Touhou Project Bans Ero-Doujinshi, Sales to Foreigners
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Feb 14, 2011 19:54 JST
- Tags: Anime Goods, Bizarre, Censorship, Copyright, Doujin Soft, Doujinshi, Otaku, Touhou
The latest guidelines on what the Touhou Project “officially” considers acceptable includes a ban on the creation of ero-doujinshi, anime, sexy dakimakura, works which are “inappropriate” and even an explicit admonition not to sell Touhou products to foreigners.
The new guidelines, which in summary “restrict” creation of works featuring highly sexual content and provide even more draconian limitations on how Touhou-related works can be distributed and sold – no doubt with an eye to preventing any more Touhou anime, killing off any non danmaku games and stopping foreign barbarians from getting anything else banned:
These are the 2011 revisions to the Touhou Project guidelines.
[…]
Additionally, we will basically not permit the commercial circulation of doujin works.
[…]
Permission must be sought for the commercial sale of Touhou-related goods.
[…]
Also, please refrain from producing any commercial goods of a sexual nature (erotic dakimakura, etc.).
Restrictions on derivative works.
Please ensure you restrain yourself from producing any of the following:
Any work mainly constituting animation and produced on a non-volunteer basis, excluding 3D animation.
Selling Xbox 360 indie games.
Selling anything by way of AppStore or Android Marketplace (companies please enquire).
Anything not distributed in the same manner as the original works (general doujin sales channels [i.e. Reitaisai and Akihabara doujin shops]) – for example, selling downloads aimed at overseas buyers.
Anything else which is overly sexual, defamatory towards people, groups or races, or would generally be considered as socially unacceptable.
With this, the rather bizarre copyright situation surrounding Touhou seems to have become even more murky.
Despite the vast majority of the creative work in the Touhou universe being produced independently of the original creators, they nonetheless still try to control derivative works whilst desperately trying to prevent “commercialisation” for reasons nobody seems to understand.
Simultaneously, they attempt to squeeze royalties out of creators for the use of characters whose popularity is almost entirely based on derivative works – ethically and legally speaking, somewhat precarious behaviour at best.
Now it seems they are intent on taking a leaf out of Ishihara’s book by banning material not to their tastes, whilst clamping down on any games or anime which look likely to eclipse the (rather limited) popularity of the original games, attitudes unlikely to endear them to the wider Touhou community to say the least.
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Guess I'll just make a western based style Touhou game, except the entire cast is middle aged men shooting guns over things like parking tickets.
I'd actually...really like to see that.
"Guess I'll just make a western based style Touhou game, except the entire cast is middle aged men shooting guns over things like parking tickets."
Hmm...
*begins pondering*
Reimu = Ramos Hernandez
* Car Salesman, moved from Mexico, crap cars, Single
Marisa = Martin Kirkland
* Con-artist, Ladies-man, FBI Most Wanted, divorced...Thrice...
Sakuya = Sam Isenberg
* Hitman, Impotent, albino, currently single
Sanae = Simon Kennedy
* Priest, sex-offender, wears a wig, hates immigrants
Yes...Yes...That would be bloody awesome~
-Azure Xuchilbara
(account suspended)
Some fantasy you got there.
indeed
I see what you did there..
Did they drink a little too much booze? The popularity of Touhou relies heavily on fan contributions.
Reminds me of NCIS
Remilia Scarlet is so cooooool!!!! XD
a hulk touhou? no thanks
Wait I already own that game it's called GTA 3 and 4.
If it's true that ZUN issued a statement to correct it, the original might just be badly-written--it's not like I can't scroll down the comments right here and come up with a dozen examples of otherwise functional people failing much more spectacularly to express themselves in their own native language. Of course, the fact that the statement as written seems to very specifically ban doujin sales outside of traditional venues makes that seem unlikely, so...
