brown. Please change it to white. That way, it'll look like piss.".

Everyone: "Gyahahahaha."

Kawamoto: "There's certainly a kind of degenerate. That's why they can draw all kinds of stories without getting bored."

Takamiya: "I think it's more than that. There's quite a few that take advantage of it to keep themselves partly awake."

Aida: "Drawing to keep themselves awake."

Takamiya: "What's interesting about third-rate gekiga is that there are quite a few interesting ways to take advantage of them. So, it doesn't matter if only a single naked lady appears. As a reader, I want to read interesting manga, but shounen manga is interesting, same goes for shoujo manga and third-rate gekiga, all of these included are our manga. So as for third-rate gekiga, I would like to hear about how you're doing your best in the future with our manga."

Kamewada: "For us, if we mess up, we could very well end up like 'Young Comic' (ヤンコミ), you see; strictly warned for those parts. So even if you think about wanting to do this or that, I feel a trend concentrated in the 'Young Comic' reader lobby should come on a regular basis, and with that, instead of going over there, they step over here. By making ero-gekiga into ero-gekiga, we're doing our best after all."

Everyone: "........."

Aida: "What about Takatori-san?"

Takatori: "So, in the end, how do I say this? 'Garo' (ガロ) is the opposite of a magazine for people in their 30s or 40s. So I had Kawasaki Yukio (川崎ゆきお) make Garo more into a Garo-ish gentle series, and by using Muraso of 'Big Comic', my wish is to have a shoujo mangaka draw ero. So if those parts all step into a bar, I feel like we would need neither 'Big Comic' nor 'Shounen Sunday. Is there an artist like that?"

Aida: "Isn't there someone already like that?"

Takatori: "Well, Takemiya Keiko's (竹宮恵子) amazing. But I'm not sure there's someone drawing shoujo manga with nudity and dicks, that I'm sure."
T/N: As a reminder, Takemiya Keiko is the one who did the perfect Lolicon Manga according to the Fusion Product roundtable talk moderator.

Haduki:
"But that wouldn't matter from a man's perspective."

Takatori: "No, it's exciting from a man's perspective."

Takamiya: "Can you explain to me what the heck you mean?"

Kamewada: "I was talking to a friend earlier, but the commercialisation of stuff like pornography is completely different from other forms of expression, you see. We have artistic expression, and if you ask what kind of artistic expression, you have the readers that say it's remarkably fine, and the people examining it are in a way nullifying that. Pornography and stuff like that are standing out more and more. Well, it's certainly having a response. So that's why it's completely different from artistic expression. Whenever I hear about porno also being art, it's lukewarm."

Takamiya: "As a new editor."

Kawamoto: "From a general perspective, it feels like it won't be difficult. Meaning, as an artist."

Takamiya: "So it's the absolute lack of artists?"

Kamewada: "There's some. It's been about two years since Hachuu Rui came out."

Kawamoto: "That's why they draw ero. There's few people. For example, Noujou Junichi (能條純一) and Shimizu Osamu already understand to some extent what makes it strangely interesting, like they can see into the future. All that's left is for it to be accepted........."

Kamewada: "So when it comes to how to do it, there's many coming here with strong opinions, but in short, in third-rate gekiga, in ero-gekiga magazines, something may be done if there's 3 or 4 people working hard at it."

Kawamoto: "Also, so long as there are readers, there's a side that says it'll somehow work out. It's easy for artists when there are readers. Like it's impossible to have artists do it when everyone's walking around blind, fumbling about."

Takatori: "Err, there's guys hungry for gekiga dropping off, I believe graduating from somewhere like Nagoya, if a boss asks them what sort of foolish stuff they're doing, they would be like 'No, I'm becoming a mangaka'. So, when they go to Tokyo, they somehow eat."

Kamewada: "Everyone around our age are building houses. So please write down that third-rate gekiga are also building houses."

Kawamoto: "Well, it's because it's a third-rate gekiga that a house is built. The only ones that can handle 300 pages a month though a single person are third-rate gekiga."

Kamewada: "Agata Ui (あがた有為) built a house, Shimizu Osamu built a house."

Takatori: "Shimizu Osamu has an apartment (mansion block)."

Kamewada: "Ah, right."

Takatori: "So it's still not a time to be that excited; everyone's drawing while poor, but if a newbie can bring it in, they look like they can do just fine. Everyone's drawing at home while going to university, so becoming successful or ghosts. That kind of thing is decreasing."

Kamewada: "Well, it's really surprising, but everyone is doing it from extreme poverty."

Takatori: "That's cause they're hungry, hungry."

Kamewada: "There's quite a few despite being from the same generation as me, same goes for Agata Ui, and Iida(Kouichirou)-kun's (飯田耕一郎) private life is kinda amazing. It makes you wonder why that is, but they're all actually more educated than some crappy university student, which is also surprising. Anyways, Aida-kun is also like that, but Agata Ui was working at a supermarket or something like that and was so tired, he couldn't walk straight at night, like 'aah, am I gonna be buried here?'."

Takatori: "In Shimizu Osamu's case, he ran away from home cause he didn't like being the son of a wealthy landlord."

Kawamoto: "That would give you the impression he would be an incredibly pure man, but it's interesting he turned out to be such a twisted human."

Kamewada: "I wrote about that as well (in a magazine), but we need to stimulate more critique."

Takatori: "Why are the ones reading those shoujo manga bastards? Tomohiko Murakami (村上知彦)."

Everyone: "Hahahaha."

Haduki: "Exactly."

Takamiya: "I'm always awake cause of the parts that are so serious."

Takatori: "Kawamoto Saburou (川本三郎) is doing gekiga, so I don't know. Kawamoto Saburou worries me. Kawamoto Saburou, Shimizu Akira, those two."

Takatori: "Poets are no good."

Kamewada: "That's why even the 'Manga Shugi' (漫画主義) folks also feel at their limit; after all, there was a time when those called art youths would critique jazz. There aren't any critiques with the same kind of power of jazz, something you can only talk about as an art youth, so there's still no criticism and method that is suitable for such things as gekiga. Even if you had a conscientious person like Gondou Susumu (権藤晋) (Takano Shinzou [高野慎三]) do it, it was stuff like 'take note of the sincerity placed in such childish lines'."

Haduki: "Yeah, it would be like that."

Kamewada: "Pretty petty if you ask me; from our perspective, it's not a joke. Being unable to write anything but that kinda thing is, after all..."

Kawamoto: "Probably cause he didn't read it. I met Gondou Susumu, you see, and spoke to him, and he didn't know a lick about third-rate gekiga."

Kamewada: "Then, of course, there's that. I'm speaking ill of him, but I thought that was stupid. Him neglecting to construct it as a theory and giving up."

Haduki: "So far, it seems he's writing just the sensations of the good parts."

Kawamoto: "In short, the fact no one speaks about anyone but Ishii Takashi* (石井隆) I believe is the worst thing. Indeed, it may be Ishii Takashi, but I believe, speaking honestly, he's clearly a special case."
※Ishii Takashi (Wiki)

Kamewada:
"Then again, geniuses are amazing. Meaning there's no point in having 20 copycats breaking through a closed situation when you can have a genius break through. Ero-gekiga changed completely thanks to Ishii Takashi showing up. Even if you had 20 copies of Sakaki Masaru (榊まさる) show up, it wouldn't have happened. So you have Ishii Takashi, alone, who made it happen; otherwise you would have to wait who knows how many years for a genius. So when it comes to that, we have to hope for the emergence of a genius in the future to secure a place for that, and I'm also being picky, but I believe we could do better in that area. However, the current state of gekiga, and the critique surrounding it, is terrible."

Kawamoto: "Well, including critique as a practical problem, the beings known as readers aren't established. It's a situation where you don't know if they're there or not."

Kamewada: "So long as we keep coming to places like this, we'll never meet our readers."

Everyone: "Gyahahaha."

Takatori: "Well, err, if you go on a date over the phone, a lot of people will come."

Kamewada: "They won't come if it doesn't have that kind of thing. For example, even 'Daikairaku' sends the model's panties as a present. So a lot of 'em are coming. There's absolutely no letters to the editors besides that, so for example, you often have a reader's column, right? Those are a total sham."

Takatori: "Well, ours are all genuine; in our popularity votes, at least 20 maniacs come out of the woodwork every month. So every time we give out adult toy presents, I'm surprised by the lechers who aren't maniacs."

Everyone: "Wahaha."

Takatori: "They're already completely..."

Kawamoto: "But well, with just 'Erogenica' as the exception, the rest are mostly phonies. You can tell by looking at their names."

Kamewada: "That's why when I was at 'Daikairaku', I was always diligently writing letters."

Everyone: "Hoho—"

Kamewada: "And when we were close to our deadline, I would say 'you write half'."

Aida: "In that sense, you could say 'Erogenica' has created an environment for the reader to some extent."

Takatori: "We're creating it. Mostly because I'm hoping to meet my readers."

Aida: "The so-called 'Young Comic' reader's lobby..."

Takatori: "Well, there aren't any morons with big heads like that."

Kamewada: "Well, as for that, when it comes to 'Young Comic', the first thing I do when I buy them is read Ishii Takashi's 'Angel's Guts' (天使のはらわた) and 'Dokuro' (読ロ). Every time I read 'Dokuro' I would get harassed, so it turned into an unpleasant experience."

Takatori: "A while back, a reader said 'Manga Magazine' and 'Erogenica' were interesting and he wrote for a bit, and here I was surprised thinking this is not good."

Kamewada: "Speaking of which, when Shimizu Osamu came to our company for two to three days, that guy was also going ahahaha, saying 'You wrote about Alice in Erogenica'..."

Everyone: "Wahahaha."

Takamiya: "I'm thinking of creating something new, but there's always a situation where the lowbrows will come again and ruin everything, so it's hard getting around that..."

Kamewada: "True. Indeed, meeting specific readers would have a great impact, so it all boils down to this; I don't care if I'm wrong, so other than having a policy to set up a reader's column, I feel there's nothing else we can rely on. Unless you do a proper analysis of the data, there's many parts that'll fall out and get lost. That's why in the end, I feel this is the only way when it comes to this."

■Third-Rate Gekiga Creator Focus In

By Ijuuin Ranmaru (伊集院乱丸)


Dirty Matsumoto (ダーティ松本):

Published the Tankoubon 'Meat Slave Doll' (内の奴隷人形) and 'Crazy Nuisance Doll' (狂った微惑人形) from Kubo Shoten (久保書店), mainly in 'Hunter' (ハンター) and 'Pleasure No.' (悦楽号). In addition to his pen name based on 'Dirty Harry', he has earned himself the names 'Gekiga Hentai Devil', 'Gekiga Butcher' and 'Gekiga Sex-Killer'. True to those names, his men violently rape with pistols and penises and his women are thoroughly abused as playground equipment for their pleasure. In particular, the brutality of his anal torture and sandwich torture are the quintessence of his world of super violence.

Shimizu Osamu (清水おさむ):
Currently active in 'Alice' (アリス), Erogenica (エロジェニカ), and 'Comanche' (コマンチ). In his stories where the protagonist is a lady with long hair and sharp eyes with fluttering eyelashes, he's a creator who cannot help but draw scenes of extreme tragedy in which the neck, torso, and internal organs explode at least once in every work. He also goes crazy with the cruel and love-juice afterglow scenes depicted in his double-page spreads. In addition, the heroine's sassy violence as she approaches obscenity and ruin is also incredible.

Muraso Shunichi (村祖俊一):
In addition to 'Erogenica' and 'Pleasure Seven' (快楽セブン), with the pen name <Narukami Shun> (鳴神俊), he also draws in 'Big Comic' and 'Shounen Magazine'. Without the "filthiness" particular to ero-gekiga, his women being raped and his women being tortured during SM are always praised for their sublime beauty. In particular, the height of his pride, 'Harlot Marie' (娼婦マリー) from 'Erogenica', is so cruel in which the female student who despises herself becomes a drug addict and sells her body. Saying, "Know how I feel. Just try taking customers with yer pu**y...".

Agata Ui (あがた有為):
The best-selling ero-gekiga drawing in various places like 'Daikairaku', 'Comanche', 'Adams' (アダムズ), 'Olympia' (オリンピア), and 'Alice' (アリス). His females all have glamorous bodies whether they be schoolgirls, housewives, or OL. His stories include rape, SM, and Lez, but his tattoos are unique and his stories where they're raped by the elderly are rare even among ero-gekiga. Perhaps the fact they're so willing to open their bodies without resistance when they're being raped by men is the reason his works are so appealing.

Tsuchiya Shingo (土屋慎吾):
With themes where schoolgirls and young wives with plump bodies gradually go into heat as they're bullied by middle-aged geezers, he makes light of them as they're teased and forced into embarrassing poses. Furthermore, his depiction of a woman's shame and agony is excellent, especially their half-opened lips and tightly-closed eyes, arousing the reader's desire with his style of ero-gekiga. Currently active in the Nyotai Series of 'Daikairaku' and 'Alice'.

Genkai Tsutomu (玄海つとむ):
Drawing in places such as 'Daikairaku' and 'Alice'. The voltage of his depictions are quite good, but more than that, his stories and names* (ネーム) are solid. His favourite theme is stepmother bullying, where a daughter becomes equal as a woman, and she and her adoptive mother engage in foul-mouthed swearing and resentment, like an unforgivable rivalry between women, such as seducing men and raping each other. Also, his women who are black around the eyes are incredibly strong and lewd, a perfect fit for his theme.
※Name(Manga Term) (Wiki). A blueprint for manga, panelled and with dialogues.

Hachuu Rui (羽中ルイ):

A best-seller that draws in many magazines, such as 'Joes', 'Comanche', 'Alice', and 'Daikairaku'. He specialises in works where schoolgirls are the protagonists. His stories about schoolgirls, drawn with clean lines, who are afraid of sex, but gradually grow to want it. The coolness of their reactions gives them a unique lyricism, which is why he is being called a sensual poet. He's especially good at masturbation and lesbian scenes, and with the transparency of the girl's upturned eyes, they make you feel the beauty in his obscene eroticism.

Nakajima Fumio (中島史雄):
Although centred in 'Erogenica', he not only has experience in 'Skat' (スカット) and 'Olympia', he also has experience as an assistant of Masaki Mori (真崎守) at one time in 'COM'. His '紫瞬記' series that deals in Shoujo stuff known as lemon sex, particularly a lesbian one between the Bishoujo Maya and her female teacher, stands out because it doesn't have the sloppy scenes other lesbian stuff do. By depicting the twisted faces of Shoujo in a strangely glamorous way, he provokes the lust of Lolita Complex readers.

Iida Kouichirou (飯田耕一郎):

Became a mangaka after working as an editor at 'COM'. In addition to working in such magazines as 'Alice', 'Daikairaku', and 'Sensual Age' (官能時代), he draws gags under the pen name of 'Kouichirou' (耕一郎). His stories, mainly centred on the monoloques of girls, have a peculiarly dull mood, in the sense they're akin to a shoujo manga. He's a playful and addicting creator, rather than a creator who draws the reader in with powerful depictions. At any rate, his Shoujo, drawn with a tasteful and exquisite touch, are quite cute.

Miyanishi Keizou (宮西計三):
Active in 'Alice', 'Adams', 'Dokkiri No.' (ドッキリ号), and 'Special Young Comic' (増刊ヤングコミック). There are many 2-colour pages at the ends of his books with bold compositions and a sophisticated, grotesque art style in the likeness of French dramas, making his phantasmic and beautiful fantasies marvellous. Moreover, his sense at depicting the eyes, tongue, sweat, and wrinkles of clothing is worth a glance. Homo, transvestism, doll love, and so on. His child pornographic works with abnormal themes can be seen in 'Dreamer Pippyu' (夢想家ピッピュ).



'Showa Porn History':

This is Kawamoto Kouji's website and it has 22 chapters plus four extra autobiographies of information; far too much for someone like me to translate, but it goes into detail about everything involved in Third-rate Gekiga Boom, vending machine magazines, Labyrinth (the group Yonezawa is part of) and so on that has led to the Lolicon Manga Boom. In addition to further details about the contents of the above Playguide Journal article. The funniest part is that Ishiko Jun is also mentioned in the opening summary of the 3rd autobiography. It's been 30 years and his supposed trouble-making antics left that deep of an impression on Kawamoto Kouji. He has a large list of books in relation to manga critique, like this is the cover of the one mentioned in the above roundtable discussion.

Series for Parents and Teachers 3_What's Happening to Children's Manga_Papa, Mama, Sensei, Thi...jpg

"Series for Parents and Teachers #3: 'What's Happening to Children's Manga?' (子どものマンガをどうする) Papa, Mama, Sensei, Think Seriously!" by Ishiko Jun (石子順).

Cannot find any info for Ishiko Jun in English, and his Wikipedia page is rather sparse, but I'm curious how much of an effect he had on manga regulation and the rise of Otaku Bashing. Found a blog that shares some information about this book and Ishiko Jun, though with how he's presented, I cannot think of any western equivalents of him since most westerners I know that criticise manga for being too vulgar are far more ignorant than Jun is about the industry (
Blog).
 
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Gun

varishangout.com
Source: 「ふゅーじょんぷろだくと ロリータ/美少女特集 81/10」

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In this issue, there's a 6 page roundtable talk between the most influential and important members of Lolicon and Bishoujo manga history. There's a lot of information not available in English with few articles accurately covering the people involved, leading to much misconceptions that still circulate the western internet. Everything following this paragraph is my translation of the article in question with coloured translator's notes to deliver further info. Please keep in mind there are several different definitions of the word Lolicon, and in 1981, there wasn't a word for Otaku or a word for Moe or Waifu in regards to having a fondness for anime characters, so in these days Lolicon, Lolita, and Bishoujo were the words often used for expressing those concepts.

Lolicon Roundtable Talk

No matter how you slice it, Bishoujo seems to be booming. So it's for that reason we have gathered the 'authorities' in that field... Oh, the horror, the horror.

The Lolicon's Path is Rocky and Deep

Lolita, or how I learned to abandon normal romance and love Bishoujo.

(吾妻ひでお) Azuma Hideo (Bishoujo Mangaka) Current Status: Deceased (RIP)

You cannot talk about Bishoujo without mentioning him. He hasn't been making much of a stir recently, but he's still stirring nonetheless. Some worship him as the 'God of Lolicon', clapping their hands in prayer, morning and evening.

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(野口正之) Noguchi Masayuki (Biyoujo Mangaka) *Penname: (内山亜紀) Uchiyama Aki (Link); Current Status: Alive (His Books are Available Digitally).

No longer able to run or hide from it, a man who is unmistakably a Lolicon. Recently applied in a readers' column for the Shoujo manga magazine 'Nakayoshi', and was happily selected as an honourable mention for the C-class. Apparently, he wants to close up shop as a Lolicon mangaka to walk the path of a Shoujo mangaka.

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(谷口敬) Taniguchi Kei (Lolicon Gekigaka) Status: Alive and well (See End Note)

He gave us a stern warning he will never allow us to publish a photo of his face, but nevertheless, we got him to let us publish it. His first public appearance... A brazen... No, no, a rosy-cheeked Biseinen Mangaka. After making his debut in 'Erogenica', he's currently writing for 'Daikairaku' at a serialisation pace.

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(早坂未紀) Hayasaka Miki (Lolicon Doujinshi Creator) Current Status: Unknown

More than fact, rather it's a foregone conclusion even he who boasts sparkling talent in the Doujinshi world is actually a Lolicon. Despite being so skilled, he's a modest man who hasn't earnestly drawn for a professional magazine. He's working as an assistant for Murakami Motoka and Azuma Hideo.

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(川本耕次) Kawamoto Kouji (Lolicon Editor) Current Status: Alive and Posting on Twitter (Link)

Has had Noguchi Masayuki draw Lolicon manga in 'Peke' and has had Azuma Hideo draw Bishoujo manga in 'Shoujo Alice', you could say he's the man responsible for the current boom. In addition, the phantom masterpiece Bishoujo photo book 'There's a lot of Girls in the City' is also his work. He's currently working hard, day and night, on ero-books over at Gunyuusha.

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(蛭児神建) Hirukogami Ken (Lolicon Degenerate) Current Status: Unknown

Whenever Lolicon is mentioned, he's always ready to talk about it. The man is like a street guru. Dressed in hunting cap, sun glasses, mask, and raincoat that have started appearing on dummies all around. He presides over the extreme Lolicon Doujinshi 'Youjo Fancier'.

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(藤本孝人) Moderator: Fujimoto Takato (Ordinary 30 Year-old Bachelor) Current Status: Unknown

Publisher of the long-established Mini-comic magazine 'Manga no Techou'. At first glance, he's a true and upright salaryman, but in this special article, he's revealed to be a jack of many trades. Talk about not judging a book by its cover. Recently, he's been subjected to a bunch of marriage interviews, but he has insisted he won't respond to any marriage interview photos unless the girl in question is wearing a sailor suit that fits his preferences.

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■Are you a Lolicon?

