Doujinshi

I've heard of fan fictions before but after reading Free Culture, I learned a new Japanese term. Doujinshi are self published comics of mangas from original creators. Interestingly, the first doujinshi were made in America called Tijuana Bibles, which were little eight panel pornographic comic strips in wallet size featuring cartoon characters or movie stars. Later, English adopted the term hentai as a genre of anime or manga pornography for marketing of explicit works. Here is an example of an American doujinshi that is not a sexual one.

It is not doujinshi if it is just a copy. The artist must make a contribution to the art he copies, by transforming it either subtly or significantly. They must be sufficiently different if they are to be considered true doujinshi.