Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Images
- Note on Japanese Names and Words
- Translators’ Introduction : Eromanga in the Global Now
- Introduction: The Invisible Realm
- Part 1 A History of Eromanga
- Part 2 The Various Forms of Love and Sex
- Part 3 Addition to the Expanded Edition (2014)
- Conclusion: Permeation, Diffusion and What Comes After
- Bibliography
- Index of Artists and Individuals
2 - The Rise and Fall of Third-Rate Gekiga and the Eve of Bishōjo-Style Eromanga
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 October 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Images
- Note on Japanese Names and Words
- Translators’ Introduction : Eromanga in the Global Now
- Introduction: The Invisible Realm
- Part 1 A History of Eromanga
- Part 2 The Various Forms of Love and Sex
- Part 3 Addition to the Expanded Edition (2014)
- Conclusion: Permeation, Diffusion and What Comes After
- Bibliography
- Index of Artists and Individuals
Summary
The Mid-1970s: The Third-Rate Gekiga Boom
In the mid-1970s, medium, small and micro publishers seeing the gekiga magazine boom out the corner of their eyes estimated that they could make bank and all at once jumped on the bandwagon. Gekiga and manga magazines produced on low budgets had proven to turn a profit, and these publishers were sure the same would be true for them. Of course, from the perspective of large publishers, the profits were modest, but, as the saying goes, small profits and quick returns. The situation was not unlike selling caramels, where even if the package changes, the content is basically the same, but a single company producing a number of gekiga magazines would definitely make money. As a way of distributing risk and avoiding getting locked into an investment, they spun off separate companies or placed orders to subcontracting editorial production companies.
One after another, new magazines were established. In 1975 alone, a year that would later be dubbed the surge, Manga Dynamite (Manga dainamaito, published by Tatsumi Shuppan), Manga Idol (Manga aidoru, published by Tatsumi Shuppan), Manga Popo (Manga popo, published by Meibunsha), Manga Great Pleasure (Manga daikairaku, published by Remonsha), Manga Banban (Manga banban, published by Remonsha), another Manga Great Pleasure (Manga daietsurakugō, published by Kasakura Shuppansha), Manga Utopia (Manga yūtopia, published by Kasakura Shuppansha), Manga Erogenica (Manga erojenika, published by Kaichōsha), Gekiga Jack (Gekiga jakku, published by Taiyō Shobō), Gekiga Erotic Humor (Gekiga enshōgō, published by Sebunsha), Manga Giant (Manga jaianto, published by Tōen Shobō), Manga Refresh (Manga sukatto, published by Tōkyō Sanseisha), Manga Bump (Manga banpu, published by Tōkyō Sanseisha), Gekiga Pleasure (Gekiga etsurakugō, published by San Shuppan) and Manga Love & Love (Manga rabu ando rabu, published by Sebun Shinsha) appeared.
This was the beginning of the so-called third-rate gekiga boom. Reflecting on the moment in 1979, one critic writes:
In terms of monthly publications, there are about 50 to 60 so-called third-rate gekiga, or erotic gekiga, magazines. We should not be surprised by that number, which refers only to primary magazines. There are cases of special editions of primary magazines, supplementary issues, special editions of supplementary issues and more. Altogether, the number is probably 80 to 100 magazines a month. Given that each magazine is said to move between 50,000 and 200,000 copies, this means that at least five million of them are circulating in the city. (Unknown 1979)
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- Erotic Comics in JapanAn Introduction to Eromanga, pp. 63 - 84Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2021