──"Today's talk is about Lolicon, so I would like to start by confirming whether everyone is a Lolicon."

Noguchi: "I'm a Lolicon." (Blunt)

Taniguchi: "I'm currently working for 'Daikairaku'. So I'm thinking this while looking at the other writing members, but perhaps I'm not the biggest Lolicon." Manga Daikairaku: Link

──"There's always someone insisting 'I'm not a Lolicon!'."

Taniguchi: "At least not a violent one."

Kawamoto: "I'm a Lolicon. In the strictest sense of the word. Recently, there's been all sorts, like Heidi Complex or Alice Complex among other types. I'm just in it for the sailor suits (laughs)."

──"Next, while I don't need to ask, but..."

Azuma: "I'm different." (Blunt)

Everyone: "Not this again."

──"Well, let's leave the arguing aside. What about you, Hayasaka-san?"

Hayasaka: "Everyone says I have it, so it must be true."

──"Any noticeable symptoms?"

Hayasaka: "Nothing more than my trembling hands."

Hirukogami: "My dream is I want to hold my chest high and declare 'I'm a degenerate'."

──"What's the difference between a degenerate and a Lolicon?"

Hirukogami: "The difference is in action."

──In any case, everyone has been speaking their minds, but what about you Azuma-san?

Azuma: "Eh?"

──"Earlier you mentioned you're different, that you're a Lolicon during work."

Azuma: "... Something like that...."

──"So you don't love anime Bishoujo?"

Azuma: "No (laugh). Please don't ask just me; I came here to study what Lolicon are like today."

Hayasaka: "Ah—is that so?"

──"Though many people have awoken to Lolicon after reading Azuma-san's manga."

Azuma: "I don't know. Are there really people like that?"

──"Kawamoto-san has been handling Azuma-san's works for quite some time in 'Peke'." Monthly Peke: Link

Kawamoto: "I'm tooting my own horn, but I've been something of an important turning point in Azuma-san's life. I've turned the second-rate Azuma-san, who was drawing for Akitashoten and Futabasha, into a third-rate mangaka working for 'Peke'. Also, I had him draw Bishoujo manga for 'Shoujo Alice'. That was just turning him from an 'SF-mania artist' into a 'Lolicon artist', it feels like I'm changing him from one bad thing into something worse."

Azuma: "Ah, that's true (laugh)."

──"I believe Noguchi-san also started his career as a Lolicon artist in 'Peke'."

Kawamoto: "He made his debut with the 'OUT' newbie manga award. And it was then I was wandering around the editorial department of Minori Shobou, trying to devise a cheap idea to make his manuscript fees cheaper." Monthly Out: Link

Noguchi: "This is the man I first heard the word Lolicon from (laughs)."

Kawamoto: "Back then, it wasn't popular at all. But I had some interest in it, so I asked Noguchi-kun to draw it since he had the qualities of a Lolicon."

Noguchi: "I'm the type who's happy so long as he gets to draw girls (laughs)."

──"Though looking at what Taniguchi-san published in 'Pafu', his girls were already very cute since then. That's why everyone's always insisting you must be a Lolicon." Pafu: Link

Taniguchi: "There's a noticeable difference between what the readers say about me and what I say about me not being a Lolicon, they're on separate wavelengths. Recently, I've started to understand their side, so if the readers insist I am one, then I may as well give in and accept it."

──"Though I believe you have a fixation on drawing sailor suits."

Taniguchi: "Not at all. ... When it comes to sailor suits these days, the tops are fine, but I don't care much for the skirts."

Everyone: (Laughs)

Azuma: "Do you like short skirts?"

Taniguchi: "When it comes to skirts, I prefer midi, pretty much. The part where you can see half the knee makes midi the cutest."

──"I knew it, so you enjoy drawing those kind of works."

Taniguchi: "Well, I enjoy it, but... Saying that is enough to make me fine with this is a bit..."

──"So it's a forbidden pleasure? (Laughs)"

Hayasaka: "I wonder if the people being called Lolicon by society are people with little sisters. I've been wondering if that only applies to me."

Hirukogami: "My friend has a little sister and he's been writing a novel about violating a little sister with her name."

Everyone: "That's sick. (laughs)."

Kawamoto: "There might be some truth to that. Like a desire for a little sister."

Taniguchi: "True."

──"Something like if you actually had a little sister, you want her to be like this?"

Hayasaka: "I'm not conscious of it, but I believe it's there."

Hirukogami: "That would make everyone who has a desire for a little sister into a Lolicon. If I also had a little sister, I would do this." (Gestures)

Everyone: (Laughs)

Azuma: "Please behave yourself! (Laughs)."

──"In Tezuka Osamu's early works, he often concluded it with a 'become my little sister' 'sure', so now I'm wondering if perhaps Tezuka-san is the grandfather of Lolicon."

Azuma: "Ah, it feels like that."

Taniguchi: "Some parts of 'Phoenix' felt incestuous. Having sex with a little sister and mother, and creating a bunch of descendants." Pheonix by Tezuka Osamu: Link

Hirukogami: "The motif of incest is common in Lolicon."

Kawamoto: "I'm currently working on an ero-book, but I often write confession notes for that reason. Whenever I write a confession note for incest, I always talk about my little sister. I have an older sister, but no younger sister. It's probably because I cannot delude myself into doing it with my older sister no matter what. She's like a mother to me. The only things I can imagine that make for attractive material is stuff about doing it with a little sister. But when I think about it carefully, lines like 'become my little sister' are really raunchy ones (laughs)."

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■Where are the Lolicon Civil Rights?

Kawamoto: "I believe everyone potentially has the elements of a Lolicon. It's only by chance in this period we have things like anime Bishoujo characters, Azuma-san's manga, and the Bishoujo Noguchi-kun draws."

Noguchi: "What I draw aren't Bishoujo. They're Biyoujo!" 美幼女 (Biyoujo) are anime girls younger than 美少女 (Bishoujo)

Kawamoto: "(Laughs). I believe there's places that grant social status where it's fine for Lolicon to be into that sort of stuff."

Noguchi: "Lolicon gained civil rights?"

Kawamoto: "In our current situation, suppose we have neither Azuma-san nor Noguchi-kun, nor the Bishoujo characters from Toei, how would there be Lolicon? I believe there's now places where you can publicly show you're a fan of Azuma Hideo as a Lolicon. In other words, couldn't you say we're accepted?"

Noguchi: "I went to a marriage interview the other day."

Everyone: (Bursts into Laughter)

Noguchi: "You see, the matchmaker introduced me to the other party as a mangaka. So the woman in question didn't have any further background information beyond that. And when we met and did our greetings, she asks 'what kind of manga do you draw?'."

Everyone: (Bursts into Laughter)

Noguchi: "The reason I couldn't answer confidently at the time was because I thought I still didn't have civil rights. So I told her 'I draw all sorts' (laughs)."

──"So what you're saying is despite the boom, you still don't have civil rights?"

Azuma: "What I don't understand is why Lolicon is booming. Could such a thing have a boom?"

Hirukogami: "In the past, Lolicon had a dark image, but thanks to Sensei, the image of a Lolicon is bright and fun. Noguchi-san's manga are especially fun. Like you're having fun drawing them. Like they're trying to turn me, who was indifferent to such, into a Hentai."

Noguchi: "I won't deny that (laughs). Someone told me this, but even if the girls I draw wind up ravaged, the girls don't look hurt. He said he didn't get the impression they were being bullied from my manga (laughs). I'm the kind of guy that totally has fun drawing. After all, it's fun drawing girls."

Azuma: "Do you like bullying?"

Noguchi: "No, I inherently dislike the sight of blood; however, when I see an article about a young girl being bullied in the newspaper, it makes my heart skip a beat."

Azuma: "That may be you in the future."

Noguchi: "Only if I make a misstep (laughs)."

──"It seems there was actually a person called Noguchi Masayuki in Yokohama who was arrested for bullying young girls."

Noguchi: "Ah, you're right. The editor of Tatsumi Publishing called me over the phone to check up on me. And he was like 'Huh? You're there?' (laughs)."

Azuma: "He was certain it was Noguchi-san (laughs)."

──"But the name of the policeman that was arrested for climbing onto the stage during a live performance at a strip show theatre was Azuma Hideo, was it not?"

Everyone: (Burst into Laughter)

Azuma: "Uumu."

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■My Bishoujo

──"How do I word this? At what age is someone a Bishoujo to you?"

Hirukogami: "For me, if they're past 14, they're past their prime (laughs)."

Kawamoto: "I don't really find age to be relevant. The inner nature of a girl is more important than her actual age. On the one hand, the Tokyo high school girls are terrifying; they all look like female gang leaders. On the other hand, the high school girls riding on Roadpals around Gunma are very cute, they're so pure."

──"Azuma-san, I believe you said a Shoujo is a Shoujo even if she's well-developed in the chest." The God of Lolicon is into Oppai Loli.

Azuma: "Yeah, I believe I said that. But what about Hirukogami-san...?"

Hirukogami: "Her chest must be completely flat." Explains his fashionable choice of clothing.

Everyone: (Burst into Laughter)

Azuma: "That's why we're different. He's unable to have a normal marriage."

Kawamoto: "Well, Lolicon are usually unable to have normal marriages. When I called Azuma's home for the first time, his wife picked up and I thought she was totally a middle schooler."

──"So Azuma-san didn't have a normal marriage (laughs)."

Azuma: "It was normal. What are you saying? I also have children. Is it that unbelievable for a Lolicon to have kids!?"

Hirukogami: "I think it's about time you put up a wire fence around your home."

Azuma: "Everyone's after my daughter (laughs). Someone's gotta do it."

──"So you wanna keep her by your side and never let her get married for the rest of her life?"

Azuma: "No, nothing of the sort. Cause I'm a normal human."

Everyone: (Bursts into Laughter for some Reason)

■Sailor Suits and Randoseru

Azuma: "Sailor suits, they're part of Lolicon, right?"

Taniguchi: "Well, you see (he's been quiet till now, so he's suddenly leaning his body forward). Err, those things had a boom 10 years ago, didn't they? The protagonists during the boom back then were all wearing sailor suits. So isn't this just a prolongation of that?"

Hirukogami: "I'm bad when it comes to high school girls; whenever I hear their high-pitch voices, it makes me want to pull out the ropes to tie them up, and..."

Everyone: "So you want to do that (laughs)?"

Kawamoto: "After all, the ideal is the middle school sailor suit. Tokyo high schoolers don't look good in them. Budding breasts and a height around 155cm, those kinds of girls should wear sailor suits."

Hirukogami: "Their sailor suits are worn all year round, so no matter how you slice it, they're filthy. Glistening with their skin oils."

──"By the same token, are the glistening skin oils on Hirukogami's Randoseru good?"

Hirukogami: "Ah! Randoseru are good alright. I recently got a hold of one, but it's been used for 6 years, so the sweat-soaked red Randoseru is irresistible."

Kawamoto: "(Laughs). I bet you were wearing the Randoseru over your head and rolling around."

──"Did you bring it with you today?"

Hirukogami: "No way. I have it carefully on display back home."

Everyone: (Laughs)

Kawamoto: "I'm just your regular guy wearing bloomers and rolling around."

Taniguchi: "Ah, bloomers are nice."

Kawamoto: "Not just Chouchin-bloomers, but a form-fitting jersey. Those are nice." Chouchin-bloomers (ちょうちんブルマー) are a specific kind of bloomer.

──"How do you feel about leotards?"

Kawamoto: "Umm. Girls in leotards aren't cute, to be honest."

Taniguchi: "(Nodding). They're uncute."

Kawamoto: "I would rather have a school swimsuit than a leotard."

──"You're a very plain man."

Kawamoto: "I want to keep it simple with stuff that has their name written on the chest."

──"How does that make it good?"

Kawamoto: "Um, you see, they're all dressed the same. So it makes the cute girls stand out."

■Licca-chan Doll Craze

──"How does everyone feel about dolls?"

Taniguchi: "Dolls are nice, aren't they?"

Hayasaka: "Hirukogami-san is unchallenged when it comes to dolls."

Hirukogami: "I like them. I have about 20 Licca-chan dolls. Of course, it's boring playing with them normally. Superhero dolls are about the same size as Licca-chan so having Ultraman don Licca-chan's outfits is pretty cute. I also have dolls called G.I. Joe. Though I only have about 5 of them. If I combine the G.I. Joe and Licca-chan dolls, they perfectly encapsulate the body shapes of an adult and child." Licca-chan (Link)

Everyone: "Guwaah (laughs)."

Hirukogami: "I enjoy posing them in various positions."

Azuma: "Y, you're sick (laughs)."

Kawamoto: "You're twisted (laughs)."

Noguchi: "Hirukogami-san dropped by my place the other day, and showed me a big fight between Licca-chan and G.I. Joe (laughs). Ever since then, my impression of dolls has been pretty positive."

Azuma: "So you're doing a Licca-chan doll delivery service?"

Hirukogami: "I wouldn't quite call it a delivery service."

──"Do you have any Petite Angie dolls?" Her Majesty's Petite Angie (Link)

Hirukogami: "Yeah, there's 5 kinds of those. From Takara. Well, I have a big and small one. It's already an old anime, so they're hard to come by. Even though Candy Candy is currently selling, Petite Angie is way cuter and has a better personality! I dislike hypocritical characters like Candy Candy." Candy Candy (Linkj)

──"Azuma-san is also pretty particular about Petite Angie."

Azuma: "Yeah, I also like her. I'm a close match for him in that area. Though I'm still a loser; only have 3 of them."

Everyone: (Burst into Laughter)

Hirukogami: "Do you have any cels?"

Azuma: "Well, I received 2 or 3."

Hirukogami: "Gentlemen, he has cels for Petite Angie."

Taniguchi: "However, not all of them."

Azuma: "Yeah, just the ones where she's tied up at the watermill."

Hirukogami: "Somehow, that's really cute. Ufufufufufu."

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Azuma Hideo's Waifu: Petite Angie. His obsession for this character extends to him expressing a desire to become Angie.

■Lolicon is an Ideal


──"I'm of the opinion Takemiya Keiko's 'Fly Me to the Moon!' is the perfect Lolicon manga." 'Fly Me to the Moon': Link

Azuma: "Ah, I agree."

Kawamoto: "However, I believe women do not understand Lolicon on a fundamental level."

Noguchi: "I also think so."

Kawamoto: "Most of them are Fashionable Lolicon."

Hayasaka: "The ones called female Lolicon like small, cute girls, but they also like cute boys and cute children."

Kawamoto: "They lack distinction and principle, you could say they lack the ideal."

──"The ideal?"

Kawamoto: "All Lolicon have an ideal."

Noguchi: "Sounds like you're trying to split hairs (laughs)."

Kawamoto: "No, I'm making a point. There are Lolicon that stick to school swimsuits, there are Lolicon that stick to Randoseru, but when it comes to female Lolicon, the only thing that matters to them is whether something is cute. They're unprincipled Lolicon, so I cannot recognise them as Lolicon. After all the path of a Lolicon is much deeper."

Noguchi: "Ah, so it's a matter of depth? (Laughs)."

Hayasaka: "For some reason, I'm starting to feel afire with desire."

Hirukokami: "I'm still a long ways from that."

Hayasaka: "You'll need to seclude yourself in the mountains with a Randoseru for about three years (laughs)."

Kawamoto: "Though it's been getting a little crazy lately, Lolicon isn't dark at all. In fact, I believe someone said this but, Shoujo are beautiful, but we who love those Shoujo aren't beautiful. That is to say, some are coming into this with the misconception Lolicon is beautiful. I believe Azuma-san's manga provides a cover for that; 'I'm not a Lolicon, but I am a fan of Azuma Hideo'. That's why it's become very cool to call things Lolicon. I think that's a bad trend. After all, those who love Shoujo aren't beautiful in the slightest."

Hayasaka: "It's not beautiful, but it's defiant. That's why you have those saying doing ○○ and ×× is Lolicon."

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The perfect Lolicon manga according to the moderator.

■Lolicon is Sexual Science Fiction


Perhaps you don't know anything about Lolicon being sexual science fiction, but it's not limited to Lolicon; Homo, Lez, Sado, Maso, and all the other sex besides the so-called 'normal sexual relationships' are akin to science fiction. Perhaps you could call them science fiction of the lower body. Among their commonalities are suppressed desires, possibility and imagination, and a degree of hatred towards 'reality', Lolicon and SF are very similar in the aspect where they're strangely pessimistic.

However, that is not to say most of what is being written is Lolicon SF. There are many SF where girls appear, but those aren't necessarily Lolicon, just like having a girl appear doesn't make something a porno.

That said, it's not completely out of the question. Out of all the works I'm going to mention, if I have to give a perfect example, is Hoshi Shinichi's early work 'Moon's Light'. This is the story of a middle-aged man who keeps a mixed-race girl as a pet. Though the girl was an abandoned child, the man did nothing to educate her as a human, instead he raised her as a beautiful pet. The pet girl was attached to the man. The man, of course, didn't do anything to her. He was merely fascinated by her presence. Hoshi Shinichi (Link)

Robert Young's 'The Dandelion Girl' is also a romantic Lolicon SF. Her dandelion hair dancing in the wind, a girl standing in the afternoon sunshine comes from a future two hundred forty years away. The man admonishes his agitated self. 'Hey, hey, I'm forty-four.' Young, very much a Lolicon, introduces charming girls even in his 'Jonathan and the Space Whale'.

Speaking of charming, Mitsuse Ryuu's 'Asura King' also has a different kind of charm. In 'Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights', he introduces an androgynous Bishoujo who possesses a sublime beauty that transcends gender. Though there's many nostalgic stories about boys by Ray Bradbury, the 'April Witch' is a short story that symbolically depicts the fluttering heart of an adolescent girl. (Kobayashi Katsuaki) This person (小林克彰) shouldn't be confused for the Guilty Gear CV of the same name. So far, this is the only time I've seen this name mentioned.

Unlike the other pieces written alongside the roundtable talk (i.e. one about male crossdressers commenting on sailor uniforms), I felt this one was important to translate to show how important western science fiction media was to budding artists in Japan and Lolicon itself.

The Lolicon Boom mentioned earlier in the talk was happening alongside a Star Wars boom, and as Uchiyama Aki (Noguchi Masayuki) later mentioned in an out-of-panel note in an issue of Lemon People, there isn't a single Japanese mangaka who hasn't been influenced by American comics.

The reason Azuma is treated with such high regard is because Japan was importing the dark Lolicon from Europe and North America (Junior Idol-type pornography), and he turned that dark image around to something fun and positive with his manga Lolicon. The manga and anime industry wouldn't be the way it is right now if it weren't for the above artists influencing all the artists that gained recognition overseas like Takahashi Rumiko, Nagai Go, Toriyama Akira, among others.

Despite that, most of these people haven't really transitioned to the internet age.
Taniguchi Kei, the Lolicon Gekigaka, is still alive and well, posting on the internet.
You can find his Pixiv account here:
In fact, it's thanks to this tweet by Taniguchi,
I went to the trouble of picking up this issue of Fusion Product amidst Covid:



I
I just read a little bit of this, I'll read this all after because it's late. Bit lolicon is pretty interesting
 

Hexasheep93

varishangout.com
Regular
Interesting.
I find it very fascinating just how varied the old 'third rate" manga and other niches scene was way back then.

I dont want to sound like an old boomer but I feel nowadays creators arent as experimental and adventurous with the medium as before. And this is not only with manga but with a lot of creative mediums
 

Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
Just a quick update, but Kawamoto Kouji (age: 69) sadly passed away on December 26th due to complications after catching Covid-19, and his wife reported his death a couple weeks ago on Twitter. She says she's going to shut down his website Net Guerrilla by February 2023, so Japanese users are trying to archive what's available since while most of his posts were politics, there's still a lot of useful information that needs to be preserved.

Wife's Tweet:
※Kawamoto Kouji's real name is Yamada Hironaga.

Ogata Katsuhiro's Tweet:

z_kamewada_yonezawa_kawamoto_1979.jpg

Left-to-right: (1979) Kamewada, Yonezawa, and Kawamoto

Kera: "Kawamoto Kouji, if you tell English-speaking researchers and Weeaboos he was the one who sowed the seeds of 'Hentai' and 'Lolicon' in its country of origin, Japan, I don't believe you'll be able to convey the weight of that statement to them, or rather, there doesn't exist any foreigners who know Kawamoto Kouji. Thus, the origin of Otaku culture vanishes into thin air."


Fortunately, you guys in this thread know Kawamoto Kouji~.
So please take care of your health so the origin of Otaku culture doesn't vanish with you!
Last year, I went to 4chan's /h/ thread and met friendofsandwiches in a retro hentai manga thread, and all of the hentai localisations shared there were 'lolicon' manga (e.g. Bondage Fairies)... which is ironic considering 4chan has a ban on 'lolicon' outside /b/ due to western ignorance. Shame Nishimura Hiroyuki hasn't updated 4chan's policies to be in line with contemporary Japanese knowledge so it's more like 2chan.

