Shotacon


Shotacon, abbreviated from Shōtarō complex, is a Japanese slang describing an attraction to young boys. It refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein prepubescent or pubescent male characters are depicted in a suggestive or erotic manner, whether in the obvious role of object of attraction, or the less apparent role of "subject". In some stories, the young male character is paired with a male, usually in a homoerotic manner. In others, he is paired with a female, which the general community would call "straight shota". It can also apply to post-pubescent characters with neotenic features that would make them appear to be younger than they are. The phrase is a reference to the young male character Shōtarō from Tetsujin 28-go. The equivalent term for attraction to young girls is lolicon.
The usage of the term in both Western and Japanese fan cultures includes works ranging from explicitly pornographic to mildly suggestive, romantic, or in rare cases, entirely nonsexual, in which case it is not usually classified as "true" shotacon. As with lolicon, shotacon is related to the concepts of kawaii and moe. As such, shotacon themes and characters are used in a variety of children's media. Elements of shotacon, like yaoi, are comparatively common in shōjo manga, such as the popular translated manga Loveless, which features an eroticized but unconsummated relationship between the 12-year-old male protagonist and a twenty-year-old male, or the young-appearing character Honey in Ouran High School Host Club. Seinen manga, primarily aimed at otaku, which also occasionally presents eroticized adolescent males in a non-pornographic context, such as the cross-dressing 14-year-old boy in Yubisaki Milk Tea.
Some critics claim that the shotacon genre contributes to actual sexual abuse of children, while others claim that there is no evidence for this, or that there is evidence to the contrary.

Origins

The term "shotacon" is a Japanese bimoraic clipped compound of Shōtarō complex, a reference to the young male character Shōtarō from Tetsujin 28-go. In the anime and manga series, Shōtarō is a bold, self-assertive detective who frequently outwits his adversaries and helps to solve cases. Throughout the series, Shōtarō develops close friends within the world. His bishōnen cuteness embodied and formed the term "shotacon", putting a name to an old sexual subculture.
Where the shotacon concept developed is hard to pinpoint, but some of its earliest roots are in reader responses to detective series written by Edogawa Rampo. In his works, a character named Yoshio Kobayashi of "Shōnentanteidan" forms a deep dependency with adult protagonist Kogoro Akechi. Kobayashi, a beautiful teenager, constantly concerns himself with Kogoro's cases and well-being, and for a time moves in with the unmarried man. This nonsexual but intimate adult-boy relationship in part inspired the evolution of the shotacon community.
Tamaki Saitō describes the modern shotacon dōjinshi community as having largely formed in the early 1980s and having a roughly even split between males and females. Saitō suggests that shotacon was originally an offshoot of yaoi, but when adopted by male readers became influenced by lolicon; thus, he claims "shota texts by female yaoi authors are structurally identical to yaoi texts, while shota by male otaku clearly position these little boys as young girls with penises".

Shotacon publications

Shotacon stories are commonly released in semi-monthly anthologies. Sometimes, however, manga artist will publish individual manga volumes. Many shotacon stories are published as dōjinshi; Shotaket, an annual convention to sell shotacon doujin material, was founded in 1995, by a group of male creators. The 2008 Shotaket had over 1000 attendees and offered work from nearly 200 circles.
Shotacon for women is almost exclusively yaoi, and may be published in general yaoi anthology magazines or in one of the few exclusively shotacon yaoi anthologies, such as Shōnen Romance. Because of the possible legal issues, US publishers of yaoi have avoided material depicting notably underage characters. In 2006, Juné released an English translation of Mako Takahashi's Naichaisouyo under the title "Almost Crying", a non-erotic shotacon manga; the book contains several stories featuring pubescent male characters, but their relationships are nonsexual.
Shotacon for male readers may feature either homosexual or heterosexual relationships. Both gay and straight shotacon typically involve escapades between smaller, often pubescent males and young adults, sexually frustrated authority figures, significantly older "uncle/aunt" figures, or outright father or mother figures. Outside of these tropes, stories that involve only young boys are not rare, with the most common recurring theme being a classmate relation.
Shota stories may be published in general seijin manga anthologies or in the few seijin shota manga anthologies, such as Shōnen Ai no Bigaku, which specializes in male-male stories. Some gay men's magazines which offer a particularly broad mix of pornographic material occasionally run stories or manga featuring peri-pubescent characters.
In 2006, the seijin shotacon OVA anime Boku no Pico, which the producer has described as the first shotacon anime, was released. It was later followed by two sequels and an edited version of the first OVA, with content more suitable for viewers under 18, as well as a video game starring Pico and Chico, the main characters of the anime. However, three years previously an OVA based on the eroge was created, featuring explicit sexual acts involving young boys.

Legal aspects

Citations