...As long as I'm making up hypotheses that don't assume that either ZUN in particular, Japanese in general, or Artefact are Fun Nazis who hate everything that they love, it's also possible that ZUN is just plain conflicted about his success. I'm not an international IP lawyer, in part because IP law is exceedingly complicated; it could be that ZUN simply doesn't want to have to go to the trouble and expense of defending his IP rights overseas and has opted for an ass-covering clause instead. If he chose to allow Touhou to become an international commercial phenomenon, he'd likely have to spend less time developing and relinquish at least some creative control to spend more time as a manager; read Bill Watterson if you want to know how some artists feel about that.
Of course, this is all shit I just made up that may not have a thing to do with reality. It also doesn't excuse him for his behavior regarding the fanime (quality issues aside) and generally having a bit too much sympathy with that segment of his fanbase that thinks popularity is inversely related to quality. Just saying if he's not interested in promoting his stuff overseas doesn't mean it's because he's a reprehensible dick god.
I agree with some parts of your comment.
I'd just hate it if he thinks that popularity ALWAYS have an inverse relationship with quality. That would put him right alongside those pretentious emo and scene kids who only listen to obscure bands no one else ever heard of just because, and ditch those bands immediately if they go mainstream. That would severely tempt me to put him in the same place as a douche God.
I can try to understand though if he fears that people will go out of control with his creations. If I were him, I wouldn't like some people making guro art out of my creations.
I can't argue on ZUN possibly being conflicted though. With all he can and he want to do, and also what he can't do, his brain is probably reaching overload now, not including the problems he has to solve in his coding, and shit he has to deal with in real life.
Sorry, longtime reader, first time poster, my phone evidently felt that belonged here and not in in the main thread
Make it. I will buy it.
Recipe for success there, I'd say do it.
FUND IT
Are you guys retarded?
This only affects COMMERCIAL goods.
It doesn't change a thing about the situation we are in now.
You can still buy your figurines and plushies.
It only restricts assholes who try to stealthily take over Touhou in a commercial manner.
And that's how it should be. I would never accept an anime who is not supervised by Zun himself, but he already dismissed that idea years ago.
If some people who never were real Touhou fans to begin with make a scene that's fine, too, I guess.
He said it himself. Even if he loses all his fans, he will still continue with his games until he dies of alcohol poisoning.
> Are you guys retarded?
Retarded, no. Inflammatory yes.
It feels to me like you guys are looking at Zun like some cult leader or something...
Pretty much we just need to send him more beer so he can make the next game already now. Besides it's just a simple revision that got blown out of proportion here.
This seems a bit too much...
What impact will this have in doujins...
No more guro doujins of how kaguya rapes mokou with a nonstopping growing dick that ends up killing mokou piercing her from side to side? =(
No impact on doujins at all. Ero was only banned for commercial products(made by registered companies). Real doujin/indie stuff can still be given away or sold at events or doujin stores regardless of the content.
@Anonymous 20:43 14/02/2011
We all have nothing to worry about then...
This whole article is basically just for banning use by (some greedy) corporate entities and the like...Oh, and that goes for foreign corporate entities too~
-Azure Xuchilbara
(account suspended)
So then it would be safe to say that this entire list is mostly aimed at keeping Touhou and all works made using the characters stay as "domestic noncommercial" works. Permanently. Well, I guess they're making so much off royalties, they don't feel the need to go commercial.
"Touhou and all works made using the characters stay as "domestic noncommercial""
Exactly. You are allowed to import I believe or buy in Japan even if you are a foreigner. I think ZUN just doens't want anyone making money and getting rich on other people works by using the doujin excuse.
He basically doesn't want stores selling downloadable copies. All bought TH games must have a physical container. Downloadable copies get out of hand, and a lot of stores would want to try and make money off the much larger population across-borders.
Yeah, it's much more productive to only sell physical copies that are harder to get ahold of so that more people resort to piracy.
so doujins sold on Comiket dont qualify as commercial use? i thought it'd ban literally anything that isn't gicen for free
I think it's more along the line of making it for profit and not for the heck of it, or even forthe fans.