Only found out about this cause I was researching a talk event between Kawamoto Kouji and Takekuma Kentarou (the one that did the ACROSS talk with Okada and wrote 'Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga') back in 2011 at the Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library titled 'SFと美少女の季節 ──Pekeから少女アリスまで' ("The Season of SF and Bishoujo—From Peke to Shoujo Alice"). Unfortunately, I couldn't find any transcriptions or recordings of the event. The best was this kind soul who took notes.

About "Dream of A5 size -Rental manga essay-" (Kawamoto's personal magazine). Excludes Shigeru Mizuki, Sanpei Shirato, and Major Dokoro. By the time I started collecting rental books, the famous ones had already been scavenged by maniacs, and there were only skas like Hinomaru Bunko (laughs) left (so I could only buy them).

When I was in my fourth year at university, the day the ban on employment agreements was lifted (October 1), I was tricked (although I wouldn't say I was deceived) by an employee of Minori Shobo (laughs). When "Monthly OUT" started to sell after the Yamato feature. But even if I go in, there's nothing I can do. In the first place, editor-in-chief alone is enough to edit erotic graphic novels, so I don't understand why he was hired (laughs).

The work is only "typesetting" and "title determination". After October 1st of my fourth year at university, I didn't go to college, and I just said this every day (laughs). I wonder if I remembered how to paste the typesetting (laughs).

Launched Monthly Peke. Akira Seki (Star Simac), Jiro Kuwata, Hideshi Hino, Jun Ishikawa, Masayuki Noguchi (debuted in this magazine), Ama Sabe, Masuzou Furukawa (current president of Mandarake, originally a manga artist).

Originally, Minori didn't have a route in the manga world, so the editor (Kawamoto) was able to pull her along as she liked.

He asked Hideo Azuma to "draw a science fiction parody." ("Demo Inner Space") With this as an opportunity, the name of Hideo Azuma spread among science fiction fans. . I think.

OUT's Hideo Azuma special issue (August 1978 issue), if you look closely, you'll notice that the illustrations are pretty good, and the text is written by Shun Ashima (Yoshihiro Yonezawa), so I (Kawamoto) probably worked on it (although I don't remember). I wondered if it was a special feature. . (smile)

In general, such special features (such as Shigeru Mizuki) are thrown to Yonezawa. . (laughs)

Peke, when I wrote in the editorial postscript of the last issue that I was quitting, I heard that 5,000 postcards saying "Please don't quit" came. If this number of people were buying from us on a regular basis, we wouldn't have to stop (laughs).

I continued to work on Comic Again (although Minori had quit).

After that, I went to Alice Publishing. The reason why Alice was looking for an editor was that Takeshi Kamewada was doing nothing but advertising for Gekiga Alice (a manga magazine that didn't sell well). (laughs).

. . So, just as the president of Alice Publishing had planned, instead of me (Kawamoto) joining Kamewada (laughs). However, when I was happy to be able to edit Gekiga Alice (comic magazine) with this, it was passed to Yonezawa (laughs). For Alice Publishing, manga magazines were an unprofitable side business, so outsourcing (Yonezawa) would suffice, and employees should make money from their main business (photo magazines). So I was turned to the girl Alice. (At this time, Hideo Azuma had already released Cybele.)

For the 7th issue, for the time being, the messy mansion is reprinted. (Because I didn't make it in time?)

Starting with "Afternoon Insanity" in the extra edition Girl Alice.

From the Peke days onwards, I had a hunch as an editor that lolicons would come next.

So what should we do within the frame of a photo magazine? Lyrical photo. Pseudo-lolicon (wears a sailor suit, but over 18 years old).

10 was dropped by Hideo Azuma (because it's two colors?). Daihara (filling in the blanks) is Shunichi Murasu

Azuma's work "Yugao" that appeared in the final issue of Girl Alice (made by Kawamoto) was last minute, so it wasn't a typesetting. (In the book, of course, phototypesetting.) With this issue, Kawamoto left Alice Publishing.

Go to "Lolicon Encyclopedia". Looking at it now, it's not that extreme. Text, comics, and illustrations are the center, and there are few photographs.

Around this time, the world was already a big lolicon boom. Hideo Azuma has a twisted tendency to run away from booms, so "Kuroi Taiyo without Humanity" in "The Complete Lolicon Collection" contains no girls, only old men, and is full of harassment. Like (laughs) work.

Hideo Azuma is a rare existence that has both COM-like elements and Gallo-like elements.

It always comes from self-denial. Breaking down the framework of having established a foothold in shoujo manga and shounen manga. If you are evaluated in science fiction and treated as a god, do you feel uncomfortable or try to destroy it and get out of there?

I was an editor for a short time, from September 1978 to 1982. However, editors' discretion (of small publishers) is very large.

The production cost for one book of Girl Alice is about 350,000 yen. The cameraman is just me. The model is 35,000 to 40,000. (Most of the filming was done in Kawamoto's four-and-a-half-tatami-mat apartment. We had the equipment, but it didn't cost much.) Hideo Azuma's manuscript fee was 10,000 yen per page. , a little cheaper, 3,500 to 4,000 yen/page. At most, I was making about 10 books a month.

Toshihiko Sagawa (who went to Sun Publishing) was also in the same period.

Mr. Harada and Mr. Aba, who started Comiket, were two or three years older than Yonezawa/Kawamoto/Sagawa, and they were working adults from the beginning. Yonezawa/Kawamoto/Sagawa started as students. Yonezawa didn't become a member of society until the end (laughs).

Mr. Harada was a civil servant, and he was able to launch Comiket because he had a little time, but Comiket became so huge that it became too much for civil servants (members of society) to handle, so he withdrew and Yonezawa took over. There is a history of taking over.

Q. Did you also edit Peke by yourself?
I was alone. (Mr. Daitoku) However, editing a magazine is something that should be done (take responsibility) by one person.

Q. You make a lot of lolicon magazines and lolicon books, but are you a lolicon? (smile)
In the first place, there was an environment where underage nudes could not be commercialized.
The beginning is "12-year-old myth"
Kiyooka Junko from Kyoto nobility
こういう可能性が、あるのではないか?
当時、漫画のエロは、無かった。(三流)エロ劇画(の暑苦しい絵柄)しか、なかった。エロは普遍的なもののはずなのに、これはおかしいのではないか、と思っていた。手塚調の絵柄のエロがあってもいいのではないか。ロリコンが売れる下地はあるのではないか、という思いはあった。

自販機本の最盛期は、80年8月まで。
この月の少女アリスが、5万1千部。
これだけ多数売れるのは、ある意味当然で、全国に8千台の自販機があるから。
しかし、PTAがうるさくなってきて、自販機は減り始める。
購入(設置)した自販機の元を取るまでは、置き続け(売り続け)てもよい、という、PTAとの密約的なものはあったが、そのあとは撤去されることになる。

エロ業界の宿命のようなものがあって、参入障壁が非常に低いように(すぐに楽して儲かるように)、外からは見える。で、軽い気持ちでバンバン参入してくる。パクられて(痛い目にあって)目が覚め、尻尾を巻いて逃げる。

1974~5年に、自販機ポルノがスタートした。
そもそも、静岡県の焼津で、ツナピコという(マグロが原料の)酒のツマミが、B5サイズの容器(袋)に入れられ、ワンカップ大関といっしょに、自販機で売られ始めていた。これが、1973~4年。
この機械が、自販機ポルノ(これもまた、オカズっちゃーオカズ(笑))の販売にも流用された。これが、1974~5年。
だから、自販機ポルノは、B5版。
ちなみに、自販機本は500円、ビニ本は1000円。

ロリコン漫画の歴史的には、1976年がエポックではないか。

ロリコン漫画をビジネス面から見ると、吾妻ひでおよりも、野口正之(内山亜紀)が売れたことが大きかったと思う。

(ここで、竹熊健太郎が、客席から呼び出され、以降は、話が飛ぶ飛ぶ。[;^.^] というか、流れがない。以下、ついてこれないと思うが、悪しからず。)

竹熊のキャリアのスタートは、アリス出版
川本氏が1953年生まれ。
竹熊氏が1960年生まれ。
Mr. Takekuma joined Alice in 1980, replacing Mr. Kawamoto.

The erotic book picture code has changed dramatically. .

Sabe Ama/Fumiko Takano/Fumi Shibamon was not a shojo manga from the start. She was a "female manga artist".
Futaba Yamada (Emi Yamada) is also from erotic manga.

And "lemon people". This is probably the first lolicon magazine established through a commercial route.
"Cartoon Brickco" Katsuhiro Ogata, Eiji Otsuka
"Fusion Product"
This period is extremely important in the history of subculture, but there are almost no records. .

The 70-year-old activist who was unable to find a decent job after going on a rampage at the Ampo flowed into the erotic bookstore. (bamboo bear)

Zenkyoto or Shuji Terayama? (laughs) (Kawamoto)

Isn't "Shoujo Alice" (Hajime Sawatari) the first to post a picture of a female genitalia? Otherwise, it's like a picture book for home medicine (laughs) (Takekuma)

At the time, if the pubic hair wasn't included in the photo, even if the pubic hair itself was included in the photo, it wouldn't matter. First of all, there was no law to enforce it.

Although "Lemon People" was ahead, "Manga Bricco" (edited by Eiji Otsuka) switched the editing mode (pictures) in the May 1983 issue (from hot erotic comics to lolicon). , It was sold out even though it had not been sold until then.
Editors began to arbitrarily use writers with writers (such as new wave).

Cover rules for vending machine books (joseki)
Underwear is shown on one side (← The side shown in the vending machine guarded by silver paper)
One side does not show any underwear (← side shown at a vending machine near the school)

The authorities (agency) only check the cover (in the first place, they can't see the inside). A soft cover that does not show underwear is necessary to sell numbers.

Gekiga was the mainstream, but the trend changed around 1978.

Hideo Azuma's Revolution is where he draws erotic pictures in the Tezuka style.
The pattern is Tezuka, and the contents are boxwood (target).
What makes Azuma great is that he continues to take on challenges regardless of profitability. (If you follow the established routine, you'll be safe..)

The era of thinking about manga through mass sales will probably come to an end. (The earthquake will accelerate it.) At least print magazines will suffer greatly. Moving to electronic publishing? can? (bamboo bear)

Japanese manga (in the world of paper) was constrained to be expressed in black and white. On the net, the prerequisites are completely different. The color is more familiar, and it doesn't roll up in the first place. There is no unit called "page".
However, so far, electronic publishing has not paid.

There is also a way of thinking that without thinking about making a profit from the manga itself, the manga will be divided into promotions and selling merchandise (etc.). (Kawamoto)

Either way, the nature of the cartoonist's business will change. (bamboo bear)

Employee editors are afraid of failure because they are employees, and they want to create a framework. There are many excellent people within the framework. .

The project for "The Disappearing Manga Artist" first came to me (Takekuma), but at that point I decided that it would be a bad idea for me to do this, so I turned it down. (bamboo bear)
Source: Blog
 
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Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
Interesting.
I find it very fascinating just how varied the old 'third rate" manga and other niches scene was way back then.

I dont want to sound like an old boomer but I feel nowadays creators arent as experimental and adventurous with the medium as before. And this is not only with manga but with a lot of creative mediums
I haven't really paid much attention the last decade to what's being released; I still feel like I'm in the period where some crazy guy thought it would be a good idea to create a manga entirely from ink blocks (and if it weren't for the publisher, he would've done the ISBN code with ink blocks as well). Experimental manga were called New Wave, which is embodied by COM and GARO, both magazines often mentioned in these articles. The staff who made GARO are still around printing its spiritual successor called 'AX’ (AX Homepage with Backnumbers).

I would primarily blame the lack of creativity on editors; they act as a gatekeeper for what is and isn't allowed in a magazine, and if you don't have an editor like Ootsuka Eiji or Kawamoto Kouji with an interest in New Wave, then it's just editors focusing on what they think will sell well. In Ootsuka's case, despite Manga Burikko being the 2nd Lolicon Comic magazine, he's the kind of person who would invite someone like Nakamori Akio, who had little interest in pandering to its core readerbase, to write articles insulting the readers and making up a new word to refer to them as Otaku.

Though on the topic of third-rate gekiga, I would recommend checking out Maruo Suehiro if you aren't already familiar with his works. I don't know how many works of his were localised into English, but I was very surprised to find out he would even publish stuff in Lolicon magazines like Melon Comics and Josei magazines like JUNE.




Finally finished two articles by Shimizu Kazuo. Please be aware that some of the dates differ for certain doujinshi between articles, so don't take that information as fact. Researching the doujinshi mentioned in the articles is extremely difficult; most of them haven't been scanned or listed in any online databases, so please forgive any errors committed due to my own ignorance.

Source: 「ふゅーじょんぷろだくと ロリータ/美少女特集 81/10」


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What is a Lolicon Fanzine?
Its Past, Present, and Future.
An Attempt at a Lolicon Doujinshi Analytical Map.

By Hara Maruta (原丸太) (Wikipedia)
※Alternate penname for Shimizu Kazuo (志水一夫)


What exactly are Lolicon-zines, what sort of Lolicon-zines are out there, and what exactly was the 'Cybele Revolution' (aka Cybe Revelation) that triggered their boom? ——I attempt to add some of my investigation into this matter.


■The 3 Vectors of Lolicon-zines



The act of 'preservation' is the foundation of culture. No one agrees with the burning of books and burying of scholars, but many people don't realise they're doing something very similar right now. Whatever it may be, only through collecting, classifying, recording, and preserving can there be culture or something to be learned. To put it in extreme terms, you could say that only when history began to be written can a field become culture.

According to KOSEI, a foreign manga researcher, there appears to be people who collected sex parodies of popular manga called 'Eight-Pagers' that trended in the United States, published underground mainly in the 1930s, and wrote excellent research papers about them. The German cultural historian Fuchs also wrote a history of European manga before the war. Following in the footsteps of my predecessors, I would also like to collect, classify, and record these Lolicon-zines.
※Eight-Pagers (Wiki)
※Eduard Fuchs (Wiki)


For me, the question 'What is a Lolicon-zine?' is synonymous with the question 'What are called Lolicon-zines?'. And whilst carefully collecting and examining these so-called Lolicon-zines and the fanzines around them, I realised there are three vector axes among the works being called Lolicon-zines and that it's possible to roughly classify them as shown in the separate diagram.

These are the three vectors. X equals a desire to interact with märchen-chic or otome-chic cute things (I want to see, I want to draw. Same as below). Y equals a desire to interact with erotic or sexual things. Z equals a desire to interact with a favourite character (mainly from anime).

Before Lolicon-zines arrived on the scene, these three axes existed almost independently. As for the X-axis, these were fanzines centred around otome-chic illustrations, normal anime fanzines for Z-axis, and while the Y-axis did not exist in the form of fanzines, these were adult gekiga (the so-called Third-rate Gekiga; ero gekiga).

Whereas, Lolicon-zines differed. It joined more than two axes in the X, Y, and Z. For example, 'Cybele' (Tokyo 'Cybele Editing Department' launched in April 1979 and suspended in April 1981, hereafter shortened as 'Cybe') that triggered the boom was a fanzine with the X and Y axes. Let's refer to the ones based on the vector of the XY axes represented by 'Cybe' as 'Group A'. It would be best to call Group A the 'Pure Lolicon-zine' or 'Lolicon Manga-zine'.

The second brew of tea following 'Cybe', 'Lotali' (ロータリー) (Tokyo 'Lotali Club' August 1981; currently 6 issues) has received the honour of being the first Lolicon-zine to be oppressed by public authorities. According to its 5th issue, several volunteers from a certain design school saw 'Cybe' and were like 'why don't we also give it a go!?', and at first launched it as a copybook. However, when the 3rd issue was sold during the school's cultural festival, there was 'tremendous pressure from the school's upper echelons'. Fortunately, the doujinshi did not surrender to the oppression, and from the 5th issue, they changed it to an offset book, reaching its present state as a result.

Perhaps due to the strong impact of 'Cybe', there are many in Group A in addition to quite a few with their own unique twists, probably in an attempt to show off their originality. The relatively high-quality ones include 'Alice' (Tokyo 'Alice Editorial Department' August 1981) and 'Collection' (Saitama 'Tecris 2nd Branch' August 1981). In addition, 'LP' (Kanagawa 'LP Editorial Department' August 1981) is unusual in that they deliberately refused to 'release a 2nd issue'. 'Carolita' (キャロリータ) (Ibaraki 'Ka-i-mon Pro'; currently 3 issues) stands out from the herd with its naming.

The most noteworthy variation of Group A is 'Ningyouhime' (人形姫) (Tokyo 'Circus Mad Capsule' December 1981; currently 3 issues) that used the theme of 'Pygmalion Complex' (Doll Love). While this possesses strong popularity, it's a unique fanzine with absolutely nothing else acting as a 2nd brew of tea. According to those involved, it originated from a Shoujo cyborg that appeared in an earlier independent anime they created becoming popular among friends, so under the influence of 'Cybe' and the Techno Boom at the time, they considered a fanzine focusing on her and that's how it took on this sort of shape. 'Nekolita' (ネコリータ) (Kyoto 'Tousakusha'; currently 2 issues) is a specialty magazine for Cat Complex (what else can you call it?) focusing on the double image of cats and Shoujo. However, there's more to write about this, so perhaps I should include this in the next category of Group A. The unique title took its cue from Azuma Hideo's work.

The ones I named Group A in a relatively large number of sentences should be called the 'General Lolicon-zine'; however, some of these include some Z-axis as well. The oldest of these is 'Arisu' (愛栗鼠) (Tokyo 'Alice-mania Group Carroll House Publishing' December 1978; single issue) and its supplementary book 'Lolita' (ロリータ) (April 1979 1st issue, July 2nd issue), though the latter calls itself an '(unhealthy) Lolicon Literary-zine'. Others following a similar trend include 'Youjo Fancier' (幼女嗜好) (Tokyo 'Henshitsu-sha' September 1980; currently 3 issues) by the same publisher (Hirukogami Ken).

However, 'literary-zines' like the one on the right are rather unique among Group A; many seem to be the type that fervently discuss their passion for Bishoujo interspersing cuts and manga in between like 'Pleasance' (プレザンス) (Kanagawa 'Humbert' April 1981 preparatory issue; published June of same year; currently 2 issues), 'Bishoujo-logy' (美少女学) (Hyogo 'Bishoujo Lovers' Club'; currently 3 issues), 'Griffon' (グリフォン) (Osaka 'RCA Lolita' published March 1981), and 'Bishoujo Personified・Bishoujo Hunting' (美少女自身・美少女狩り) (Kanagawa 'EIRISHA' published August 1981). In particular, as shown by the fact 'Humbert', the ones who released 'Pleasance', originally called themselves 'Cybele FC Humbert', the relationship between the former Group A and the latter Group A could be said to be akin to the relationship between creative fanzines like 'Bokujuu Itteki' (墨汁一滴) and FC fanzines like 'Manga no Mushi' (マンガの虫).

Speaking of FC, even among Azuma Hideo FC journals, for example, like the 'Whatever Journal' (どこでも会誌) (Kyoto 'Azuma Hideo FC Shippo ga Nai' published January 1981?; currently 2 issues), you can see things that are half Lolicon-zine. Perhaps such a thing is inevitable; recently, if you say 'I like Azuma Hideo, people will respond with 'aah, so you're also a Lolicon?'. Released by that Azuma, the 'Myaa-chan Sensual Photograph Collection' (ミャアちゃん官能写真集) (Tokyo, August 1981) probably belongs in Group A.

Arisu_1978_12_01_01.jpg
Arisu_1978_12_01_02.jpg
Arisu_1978_12_01_03.jpg

Arisu (December 1st 1978):
The first Lolicon doujinshi. A joint literary fanzine between Hirukogami Ken (蛭児神建) and Hanba Touichirou (半場藤一郎). The main feature is for Pipi, a heroine from Tezuka Osamu's 'Triton of the Sea' (海のトリトン). With another feature for Mayu from Matsumoto Reiji's (松本零士) 'Queen Emeraldas' (エメラルダス). The coloured parts of the cover were hand-painted (as opposed to printed).


Lolita_1979_04_08_01.jpg
Lolita_1979_04_08_02.jpg
Lolita_1979_04_08_03.jpg

Lolita Vol.1 (April 8th 1979):
The literary fanzine Hirukogami Ken and Hanba Touichirou did alongside Cybele. It also has contributions from Oki Yukao (沖由佳雄) and Azuma Hideo, who did a 'Bishoujo Creation Guide'. The coloured parts of the cover were also hand-painted.


Cybele_Vol.1.png

Cybele Vol.1 (April 8th 1979):
The cover is pure black, so this is the table of contents. This is the first Lolicon Manga-zine. While the first volume of Cybele has never been fully scanned, with the only portions being Azuma Hideo's contributions reprinted in some of his books, most of the others have been scanned and uploaded to sad panda by tooecchi. I would highly recommend checking these out. Also, 'Lotali 24' has been uploaded to Sad Panda (though they mistakenly romanised 'ロータリー' as Rotary due to that doujinshi being a play on Rotary Club).


