Ask John: Are Doujinshi Doomed in America?

Question:
Are imported doujins in the US heading for extinction? I ask this due to several controversial cases that have sprung up as of late. Should fandom be worried? You can buy lots of it at cons and most of it is of famous characters whom are also of questionable ages. Another question is the legality of titles with “tentacle” things in them. Could this be considered an “obscenity trial” in the making? No doubt someone might try to play this up as some kind of bestiality concept. Basically, is it safe to own these type of titles anymore?

Answer:
Ironically, anime fandom in America started as an obscure, underground movement, and now, after a few years of near mainstream recognition, anime is again returning to its undergound roots. However, while American anime fans of past generations wanted anime to be more widely recognized, contemporary generations may be better served by exactly the opposite. The legality of imported doujinshi, sexually explicit anime and manga, and anime involving naughty tentacles hasn’t significantly changed lately. Rather, it’s always resided within a grey area of legality. While previously it was overlooked, now it’s become a slightly more visible and prominent target, particularly for zealous moralists.

Doujinshi featuring commercial characters are typically unlicensed, meaning that they’re copyright violations. Japan’s anime/manga industry typically doesn’t prosecute these unauthorized uses of copyrighted characters. San Francisco based web retailer J-List has even openly sold “officially” translated erotic doujinshi starring Naruto and Bleach characters with no objections from Shuiesha Publishing. However, copyrights are international, and copyright violations in Japan are still copyright violations in America. So technically typical doujinshi are illegal regardless of their erotic content. However, if the official copyright owner is disinclined to pursue a copyright claim, there will be no persecution for owning unlicensed doujinshi.

Erotic content in doujinshi doesn’t have to be prosecuted exclusively by the legitimate copyright owner. As the Christopher Handley case has demonstrated, a local community can levy charges against an individual anime/manga collector for possessing material deemed prohibited. American obscenity laws haven’t changed in years. American child pornography laws have changed in this decade, but the changes relevant to manga and anime can only be applied in conjunction with the established obscenity laws. Note that despite having sexually graphic and explicit manga, Mr. Handley was not charged with any sex related criminal activity. He was charged and convicted only for breaking obscenity laws. The nature of American obscenity laws is such that the definition of obscenity is abstract and arbitrary. Material considered legally obscene in Ohio may be perfectly legal in Michigan. In fact, an erotic manga legally classified criminally obscene may be classified perfectly legal in just the next county.

Wet, disgusting, and sloppy tentacles groping and violating defenseless women certainly seems obscene and probably could be cited as an example of bestiality. If not sex with an animal, tentacles are certainly closer to animal than human. However, legal obscenity is defined by more than just instinctive reaction. The Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend movie contains numerous scenes of graphic tentacle sex. The Urotsukidoji movie is also rated NC-17, meaning that the film was officially watched and certified by Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association of America. If Urotsukidoji constituted a genuine case of obvious legal obscenity, I doubt that the MPAA would have sanctioned it. Obscenity, obviously when it comes to anime and manga, is literally in the eye of the beholder.

It’s not my intention to promote the theory that everything’s legal if you don’t get caught. Rather, collectors and fans of erotic manga and anime – particularly provocative or potentially offensive H anime – should apply some cautious common sense to the public exhibition of their interests. That’s always been the case in America. It’s only more immediately vital now. I believe that anime fans are typically rational, intelligent, and progressive. Anime fans and retailers continue to import, sell, and collect potentially controversial anime and manga because we believe that rationality will prevail and defend our right to appreciate such material. However, Mr. Handley’s circumstances have proven that our vision of fairness and reason doesn’t always prevail. I believe that anime fans should never feel ashamed of being interested in modes of artistic expression, or feel threatened because of their interest in examples of Japanese creative art. Other American anime fans share my perspective, which is why erotic anime and manga continue to migrate to America. But anime fans should also be mindful that not all Americans share our liberal tolerance. In fact, there’s even stratification within America’s otaku community over reasonable ceilings of acceptable erotic content in manga and anime. Hentai material is no more or less illegal in America now than it’s ever been, but the witch hunt mentality is a bit more prominent lately. So hentai fans shouldn’t feel ashamed, but should exercise some self-serving prudence, particularly in relation to their unique circumstances including the particular type of material collected, how visible that material is, and the social environment where the individual lives.