FAQ

Introduction to Hentai by Baiken

"Hentai" has taken today a meaning which flew away from its deep root! Hentai is especially used by non-japanese people to refer to adult materials. It may be right, but about manga, we don't say "hentai manga" but "seinen manga" where "seinen" simply means "adult" just as English say "Adult comics". Actually, hentai refers to sexual maniac, obscenity and perversion, this is what you'll have if you look for the meaning in a dictionary, but today, people uses it to describe anything that deals with sexual materials. I am sorry but making love with woman (or man) isn't perversion, it's a natural phenomenom. About the word "ecchi", it just sounds as the "H" in english, ecchi has become an adjective, and means the same thing as 'hentai" since "ecchi" is the "h" of hentai. To make things easier, let's just say in occidental countries, the taboo letter is "X" (X-rated, X-movies, etc.) therefore in Japan it's "H".

Regarding censorship, a great number of people think websites are voluntary censoring manga; or always asks for uncensored materials. You should know that japanese law aren't very kind with adult stuffs, but it seems that they became softer and softer. At the beginning, penises can't be drawn at all, and therefore was substituted by penis-like tentacled monsters; genital hair was forbidden etc. It's no more the case, but some blanks on "strategic places" still stay because there are laws, like the one which forbids to sale adult stuff to people under the age of 18.

Who scans mangas? by ecchiDude

There are some well-known individuals who scan hentai mangas, usually they use a nickname or handle; a few I'm aware of are:

TungK, also a big scanner, usually his scans are very well done as well quality-wise. He runs Comic-X with others and an associated BBS. Scans contain "TungK" or "TungScan" marks.

Omoikitte aka HentaiGoddess, she was running a h-manga site, had various sites on the net (on sexshare.com) but right now (June 2002) is no longer active, but scans infrequently h-mangas where are posted to ABPEA. She provides quality scans.

Zerocube, scans h-mangas and shares it on his site (zerocube.com is gone), provides high-res scans (1MB per JPEG), older scans he didn't bend pages fully, marks his scans with "Zerocube".

Vince, older scans marked as "VinceScans", see his site.

Aside, most scans are done in Japan by japanese, and anonymously (no marking and no nicks), usually quality scans - and there are many pay-sites which also scan mangas themselves and their customers then post those scans to free sites or ftp-trading sites and so they leak to public forums as well.

FAQ Answers by H-Gurl

Why are some mangas' censored and some not?

Many Manga companies are loosening up and allowing uncensored mangas' because some artists demand to publish their works the way they created them. (Without artists there isn't much need for the publisher, right? So it's only smart for them to comply).

Some people say it's some kinda black market thing that helps them get away with this but I don't buy that.

Since many of these companies are well known and IF uncensored art was as heavily enforced as we think it is, these companies would be long gone by now. (EX Comics, Fujimi, Shinyusha, X-Comics / France Shion, Akane etc...) There are just some cases where this decency act isn't enforced. Many still follow the rule in order not to get into any conflicts or they are just used to the old way of doing things.

What are doujins really, what are they not?

Doujinshi is a book made by either an amateur or pro artist... Doujinshi are NOT always a parody of someone else's works, they can be original. Doujinshi are NOT manga. They are truly called a Coterie magazine.(and if you own any you can see that most are the size of a magazine)

I think the word Doujinshi for the books came about because an artist that creates a Coterie magazine is called a Doujinshika. I have no problem calling them Doujinshi(it sounds better and is easier to say lol) but I'm just stating what they really are called. People in Japan even use the word Doujinshi more, and probably for the same reason.

Meaning of Coterie
Coterie: noun [C + sing/pl v]
a small group of people with shared interests who often do not want other people to join them.
a coterie of writers

I'm not sure how true the "who often do not want other people to join them" is, but Doujinshi Circles are usually a small group of people or one person.

Most Doujinshi are small fan created or professionally created books with short stories and illustrations. Some are just sketch books. Also, original game illustration Doujinshi are pretty popular. They contain B&W sketch works of characters and scenes from Video games that the artist did works for. There are also novel Doujinshi, which have few images and mostly writing. Doujin Soft are a form of Doujinshi on CD-Rom, CD-R or Floppy Disc. They are usually small collections of Color CG, B&W Comics or even creative mini games called Doujin Games. I think many people create doujinshi in order to break into the art world. Some use their talent to show their fandom towards a certain game or anime. But I still notice that more and more amateur artist are printing manga and several pros haven't moved from making only Doujinshi.

When and where are Doujinshis sold?

New Doujinshi prints are usually sold first at Conventions. Several artists now distribute their works to online shops such as LL Palace, Toranoana and Melon Books. It's likely that stores such as these have a store front as well (a physical shop).

You can buy Doujinshi at used book stores in Japan as well. Some artists don't like to mass distribute their works so they may hold a small Doujinshi sale right off of their web site. Download (DL) sites are also very popular for people that do not attend events. These DL-sites contain several Doujinshi and Doujin soft items that a user can download after paying by credit card. Though they are convenient not all artists submit their works to download sites.

What kind of genres or type of mangas exist?

There are all kinds of Genres of Manga, Horror, Romance, Manga for men, Manga for women, Adult, Manga for kids . . . . . (Just like there are many kinds of Novels that appeal to different types of people here in the US and other countries, they have manga that can appeal to different tastes in Japan)

Are all mangas which are published also scanned?

Alot of people tend to think this. But no not all manga is up for grabs online, cuz it's either not that popular, people that have the books don't have scanners or just don't scan their manga. (Like myself) Because even with a flatbed scanner you will still have to rip pages out of the book (or squish it to death) to get the full pages to show (in thick books) and some don't wanna do that.

Do mangakas (manga artists) do numorous books?

Not all manga artists have created tons of manga. I have seen quite a few artist that were once or still are Doujinshi artist take a compilation of older and newer Doujinshi works and get it published, therefore making a manga.(to get more exposure or to see if their work will do well in mass production) After that they may never publish another book ever or for some time.

What's difference between a Manga and a Manga doujinshi?

A Manga is a book with a publisher and an ISBN # to make it easy to find. A manga can be created by a pro or amature artist.

A manga can be purchased alot easier than a Doujinshi simply because a publisher is printing it. Mangas' usually have 100-300 pages and are the size of a typical American Novel. (Some are smaller).

Doujinshi (Not called Doujinshi Manga) are books made and printed out by normal people like you and I, and only have a small number of prints. These books have no ISBN # and can be very hard to buy after the book has gone out of print. Doujinshi can be done by Pro or Amature artists. The typical Doujinshi has 5-120 pages and are taller and wider than a manga.

Hope all this info helps . . . . .