Monthly_Nekolita_vol1_01.jpg
Monthly_Nekolita_vol1_03.jpg

Monthly Nekolita (December 1st 1980):
The first kitten porno-zine (aka A Cat Is Fine Too). The 'Monthly' part is just the creator, Oomura Shinichi (大村伸一), being ambitious about it selling well. The doujinshi includes illustrations and a Sham Cat Dress-up by Azuma Hideo.


ningyouhime_cover.jpg
ningyouhime_08.jpg
ningyouhime_09.jpg

Ningyouhime (April 5th 1981)
Senno Knife (千之ナイフ) and Hariken Ryuu (破李拳竜) made this with contributions from other artists like Uchiyama Aki (under a different name). The original cover is very reminisce of Cybele's cover. I did find a commercial reprint of Ningyouhime, but its table of contents indicates it doesn't include all of the contributers for the two doujinshi issues, at least using the same names (the 2nd doujinshi's cover is pure violet).


■Charmed by Characters



The release of 'Cybe' also prompted the emergence of fanzines that possessed a Y-axis and a 2nd axis. What was done discretely within the shadows of countless anime parodies thus far has come to be published as independent fanzines. Let's call this Group B. Things like the Gundam specialty fanzine 'AMA' (Tokyo 'Animenia Army' published December 1979; concluded with its 4th issue July 1980) would be typical examples. 'Seira' (聖裸) (Ishikawa; currently 2 issues) is a Sayla-only fanzine from the same 'Gundam'. 'Equation' (方程式) (Kanagawa; published August 1981) appears to be positioned between B and Group A. 'Venus' (ヴィーナス) (Tokyo 'Moon Line Production Room' April 1981 preparatory issue; published May of same year; currently 2 issues) is believed to be the first fanzine to clearly call itself an 'anime female character nude specialty magazine'. Although the same magazine claims to be 'Anti-Lolicon', it's nothing more than Tatemae as Lolicon can be seen hiding beneath the hem of its skirt. In addition to those centred on character nudes, there's 'Hyakki Yagyou' (百鬼夜行) (unknown publisher, August 1981) with nudes not limited to human men and women.

KOSEI, mentioned earlier, says this. "Rather than being angry at the sex lives of characters they created being teased by Underground publishing (Eight-Pagers), Mangaka ought to be happy. The fact such parodies are being released alone shows those characters naturally belong to the reader." ('Genealogy of Porno Comics' 'EROTICA' Reissue No.3, December 1973). Perhaps that's the reason for the historical presence between characters that readily and hardly appear nude in fanzines.

Somewhat unusual among Group B is 'As you Like It' (お気に召すまま) (Kanagawa, published August 1981; currently 2 issues), which features the nude scenes that appeared in anime thus far. In addition to the scene introductions and tens of photographs, it evaluates them according to a three-level ABC notation based on exposure, excitement, and necessity, and it includes a carefully curated list of publications in which those scenes appear to an almost perfect extent. It can be said the fact there's even an index of character names at the end of the book gives it the appearance of a history book. The second issue was for swimsuits, underwear, and bath towels, but it seems it didn't have the same voltage as the first issue.

Among the character nude zines, the ones that specialise in Loli characters should be placed in Group B. These include 'Anibele' (アニベール) (Tokyo 'Cybele Editorial Department' April 1981). 'Nonki' (のんき) (Tokyo 'Otoboke Project' December 1980 1st issue; currently 3 issues) is exclusively treading the character nude route, with a Gundam Gals Nude Feature in their 1st issue, a Sayla Mass Feature in their 2nd issue, and a Lolicon Feature (H, Hilda-cha—n♡) in their 3rd issue. This Group B can be said to unquestionably be fanzines that comprise all three axes of X, Y, and Z.

Of course, there are fanzines that are mainly comprised of the X-axis and another axis. These are the fanzines focusing on anime Shoujo characters. Let's call these Group C. In Group C, there's 'Bishoujo Personified Image Sophie' (美少女自身・イマージュ・ソフィー) (Kanagawa 'EIRISHA' published August 1981), and the previously mentioned ''Pleasance' (プレザンス), 'Bishoujo Personified・Bishoujo Hunting' (美少女自身・美少女狩り), and 'Bishoujology' (美少女学) also have this orientation. 'CRA・CON' (Tokyo, published in August 1981) had the title of Clarisse Only, but in actuality, it was a 'Miyazaki Hayao Heroine Special Feature Magazine'. Group C hardly has a Y-axis, and is characterised more by articles and cuts rather than manga. Basically, these can be viewed as a variant of a normal Anime FC.

'Laurel Wreath' (月桂冠) (Ehime, currently 9 issues) appears to feature a different character in each issue, but since there's some nudity, you may say it exists at a point between Group B and C.

Fanzines like 'Clarisse Magazine' (Tokyo 'Clarisse Magazine Editing Department' published August 1980, suspension of publication December in its 2nd issue) that featured a specific Shoujo character are called Lolicon-zines. Let's call these Group C. 'Monthly Kasha' (月刊カーシャ) (Tokyo 'Neko Production' published July 1981, currently 3 issues) is unique in that it's a monthly publication with material all about Kasha. The first issue was a handwritten-zine written on the back of a test paper. Calling itself the 'Bishoujo Magazine for the Pure and Innocent Faction', 'Kitten Fighter' (キッチン・ファイター) (Tokyo 'Kitchen Fighter' published August 1981) focused on the Bishoujo character Kitty Kitten who only appeared in 4 episodes of 'Space Runaway Ideon' (伝説巨人イデオン), but could there be truth to the rumours the staff are all high schoolgirls?

'Lanalita' (ラナリータ) (Kanagawa 'Lanarita' published August 1981?) is also full of Lana material, including articles such as 'Uchiyama Aki-style Lana-chan'.

Among the above, excluding 'Lanalita' and 'Kitten Fighter', the Y-axis is hardly seen. Furthermore, many of these are created by volunteers from normal manga and anime research clubs in the form of journal supplementary volumes, which is a characteristic of Group C.

As the pioneer in this axis, there's the Shoujo Anime FC journals. The first is believed to be the 'Hilda FC' (ヒルダFC) (Note: Not Tokyo 'Horus FC') 'Flip' (フレップ) (published March 1978? currently 14 issues). In addition, the 'Young Charlotte Fan Circle' (若草のシャルロット・ファンサークル) (Currently Tokyo, Formerly Niigata) 'Saint Lawrence' (セント・ローレンス) (published November 1978, currently 6 issues) and the 'Flower Child Lunlun FC' (Saitama) 'Rainbow Hana' (七色の花) (published July 1981, currently 3 issues). Also, I hear one (ones?) related to 'Her Majesty's Petite Angie' (女王陛下のプティ・アンジェ) are planning to make a name for themselves soon.

The rise of Lolicon-zines by women-centred staff such as 'Kitten Fighter' is also one of the recent trends. Naturally, in terms of their contents, since not much has changed from prior otome-chic illustration fanzines, there are parts where the emotional attachment towards 'Shoujo' is strong.

However, some statements appear to stand out in the staff self-introductions, such as 'I'm a Anime-loving Lolicon' ('Mamazero' {ままぜる} Tokyo, published March 1981), 'There's nothing wrong with a woman having a Lolita hobby' (Shoujo-specialty 'VELVET'; Toyama, August 1981), 'They say a woman's Lolita Complex is deeply rooted' (To・From Kanagawa 'Shoujo Fancier Club To From {少女愛好会トフロム}, August 1981 9th issue=Lolicon Special Issue).

Furthermore, after the suspension of 'Clarisse Magazine', the flow swept into the old otome-chic illustration fanzines, and there appears to be an increasing number of anime character corners in these kinds of fanzines.

What's strange is that these are from otome-chic illustration fanzines and by women's hands. Though there's pretty much no difference between the so-called Lolicon-zines and Shoujo Anime FC journals among Group C, only the latter are called Lolicon-zines. Perhaps it's due to the difference in the historical background of their establishment. When the 'definition of SF' was put into question, there were those of the opinion 'everything that has never existed until now should also be included as SF', so maybe a similar phenomenon is also happening in Lolicon-zines. As for me, I would like to advocate calling all of these 'Bishoujo Fanzines'.

Nevertheless, when hearing people say 'I was disappointed when I obtained 'Clarisse Magazine'. There's no nudes', am I alone in wanting to say 'what's wrong with that!?'? I cannot help but feel this is the reason for why 'Clarisse Magazine' was suspended after its 2nd issue.

Moreover, as if in response to the female Lolicon-zine advance, male otome-chic illustration fanzines were also beginning to be released. These include 'FRITHA' (フリス) (Tokyo 'Trouble Maker' August 1980), 'CLAUDETTE' (クラウディテ) (Aichi 'SF Manga Research HAL9000' May 1981), and the fantasy märchen-specialty zine 'Tinker Bell' (ティンカーベル) (Tokyo, preparatory issue released August 1981?) also recently announced itself. Like how the women's Lolicon-zines are variants of otome-chic illustration fanzines, there appears to be traces of Lolicon-zines in these.

By the way, while not Lolicon-zines, fanzines that deal in Lolicon-ish things as special features have also increased. The 5th issue of 'Manga no Techou' (漫画の手帖) banded together a character collection based on photos taken from TV into an 'Anime Bishoujo Chronicles' special feature. Additionally, this doujinshi has begun a series of columns called 'Lolicon Library' from this issue. The first for Taniguchi Kei (谷口敬). In the 1st issue of 'Botsu News' (ボツ情報), there's a small, but conscientious, compilation with a work list in addition to an interview with that Taniguchi Kei. The copybook column fanzine 'Shuuha' (愁波) (Tokyo, currently 19 issues) also often does Bishoujo special features.

Even in campus manga and anime research journals, Lolicon special features are standing out. The first issue of 'Monthly Nyuu' (月刊にゅう) (April 1981) by 'Rissho University Manga Research' (立正大漫研) did a full-length Lolicon special feature. The first issue of 'KEBE' (April 1981) by 'Sophia University Anime Research (上智大アニ研), when you open it from one cover, is filled with parodies and critiques, and from the other cover, it has begun Lolicon special features. A Clarisse 'Dress-up' was included in 'KEBE', but it appears the dress-up proved to be quite popular, and I managed to obtain 4 for Clarisse and 3 for Lana. I believe its beginnings as a fanzine must've been based on the pre-order tokuten for the 'FILM 1/24 Deluxe Future Boy Conan Special Issue' (Tokyo, September 1979).

As a variant of Lolicon-zines, recently, books that ought to be called Sailor Suit Fanzines have also appeared. It's believed the first was 'Suzuran' (すずらん) (Aichi 'Nagoya Gakuen Sailor Suit Research Club', published December 1980). There's also the 'Meidai SF and Sailor Suit Research Club' (明大SF研セーラー服研究会) (Tokyo) 'Box Pleats' (ぼっくす・ぷりーつ) (currently 2 issues) and its sister zine 'Bishoujo Copybook' (美少女草紙) (Tokyo 'Iihitoya Dosukoidou', published August 1981) also have information they'll create a 'Tokyo Sailor Suit Map'.

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Clarisse Magazine (August 1980):
The legendary non-ero doujinshi by Saegusa Jun (さえぐさじゅん) parodying the animated film 'Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro'. It was very popular and caused something known as the 'Clarisse Magazine Incident' that led to the biggest fraud case in doujinshi history, where someone solicited resale reservations in magazines like Animec and failed to deliver (this party had nothing to do with the Circle for Clarisse Magazine). Also, the 2nd issue has a plethora of Nekomimi Clarisse.

FRITHA.jpg
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FRITHA (September 15th 1980):
Hayasaka Miki's sketchbook doujinshi (in case you've forgotten, he spoke during the roundtable talk); during its initial run, he only was able to sell half of them for 300 yen, but after the Lolicon Boom went into full swing, these issues were being sold second-hand for 20,000 yen. Kawamoto Kouji's magazine 'Shoujo Alice' (vol.14) reprinted a couple of the illustrations in FRITHA.

Eiyuu_Gundan_vol3_and_AMA_vol4.jpg

Eiyuu Gundan Vol.3 and AMA Vol4 (?):
Unfortunately, I cannot find much about AMA, aside from these being its and the other doujinshi's final issue. But its first issue in 1979 alongside Cybele makes it something worth researching for its historical value.


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To・From Vol.15 (1983):
It's also unfortunate I couldn't find much for this long-running series; this article makes me want to read the afterword and comments from these.


■The Meaning of 'Cybele Revolution'



As some of you may have already noticed, 'Cybe' is not the first Lolicon-zine. Before it, there was Hirukogami Ken's 'Arisu' (愛栗鼠), and almost in parallel, there was 'Lolita' (ロリータ). Furthermore, it should be said literature, manga, and character nudes were the forerunner of almost all the current Lolicon-zines, and we cannot ignore their influence on 'Cybe'. So why wasn't it called the 'Lolita Revolution'? I believe this is the key to unlocking the meaning behind the 'Cybele Revolution'.

There's a difference between 'Cybe' and the other two zines. I believe it comes down to the fact 'Cybe' was a manga-zine. Until the 'Cybele Revolution', there was a preconceived notion sex belonged in the world of gekiga, not the world of manga. 'Ah, you can draw such things in manga!?' they say in surprise——that right there is undoubtedly the Cybele Revolution.

Of course such things were depicted in Azuma Hideo's works, and even in Tezuka Osamu's works, but they were attributed solely to both of those creator's extraordinary skills. Blinded by the creator's skills, people failed to notice one of the possibilities contained within the medium of manga itself. The 'Cybele Revolution' was also a fanzine revolution. The taboo shackles against the Y-axis in fanzines binding people until then, by shrouding itself in the guise of the X-axis, those taboo shackles were finally broken.

Originally, before even 'Cybe', there were works that surely joined the Y-axis and Z-axis, and it cannot be denied it sprouted among anime parody fanzines. However, most of those were homo works; sex between a man and a woman were rarely drawn explicitly. Moreover, those things were 'garnishing', they were low-profile in the end.

Alternatively, the XY-axes of 'Cybe' were added to the YZ-axes, and as a result, it probably made it possible to view the Y-axis vector in a way that was clear and defined.

The 'Cybele Revelation', gaining power from the Lolicon Photobook Boom of secular society that mainly originated from twisted laws, swept up 'Clarisse Magazine', that made a clear distinction between itself and those photobooks, creating the vortex we know as the Great Lolicon-zine Boom. Even after the final issue of 'Cybe', the voices demanding more 'Cybe' finally led to the birth of 'Petite Cybele' (プチ・シベール) (Tokyo 'Mukiryoku Pro' April 1981) which could be called its supplementary issue.

If there's a demand, a supply will be created. And whatever the reason, it feels nice for one to sell the fazines they create. I hear there are fan writers who don't want to draw them, yet they've been made to draw Lolicon stuff 'for their club'. There's also a number of examples where only the cover bears the style of a Lolicon-zine while the contents were simply a crappy and inept creative fanzine. There were even boring illustration collections being put into vinyl bags and sold just like that (the early 'Cybe' was the first Lolicon-zine vinyl book). It seems booms always have this sort of aspect to them.

What will become of Lolicon-zines in the future? As evidenced by the large number of creative-zines published in August of 1981, the Lolicon-zine world is still in a state of chaos. However, even amidst that chaos, one slow trend can be observed. Lolicon-zines that appeared in a composite form of the X, Y, and Z axes appear to be returning to their original axis once again. Perhaps in the future, there'll be mostly X-axis with a little Y, those with a helping of Z-axis, those with a little Y or X-axis in Z-axis, and those very much in the Y-axis. Perhaps the three will converge into adult gekiga stuff. The first can already be seen in the current Shoujo manga, the second is trending in recent anime fanzines as a whole, and the third feels like it's germinating in the previously mentioned 'Bishoujo Copybook' and countless other fanzines.

But in rural areas, it may be something authors will only grasp by chance, but compared to the Lolicon-zines in Tokyo and elsewhere where fellow fanzines influence one another, I believe the influence of professionals (especially Azuma) may be especially strong. Like with 'Ningyouhime', I don't understand the group's feelings where they say 'We won't sell it through mail order. Please buy it at Comiket', but I believe this is the one issue remaining. However, perhaps in rural areas, just witnessing 'those kinds of scenes' in Azuma's works may have sufficient impact.

The fandom movement will undoubtedly appear as a prodom movement in the coming years. One example is the conversion of Shounen Manga into Shoujo Manga, or Shounen Manga and Shoujo Manga walking hand-in-hand. How will this Lolicon Fanzine Boom manifest itself in the prodom? Of course, Shounen Manga and Shoujo Manga are stopping at nudity, and won't be able to depict sexual things. So I believe it'll probably take form as an evolution of manga towards adult gekiga magazines. The appearance of Seinen comic magazines and Josei comic magazines is one manifestation of this, and I cannot help but feel that Taniguchi Kei's activities may be ahead of the curve.

In the not-so-distant future, the day will surely come where people will say 'There used to be a Lolicon-zine Boom, huh?'. However, the 'Lolicon-zine Boom' is definitely leaving its mark behind. As we pass through the fandom revolution known as the 'Lolicon-zine Boom', we are about to gain something and about to lose something. One could say the Lolicon-zine Boom is a 'coming-of-age rite' for the fandom.'Cybe' may unquestionably be a monolith in the manga world.


On the topic of Hayasaka Miki, here's several illustrations by him that were included in the October 1981 issue of Fusion Product (some of them were borrowed from FRITHA):
Hayasaka_Miki_Fusion_Product_01.jpg
Hayasaka_Miki_Fusion_Product_02.jpg


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Hayasaka_Miki_Fusion_Product_05.jpg





Source: 『アップル・パイ美少女まんが大全集 1982/03』

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Lolicon Doujinshi Review

By Hara Maruta (原丸太) (Wikipedia)
※Alternate penname for Shimizu Kazuo (志水一夫)



Since the Awakening of Lolicon Doujinshi that Began with the Phantasmic 'Cybele' Legend, Lolicon Magazine Researcher, Hara Maruta, Documents up to the Arrival of Today's Boom.


Lolicon is said to be booming within the doujinshi world.

Though there's the issue of how far Lolicon-type fanzines (hereafter abbreviated as 'Lolicon-zines') can go, their numbers have ascended to the hundreds.

Although no one has been wounded yet, Japan's first and largest fanzine (doujinshi) spot and sale event 'Comic Market' (hereafter abbreviated as 'Comiket') has people lining up to buy multiple Lolicon-zines at every event, and all sorts of unsavoury rumours pointing to the boom's fervour are entering our ears. So how did this boom come about?


■In the Past, Lolicon was Minor.



It goes without saying Lolicon used to be minor. Japan's first (as I'm ignorant of foreign countries) Lolicon-zine is believed to be 'Arisu' (愛栗鼠) (Tokyo 'Alice-Mania Group: Carroll House Publishing' December 1978; single issue), whose contents ought to be referred to as a Lolicon literary-zine, but it's said the doujin was put in paper bags in a corner of the 'Comiket 10' venue and eked out sales while hidden from the public eye.

So how did such a thing turn into the boom we see today? For now, let's try and follow its history.

It was in April 1979 that the Lolicon Manga-zine 'Cybele' (Tokyo 'Mukiryoku Pro / Cybele Editing Department'), generally believed to be the grandfather of Lolicon-zines that would later influence many Lolicon-zines, was established.

Afterwards, until the spring 'Comiket 14' of 1980, the period where only two zines, Cybele and the supplementary issue of 'Arisu', Lolita (ロリータ) (April 1979 first issue, July second issue), along with the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' porno-parody 'AMA' ('Tokyo Animenia Army' December 1979, concluded with its 4th issue in July 1981), continued. At this point, if anyone predicted the current Lolicon-zine Boom, you could say they possessed an almost supernatural power.

In the summer 'Comiket 15' of 1980, another axis of the so-called Lolicon-zine, that didn't necessarily include sexual depictions, the Clarisse-maniac-zine 'Clarisse Magazine' (クラリス・マカジン) (aka 'Clari-maga', Tokyo 'Clarisse Magazine Editing Department' August 1980, 2nd issue published December), which took the form of sticking to just Bishoujo characters from anime, appeared. In addition, Hayasaka Miki's (早坂未紀) personal art book, 'FRITHA' (フリス) (Tokyo 'Trouble Maker' September 1980) was also published around this time. Meanwhile, under the direct influence of 'Cybele', 'Lotali' (ロータリー) (Tokyo '(Chiyoda) Lotali Club' July 1980, currently 8 issues) was also published, but at that time, it was a limited edition copy book with only 13 copies, it was some time before it was turned into an offset book and participated in Comiket, becoming known to many people.

At this point, fanzines with their own orientation were being released individually, there was practically no coherence or direction as a boom; it was simply a situation where each fanzine was gaining popularity. However...

For the first time in an anime magazine, the word 'Lolicon' was given a close-up. That was the 'Manga Modernology for Sick People・1st Part: Lolita Complex' by Yonezawa Yoshihiro (米沢嘉博) from the December 1980 issue of 'Monthly OUT' (月刊OUT) (Minori Shobo).

