Editing Shotacon (section)

==Shotacon publications==
[[File:2022台灣原創匯 瑞讀Mizuyomi.jpg|thumb|''Shotacon'' artworks being sold at the 2022 Original Character Exhibition in Taiwan]]
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]]; {{Nihongo|'''Shotaket'''|ショタケット}},{{#tag:ref|Also given in English as ''Shotaketto'', although it is officially romanized as ''Syotaket'' on the convention homepage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://homepage3.nifty.com/syotaket/index.html|title=Syotaket|date=n.d.|publisher=Syotaket|language=ja|access-date=2009-07-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511180116/http://homepage3.nifty.com/syotaket/index.html|archive-date=2009-05-11}}</ref>|group="nb"}} an annual convention to sell shotacon doujin material, was founded in 1995,<ref name="Syotaket_history">{{cite web|url=http://homepage3.nifty.com/syotaket/history.html|title=History of Syotaket|date=n.d.|publisher=Syotaket|language=ja|access-date=2009-07-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727072232/http://homepage3.nifty.com/syotaket/history.html|archive-date=2009-07-27}}</ref> by a group of male creators.<ref name="Otaku Sexuality p.236"/> The 2008 Shotaket had over 1000 attendees and offered work from nearly 200 circles.<ref name="Syotaket_history"/>

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 status of drawn pornography depicting minors|legal issues]], US publishers of yaoi have avoided material depicting notably underage characters.<ref name="Pagliassotti BL West">[[Dru Pagliassotti|Pagliassotti, Dru]] (November 2008) [http://www.participations.org/Volume%205/Issue%202/5_02_pagliassotti.htm "Reading Boys' Love in the West"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801134251/http://www.participations.org/Volume%205/Issue%202/5_02_pagliassotti.htm |date=2012-08-01 }}. ''Particip@tions'' Volume 5, Issue 2 Special Edition</ref> In 2006, [[Digital Manga Publishing|Juné]] released an English translation of Mako Takahashi's {{Nihongo|''Naichaisouyo''|泣いちゃいそうよ}} under the title "Almost Crying",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.junemanga.com/books/360/|title=Juné Manga - Almost Crying|publisher=Juné Manga|access-date=2009-07-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731160257/http://www.junemanga.com/books/360/|archive-date=2009-07-31}}</ref> 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.{{#tag:ref|Male-male seijin shotacon is not properly considered [[yaoi]], and is published and marketed separately in Japan, but these genres are often conflated in Western terminology.|group="nb"}} Both gay and straight shotacon typically involve escapades between smaller, often pubescent males and young adults (older brother/sister figures), sexually frustrated authority figures (teacher/boss), significantly older "uncle/aunt" figures (neighborhood acquaintances, actual family members), or outright father or mother figures (adopted, step, or full blood relation). Outside of these tropes, stories that involve only young boys (with no older characters) are not rare, with the most common recurring theme being a classmate relation.

Shota stories may be published in (a subset of) general [[Hentai#Demographics|seijin]] (men's pornographic) 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.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = McLelland
  | first = Mark
  | title = Male homosexuality in modern Japan
  | publisher = Routledge
  | year = 2000
  | pages = 134, 138
  | isbn = 0-7007-1300-X}}</ref>

In 2006, the seijin shotacon [[OVA]] anime {{Nihongo|''[[Boku no Pico]]''|ぼくのぴこ||{{lit|''My Pico''}}}}, which the producer has described as the first shotacon anime,<ref>{{cite web
 |last         = Michael
 |first        = Christopher
 |date         = May 2007
 |title        = Animated Discussion
 |work         = The Walrus Magazine
 |url          = http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2007.05-boku-no-pico/
 |access-date  = June 4, 2009
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012103114/http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2007.05-boku-no-pico/
 |archive-date = October 12, 2007
}}</ref> 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, an OVA based on the [[eroge]] ''[[Enzai: Falsely Accused|Enzai]]'' was created in 2004, featuring explicit sexual acts involving young boys, and the OVA for Akira Gotō's ''A Forbidden Time'' dates back to 2000.