Except this isn't true at all:
同人・企業とも、次の内容に関連するものについては、現在の所、二次創作を制限させてください。
Both doujin and companies, please refrain from making derivative works with the following content.
[...]
その他過剰な性的表現...
And other highly sexual depictions...
No, he updated that.
He said he only meant commercial products.
Maybe you should update it too before the shitposters arrive.
Hey now, you should probably try to be nicer to your users even if you do think they're being unreasonable.
Perhaps you should learn to read. It still says exactly what I just posted on the post outlining the guidelines, and a large number of Japanese fans are fairly unenthusiastic about it.
Uh, loli in a box? The fact is that most Touhou hentai doujins ARE commercial in some way, though they usually have a warning on them saying that they are 'not condoned by the original creator' or something similar to that.
http://twitter.com/korindo/status/37079810731679745
his twitter.
you are missed.
Bam, right in the kisser!
Except there all he says is that commercial erotic works are already not permitted and that he hasn't seen any doujinshi he has a problem with.
It does not contradict the wording of the guidelines as you seem to think.
"No more guro doujins of how kaguya rapes mokou with a nonstopping growing dick that ends up killing mokou piercing her from side to side? =("
HEY!!! I REMEMBER THAT!!! ~_~
I commissioned it 2 years ago in desudesu's blog~
It was the reason I became a Kaguya x Mokou fan~
*composes himself*
Yeah, it would be very sad to see doujins like that ceasing to be...
Oh, and you also forgot to add that Kaguya turns Mokou into her wife and impregnates her with her seed as an experiment conduced by her and Eirin to see if the child born would be immortal...
Yes...I'm getting 'Mai-chan's Daily Life' vibes if that doujin circle ever makes a sequel to that~
To me, the weirdest thing about the Daily Life was that its story was written by a teacher for middle-schoolers (I think).
That Touhou doujin was funny, though.
"FUCK YEAH! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD!"
Ah, that was you?
If we're seeing such news from ZUN, that means he's active, that means he'd better make TOUHOU 13!
ZUN should realize that Touhou's popularity is totally dependent on the fanbase, and you do shit like that you're bringing Touhou down
and fanbase are not just belong to japanese.
There is A LOT of touhou fans outside japan.
This is why I hate Japanese people,they are retard.
The majority certainly aren't, which is why they have such a healthy Doujinshi industry in the first place.
But I'm worried about ZUN influencing other creators.
If you go to Japan you still can buy it. He didn't ban sales to foreigners. He banned sales through means he doesn't use and could be considered "commercial" (i.e. by a company or corporation). If he doesn't do this soon big game companies will start making touhou games and calling it "doujin".
"if there is a will,there is a way."
He banned all the services non-Japanese are likely to be able to use (bear in mind there are no widely used online "doujin" distribution services outside Japan, and even in Japan these are all commercial entities) and expressly forbade marketing such products specifically to them. They don't have any shops or events overseas, and buying from Japan is extremely inconvenient.
It does not sound like he has a great deal of interest in overseas fans.
This ANON has THE ONLY DECENT comment so far.
Smart!
change retarded to xenophobic, and you've got the gist of it.
You are Tsun-dere!! even if you hate japanese people,I love you(*^_^*) from japan.
If they don't skew the translation, then the sheep won't revel in it.
・その他過剰な性的表現や、特定の個人、団体、人種などを中傷する内容等、こちらで社会通念上著しく不適応だと判断した場合
"Those works which picture excessive expressions of erotism or discrimination against special people, groups, races etc., or those which we see as extremely inappropiate for the society"
Agreed, I don't see anything about sex. The part from prohibiting commerical animation up to the overseas downloads was roughly correct, but the rest is a bit off.