The works Yonezawa targeted were, of course, professional works, but it's important to note that Azuma Hideo and Noguchi Masayuki (Uchiyama Aki), who later came to be known as the two great masters of Lolicon Manga, were mentioned. Also, even if it hasn't been made sufficiently clear, the term 'Lolita Complex' was originally an academic term, please take note. As the word 'Lolicon' with an ambiguous meaning spread throughout society. It's believed that this ambiguity led to the creation of a situation where even things that differed from the original Lolita Complex were called 'Lolicon'. It is also said this is the first time that Cybele's name appeared in a commercial magazine (Author's Note: To be precise, it's believed Yonezawa Yoshihiro first picked up 'Cybele' in an Alice Special Feature he planned in Alice Publishing's vending machine magazine 'Groupie' [グルーピー]).

In the winter 'Comiket 16' of 1980, 'Ningyouhime' (人形姫) (Tokyo 'Circus Mad Capsule' December 1980 first issue, currently 4 issues) made its debut. Meanwhile in Nagoya, the Sailor Suit Research-zine 'Suzuran' (すずらん) (Aichi 'Nagoya Gakuin Sailor Suit Research Group' December 1980 first issue, currently 2 issues) was published.

Around the same period, 'OUT' included an extra-large poster in their January 1981 issue titled 'Azuma Hideo Edition (For Young Adults) "For Sleepless Nights"', which hammered another blow into the Lolicon trend. In this poster, Azuma did an anime Shoujo character dress-up parody, such as Petite Angie performing Dolores (i.e. Lolita), establishing his position as a Lolicon Mangaka. Also, it should be noted the name of 'Clari-maga' appears in the caption (description) of the 'Clarisse GOGO Cheargirl' illustration in this poster, which says 'I got infected after seeing Clarisse Magazine (sold at Comiket)/Haven't seen Cagliostro, though......'.

However, everything up to this point was just a prelude.

OUT_1981_01_Poster.jpg

Poster's Source: OUT_1981_01

■The Lolicon Boom that was Foretold......?



This is where the Lolicon Special Feature '"Lo" is the "Lo" in Lolita' from the 17th issue of 'Animec' (アニメック) (Published April 1981) comes in. This special feature was an epoch that determined, or foretold, the direction of the so-called 'Lolicon Fanzine Boom' that followed. I would like to call the period before this special feature the 'Awakening' of the Lolicon-zine Boom.
The order with this magazine should be arriving this week so that'll be interesting to read (it's the one mentioned in the Aoyama and Shimizu three-man talk).

This 'Animec' special feature is 25 pages in total. Looking at it now, it's frightening how much it essentiated the trend of the Lolicon-zine Boom that followed. First, though it's a Lolicon special feature, about half of it's actually closer to an anime Bishoujo character special feature. This is believed to be one of the triggers that would later lead to the so-called '2D-Complex', and even anime Bishoujo character fans, calling themselves 'Lolicon'.

In this regard, it is no exaggeration to the say 'Animec' has brought '2D-Complex' to 'Lolicon' (2D-Complex first appeared in a commercial magazine during a roundtable discussion with Azuma Hideo in the October 1980 issue of 'Animage'). However, it would also be correct to say without this, there would be nothing like the current Lolicon-zine Boom.

It's also worth nothing that 5 pages, 1/5 of the special feature, is dedicated to articles about Clarisse, the heroine of 'Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro'. Although there is a scene where the protagonist, Lupin, calls the villainous Count Cagliostro 'Count Lolicon', her being set as 16 years old, which differed from the target age (under 14 years old) of the original definition of Lolicon, was later treated as one of the three sacred treasure of Lolicon-zines. After all, the influence of this 'Animec' special feature was that great.

In this special feature, some of the contents of 'Cybele' and 'Clari-maga' were introduced for the first time in an anime magazine, but it is very interesting to consider these two fanzines served as the models for the Lolicon-zines that followed.

Just looking at their covers alone, 'Cybele' had a blank cover made from black rasha-paper* that has led some to call it 'a certain black book' (某黒本), and 'Clari-maga' had an elaborate cover made from a special white embossed paper that had light green and light blue printing, but later Lolicon-zines would follow with their own blank covers (especially rasha-paper) of various colours, and light-colours printed on white embossed paper.
※Rasha-paper (ラシャ紙): a type of fine paper that is dense and feels warm, like rasha, a thick plain-weave wool textile with a napped surface; the word is derived from raxa, which is an old Portuguese word.

It should also be noted the same Lolicon special feature in 'Animec' had interviews with Azuma Hideo, Muraso Shunichi (村祖俊一), and Nakajima Fumio (中島史雄). This is to promote the influence of adult gekiga (i.e. third-rate gekiga; ero gekiga) on Lolicon-zines, which are believed to be one of its two origins. Before the Lolicon-zine Boom, when one considers that the doujinshi world was mostly oriented towards Shounen/Shoujo manga and had little to do with adult gekiga (even if there were quite a few hidden fans), that fact is especially significant.

Furthermore, it should be noted that same special feature also published an article that linked SF and the so-called Lolicon ('The Hyperbola of SF and Shoujo Lovers: The Recipe for 2D-Complex' by Azagami Manabu). Because of this, the Lolicon hobby of SF fans, that is believed to have latently existed until then, manifested itself, and in turn, it's believed the SF fandom whose Lolicon Boom was centred in university SF research clubs was the cause of its spread to the doujinshi world. But when it comes to this area, it becomes a chicken-or-egg problem; it's hard to tell whether the following development was due to this special feature, or it appearing in the special feature was because they sensed its inevitable arrival. However, even if it were the latter, there's no doubt this special feature helped amplify the movement that followed.

And now something strange happened during 'Comiket 17' which was held around the same time as the 17th issue of 'Animec'. The aforementioned 'Lotali' advanced to Comiket, 'Cybele FC Humbert' (Kanawagawa, Bulletin 'Pleasance', April 1981 prepatory issue; June first issue; currently 4 issues) appeared with its FC-like colours, the anime character nude speciality-zine 'Venus' (ヴィーナス) (Tokyo 'Moon Line Production Room', April 1981 prepatory issue; first issue May of same year; currently 3 issues) appeared, and 'Cybele' ended its publication.

It could be said that this point in spring of 1981 marked the 'Quickening' of the following Lolicon-zine "Boom". Afterwards, a 13-page special feature called 'Lunatic Collection "Bishoujo"' was included in full colour in the August 1981 issue of 'OUT'. 'Clarisse Magazine' reprint reservations were held in other anime magazines. And it's said there were more than 10,000 reservations......
Geez, reading this after knowing about the aforementioned Clarisse Magazine Incident hurts...


■The Fanzine World is Full of Lolicon



Then came that "Summer of Lolicon". The arrival of its 'Puberty'.

Ironically, 'Cybele' ending its publication actually regularised and vitalised the Lolicon-zine Boom. Thus far, the beginning of the boom was split between the 'Cybele Boom' and 'Clari-maga Boom'. Now 'Clari-maga' and 'Cybele' are both gone. All that remained were voices saying 'More Clari-maga', 'More Cybele'. It's no wonder there were people showing up, aiming for a Post Cybele or Post Clari-maga. Moreover, for those who've been watching the lines of people buying 'Cybele', there's no doubt they felt their own 'chance has arrived'.

During the summer 'Comiket 18' of 1981, the Lolicon-zines, which never reached to more than 10 fanzines, suddenly swelled to dozens of fanzines.

In regards to the trends and various aspects of Lolicon-zines at this point, refer to my article 'What is a Lolicon Fanzine?' ('Fusion Product' October 1981 issue). In there, I roughly divided the so-called Lolicon fanzines into three axes. X equals a desire to interact with märchen-chic or otome-chic cute things (I want to see, I want to draw. Same as below). Y equals a desire to interact with erotic or sexual things. Z equals a desire to interact with a favourite character (mainly from anime). In there I also showed how these could be further classified into 6 categories.

Among those 6 is the 'Lolicon Manga-zine'-ish Group A (mainly XY axes) represented by 'Cybele'. Then there's the Group A with the characteristics of a 'Fan Journal' like 'Pleasance' (プレザンス) or 'Arisu' (愛栗鼠), which has a slightly stronger Z-axis. Then there's the Group B (mainly YZ axes) line that extends to 'anime parodies' like 'AMA' and 'Venus'. Among them is the Loli character specialty-zine Group B (mainly YZ plus X axes), like 'Anibele' (アニベール) (Tokyo 'Cybele Editorial Department' April 1981) and 'Nonki' (のんき) (Tokyo 'Otoboke Project' December 1980 1st issue; currently 4 issues). And there's the anime Shoujo character fanzine journal-esque Group C (focusing on XZ axes), like 'Bishoujo Personified Image Sophie' (美少女自身・イマージュ・ソフィー) (Kanagawa 'EIRISHA' published August 1981). And finally there's the specific anime Shoujo character fan journal-esque Group C (almost entirely XZ axes) represented by 'Clari-maga'.

Also, I wondered whether the trend of future Lolicon-zines would be to shift to works focusing on one of the XYZ axes, but while looking at the winter 'Comiket 19' of 1981 (due to internal circumstances of each respective executive committee, Harumi's 'Original Comiket' and Akihabara's 'New Comiket' were held on the same day. Try being a collector like me!!), there was in fact no such trend, but it appears there were quite a few published fanzines that included all among the A~C Groups, as represented by 'Angie' (アンジェ) (Tokyo 'Angie Editorial Department' December 1981).

Another new movement that followed, as an opportunity to this Lolicon-zine Boom, is the emergence of adult gekiga fanclubs. In addition to the 'United Uchiyama Aki/Noguchi Masayuki FC' (内山亜紀参加野口正之FC連合) (Kanagawa, Journal 'Fairy Doll' [妖精人形] published December 1981), it appears there are quite a few Noguchi Masayuki (Uchiyama Aki) fanclubs, and there's the Taniguchi Kei FC 'Furasuzume' (ふらすずめ), and I hear there's a movement to form a Nakajima Fumio (中島史雄) FC.

Furthermore, 'Lemon People' (first published December 1981), published by an adult gekiga-type publisher, clearly claims to be a 'Lolicon Comic', and some of the people who wrote for 'Ningyouhime' (人形姫) have made their debut there.

United_Aki_Uchiyama_FC_Fairy_Doll_1&2.jpg

United Aki Uchiyama FC: Fairy Doll Vol.1 & 2

■How to Assess the Lolicon-zine Boom......?



It's often said the Lolicon-zine Boom was born through fan initiative. However, it is also true there was a considerable influence from professional-zines (commercial magazines).

The two fanzines believed to have played the most important role in the rise of the Lolicon-zine Boom were 'Cybele' and 'Clari-maga', but a certain famous Lolicon Mangaka was participating in the former from the very beginning, and the latter having a Shoujo Mangaka as part of its core staff is now an open secret. When it comes to the other anime parody-type Lolicon-zines, it cannot be said the many shower and nude scenes in the original anime were unrelated; in their case, it may be difficult to say this was entirely 'fan-driven'. However, regarding the fact it was first done by none other than 'Gundam', with the later novelisations making it abundantly clearer, you have to acknowledge the fan's sense of smell to sniff out the sexual scent hidden at the bottom of its story.

Furthermore, when looking at Lolicon-zines, you'll notice there's quite a few fans of adult gekiga among those involved. It's not hard to imagine the Bishoujo-infested streets of adult gekiga indirectly influenced this Lolicon-zine Boom. After all, among the recent adult gekiga magazines, there's titles like 'Gekiga Lolicon' and 'Manga Lolita'.

In the October 1981 issue of 'OUT', a man called Ajima Shun* (阿島俊) gave his bitter comments regarding the Lolicon-zine Boom. Moreover, he criticised the Lolicon Special Feature in the October issue of 'Fusion Product' the same year (the same issue was one of the best out of all the back numbers of 'Fusion Product'. Let me also say Ajima claims the magazine 'changed its name from 'Pafu' [ぱふ], but to correct him, the 'former 'Pafu' editorial department became independent').
*This is another penname for Yonezawa Yoshihiro, which he uses whenever he's critiquing Azuma Hideo.

However, as is written in 'Freud Shikiranmaru' (F式蘭丸), 'nothing is created from rejections'.

Once upon a time, parody manga was very popular in the doujinshi world. There was a period when anything that was a parody would sell. But a parody is no more than a parody, it cannot be more than that. And most of them (to borrow the words of a friend) are nothing more than caricature manga that can hardly be called parodies.

However, the so-called Lolicon Manga is different. Even if it's kinda 'eh', there (should) exist originality as a manga in them. In the wake of adult gekiga that were once ridiculed and despised for being third-rate gekiga or ero-gekiga, I am convinced the Lolicon Boom in the doujinshi world, acting as a stepping stone for the emergence of many unique talents, has the potential to create new talent.

And as the fanzines and writers focusing on Lolicon stuff gain strength, I believe reality supports the fact they will begin to leave Lolicon.

Even if they ought to be laughed at for being shameless fellows. I want to witness the future of this boom with my own two eyes.




While some of the other articles were a lot to unpack; this one really opens up a lot of fields to explore. Almost overwhelming. Hopefully more scans for OUT, Animage, and Animec are uploaded. I'm really curious about Yonezawa's critique regarding the Fusion Product October issue. Not sure what I should translate next.
 
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Hexasheep93

varishangout.com
Regular
I skimmed it for now. This is a long one. Still pretty interesting.

I appreciate the effort you put on these I cant imagine its easy:salute:
 

PatioRama

varishangout.com
Regular
Quite honestly an interesting read. One thing I wonder though is when lolicon as a whole started moving away from the 'real'? I keep hearing that some lolicon manga removed pictures of real idols and stuff back in the day due to the lolicon at the time only wanting the manga drawings. Not sure which magazine this was.
 

Altereggo

varishangout.com
Wow, thanks for all the work you put into these translations. These are sources I never expected to still exist, let alone be available in english. I hope someone uses these to put together a full history of the loli boom, because it's difficult to follow trying to piece things together from primary sources.
 

Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
I skimmed it for now. This is a long one. Still pretty interesting.

I appreciate the effort you put on these I cant imagine its easy:salute:
It's technically two separate articles, hence its length.
Received the package I mentioned earlier; however, I also upgraded my personal computer with entirely new hardware around the same time, and have been distracted by the backlog of video games I was unable to play till now.

Among the books is Ootsuka Eiji and Nakamori Akio collaboration regarding Miyazaki Tsutomu, and so far, it's interesting how sympathetic they treated Miyazaki. Probably due to their knowledge being through the filter of the mass media. Another was a relatively new one from 2011 featuring a long 25,000 character interview with Azuma Hideo. It also contains illustrations and comics; it's amusing seeing Azuma take to the 2ch character Mona (Link). Also got a hold of the Animec Lolicon issue, and it didn't include any interesting illustrations aside from the Japanese book covers of the British New Wave SF (Science Fiction) writer.

Wish I had a smartphone like Ehoba; would like to take photographs of the pages.

Since you've been following this thread since the beginning. Is there anything in particular you would like me to delve into deeper, Hexasheep? So far, I've been mainly focusing on trying to introduce as many individuals and perspectives as possible to help broaden interest from obvious figures like Ootsuka Eiji or Toshio Okada. Like there's Hirukogami's letters, interviews with Uchiyama Aki or Azuma Hideo, the infamous articles by Aoyama Masaaki, Kawamoto Kouji's farewell letter in his Comic Peke, and so on.

Quite honestly an interesting read. One thing I wonder though is when lolicon as a whole started moving away from the 'real'? I keep hearing that some lolicon manga removed pictures of real idols and stuff back in the day due to the lolicon at the time only wanting the manga drawings. Not sure which magazine this was.
The 'real' aspect of Lolicon is still there; the idol and AV industry still uses the word heavily, and those industries continue trying to insert themselves into the 2D fandom.

The 2nd Lolicon magazine, Manga Burikko (漫画ブリッコ), was the one that removed the nude junior idol gravure at the request of readers. Patrick W. Galbraith goes over this in his book 'Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan' and his online article 'Lolicon: The Reality of ‘Virtual Child Pornography’ in Japan' (Link).

Though, something Patrick didn't mention was that after Ootsuka Eiji removed the gravure photos from Burikko during its two and a half year serialisation, the magazine's successor was Manga Hot Milk (漫画ホットミルク) and the gravure stuff returned for that. I saw some scans of the 1980s contents of Hot Milk on an auction site, and there was a topless gravure photoshoot with the words '女子高校生', so I'm hesitant to order any of those books even if they happen to be the pseudo-shoujo mentioned by Kawamoto Kouji in his online autobiography.

While none of the original Burikko and Hot Milk staff were involved in its revival, the publisher of Manga Burikko revived its successor, Hot Milk, in 2007 as 'Comic Hot Milk' (コミックホットミルク) that later went on to become 'Comic X-EROS' which did have some direct connections with its roots.

Comic_Hot_Milk_2007_10.jpg

Lolicon Manga Magazine of 2007.

Wow, thanks for all the work you put into these translations. These are sources I never expected to still exist, let alone be available in english. I hope someone uses these to put together a full history of the loli boom, because it's difficult to follow trying to piece things together from primary sources.
You're welcome. I'm also hoping someone will do some proper research and try translating more of this old stuff. Like one English article thought it was a good idea to use Disappearance Diary as a source regarding Azuma Hideo and Yaoi, which would be like if someone used Bakuman as a source for the way things work at the editorial department in Shueisha. There's way better sources to reference in regards to Azuma Hideo's feelings regarding Yaoi, which acted as the flowerbed for Lolicon. Though, honestly, I wish I could find a source other than Azuma at the time, since I'm curious about the friendly rivalry between Cybele and some of the Yaoi circles.

If you want to have a shopping list of things to try and procure, these books archived in the Yonezawa Memorial Museum may be of interest to you:



Source: 「ビデパル 85/01」

VidePal_1985_01_Cover.jpg


Interview: "Lolita Anime's Creators"


Adult Anime has been greeted by the overwhelming support of video fans as it monopolises the hit charts ever since July (1984) to the current month. This field's pioneer is Wonder Kids. And what's determining its market is Fairy Dust. Two interviews are transcribed below.

The trends in normal adult videos have gradually escalated due to a bona fide boom, competing desperately to make cute girls cuter and hardcore scenes more hardcore. It's even being reflected in the field of anime as it attempts to copy them. Furthermore, anime is more extreme than live action in the point where it's a direct projection of the imagination. In fact, Cream Lemon's sales of 10,000 copies is following the past sales of 'The Onanism' (ザ・オナニー) by Yoyogi Tadashi (代々木忠), and it can be said that the many anime fans included in those numbers are likely playing a role in expanding the video fan base.

At present, there are 6 other makers producing even more hardcore anime. By the time this issue hits store shelves, you'll probably be looking at all manner of debuts. It's a time to expect heart-pounding, perverted sensations. We'll be interviewing Yoshida Naotaka (吉田尚剛) of Fairy Dust (currently the representative director of Amusement Media Sogogakuin) and Takagi Hidetaka (高木秀隆) of Wonder Kids.


■Wonder Kids


From the high schoolgirls of Nakajima Fumio's original works 'Yuki no Beni Kesho' (雪の紅化粧) and 'Shoujo Bara Kei' (少女薔薇刑) to the Youjo of their original 'Koneko-chan no Iru Mise' (仔猫ちゃんのいる店), they've produced a wide range of works.

A pioneer of Lolita Anime. All the elements to become a future boom are concentrating here. Their latest work is now comfortably resting in the top 10.


──"Since there was nothing like this when you released your first work, what sort of decisions were you making?"

Takagi: "Through my policy of not wanting to do adult in live-action videos, I wanted to express the raw world of video from within the section called anime. Since Lolita has been so well established in the world of manga, I wondered if it would be a good idea to make a video in the form of a Lolita Anime. As for Wonder Kid's other services. We do production sales of works. Though we're selling them through the Pony and Sony sales channels. Then there's 'Off Course' (オフコース), 'Terra' (テラ), 'Snakeman Show' (スネークマンショー), and stuff like Karaoke.

──"Tell us about the original work by Nakajima Fumio."

Takagi: "When we spoke to Nakajima-san, he was very romantic, or hopeful, to have the art he draws put to motion, so we realised his dream of doing an anime video. So in the beginning, we were going to release up to 10 episodes and were moving ahead with that process."

──"I would like to hear about the production process."

Takagi: "The production cost was around 15 million. We were shooting at 16m/m. The music was original and the 3rd episode became Hi-Fi through multi-channel recording. We used about 8,000 cels to make the movements of the characters look natural."

──"About the music."

Takagi: "There's something about today's youth being driven by music. Actually, when we look over the enquête postcards, the reaction is 'I enjoyed the music'. They listen to the audio and immerse themselves in the image. You could say they're playing in Shangri-La through that."

──"About the characters."

