What is canon these days?

What is “Canon” these
days?
Wataru “walterinsect”Yamazaki
17.02.2019
Desucon Frostbite 2019

#canonjapanissa
#canonjapanissa
Live tweeting, questions, comments, criticism,
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Issue > Doujin History > Derivatives > “Void” > Forum/Tools >Conclusion

#canonjapanissa
Main topics
 Fandom landscape in Japan through
“derivatives”
 Canon-Derivative relationship
 Limited explanation on post-2000s “boom” in
doujin

#canonjapanissa
Disclaimer
 Main diet as otaku:
 Anime, game
 THE IDOLM@STER
 Yuri doujin
 Novel, critique
 Practical limitations
 Scale
 History
 Wide genre
Limitations

#canonjapanissa
Starting point
 Derivatives
 My main medium
 Derivative > Canon
 Flood of Derivatives
 Expansion
 Canonicity
Why do fans create these? Why is it expanding rapidly?

#canonjapanissa
Key works in
2010s?
 Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 SAO
 AoT
 THE IDOLM@STER
 Lovelive!
 TIGER & BUNNY
 Kan-Collle
 Osomatsu-san
 Yowamushi Pedal
 DiamondA
 Kekkai Sensen
 Yuri on ICE
 Azur Lane
Whole “Social game” thing

#canonjapanissa
同人 doujin
HistoricalTrajectories of Doujin in Japan

#canonjapanissa
What comes to
mind?
Lewd manga?
Always R-18?
Thin leaflets for “research purposes”?

#canonjapanissa
Novels
Critique
Research
Yes but…

#canonjapanissa
Its emergence
– Meiji era
Doujin
 “Those who share interest and hobbies”
 Group of authors, poets publishing private
magazines
 Dominant in poetry, major position for
literature
 Ozaki Koyo, Natsume Soseki, Masaoka Shiki
(Araragi-ha)

#canonjapanissa
“Garakuta
Bunko” 1885
Issue > Doujin History > Derivatives > “Void” > Forum/Tools
>Conclusion

#canonjapanissa
Manga doujin
–Cradle for
genre
 1966 “COM” -Tezuka Production
 “Mini-com” trend
 “Gura・Con”
 1979 First Comic Market
 80’s Anime boom

#canonjapanissa
Expansion –
90’s
Tools
Computers
Internet
2ch
Doujinshi expansion
 Yaoi genre
Comiket expansion
 2-day to 3-day
 Venue

#canonjapanissa
Acceleration –
Expanded
“Otaku”
culture
Online Community
 Niconico, Pixiv
“Otaku” media as mainstream
 Densha Otoko
 New generations of audience
Tools
 Internet as commodity

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二次創作
“derivative works”
The dichotomy of Canon-Derivative and its evolution

#canonjapanissa
二次創作
niji sousaku
“Derivative
works”?
 Concept contrasted to 原作 canon
 “Any fictional work that has fictious source
material(s)”
 Possibly from legal term
 Similar
 Transformative work
 AO3
 Simulacra
 Baudrillard

#canonjapanissa
原作 gensaku
”canon”?
 Original work, as contrasted to Derivatives
 Authority over other derivatives
 Canonicity

#canonjapanissa
Dichotomy
 Create derivatives based on canon
 Canon as authority
 Authors as sole creator of the “true things”
 All the derivatives are “fake”
 Legal Implications

#canonjapanissa
Canon and derivative at the same time
References and referenced
More like
continuum?

#canonjapanissa
Database
consumption
–Azuma Hiroki
 Post-modernist
 Narrative lost importance
 Characters generated based on “trope database”
 Otaku consumes endlessly generated characters.
 “Simulacra flooding”
 between canon and fake

#canonjapanissa
Partially true,
but...
 Deconstruction of narratives, simulacra floods
market
 “Character-centrism”
 Otaku not wanting narrative anymore, just
characters and settings
 Self-contradiction

#canonjapanissa
“Void” in narrative
“Opening” in canon, or easier insertion of noncanon

#canonjapanissa
Symbiosis of
“chara-moe”
and
“narratives”
 Characters took the core
 “Chara-moe”
 Narratives exist for characters
 BUT otaku wants narratives too

#canonjapanissa
Narrative
Deconstruction
 From Grand Narratives to small narratives
 Lyotard
 Deconstruction
 E.g.VN narratives

#canonjapanissa
Visual novel
narrative
(simplified)
Common Route
Ending choice
Character Route

#canonjapanissa
 DecliningVN
market
 Legacies
Beyond
Visual Novels -
Narratives in
2010’s
Q: What’s next?
A: Social Games

#canonjapanissa
SocialGames
Soshage
 VN legacy
 UI
 Non-linear structure with repetitive element

#canonjapanissa
Soshage
“comyu”

#canonjapanissa
Soshage
narrative –
EndlessGacha
Hell  Perpetual narrative generation
 Gacha, updates
 Albeit for characters to be “alive”

#canonjapanissa
Referenced
“narratives”
Making characters “alive”
 Thickening character
Narratives brought in to serve characters

#canonjapanissa
Types of
Narrative
References
 Kancolle-type
 real-world deconstructed
 BanG Dream-type
 Generated by “canon”
 Fate-type
 Hybrid of the two

#canonjapanissa
Relationship-
descriptive
Relationship making characters “alive”
 Canonical BL,Yuri, and M/F
 “Suck up the fujoshi demand”

#canonjapanissa
Expanded
Media mix
Canon – “official” derivatives
Canon with no specific canonical medium
Canonicity in Lovelive!

#canonjapanissa
“Void” open
for creativity
 Fans can claim canonicity through characters
 Fan-made narratives
 Yet Canon needed as “reference point”
 Ending perpetual narrative?

#canonjapanissa
Forum forCreativity
Catalyst for fandom expansion

#canonjapanissa
Importance of
forum
 Community of authors & audiences
 Sharing context, cultural background
 Creative participation
 Fans become creators

#canonjapanissa
Comic Market
(Comiket)
 Since 1974
 Largest of its kind
 Ever expanding Doujinshi event
 Venue, participants, duration
 Scope
 Industry inclusion
 “All-Genre”

#canonjapanissa
Constellations
of
同人誌即売会
“doujinshi
events”
 “only events” based on
 genre
 narrative type
 Medium
 Driving Doujin landscape to expand further

#canonjapanissa
Mid-2000s –
Niconico, Pixiv
and more
 Creative community
 VOCALOID, MAD, comment
 Mainstream entertainment
 Yonezu Kenshi (a.k.a. HachiP)
 Supercell

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Printing tools
 Stencil duplicators
 Since Meiji era
 Small scale printing companies across Japan
 “mini-com” in 60s
 Offset printing
 Initial manga doujin
 “mini-com” printing companies

#canonjapanissa
 宅配便 services 1970s
 Revolution to parcel shipping
 Door-to-door
 Vital blood vessel
Courier

#canonjapanissa
 Initially part of normal bookstores
 Shosen, Mandarake
 Doujinshi-specific bookstores since 90s
 Toranoana, Melonbooks, COMIC ZIN, etc
 Accessible doujinshi for all of Japan
Doujin
bookstores

#canonjapanissa
Conclusion
What are we seeing in 2010s?

#canonjapanissa
Three main
points
 Narratives changed its shape
 Shape affecting fandom activity
 Tool/Forum expansion accelerating the trend

#canonjapanissa
Questions?Comments?

#canonjapanissa
Kiitos paljon!
Hyvää conin jatkoa!

What is canon these days?

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What is canon these days?