ZUN creates the game. The fans spread the game. ZUN goes drinking and comes back in a few hours to see that his shooter just became some awesome shit overnight. He should thank us for it, and yet now this...
No. He should thank you maybe after you suck his cock.
When you buy his game, you got what you paid for.
He owes you nothing. The vast majority of foreigners don't even play his games let alone buy them.
>dressing up in sloppy cosplay
What fantasy world do you live in? Unsightly Japanese men dressed as Touhou characters are an important staple of the fandom.
And the difference is that they don't go around demanding to be thanked for acting like retards, dressing up in sloppy cosplay, buying chinese bootlegs, and whining on internet forums.
Holy shit, you know what might be novel? Actually expressing thanks to the creator for sharing his imaginary world.
Regardless the changes are a non issue unless you were holding out for a Naruto vs. TowHoe ero anime.
The vast majority of Japanese fans don't play his games either. They have some nice music and that is about it, taken as actual games rather than a tiny niche genre which is effectively beyond criticism due to its specificity. It seems MADs and artwork are the main routes of exposure...
it's sankaku, what do you expect.
@Anonymous 20:22 and PirosThe3rd
Such a shame too because Touhou had the potential to become a multi-million dollar franchise, seeing as how it evolved from an underground indie game all the way to mainstream popular culture in Japan. Looks like its up to the rest of the world(yes Japan, there is a world outside of yours) to keep the Touhou series afloat. Otherwise, its officially dead.
Is it me or is Japan regressing or what? First they don't give a shit about the demands of the Western/Eastern otaku, than they shit on their own pop-culture(Anime/Manga/Videogames) with A certain little ban(yes, I'm looking at you Shitaro Ishihara) and now this. *Explodes*
@Anonymous 21:20
It is just you. Why would anyone want a multi-million dollar franchise? Everybody knows that the dollar isn't worth anything these days.
You show your lack of understanding and blatant stupidity in your claim that Touhou is dead. But that is fine by me, I would prefer if all you worthless secondaries moved onto the next EPIC hype. Without you Touhou and doujin works will continue, besides that foreigner contributions are one to every hundred thousand at most.
You wont be missed.
If it becomes comercial mainstream it will also became utter shit - look at FFXIII or other SE works. They suck, they dont know how to make something good anymore. And that is what ZUN dont wants happen. So support him or die horribly!
This is apparently the chief mentality amongst overseas Touhou fans - "the fewer people like something, the better it must be and the better I am for liking it." Elitism for those with no sense of taste of their own.
Zun never made Touhou in order to make money. It's just that he didn't find a game he likes, so he made one himself. That's why he is making games.
How in fuck's name is Square Enix a monopoly? There are a good quantity of companies that made quality RPGs and still do, now that SE is deflating.
.
The Sega/Nintendo thing has nothing in common. Sega just switched to being a software company that hardly has any manner of exclusivity relationship with Nintendo.
I am the one Artefact responded to.
Problem is game market. The more money someone puts into a game the more he wants to earn. And he can earn enough only if it will sell well. So they must target casual gamers who have enough money and are willing to spent them. The problem is that these gamers are mostly retarded idiots who cant hadle difficulty levels established by Touhou. Not to say that they would have to whore graphics to the extreme. This or release it for some idiotic handheld. Either way it would mean end of Touhou that most people like.
Or hey, shit, it could just be because those fans are sick of the overwhelming amount of retards screaming me too! me too! me too! The same who then throw tantrums and cry like grown man-babies when they mistakenly think the sky is falling.
That shit gets old fast.
SE is a testament to the crap monopolies produce. as opposed to rival companies that drive each other to continually increase quality.
Maybe back in the day it would have seemed that Square and Enix working together would have been the ultimate RPG company, but now that we HAVE it we should realize they were only good BECAUSE they had each other to outdo.
The Sega/Nintendo co-op didn't have the same problem as much because Nintendo had become underdog about the same time Sega dropped out of consoles.