Takagi: "I believe it's easy to tell from watching the first or second episodes, but we've create a world of 16, 17 year olds. In the original work, it felt like they were 4th or 5th year elementary schoolers, but it just wouldn't do to have them be around 10 years old.

We didn't like that. So we decided if we made them 5 or 6 years older, they would be characters where it wouldn't be strange to have middle or high schoolers in such a world. Nakajima Fumio fans were furious. Saying it isn't the world of Nakajima Fumio.

As for the colouring, ours is a different beast in the world of anime. Gauze is applied in normal anime. We were trying to decide all sorts of things like colour balance. It appeared we messed it all up. Like making the colours more vivid as primary colours. With an intent the video should be vividly clear. It was probably rough on the animators. It's different, you see. It felt off when we were making it, but it turned out nice; after all, it's different from 'Cream Lemon'. It's a fantastic world with gauze that's more faa~."

──"About Viderin*."
※An abbreviation for '日本ビデオ倫理協会' (Nihon Ethics of Video Association).

Takagi: "It was personally my first experience with Viderin, and they wanted us to make seven corrections for the third episode. They said the way we drew the lines of the female pubic regions were too realistic.

It wasn't realistic when we removed one or two lines. The animators had no choice but to invert (negatives) the female bits cause it would be troublesome to correct them then. When the line art was inverted, it looked a little grotesque, but after we processed it and brought it for re-examination, they said it was fine. On the contrary, that way was very realistic as you can see the lines clearly. Though I thought it was raunchy."

──"What's your reaction to being labelled a pioneer?"

Takagi: "The perspective is such 'Wonder equals Lolita Anime'. It wasn't like that at first. When we decided to do an anime on video, we began with an anime that hadn't been done before, so we did an adult one. I'm honestly worried whether we created something that is neither normal nor adult, but it's a fact it's something that hasn't been seen before. Five companies are making them with Fairy-san and Nikkatsu-san I know as our successors. We've done our part, so we'll leave the adult stuff to them. We want to make something more different.

The reaction when it was first released was incredible. We had 100 to 200 calls in a single day. Our temporary stock ran out, and we were in Order Stop* for about a week. Registered mail was arriving twice a day. It was 5000 for the first and second episode and 8000 for the third. It kept gradually increasing. We only had two sales people so it was rough."
※Order Stop means they have taken all the orders they think they would be able to fill, so they stopped accepting new orders until they can confirm whether they can secure more stock.

──"Any ideas for your new work?"

Takagi: "One whose characters are cute and bright like an anime and its contents are an SM world. Like hanging in midair. Also, there'll be video effects rather than simply copying from film to 1-inch via Telecine. That kind of stuff will be done with DV or Mirage."

──"About the animators."

Takagi: "They appeared to be very resistant to the first Gekiga-touch anime. But they got on by the third episode. Saying 'this is anime'. They were on board."

──"What's your outlook on the future?"

Takagi: "I'm wondering how far Lolita Anime will go. We're thinking of breaking new ground in normal (not Lolita) anime in our own way."

Lolita_Anime_1_2_3_4_Wonderkids.jpg

Lolita Anime Ⅰ~Ⅴ by Wonderkids
Unfortunately, Wonder Kids withdrew from OVA production in October 1985 and later went bankrupt. Their last OVA was '酎ハイれもん LOVE30S'.


■Fairy Dust



From incest to SF, gaining popularity drawing entertainer girls in their acclaimed 'Cream Lemon' series.

It is said the 'Cream Lemon' series established the adult anime boom. Their works selling more than they expected. Not only male fans, perhaps the naïve style of their art is attracting interest from girls as well.


──"You're making a killing, aren't you? No matter which hit chart we examine, 'Cream Lemon' is number one."

Yoshida: "So far, we have worked on 'Macross' and 'Urusei Yatsura'. We're doing it as an extension of anime rather than as pornography. We don't treat it as simply ero-anime. I believe this is the reason why we were able to respond to the needs of the public."

──"How much have you actually sold?"

Yoshida: "Well over 10,000. We may reach 15,000 by the end of the year."

──"For both titles?"

Yoshida: "Yes. 30,000 for both. We were also quite shocked. We never thought it would turn out this way. ... At first, we were aiming for 5,000. But it went on to 10,000 more in about a month. It had incredible power. With this, I believe (Bishoujo Anime) 3 and 4 will create yet another new phase; they're works with a different orientation (from the ones till now)."

──"About the process to produce Bishoujo Anime."

Yoshida: "The first problem during the planning stage is how do you go about the character design. The heroine herself is always the focal point. We're well aware from experience what sort of character is good and what kind of character the fans desire. I had prior on-site work experience doing anime for television and theatre, but those were limited to children, so I couldn't do what I wanted to do. So I've taken things to a scene where I can do as I like.

... In the process of determining the character, we create all sorts of concepts, and we basically choose from dozens the one that would colloquially be referred to as Kawaii that Lolicon fans would enjoy. We spend a lot of time thinking about her costume, hair colour, and so on. It's the character's goodness that determines sales rather than the story or setting."

──"How many cels do you use?"

Yoshida: "1 and 2 were about 6,000 cels. On regular television, it's normally between 3,000~5,000, so we went with that many. 3 and 4 were much greater than the typical number, and 4 was well over 8,000 cels..."

──"8,000 cels in 25 minutes! Amazing."

Yoshida: "It's astonishing. If you watch them, the contents go far beyond theatre (for anime). So we're preparing such for video release."

──"At what m/m do you shoot cels?"

Yoshida: "For things like television, it's 16m/m, but considering its future development (for things like a theatrical release), we shoot at 35m/m. (※During the production process of anime, the characters are first drawn on a cel that are then shot one by one at 35m/m [or 16m/m]). The more cels in a given period of time, the smoother the animation.)

The production cost for one title was 20 million yen. 3 and 4 have Hi-Fi music, so those were over 50 million. We had a staff of 100 for one title. The scale is completely different from live shooting a regular adult video. People unfamiliar (with anime) seem to believe they can get it all done at once."

──"What about the Seiyuu?"

Yoshida: "The girl in the lead role is doing it. Every anime fan will know her, so they'll come up to me and say 'is it her?' to which I'll reply 'nope'. But everyone knows."

──"About Viderin."

Yoshida: "To be honest, we're also in a state where we totally don't get Viderin... What's good, what's bad...? We had no experience, so when we sent it in, we were in for quite a shock. We couldn't tell right from wrong. So we put everything on hold and held a meeting, and told everyone to redo it."

──"Redo it?"

Yoshida: "Relations between men and women are acts that are completely real. They're very real. They must've been elderly folks (the examiners from Viderin). How do I put it in words? They said 'well, it's too much, isn't it?'. We were devastated (in redoing things)."

──"The reason anime for adults is a hit."

Yoshida: "Since today's youngsters grew up with manga, it's relatively easy for them to sympathise with manga. I believe there's also a historical background for the Peter Pan Syndrome situation."

──"Would another company also create this?"

Yoshida: "I don't know. As they say, there aren't always loaches under the willow tree. Even if you create it with the mind for porno, you need to understand maniacs. Anime may seem easy, but it's actually quite difficult. Anime fans are quite discerning."

──"What about the purchasing demographic?"

Yoshida: "Looking through the enquête responses, it's overwhelmingly people around the age of 20. This sort of fan is incredible. Live adult stuff are only available at rental shops. They won't buy those. But they will buy these. And when they buy them, they want to keep them. In that sense, I believe video mania is still a field that has the potential to expand beyond adult content."

VidePal_1985_01_Cream_Lemon.jpg

'SF超次元伝説ラル' ( Superdimesional SF Legend Rall) by Fairy Dust.



On the topic of Lolita Anime, something I've seen regurgitated on western websites is that Miyazaki Tsutomu had Lolita Anime in his bedroom, and as far as I'm aware, the people who carefully analysed the books and videos in his room haven't found anything that could be called Lolita Anime. Though it seems the idea Miyazaki had Lolita Anime in his bedroom is something that originated with the Japanese mass media and spread to western articles that failed to do any fact checking, and digging to find the source, it's believed this originated when a certain newspaper claimed to have visited the video rental store Miyazaki patronised, and the Lolita Anime Miyazaki rented according to them was one called 'Dream Hunter Rem' (I actually like this anime and would recommend that anyone here watch it).

nikkan_sports_1989_08_14.gif

Source: 日刊スポーツ 89/8/14

Dream Hunter Review by Kenny Lauderdale:

If you've never seen Dream Hunter Rem, the above review should make it obvious why that one was picked to be the Lolita Anime that influenced Miyazaki Tsutomu. Part of me is curious if Kenny would baulk away like a vampire presented with a cross if someone told him Dream Hunter Rem was the Lolita Anime Japanese newspapers claimed Miyazaki had in his bedroom (I personally think this is a lie cause why would a video rental store reveal what their customers rented?).
 
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Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
It's been a while. I hope everyone has been well.

Translated some more articles that I'll be sharing in the coming weeks as I finish proof-editing them. Also took the opportunity to go back and correct minor errors in the previous articles; I want to get these as perfect as possible since I'm considering reposting them elsewhere to hopefully increase visibility.

There's so much to share and talk about, though I'll try to spread it out to avoid information overload.

For starters, Konoma Waho, one of the pioneer artists alongside Azuma Hideo for Cybele and many other early doujinshi, came out of hiding and created a Pixiv account (Konoma Waho's Pixiv). For me, I find it interesting he drew new pieces featuring characters from his old series from the 1980s like 'Dochi Datte Alien' and 'The HIDIAN Gamers').

Both Konoma and his disciple, Kazuna, who was responsible for the Cream Lemon Lolita-Anime series, did professional level contributions in the Magical Trip doujinshi by Studio Baki; most of the other contributors had illustrations and manga with handwritten text, but both Konoma and Kazuna had typesetted fonts, making me wonder if either of their stories appeared in a magazine. Konoma's story is a SF one about a female alien and a male human giving birth to a daughter that sucks both of their brains dry and then goes to a city and tries to do the same to other humans and aliens living there before becoming sick and vomiting cause their Lolicon and Hentai brains are way too disgusting to fully digest, and Kazuna's story is about a modern day Dracula finding out he has a bunch of Japanese Youkai freeloading and hiding in his tiny little apartment (even Lum from Urusei Yatsura makes a brief appearance as one of the freeloaders cause she's an Oni).

Magical Trip by Studio Baki:
Magical_Trip.jpg


Second, I was able to find some new information about the CAT PEOPLE doujinshi series, snagging the 7th issue and finding out one of the major contributors is Kosugia Aya (Pixiv). Aya's Pixiv is kinda barren, but she favourited some of Konoma's illustrations, so she would be an interesting person to interview. Her Twitter has more of her illustrations, and she's been selling some of her works digitally on Comicwalker.

Aya Illustration with a cameo of one of Azuma Hideo's girls (Mia-chan):

catpeople4_message.jpg
catpeople4_neko_no_musume_catalogue.jpg

To reiterate, CAT・PEOPLE is considered one of the earliest catgirl doujinshi series, beginning in 1982 at C24


In any case, the following article is written after the Playguide Journal article that solidifies the connection between third-rate gekiga and Lolicon, and treats the latter as a new incarnation of New Wave.




Source: 「マンガ宝島 82/3」

Manga_Takarajima_1982_03_.jpg


What the Third-Rate Gekiga Movement and Ero-Gekiga Renaissance Left Behind:
'Alice', 'Erogenica', and 'Daikairaku' Incorporate New Wave

Manga_Takarajima_1982_03_01.jpg

Hisauchi Michio's 'Sin and Punishment' (Keisei Publishing)

By Kitazaki Masahito (北崎正人)



'Gekiga Alice' (劇画アリス) and 'Manga Erogenica' (漫画エロジェニカ) were gekiga magazines that started the third-rate gekiga boom in 1978. Among third-rate gekiga magazines, there were points that differentiated these 2 magazines from other ero-gekiga magazines. 'Gekiga Alice' made a case by publishing the photo of the editor-in-chief himself in the inside front cover and made a strong appeal for 'love towards gekiga'. 'Erogenica' made a case by featuring 'Kawasaki Yukio' (川崎ゆきお), who is renowned in only 'Garo' (ガロ). These two factors are perhaps the reason why manga-maniacs started paying attention to these 2 magazines from among all other ero-gekiga magazines. The photo of the young editor-in-chief of 'Gekiga Alice' helps dispel the mistaken notion ero-gekiga magazines are created by perverted middle-aged blokes who have perverted hentai mangaka drawing for them. 'Erogenica' featuring Kawasaki Yukio was a nice case for manga fans knowing there was an editor who was knowledgeable not only about ero-gekiga, but about the minor manga magazine known as 'Garo'.

In 'Comic Critique' (漫画新批評大系) published by the manga maniacs 'Labyrinth' (迷宮), a special feature on third-rate gekiga was compiled in 1977. Before long, a roundtable talk between the editors of 'Manga Erogenica', 'Gekiga Alice', and 'Kannou Gekiga' hosted by 'Labyrinth' was published in the 1978 spring issue of 'Playguide Journal'. The so-called 'Third-rate Gekiga Movement' began with this roundtable talk.

Thinking about it now, the 'Third-rate Gekiga Movement' could be reduced to a mass media strategy of focusing the spotlight on the ero-gekiga that existed in the shadows. Put into other words, it has given civil rights to the ghetto of the manga world. And the 'Third-rate Gekiga Movement' is nothing more than that. To say nothing of the foolish label 'Gekiga Zenkyōtō'*; I don't know who came up with that, but it's all an illusion.
*Zenkyōtō (Wiki)

The Hōchi Shimbun featured 'Gekiga Alice' and the 'Nikkan Gendai', the 'Yukan Fuji' featured 'Manga Erogenica', and later in September of 1978, '11PM' ran a special feature on third-rate gekiga. And among the 4 ero-gekigaka who appeared in '11PM', 3 of them——Nakajima Fumio (中島史雄), Kodama Wakafumi (小多魔若史) , and Shimizu Osamu (清水おさむ)——were contributors of 'Erogenica', which had comments by the editor that provoked authorities, and in 1978, the November issue of 'Erogenica' became the first in the history of gekiga to be banned due to the works of 5 artists, including Dirty Matsumoto (ダーティ松本).

Furthermore, 'Supplementary Issue Shinhyou' (別冊新評) published 'The World of Ishii Takashii' (井隆の世界), the most popular ero-gekigaka at the time, and following that, they published 'The World of Third-rate Gekiga' (三流劇画の世界) in the spring of 1979. It can be said it was here an end was put to the 'Third-rate Gekiga Movement'.

'Manga Erogenica', which stood out among ero-gekiga magazines, later featured Ishikawa Jun (いしかわじゅん) and published 'Patriotism' (愛国), and 'Gekiga Alice' hired Azuma Hideo and serialised 'Absurd Diary' (不条理日記). From around this time, these two magazines began to commission works by creators known from New Wave rather than ero-gekiga magazines.

Another magazine—among ero-gekiga magazines part of the set with 'Alice' and 'Erogenica' known as 'The Three Branches' (御三家)—Daikairaku (大快楽), hired Hisauchi Michio (ひさうちみちお), Miyanishi Keizou (宮西計三), and Hiraguchi Hiromi (平口広美), who were called New Wave, and this coincided with the publication of their fine works in 1979. 'Gekiga Alice' changed their editor-in-chief and hired Okuhira Ira (奧平イラ) and Matsui Natsuki (まついなつき), and 'Erogenica' hired Saimon Fumi (柴門ふみ), Kugenuma Kawo (鵠沼かを), Matsui Natsuki (まついなつき), and Yamada Futaba (山田双葉).

From the time of the 'Third-rate Gekiga Movement', Azuma Hideo, Ishikawa Jun, and other New Wave artists produced fine works of art, and this period is collectively called the 'Ero-Gekiga Renaissance'.

The background of these 3 magazines hiring New Wave-type artists is because 'Daikairaku' noticed the new comers of 'Garo', the members of 'Labyrinth' participated in the editing of 'Alice', and 'Erogenica' interacted with the shounen magazine 'Peke' (ペケ) ('Comic Again' [コミックアゲイン]). All 3 magazines had editorial policies that freed them from the fixed ideas held by most ero-gekiga magazines that ero-gekiga should be drawn by ero-gekigaka.

'Gekiga Alice' also had an understanding of SF and Rock, and in addition to Hiraoka Masaaki (平岡正明), published columns by Kagami Akira* (鏡明) and Masaki Takashi (征木高司) among others. Not to be confused with the other, much younger, Kagami Akira who died from overworking.

'Erogenica' had an understanding of shoujo manga, publishing shoujo manga essays, and pioneered the Lolicon Boom, leading Bishoujo to manga works. Their columns were also quite unique with topics on pro wrestling (Ryuusanji Shou [流山児祥]), SF, (Kishida Rio [岸田理生]), and Rock (Hirai Gen [平井玄]).

Then 'Erogenica' and 'Daikairaku' began fighting in the autumn of 1979. Their dispute escalated to the point where Ryuusanji Shou KOed Itasaka Gou (板坂剛) of 'Daikairaku' out in the streets, but this was bravado with a flavour of the late 1960s, a battle between the former Zenkyōtō and the sham Zenkyōtō. And the former editor of 'Gekiga Alice' followed up as an omake, exposing it as a sham Zenkyōtō in the end.

The conflict between 'Erogenica' and 'Daikairaku', among maniacs, was called a fateful showdown between the 'COM' faction that understood shoujo manga and the 'GARO' faction of the gekiga mainstream, but in reality, it was a joke by 'Daikairaku' that accidentally went too far.

In 1979, 'Gekiga Alice' ceased publication, and in 1980, the editor of 'Daikairaku' left the company and the publisher of 'Erogenica' went bankrupt, bringing the bright days of the 3 magazines to a close.

And ero-gekiga magazines are no longer being drawn by ero-gekigaka and New Wave-type mangaka side-by-side, and excluding the extent to which Lolicon stars such as Uchiyama Aki (内山亜紀) and Taniguchi Kei (谷口敬) produce fine works, they have started to lose their vigour once again.

The fine works of the Ero-Gekiga Renaissance have been published into tankoubon by Bronze Publishing (ブロンズ社), Keisei Publishing (けいせい出版), Kubo Shoten (久保書店), and so on, but the 3 magazines from those days have now become phantoms.

Manga_Takarajima_1982_03_02.jpg

Top to Bottom:
Muraso Shunichi's 'Harlot Marie' (Manga Erogenica)
Taniguchi Kei's (Nojima Michinori) 'Yaeko ni' (Manga Erogenica)

Noguchi Masayuki's (Uchiyama Aki) 'Shoujo no Material' (Manga Daikairaku)





Manifesto of New Comics
From 'New Wave' to 'Lolicon', 'Centrist Established Route', and 'New Comic'...


By Murakami Tomohiko (村上知彦) (Wiki)


What was 'New Wave'? Was it nothing more than one of those named booms, or was it the beginning of something more?

I'm speaking of 'New Wave' in the past tense. I feel as if what can be described as 'New Wave' is but a thing of the past. Because 'New Wave', which began as a combination of seinen manga, shoujo manga, and doujinshi, had lacked shounen manga, resulting in individual artists being summoned during the reorganisation process of major magazines, giving birth to magazines that symbolised the period, such as 'Manga Golden Super Deluxe' (漫金超) and 'Manga Kisou Tengai' (マンガ奇想天外), but those magazines no longer have the impact they had when they first published. The 'wave' has certainly passed.

'New Wave' as a boom has already transformed into 'Lolicon'. Although the influence of 'New Wave' has certainly flowed into this as well, it has already undergone a qualitative change as a whole.

'New Wave' was composed of waves and flows. Given that, the direction it was heading was the big question. The size of a groundswell is at most a transient phenomenon. The only things we should question is where exactly the wave is headed, whether it's possible to reach its destination, and what should be done to achieve that.

I'll dissect the current situation. 1981 was the year of division. The manga specialty magazine 'Pafu' (ぱふ) went on a hiatus for a month, and the division of 'Fusion Product' (ふゅーじょんぷろだくと) was from there. There was a one year gap between the 14th issue of the critique doujinshi 'Comic Critique' (漫画新批評大系) published in February of 1980 and the 15th issue published in December of 1981, marking the division of the doujinshi exhibition and spot sale 'Comic Market' that the members of its publishing parent 'Labyrinth' were primarily responsible for. During which, it was a state where the ones responsible for critique was mostly one magazine, 'Manga Kisou Tengai', but the future of that 'Manga Kisou Tengai' was not bright amid the suspension of the SF magazine 'Kisou Tengai' and the Kisou Tengaisha (奇想天外社) rumours, and 'Manga Golden Super Deluxe' was unable to achieve a quarterly publication due to worries about stagnant numbers. Arriving a week late, 'Manga Takarajima' (マンガ宝島) will be participating in the battle, but my honest prediction is that their situation will not be much different.

