So, you've seen some doujinshi scans, browsed a few fanart sites, and think you want to buy a doujinshi? That's great! Buying doujinshi is a great way to show support for your favorite artists, even indirectly. It's always a lot more fun actually owning a doujinshi than just ogling scans online.

What are doujinshi? They're fancomics or, literally, a literary group magazine. They're slim books featuring comics or short stories that are published anywhere from once to quite a few times a year by groups called 'circles'. These are small groups of artists and writers that collaborate to produce doujinshi at various times over a year. They can feature everything from original stories to fan-stories of everything from Star Wars to Harry Potter, from Guilty Gear to Bleach.

Doujinshi of a 'fan-story' type can be:

- gag - humorous outtake-like stories
- hentai - pornographic stories featuring one or more female character (These often don't contain the male leads, instead using faceless men instead).
- yaoi (referred to as BL, boy's love, more recently) - featuring a relationship between two male characters often in a sexual situation
- yuri - featuring the relationship between two female characters often in a sexual situation. These can be fairly rare, unless they contain futanari, more commonly known as 'dick-girls', female characters that suddenly grow often exaggeratedly large male genitals
- serious - these are often grouped with gag in a 'general' category. These, like gag, generally don't contain sexual content and are occasionally romantic in nature. These stories tend to be interludes between canon scenes or entirely made up stories.

What to look for when buying a doujinshi? First, look at covers. A warning that these can be very deceptive. A cute cover of Ichigo and Ishida can contain a Mayuri/Ishida rape scene. A cover of Nemu and Yachiru snuggling can contain Yachiru in a threesome with Nemu and Ikkaku. A cover with gorgeous art can contain bad art and, in some cases, no art at all, in the cases of fan-novels. But, most of the time, cover art is a good indication of how good the art is inside.

Pay attention to what they say. Most covers do have the pairing contained written in romanji, so even if you can't read Japanese you can still have a pretty good idea what characters or pairing is inside and, often, whether it's hentai or not by the age-rating on the over. Also, if you're ordering online, check whatever interior scans there are of it. These are usually the best of the book. Read the descriptions and warnings given by the seller closely.

If possible, look up the circle's webpage. Even if the doujinshi is old, they should have a little bit about it on their site, unless they produce doujinshi in excess. Circles are important in doujinshi. If you find one with art or stories you like, stick with them. Art tends to be fairly consistent from book to book, often improving with each one.

How much should you be looking at paying? Well, doujinshi normally sell new anywhere from $5 to $16 in Japan and a little cheaper when bought used. When they go overseas, however, prices can get pretty high. Be careful with spending more than thirty dollars on a doujinshi unless it's a really rare pairing or a very good circle. Don't pay too much for a doujinshi because you think you may never see it again. Chances are, you will, and at a lot cheaper price than what you paid.

Also, when buying online, keep shipping in mind. Buying straight from Japan can mean cheaper prices, but the shipping will be a lot higher. Pay attention to seller's shipping prices as well.

What are anthologies? What makes them different? Anthologies come in two types, fan-made and professionally made. Fan-made anthologies are normally pretty pairing or character focused. They're produced on a smaller scale as collaborations between groups of artists with similar interests. These normally don't make it stateside. Professional anthologies are widely circulated and a lot more easily found. These are books that contain a few pages or stories each by a different artist in a large group (normally around twenty or more) of artists. They aren't as pairing/character-focused and normally are either BL-centric or just have a wide sampling of stories. If you're just getting started with doujinshi, buying anthologies is a good way to go. They're easily found, fairly cheap, and can familiarize you with a lot of circles and artists very quickly.

I can't read Japanese, is that a problem? Not really. There's lot of English-speaking sellers out there selling doujinshi and it's pretty easy to tell the story of a doujinshi by the art (and in some cases, it's better not to know exactly what the text says. Recently, the Ishida/Orihime community rejoiced at finally finding a very rare hentai doujinshi for the pairing, only to find out that on one page Orihime mentions that she hasn't had sex since doing it with her brother). Of course, if not knowing exactly what's going on really bothers you, there are doujinshi circles that publish in English. Keep an eye out around summertime during convention season as artists start announcing the availability of their doujinshi in LiveJournal communities and see if you can order a copy for yourself. I can assure you the American, Thai, and other foreign artists are just as good and sometimes even better than the Japanese doujinshi artists.

Also, if there's a doujinshi in Japanese you'd like to read in English, feel free to scan it and submit it to us. We'd be happy to consider it as a project.

Where can I buy Bleach doujinshi online? While eBay's probably the easiest and safest way to get your hands on doujinshi, I regularly update a list of sites that offer Bleach doujinshi for sale here (the newest post contains updated information and links).

Where can I buy doujinshi offline? There aren't a lot, if any, stores that sell doujinshi stateside, but quite a few stores in more urbanized Japan that sell both new and used doujinshi. Such stores include Mandarake, Animate, KAC Shop, K-books, and Tora no Ana.

Anime conventions in the states are also a good place to shop for doujinshi. You can't get refunds and can't guarantee the availability of doujinshi of your favorite pairing or by your favorite artist, but it's a nice place to splurge(and if the convention's far away, doujinshi aren't as bulky as artbooks and posters). Be sure you have your ID, even if you don't plan on buying anything hardcore. Some sellers can be pretty obstinate, even for gen doujinshi.

For those of you lucky enough to be visiting Japan, there's a myriad of doujinshi conventions anywhere from the major Comiket and Comic City to smaller fandom and pairing-specific meet-ups. Your best bet for finding them is checking out their webpages. Most of these conventions have their own webpage with the dates of the convention and maps how to get there. Circles also announce on their website what conventions they plan to attend.