HP doujinshi.

[baratron]

Doujinshi is Japanese fan fiction. It's usually in comic form, and sold as magazines. Doujinshi exists for just about every Japanese cartoon or video game imaginable - I don't know how the copyright law applies for it, because it's hardly ever licensed by the copyright holder (in fact, it could be that licensed fic is called something other than "doujinshi"). I don't actually know very much about the cultural aspects at all, because it's almost always Japanese-language only, and my knowledge of Japanese is limited to the names of food and the odd game reference ("Appendo disco!").

Anyway, today on eBay I saw some Harry Potter doujinshi. I think this is the first doujinshi I've ever seen for something of Western origin, so it's curious for that. If you want to see the HP characters done in anime-style, look here, here and here. I particularly like the last one.

Comments

[jinian.livejournal.com]

It's apparently not illegal in Japan, and it drums up extra publicity for the things it's a takeoff from, so no one objects. Several blogs have featured articles about doujinshi recently.

Interesting selection of styles they've got there. Who on earth is the girl on the second one? Mary Sue?

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Doujinshi are not in general legal, but a very large proportion of the current anime/manga industry got their start in doujinshi circles - we even have a CLAMP doujin of a legit CLAMP title as a curiousity.

Trying to persuade a Japanese court to lean on a Japanese person for a doujin of a Western title would also be difficult.