Meanwhile, around the end of 1978, a new group of major magazines with a strong 'New Wave Shade' all appeared together and almost found their place after a period of exploration. To sum up their position in a single word, they're the 'Centrist Established Route'. Even 'New Wave' has given up on the things that are not popular, and began to push popular things to the front to be sold. And their direction for the most part is to fill their issues with established artists and works. In here, 'New Wave' is treated as a 'slightly cool catchphrase'. This is clearly reflected in the circumstances of 'Gals Comic' (ギャルズコミック), 'Young Magazine' (ヤングマガジン), and 'Boys and Girls Complete Competitive Collection of SF Manga' (少年少女SFマンガ競作大全集) surviving, 'Popcorn' (ポップコーン) changing to 'Just Comic' (ジャストコミック), 'Custom Comic' (カスタムコミック) shrinking, and 'Action Deluxe' (アクションデラックス) and 'Big Gold' (ビッグゴールド) withdrawing. It's fascinating how 'Petit Flower' (プチフラワー) is holding up.

'New Wave' couldn't effectively deal with the 'Centrist Established Route' of those majors. Even if they couldn't have stopped them, they could've at least taken advantage of them. We've missed out on the one chance to create a kind of dual power situation by maintaining a certain degree of influence and voice over the majors. As a result, all we can do is stand by and watch as the old magazines following them were blatantly reorganised to the right-wing, and the 'New Wave' of the past, whether consciously or unconsciously, cooperated with them.

The 'Lolicon' boom is a powerful boom with a 'New Wave Shade' that combines the elements of ero-gekiga, shoujo manga, anime, and doujinshi. Originally, this was a boom that was led by third-rate gekiga, supplemented by doujinshi, and probably influenced by all other genres. In the end, this was all in service of selling Adachi Mitsuru's (あだち充) works. I cannot hide my regret when I think that with a little effort, we could've prevented Shueisha (集英社) from selling Toriyama Akira's (鳥山明) 'Dr.Slump' (Dr.スランプ) to Morinaga and nuclear power commercial messages. Channel Zero (チャンネルゼロ) is currently considering the self-management of characters using Ishii Hisaichi (いしいひさいち) as a model case. They're thinking if things go well, they'll reach out to other artists. Although I cannot help but feel we're already behind the curve, we cannot afford to remain idle.

The 'wave' has gone. What was left of it? Some artists and confidence in the direction we should head. In any case, I'll modestly leave it at just that.

Ootomo Katsuhiro (大友克洋), Takano Fumiko (高野文子), Hisauchi Michio (ひさうちみちお), Miyanishi Keizou (宮西計三), Azuma Hideo (吾妻ひでお), Takahashi Yousuke (高橋葉介), Sabea Noma (さべあのま), Saimon Fumi (柴門ふみ), Kondou Youko (近藤ようこ), Takahashi Rumiko (高橋留美子), Yoshida Akimi (吉田秋生), Moriwaki Masumi (森脇真末味), Kawasaki Yukio (川崎ゆきお), and Ishii Hisaichi (いしいひさいち) among other artists. What they've shown us is the reality manga can change. Not just individual works, but the entire situation including magazines, publishers, and everything else; manga keeps changing, and has to keep treading into the unknown.

Crush the known, the departed spirit of that which tries to reappear!

The 'wave' has gone. Don't be swept away by temptation, stay in the moment.

Can you see the 'New Comic' up ahead?

Manga_Takarajima_1982_03_03.jpg

Takano Fumiko's 'Tanabe no Tsuru' (Manga Golden Super Deluxe)




Patrick Galbraith did a 2 hour lecture about his translated book 'Erotic Comics in Japan: An Introduction to Eromanga':

Despite having only 1k views, I think this video should be mandatory watching for anyone claiming to have more than a casual interest in anime or manga so they're not at a level they embarrass themselves when talking about it in a way that is critical like 95% of the western anime and manga fandom.

It outlines the history of ero-manga, and its close relationship to all-age manga, and should prove useful in piecing together the articles in this thread that mainly cover events in the 1970s~1990s, though it is in no way a substitute for the information found in this thread's articles. The part of the video that interested me was the Q&A session regarding the failed attempts of some individuals who got in trouble trying to export Japan's manga history outside Japan. It would be nice if there was something that goes into further details about that. I think the video also does a fairly good job at presenting how much normal Japanese society has been against the otaku subculture; the issue with manga regulation is very, very much internal rather than simply outside pressures trying to make Japan conform to them. Going to the extent that these internal forces have often tried to use western countries and organisations as a means to further their own agenda.
 
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Hexasheep93

varishangout.com
Regular
Hey Im glad to see you back. Your posts are always a nice change of pace for the forums

As for the post:

Interesting it seems like the early 80s was some sort of transition period for the eromanga world. I do have some questions.

What exactly do they mean by new wave?

Also it mentions centrism and right wing. So were politics involved in this niche area?

Also I havent watched the video yet, but that and the mention of dr slump kind of reminded me how intertwined ero manga and non ero manga are. At least compared to western works.

Also what you said about otaku culture is true. And I think is important to recognize that particularly if we intend to fight to keep people from trying to drown out otaku culture.

Again good to see you are alright
 

Taruby

varishangout.com
Regular
What exactly do they mean by new wave?

Also it mentions centrism and right wing. So were politics involved in this niche area?
New Wave means a new movement or trend. Something that's intentionally different from the norm, avant-garde. The magazines that originally catered to New Wave were COM and Garo, which are frequently mentioned in this thread.

I don't know if anyone has bothered to scan these older New Wave manga magazines, but this site has all of the covers for Monthly Manga Garo so you can get a feel for it:

As an example, Ootomo Katsuhiro, Ishikawa Jun, and Azuma Hideo were regarded as the big three New Wave artists of SF (science fiction) manga.

What New Wave means specifically in the 1970s and 1980s is a trend that first appeared in Japan's seinen manga world that transcended the framework of shounen manga, shoujo manga, and gekiga. In the 1960s, the manga industry was divided into four distinct genres: shounen manga, shoujo manga, gekiga, and adult manga with GARO and COM lying outside these four. However, in the late 1970s, Labyrinth members, who reviewed and critiqued manga and also oversaw Comiket, started launching their own minor New Wave magazines. Kawamoto Kouji launched the shounen SF manga magazine Peke, and Sagawa launched the josei manga magazine JUN. The latter is responsible for commercialising boys' love manga, though that didn't stop them from commissioning artists like Azuma Hideo to draw for them, since his comics were popular with women and female artists.


As for the second question, it's hard for me to answer. Maybe it'll be easier to understand if you looked up the wikipedia entry for Zenkyōtō, I don't know if the English wikipedia is perfectly accurate, but it seemed OK upon a cursory glance. The New Left is mentioned in there, and might explain why a lot of these articles are using these sorts of terms.

These articles were written by young men who by their very nature want to form groups and fight for some kind of higher purpose to give meaning to their lives, kinda like how you guys on varishangout are wasting your youth fighting against dumb localisers; young men entering university are very susceptible to things like the Marxism meme or whatnot that'll give them a dopamine high. Like the young Takahata Isao (Grave of the Fireflies, Princess Kaguya) got infected by the Marxism meme and would drag Miyazaki Hayao to join him for Marx stuff, though Miyazaki never bothered to read a single Marx book, so the period he was enamoured with it and the period he grew disenchanted makes anything he says about it practically the same as listening to a person infected with the Christian meme who has never read their Bible.

Like the following memorial message from 'Peke' mentions 'logic of capital'.
I'll leave it to others, like yourself, to dissect the politics of manga-maniacs and Otaku...

Apologies if I wasn't able to answer either of your questions properly. I'm glad you still have an interest in this subject, and hope you enjoy Patrick's video.




Source: 『月刊Peke 79/02/15』

Peke_1979_02_15_cover.jpg


Manga Fan Gentlemen Across the Country!
Especially You Militant Regular Readers Rallying Around Peke!!
As We Now Approach the End of the 1970s, We Would Like to Send a Message of Warm Friendship and Solidarity to All You Gentlemen!!


By Bye Birdie (バイ・バーディ)


——This is how one should start their memorial words.



'Pretty Pretty' (プリティ・プリティ) collapsed, and following in their footsteps, the third-rate SF magazine 'Peke' (ペケ) is now collapsing. 'Garo' (ガロ) the same as ever, gasping for breath, sold well. What will happen in consequence to the comic feel of the so-called 'JUN' is in question. The 1970s, which began with the discontinuation of 'COM', is about to reach its closing scene with 'Yamato' (ヤマト) by Nishizaki Yoshinobu (西崎義展), who's rumoured to be the man responsible for killing 'COM'.

Seinen gekiga has been boldly fighting a tactical retreat in the third-rate gekiga ghetto, but the Metropolitan Police Department has now begun to intervene directly.

What does this mean? Isn't this the process of defeat following the defeat of 'our' manga we glimpsed at in the early 70s!? The editor of 'Peke' is young. He's a man from the 'COM' generation. Unsatisfied with existing manga such as 'Magazine', 'Jump', and 'Champion', though it was within a particular standard, 'Peke' must've been working in the search of manga he believed in. Even in the case of 'Pretty Pretty', regardless of the editor's intentions, the artists were likely chosen to reflect the rise of doujinshi. Those two magazines have collapsed!

Manga rejected class magazines. I'll go ahead and confirm this fact once again. The third-rate SF magazine 'Peke' sought to monopolise the positions of 'Kisou Tengai' (奇想天外) and 'SF Magazine' (SFマガジン) in manga. However, it didn't sell well. Not to say it's the fault of the artists or their works. The reality is its circulation was kept at a bare minimum. The situation of the manga itself equalling the demand of capital for manga did not allow for 'play' targeting a small number of readers. 'Peke', more than anything, was meant to stand out from the current situation where a manga magazine couldn't exist unless it circulated one or two million copies. It tried to prove manga could exist even if it was only two or three hundred thousand copies. The value of 'Peke' lies in nothing but there. It was defeated.

We must summarise it like this. That it was a scaled-down reproduction of 'COM'. That it was another defeat for 'our' manga.

Today, the manga landscape is shaped by two peaks. (Apologies to Mastuda-san.)

Kimura Minori (樹村みのり) stands on one peak. And on the other stands Satou Takao (さいとうたかを).

Kimura Minori is an artist who continues drawing to 'question' the various ideas about 'being alive' as a human living in our generation. Under which, the innovators of shoujo manga, including Hagio Moto (萩尾望都) follow. Shoujo manga has changed by placing our 'lives' at its foundation.

If I dare to say, the 1970s for shoujo manga was the return of rental manga and an internal guerilla war for seinen manga.

The foot of shoujo manga (the foot of the volcanic ash) expanded further, breaking into doujinshi and infiltrating third-rate ero-gekiga.

'Feelings' may be too pretty for third-rate ero-gekiga. However, their deeds that ran to earnest eroticism should never be reduced to mere entertainment. Isn't the desire for eroticism or lust also another name for the energy crammed into 'life'? Fantasy doesn't necessarily need to be pretty. In third-rate gekiga, you can hear the syrupy cries of female bodies writhing and gushing love juice that resemble a hatred towards women. That is also a feeling.

In shoujo manga, the readers discover the artist in the things depicted. To discover a lone human. Empathy and solidarity. A similar thing goes for third-rate gekiga. In there, the artist doesn't exist as an individual. However, seeking eroticism, the existence of dry passion that drives eroticism, they grasp it firmly. In her works, by clearly giving the sense humans are alive, Kimura Minori——pierced the line of third-rate gekiga. That's the negative turning point towards reality, included in manga, a cry of rejection.

As a means of rejection, the shield manga has had since its inception as an opposing world, this line presents itself in various ways. Drawing manga itself was an expression to oppose reality, a declaration of a will that never wants to speak to this reality.

The fact we have chosen manga, in addition to the history that manga has nurtured us, is a point of pride we are the ones who have nurtured manga. In the 1970s, the remnants of that choice are clearly preserved in COM, shoujo manga, and seinen manga. Undeterred by the attack of 'Star of the Giants' (巨人の星), we have chosen 'Tomorrow's Joe' (あしたのジョー) among many others. You can say it saved us. We intuitively knew that when an individual enters a work, they have descended into fiction. What we were seeking was neither analytics nor accusations, but rather the foundation for us to live, the confirmation that we are together.

Meaning, manga exists as a movement. Manga exists as an expression. Expression isn't the inner confessions of an individual. We have no use for Nagashima Shinji (永島慎二).

Our expression is nothing more than an expression of our continued preference for the manga that belongs to us. So long as manga continues to move eerily, so long as it simply grasps through imitation, so long as the artist and reader are intimate, so long as manga is manga, we will prefer it. Manga was created through confirmation between others reading each other's thoughts.

However, on the other hand, manga is being mass produced. This is perhaps the pinnacle of manga; something as personal as 'feelings' breathes within mass production. Music and movies do something similar. However, those media do not evoke as many kinds of reactions within the audience as manga does. Those works never go beyond being a work, forming a solid world within the recipient. Manga is not just a work. The recipient's imagination uses the work as a medium to create all sorts of mythological systems surrounding it. Manga is passed down from generation to generation. In a rhythm that alternates between affirmation and denial, it cultivates a rebellion against reality. That's what makes manga interesting.

What dominates the manga being mass produced—however—are not these types. Below Big Comic (ビッグコミック) with Saitou Takao (さいとうたかお) at the top, there's a group of works we call the mainstream of many second and third-rate gekiga magazines, shounen magazines, and shoujo magazines. Entertainment manga that focuses on 'general audience, amusement' excludes such personal feelings. Currently it's becoming stronger and stronger, about to reach the mainstream in the 1980s. With established skills, clear story-telling, and an easy-to-affirm world view, 'Notari Matsutarou' (のたり松太郎) is certainly interesting. The same thing could also be felt in 'Vagrant Cloud' (浮浪雲). However, if I dare say, to affirm the interesting nature of such works is to accept reality as something we can do nothing about.

SF manga, today, needs to occupy an important position; this is because SF allows personal feelings to fly into space, combining them with the vastness of space-time, portraying reality from the perspective of a gigantic game. Tezuka Osamu (手塚治虫) holds great significance for manga as an example of how an individual's thoughts are brought out into the world; that is because Tezuka Osamu is the only one who creates manga fully aware of its power as a personal space-time continuum. Unlike Matsumoto Reiji (松本零士), we do not see the 'individual' in Tezuka Osamu. We don't feel the breath of a human being. Simply, his worlds only exist as a gigantic temptation that expands and devours the 'individual'.

Tezuka Osamu is no more than an example. Manga is something that moves for us, drastically changing and constantly denying, it's something that says NON! to reality. It's precisely because it exists in the midst of mere commercial capital that manga is manga.

Fill 'er up! (That felt good, doesn't it!? Nakajima-san [中島]!)

Now the battlefield of manga must return to commercial magazines. Saitou Jirou (た齋藤次郎), who couldn't grasp manga in the end, announced his defeat in the 1978 December issue of 'Ducks' (だっくす). Should've minded his own business. Whatever, go play around with 'Yumiko' (弓子) or 'Minori' (みのり)! What's important is Nakajima Azusa (中島梓), who's also in 'Ducks'. There's no doubt manga readers are being forced to fight together! The fact there's no way 'Ducks' could become the axis of that joint struggle's made clear by the fact there's no expression whatsoever regarding Saitou Jirou. Providing a target for maniacs, trying to sell issues by relying on the artist's popularity with 'information' for maniacs, there's no way 'Ducks' can do anything.

There's no axis of joint struggle. We need to face the age of crisis with a clear understanding of that fact. We must assess the situation, formulate a strategy, and resolutely move our manga forward for manga.

Dear readers! Never forget manga is controlled by the logic of capital! To defend manga is to destroy the logic of capital from within!

Support the Year 24 Group (24年組)!

Continue reading third-rate ero-gekiga!

Knock down the critics!!

Continue seeking manga as manga!!

Ran out of paper. So long as we continue to pursue manga to the bitter end, so long as we keep reading manga, 'Peke' will not become an illusion.

Farewell 'Peke'.

Your tombstone inscription will be engraved by the battle for manga!!!




Editor's Notes

This first one is written by Kawamoto Kouji.

This winter will be a cold and long one.

A great prophecy. From here, the manga world will be entering a slump. Once singing 'if you put it out, it'll sell' as the spring of society, the shoujo manga world also seems to be unable to maintain itself with the newbies that crushed Hagio and Takemiya not being worth mentioning, and as usual, having no stars aside from the minor artist Matsumoto Reiji (松本零士), the shounen manga world has no interesting magazines other than Jump, and third-rate gekiga is depending upon Shimizu Osamu (清水おさむ). Do your best, Shimizu Osamu! Only you can surpass Ishii Takashi (石井隆)!

Peke was supposed to be a magazine that would have an impact on the manga world, which was facing such a slump—so the last thing I would like to say is this.

Sabea Noma (さべあのま) has the ability and charm to change the world of shoujo manga, and all I can say is the manga world is stupid for overlooking such an artist! And the same goes for other artists. Sabea Noma (Homepage; Twitter)

There's a photobook of Lolita porno called Little Pretenders. A Shoujo of around 11 years old is bereft of a single thread, exposing her slit and... it's gonna be banned soon! It's a work I recommend to bad boys and Lolicon Maniac Boys. By Million Publishing (ミリオン出版). For a thousand yen. However, by the end of the century...

Due to various circumstances, I am planning to say goodbye to Minori Shobo (みのり書房). My cold and long winter has begun. Someday, I may encounter a reader on a street corner somewhere.

In the near future, I may spend money out of my own pocket to create a book about Sabea Noma (さべあのま). The only newcomer Peke sent out into the world. A large-scale artist who can change the manga world. She also began serialisation in a magazine called 'Comic Critique' (漫画新批評大系), so (refer to issue 5, page 173) she'll be working harder. She's planning to advertise in OUT or Ducks, so please buy them whenever she appears. All of her works are unpublished. (Wahhaha! Even advertised.)

In any case, thank you to all our readers for continuing to purchase Peke. I feel like there's still a lot left to do, and I feel like there are things I haven't talked about enough, but for now, goodbye. From now on, please buy 'OUT'. Anyways, this is the end of Peke. It won't be reprinted like 'Kisou Tengai', unlike fantasy and mysteries, there are no plans for reprints, it'll likely never appear again.

......... Goodbye. (Kawamoto Kouji [川本耕次])

Peke_1979_02_15_03.jpg




A cold rain is falling. Winter rain is rough. It would be best to avoid getting wet, but it looks like I'm sopping wet right now.

If you look at life from a third-person perspective, the most interesting moments are when one person wins and another loses. It's a cruel thing to say, but it's interesting. I'm into sports. Among them, I particularly like boxing; the scene of losers and winners, light and shadow, reveals my inner self. Winning is destiny for a boxer. That's what I think every time I see a man sinking into the canvas with a stunned expression on his face. Only winning can compensate for the misery of losing. Not women, not alcohol. It's all about building strength. How to guess the one-two straight. Weaving. Ducking. Light footwork. A strong body... And waiting. If you do that, someday, the counter punch you're aiming for will surely hit.

I humbly apologise to all the readers, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who created these six issues of Peke.

Seki-sensei, thank you for your hard work, let's play Mahjong again.

Kuwata-sensei, I'm looking forward to the complete life work of a Sensei you told me about someday.

Sakaguchi-sensei, please write more manga.

Sabea-san, I am your fan.

Takenaka-sensei, next year will be your era.

Hino-sensei, please do your best with Bun (ブン).

Noguchi-kun, you need to draw your pictures more slowly; those who draw quickly and those who say professional wrestling is match-fixing cannot be trusted. Noguchi-kun is Uchiyama Aki, the King of Lolicon.

Azuma-sensei, please stimulate the lusts of Lolicon Boys more.


Ishikawa-sensei, Dragon is my hero.

Ebina-sensei, have you graduated from university?

Hio-sensei, you'll be doing another special feature in OUT.

Makimura-sensei, please introduce me to your mangaka friend.

Speaking of drawing, I like Satou Mariko (佐藤まり子).

Meru-chan, please draw the cover of Kannou Gekiga (官能劇画).

Also, those from Labyrinth '78, Jinkou-kun (深光) and Mizutani-san (水谷), Ishii Hisaichi-sensei (いしいひさいち), Yanagisawa Kenji-sensei (柳沢健二), Yagimura Aki-sensei (柳村亜樹), and Iida Kouichirou-sensei (飯田耕一郎), thank you very much.

And most of all, thank you to all the readers who loved reading Peke. (One Hundred Million Friends, Ooyama Kinta [大山金太])




While trying to dig through the western internet to find any reference outside my own for Kawamoto Kouji, I did find a brief mention of him being the editor of Comic Peke in the footnote of one of Patrick Galbraith's books. Though with how important Kawamoto has been for the history of Otaku subculture, him being reduced to a mere footnote makes me wonder.

