Unspoken Truce Keeps Manga Subculture Flourishing

By Ron Hogan on November 12, 2007 9:32 AM

Wired may be a little late to the whole “manga is big business in American bookstores” meme, but Daniel Pink‘s cover story is still worth a close read—not only does he give a solid history of Japan’s comic book business, which is actually dwindling even as the format finally takes off here in the States, he also picks up on a trend that’s helping to keep manga alive by sustaining fan interest—namely the blind eye that publishers turn to the massive “gray market” for dojinshi, fan-produced comics starring thinly (or not even) disguised versions of proprietary characters sold at what amounts to a giant zine trade show.

“‘The dojinshi are creating a market base, and that market base is naturally drawn to the original work,’ [said one bazaar organizer]. Then, gesturing to the convention floor, he added, ‘This is where we’re finding the next generation of authors. The publishers understand the value of not destroying that.’ And as the manga weeklies falter and decline, new talent is more important than ever. Meanwhile, Takeda said, the dojinshi creators honor their part of this silent pact. They tacitly agree not to go too far—to produce work only in limited editions and to avoid selling so many copies that they risk cannibalizing the market for original works.”

Pink suggests the business model (anmoku no ryokai, or “implicit agreement”) could be put into practice here in the U.S., but concedes “it is hard to imagine Hollywood, Nashville, and New York agreeing to scale back legal protection in order to release the creative impulses of super-empowered fans, when the gains from doing so are for now only theoretical.” Some would say that the current fanfic scene represents just such a model, particularly with regard to the Star Trek and Star Wars fan communities—then again, the fact that J.K. Rowling is teaming up with Warner Bros. to sue the creators of an “unauthorized” guidebook to the Harry Potter series into oblivion shows that we aren’t quite there yet.

(Be sure to read Jason Thompson‘s excellent summation of manga‘s path to financial success in America, written in manga format with artwork by Atsuhisa Okura.)