Shotacon

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Shotacon

Shotacon (ショタコン) (also Shota ショタ, and commonly misspelled "Shouta") is a Japanese and anime term for a sexual complex where an adult is attracted to an underage boy. Shota typically refers to male characters under thirteen years of age. But in practice, this definition has expanded to include any young male characters who are considered child-like or cute, because shotacon art tends to emphasize cuteness, common themes are yaoi (boy with boy), crossdressing, or even incest with an older brother or sister, or relative, and sometimes kissing.

Because most shotacon characters are bishōnen, classically the fetish is identified with yaoi. Straight shotacon is sometimes seen, but is very uncommon and not found in most shotacon art.

Controversy

As boys are stereotypically perceived as being interested in sex at a younger age than girls, shotacon is usually more well-received and less stigmatized than the lolicon counterpart. It is often used as a comedic device to diffuse potential controversy. In addition, many male fans enjoy mild shotacon themes as a form of wish-fulfillment due to the use of older, attractive women in a sexually dominant position or as a romantic / sexual instructor; some feel this balances out the sterotypical female-exploiting nature of hentai themes which idealizes virginal, submissive girls and portrays men as overly aggressive partners.

Origins

The phrase derives from "Shotaro complex" (Shōtarō is a hero character from Tetsujin 28-go and is a popular generic name for young male characters in anime) and is sometimes contracted further to shota. Shōtarō, in those anime and manga, often outwitted ungainly grownups and was never afraid to say what he had to against them. Disregarding a few situations in which his physical limits became a disadvantage, he had everything that could be had for an adult. His appearance was also deemed cute.

Where this shotacon concept developed is hard to prove, but one of the earliest roots of this syndrome can be traced to readers responses to detective series written by Edogawa Rampo featuring cool detective Kogoro Akechi. In the series, Yoshio Kobayashi and his friends form "Shōnentanteidan" (Junior Detective Group, similar to the Baker Street Irregulars of Sherlock Holmes) to aid Mr. Akechi. Kobayashi was written as a perfect young teenager who, some might say, had a strong "dependency" on Mr. Akechi. Every time he appeared, he was either worried about Akechi's well-being or helping Akechi set the trap for criminals. On the numerous occasions that the boy was captured, Akechi swooped in for a timely rescue. Kobayashi even shared a home with Akechi, who happened to be unmarried. In short, he acted almost as though he was Akechi's wife, and no doubt many young female readers read the stories picturing themselves in Kobayashi's role.

Shotacon as a meme

Bridget, a crossdressing young boy of the video game series Guilty Gear became infamous on image boards like Futaba Channel and 4chan as a shotacon sex symbol, whose cuteness was lauded by otherwise vehemently straight fans. Usually depicted in his blue nun habit, he became instantly recognizable even when his origin and sex weren't. Canonically, he dressed as a girl to avoid the superstitious persecution of twins, and has an honest desire to become more manly. Fanworks usually depict him in a feminine or even lolicon style of dress; but nearly always anatomically male.

Shotacon publications

Koushoku Shounen no Susume (好色少年のススメ)
Shounen Ai no Bigaku (少年愛の美学)
Shounen Shikou (少年嗜好)

Non-hentai series with shotacon themes

Though non-hentai shota does not technically exist, many series make use of shotacon themes or evoke the fetish through stalker-like characters.

The shounen series Negima stars a capable if beleaguered ten year old teacher in a situation somewhat similar to a harem series, and contains frequent playful asides regarding the shotacon fetish.

Haunted Junction is a fairly conventional high-school ghost-hunter series. One of the trio of main characters, though, is a teenage girl with a self-declared Shota complex; she takes it as a matter of pride that she only has crushes on boys 12 years or younger.