After Kawamoto Kouji's death, a bunch of artists (i.e. Uchiyama Aki) and writers (i.e. Ogata Katsuhiro) came together to do a memorial doujin for him during Comiket this summer. I'm still trying to get a hold of a copy, but it's been cricket chirps on second-hand shops; the doujin contains interviews which I want to read. The circle selling the doujin has one doujin for digital sale on his Pixiv Booth (
Kera's Booth). He also has a physical book on there if you're curious about Japan's vending machine subculture of Demon-style magazines (which also includes the true origins of Lolicon), he's done the most comprehensive research on the subject since I believe he's the one editing the Japanese Wikipedia articles on these topics, making things easier for me to scout out a lot of obscure magazines and books.

In any case, here's a Kawamoto Kouji cameo by Azuma Hideo. If you read Kawamoto's blog, you can piece together what he's doing with a camera and why he's being shot.
kawamoto_kouji.jpg
 
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Taruby

varishangout.com
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Speaking of Lolicon Boy, this is an older article an anonymous author wrote in regards to Lolicon. The knowledge of the writer suggests they're at least as intimate with the doujinshi world as Shimizu Kazuo, who wrote the article regarding 'What is a Lolicon Fanzine'. Though this one feels more organised and lists some information about which circles (doujinshi) came from which regions.




Source: 『GORO』 1982/03/11

Goro_1982_03_11.jpg



Inside Report

Are You Really Running Away from the World of Lolicon Boys who Cannot Love Mature Women?
The Unfortunate Reality of the 1980s Sick Youth Whose Hearts Flutter at Shoujo Underwear and Enjoy Playing with Dolls.


If you thought the Lolicon Boom was through the Shoujo photobook collection hit, you're sorely mistaken. The Lolicon world's escalating far more than you can imagine. The rapid rise in Lolicon Doujinshi, the hidden boom's 'doll play'...... A shocking world of sickness is unfolding. Uninterested in mature women, hearts charmed by the alluring kindness of Shoujo——huh, you too?

Goro_1982_03_11_004.jpg

Illustration: Azuma Hideo
The guy in the sunglasses and mask is Hirukogami Ken.


■The Guys Playing with Lana-chan's Dress-up Set



The 'mature women' or 'well-used women' roaming the campuses and streets hold absolutely no interest for them. Glancing at elementary school Shoujo playing in sandboxes and the flashing panties from fluttering skirts of Shoujo kicking springlike, warm sunshine on swings, making the hearts of men flutter.

Without secreting hormones to the magazine nudes of generous Oppai and swaying breasts, they prefer the still unleavened breasts of young Shoujo heroines from shounen manga magazines (definitely not shoujo manga magazines).

When they return to their rooms, they embrace a Shoujo doll and play with the clipped illustration dolls from their 'Lana-chan Dress-up Set'—. In this dress-up set, for the naked Lana-chan cutout, there are panties and slips for underwear and one-pieces and sailor blouses for upperwear. There's also a tennis look, bunny style, and—of course—school swimsuit (!).

Lolicon Boy! Are you a kind-hearted Shounen?

The origin of the term Lolicon, needless to say, comes from the Lolita Complex depicted in Nabokov's middle-aged shoujo-ai masterpiece 'Lolita', but suddenly the youth made the term their own and this meaning of Lolicon needs no explanation.

It is estimated there are about thirty thousand Lolicon Boys in Japan.

However, explaining them in detail is difficult. Because 'shoujo-ai' is a complicated mixture of paedophilia, shoujo-fetishism, Lolita-ism, and doll-love. Even to the extent there's also boom-bandwagon-types, from the worst criminals to true Lolicon, the artsy-types whose eyes were caught by the aesthetic beauty of Shoujo nudes during the Lolicon Boom.

Furthermore, even the age of the target Shoujo they love is subdivided, and depending on the maniac, those who like Youjo in elementary school or younger are Heicon (Heidi Complex, from 'Heidi, Girl of the Alps'), or Alicon (Alice Complex, from 'Alice in Wonderland').

He—hh, those are some strange fellows——you say, but don't look down on them. Didn't your heart tremble at that 'Ka・i・ka・n' by Yakushimaru Hiroko (薬師丸ひろ子)? Aren't you a boy older than Yakushimaru Hiroko?
* 快感 (Kaikan; it feels good) (Youtube) a quote from a schoolgirl in a sailor uniform played by Yakushimaru after firing her gun in a movie...

The general definition of a Lolicon Boy is a male who's attracted to highschool girls if they're university students, middle schoolgirls if they're high schoolers, and elementary schoolgirls or below if they're middle schoolers.

Goro_1982_03_11_003.jpg

The Lana-chan Dress-up Set. It's a parody of this more normal dress-up set for Lana-chan from Future Boy Conan (Twitter).

■Lolicon Doujinshi Catalogue



Comprising the majority of Lolicon are university students. Whether they share the same taste or suffer from the same sickness, they're creating 'Lolicon Doujinshi' in groups. Though they're prominent in Tokyo and Osaka, despite there being at most 10-zines in the spring of 1981, this year their numbers have increased dramatically with 34-zines in Kanto, 8-zines in Kanzai, and 4-zines elsewhere.

●Names of Kanto-zines.

Tokyo:

〈Ningyouhime〉(人形姫)
〈Arisu〉(愛栗鼠)
〈Lolita〉(口リータ)
〈Youjo Fancier〉(幼女嗜好)
〈AMA〉(AMA)
〈Venus〉(ヴィーナス)
〈Anibele〉(アニベール)
〈Nonki〉(のんき)
〈CARICON〉(CARICON)
〈Clarisse Magazine〉(クラリス・マガジン)
〈Monthly Kasha〉(月刊カーシャ)
〈Kitten Fighter〉(キッチン・ファイター)
〈Saint Lawrence〉(セント・ローレンス)
〈Mamazero〉(ままぜる)
〈FRITHA〉(FRITHA)
〈Tinker Bell〉(ティンカーベル)
〈Box Pleats〉(ぼっくす・ぷりーつ)
〈Bishoujo Copybook〉(美少女草紙)
(6 Other Zines)

Kanagawa:
〈LP〉(LP)
〈Pleasance〉(プレザンス)
〈Equation〉(方程式)
〈As you Like It〉(お気に召すまま)
〈Bishoujo Personified Image Sophie〉(美少女自身・イマージュ・ソフィ)
〈Lanalita〉(ラナリータ)
〈TO FROM〉(TO FROM)

Saitama:
〈collection〉(collection)
〈Rainbow Hana〉(七色の花)

Ibaraki:
〈Carolita〉(キャロリータ)

●Names of Kansai-zines.

Osaka:

〈Lolicon COMPANY〉(ろりこんCOMPANY)
〈Griffon〉(グリフォン)
〈CHINA DOLL〉(CHINA・DOLL)
〈VOLL〉(VOLL)

Kyoto:
〈Nekolita〉(ネコリータ)
〈Whatever Journal〉(どこでも会誌)

Kobe:
〈Bishoujology〉(美少女学)

●Names of Regional-zines.

Ishikawa:

〈Seira〉(聖裸)

Aichi:
〈Suzuran〉(すずらん)

Toyama:
〈VELVET〉(VELVET)

Ehime:
〈Laurel Wreath〉(月桂冠)

Oh my, the occasionally sadistic, Takarazuka-like, and Shoujo-chistic naming of these zines.

Goro_1982_03_11_002.jpg
Goro_1982_03_11_001.jpg


■Stroking the 6-Year-Used Red Randoseru (Hirukogami Ken)


What sorta things are being listed? —to give an example, 'CHINA DOLL' (CHINA・DOLL) (14-page, 150 yen), a joint between the Doshisha University Anime Research Club and the Nara University Film Production Lab, has illustrations of girls around elementary school age for Alicon-types. The nudes are naturally hairless. Its articles include 'Girl Watching Recommendations' (How to do surreptitious photography of girls in parks, etc.), 'Shoujo Studies'...... The agitator of the Lolicon world, declaring 'women over 14 are past their prime', rumoured to be wearing a hunting cap and coat, and whose face is hidden behind a hentai-style of mask and sunglasses, the infamous president of 'Youjo Fancier' known as an extremist in the Lolicon world, Hirukogami Ken (24). When it comes to the characters that appear in Azuma Hideo's 'Scrap School' (スクラップ学園) (Akita Shoten), some readers may think 'ah, him?'.

Listen to the confession of Hirukogami-kun, the man behind that character.

"I never shared a sexual experience with a female, and I find mature women to all be grotesque. What I'm interested in are flat-chested girls around 10 years old. So that's the reason why I thought Sugita Kaoru (杉田かおる) was cute when she was a child actress, and feel nothing for her now.

I realised I was a Lolicon during my third year of middle school. I had absolutely no interest in the girls in my class, but when I looked at the kindergarten girls, I was having a blast. Those feelings were so agonisingly strong, I considered suicide, but after I entered Lolicon from shoujo manga and anime, I began to publish doujinshi as proof I was living in this world.

Well, despite having those sorts of urges, I never once bullied a Shoujo. I'll fly into a rage at those who become the 'enemies of Shoujo'."

Mature women are unclean, and the holy Shoujo are taboo manifest. So his method for the 'toughest problem being sexual relief' has become masturbation and dolls. Hirukogami-kun has 20 Licca-chan dolls, and 14 big and small antique 'Petite Angie dolls' that are difficult to obtain, and his play is as follows.

"I make the dolls sexually embrace each other, or make them do SM-style stuff. I don't play dress-up with them the normal way. I'll put Licca-chan's outfits on my Ultraman doll, you see, and he looks kinda cute in them. Also, the other day, I received a Randoseru that's been used by a girl for 6 years, and stroke it while enjoying a world of my own imagination."

Somehow, it sounds like the world of a Hitchcock thriller, doesn't it...?

●Shibata Izuru (柴田 出) MD:

"There are numerous men like that nowadays. However, the contents are different for Lolita Complex, despite being sexually mature at 18~19 years old, they tend to be impotent, such as an inability to form an erection or a lack of libido. In other words, they're only as mature as the Shoujo they claim to love. After all, the issues surrounding overprotective parents appear to be very much related."

So the unsatisfied Lolicon Boys have discovered salvation in screens, cathode ray tubes, and manga magazines. And they create factions based on the characters they like. The origin of the doujinshi name 'Clarisse' comes from the heroine 'Clarisse' of 'Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro', and if she resonates with you, you potentially belong to the 'Clarisse Faction' of Lolicon Boys. The Clarisse Faction likes Ojou-sama-style girls. Competing against them is the 'Lana Faction', the tomboy heroine of 'Future Boy Conan' (未来少年コナン).

●Top 5 Manga Shoujo Characters Popular Among Lolicon Boys:
① Hizashi (陽射し)
② Suitei (水底)
③ Suisen (水仙)
The above are Shoujo who appear in Azuma Hideo works.
④Little Sister from 'Miyuki' (みゆき) = Adachi Mitsuru (あだち充)
⑤Marybelle from 'The Poe Clan' (ポーの一族) = Hagio Moto (萩尾望都)

●Anime Shoujo Top 5:
① Lana
② Heidi
③ Angie from 'Her Majesty's Petite Angie' (女王陛下のプティ・アンジェ)
④ Sally-chan from 'Sally the Witch' (魔法使いサリー)
⑤ Bokko from 'W3' (ワンダー3)

Oh, don't let your heart sink.

●Cinema Actress Top 5
① Patricia Gozzi from 'Sundays and Cybele' (シベールの日曜日)
② J. Foster from 'Taxi Driver' (タクシー・ドライバー)
③ Sue Lyon from 'Lolita' (ロリータ)
④ Yakushimaru Hiroko from 'The Aimed School' (ねらわれた学園)
⑤ Tracy Hyde from 'Melody' (小さな恋のメロディ)

① Hizashi (陽射し)
I was surprised to find out a fan-translation group, Gantz_Waitingroom, did an English scanlation for not only this work, but the other stories found in it. I would recommend reading it so you're ready for the upcoming article by Ootsuka Eiji. A lot of the illustrations by Azuma Hideo, including the first one in Fusion Product, were borrowed from this work.
⑤ Bokko from 'W3' (ワンダー3)
bokko.jpg

Bokko from W3 by Tezuka Osamu. Manga Lolicon and Cartoon Furry strike me as being part of the same phenomenon.


■Tsukasa-chan, Perfectly Matched in Her White Panties, is Very Popular



When the Lolicon sickness reaches an incurable level, they buy videos. TV stations, unaware of the Lolicon every man possesses, inadvertently broadcast only used-up, sexually-experienced half talents (entertainers). So, Lolicon Boys spend all day watching videos of country Shoujo who appear in Hanamaruki commercials for 'Okaa-san'. Hidden in their closet are clippings of photographs depicting children's underwear found in leaflets from Ito-Yokado. They want a Licca-chan doll from 'Takara', but since they're afraid of mum finding out, they conceal their interest from mum's eyes in shounen magazines. Weekly 'Shounen Champion' (少年チャンピオン), as if they knew about the rapid increase in Lolicon Boys, introduced Tsukasa-chan, a 'clever 5th year elementary schoolgirl that looks good in her white panties' as the heroine in 'Andoro Trio' (あんどろトリオ). The story, well, is about her being harassed to 'show her panties' to the precocious brat Banchou.

However, Akutsu Kunihiko (阿久津邦彦), the editor-in-chief of the same magazine, says she already has a fan club, but 'one-third of the readers are girls'. The other two-thirds are men.

The author Uchiyama Aki writes, "I don't think it's popular because it's Lolicon. Perhaps it's because the art's interesting. Because the lines I draw are thin, it's very shoujo, and not very shounen manga. And to be frank, Lolicon has too much of a dark image. There are also those who think Lolicon is a type of Maicon (Micro Computer)..."

Not to say the cat is out of the bag, but...... you could say it arouses latent Lolicon desires.

●Representative of the Counselling Centre for Mind and Body, Arakawa Kazutaka (荒川和敬):

"The proper definition of Lolita Complex is the 'helpless passion of a middle-aged man being toyed with by a precocious, adolescent girl'. The Lolicon we're discussing are not like that, they're immature youngsters, underdeveloped in their mental faculties, lacking confidence towards women. If it were a mature woman, she might say 'You're no good! Make me happy!'. So a Shoujo who isn't prone to say such things is better. A cute girl who'll do whatever they say is good. Feelings where they don't want to be virgins is the manifestation of Lolicon. The very fact Japanese males are virgin-oriented is proof of their lack of confidence in their own sexual behaviour."

●Assistant Professor of Osaka University, Kajita Eiichi (梶田叡一):

"My high school 2nd year niece's boyfriend is in university. After all, women have grown strong. Because they're being beaten by university girls the same age as them, they're going out with high schoolgirls. There are many cases like this nowadays. Well, in these cases, him being older and her being younger is natural, not a sickness.

However, in Europe and America, there was a time where magazines and films featuring Shoujo nudes were very popular. Pornography in Sweden and Denmark in particular turned to SM and Shoujo-hobby. If they take an interest in a small girl, the man will inevitably develop a sadistic mentality due to the other party being powerless.

In today's society, we live in a social situation where young people are forced to be interested in sexual things first and foremost, and in that sense, Lolicon is in the process of being commercialised. As one of the older folk, I feel ashamed."

'Ashamed'——those words are filled with complicated feelings. Sweden lifted its ban on pornography 15 years ago because of an increase in sexual crimes. And then crime went down. However, in a society that's normal, if a product for a new sexual orientation sells, there's no evidence that sexual crimes will decrease or increase.


■If They Can Draw Manga About Cute Girls, They're Satisfied


The pent-up Lolicon desire filling the mental state of the youth, what proved their virgin desire was the Shoujo nude photo collection 'Little Pretenders' (Million Publishing) that became a huge best-seller with 200,000 copies sold as soon as it was released last year. Its models are girls who are all 11 years old. Hirata Akira (平田明), the president of the same company says, "We're currently recording Tanaka Kaoruko-chan (田中薫子) from 6 to 9 years old, and will be publishing her around this summer. Unlike the whatever-chan from next door, she's a very elegant girl."

Will there be a Kaoruko Faction Boom this summer?

What's more, Lolicon-kun are now touching the real thing instead of just watching videos! Lolicon Clubs are on the rise. One of them, the 'Shoujo Circle' (tentative name) is renting 5 mansion blocks near Meguro Station in Tokyo.

The anonymous owner explains.

"When we say Shoujo, we mean female university students over the age of 18, but under 19. Around the year before last, I noticed the admiration of male university students for Shoujo, and started it November of last year. As you would expect, the customer demographic also includes elderly 70 year olds, but there are many university students around 20 who either have a Shoujo-hobby, or an incestuous desire for their little sisters. But while there's physical contact, they cannot do it directly. In a professional sense, our service is inferior."

However, it probably doesn't need to be direct for an impotent Lolicon Boy...... Because they want the void in their hearts to be comforted, not their bodies. This Lolicon Club has an admission fee of 3000 yen, and a course fee of 13,000 yen. Nevertheless, their phones keep ringing.

However, most Lolicon Boys are still living among images. A typical example is T・S-kun (Kansai University Faculty of Law 1st Year) of the doujinshi 'Rori' (璐麗).

"I'm satisfied drawing manga of cute girls and having them pose however I wish. Some of my university friends are Lolicon going out with girls from middle school. Me? Yes, I'm a virgin. I never experienced a kiss. I don't like professional women, but I'm also not virgin-oriented. But I'm fine not getting any real action. Illustrations are my outlet."

He later responds, "Sailor blouses... are nice. Bloomers... they're also nice. The panchira of mini-skirts... is ve~ry nice."

By the way, the manga 'Sleepless Night' (眠れない夜) published by that doujinshi is about a girl who suddenly wakes up to find her underwear soaking wet before going outside to meet an alien that tortures her in many different positions. Indeed, a perfect substitute act via art.

By the way, he's the only boy in a family of five, sandwiched between two sisters. For commuter passes, he has mini-bromides and handkerchiefs published in 'Rori' (璐麗) illustrated with Shoujo of 5 colours: red, blue, yellow, white, and black.

Tagashira Yasushi (田頭泰) of 'CHINA DOLL' (Doshisha University 2nd Year) is a muscular man with a height of 180.

"Girlfriend? I have one. She laughs and finds this hobby of mine interesting. Cause I watch pink film*. Everyone has a Lolita-hobby. Even Napoleon. You would be a degenerate if you shift to action, but I merely want to grant citizenship to this shady mental state."
*Pink Film (Wiki)

Is he one of those boom bandwagon-types!?

●Sexologist, Ishiwata Toshiyasu (石渡利康):

"There aren't many Lolicons in hero-oriented America. Japan is feminine. However, Lolicon consider themselves to be gentle, not humans glazed by libido. They're not going to Turkey. That's why they're neither aggressive nor degenerate, but their problem is they're unable to escape from their immature sexuality."

Right now, the latest sickness spreading among Lolicon Boys interested in dolls is 'Koeda-chan Syndrome'. Released by Takara of Licca-chan fame, they're 1:2 head/body bura-dolls (ブラ人形) standing at 5cm. You can hug, nuzzle, and sleep with them. Enough to make the Lolicon Extremist Licca-chan Faction say 'Koeda fans are abnormal'.

Understand there are abnormalities in the typical form of the abnormal. Lolicon Boy, you're a little sick, aren't you—?



Enough to make the Lolicon Extremist Licca-chan Faction say 'Koeda fans are abnormal'.

Anyone who did more than a cursory glance at the 'Fusion Product Lolicon Severity Test' thread may have noticed that if you picked the Koeda-chan Picture Book, you would score zero Lolicon points. An artist called Morino Usagi (森野うさぎ) did a parody comic featuring Koeda-chan in Cybele, and there's plenty of other Lolicon interested in her, so I think the Lolicon Extremist Licca-chan Faction is just Hirukogami Ken expressing his intense dislike for Koeda-chan fans, going so far as to award them zero Lolicon points.

Though speaking of Morino Usagi, this is his Pixiv account (Pixiv) and if you look at their gallery, he's still obsessed with Koeda-chan 40 years later. According to the Editorial Office of J-comi (Akamatsu Ken's legal manga reading website that hosts out of print manga or ones banned from regular bookstores; Milky Box by Morino Usagi), Morino Usagi is notable in that he's the originator of Puni-Loli, which is separate from Slender-Loli.

morino_usagi_milkybox.jpg

MilkyBox Gallery (Morino Usagi's First Commercial Compilation.)
Yes, it's the same as the cover for Magical Trip, Studio Baki was Morino Usagi's old doujinshi circle (he did the cover and got everyone else to contribute to it).

Though a Japanese twitter user, Kanose, says Uchiyama Aki, the King of Lolicon, is the originator of Puni-Loli and that Hosono Fujihiko (細野不二彦) is the originator of Slender-Loli. Though explaining Puni-Loli is difficult since its dictionary definition arouses a different mental image from the reality, since it describes such characters as having infant-like bodies and round squishy faces and bodies when Kemono Friends and Urusei Yatsura are part of the Puni-Loli style. The Moe Boom is largely based on the Puni-Loli style.


Puni-Ket Official Twitter:

Probably the best way to get an idea what Puni-Loli looks like in 2023.
But yeah, there's a lot one could do in regards to researching the trends of various styles of Lolicon. One could say it's Lolicomplicated.
 
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