...Doujin? Wha?
 

Wikipedia - Doujin

I've been noticing more recently quite a number of threads in the forums devoted to these, so I finally got to thinking "Just what is a doujin anyway?" and started with checking the article above. From what that says, its meaning seems a lot broader than just VGM, but I thought I would put it here for the sake of more focus on VGM.

So, correct me if I'm wrong here. When people on here speak of doujins, do they speak more along the lines of what the article says under "Western Perception" in terms of definition?

And if they do, I try to think of possible examples of music I know of and/or have that might be considered a doujin to get an idea of what it is. Would the albums at OCRemix (i.e. Rise of the Star, Chrono Symphonic, etc.) fall in this category?

Yes, I'd say you're right on all counts, sir. I was under the impression that doujin only really meant fan-made non-official derivative works, but I'm not surprised it's different, knowing western "otaku" culture often bastardizes the meaning of other Japanese terms.

As the chronicler of "Doujins" for the Chrono series, my novice interpretation has been that doujins = music while doujinshi = drawn stuff. But I have no idea how widespread that term is outside of the Compendium, and I think I got it from niki back in 2004 in the first place.

Well, like the Wikipedia article says, the word "doujin" by itself could mean any of several categories of amateur work, so I think it depends on the community. Here it's assumed to mean doujin music, but if you referred to "doujin" in an anime forum, they would probably assume you were talking about doujinshi.

Anyway, to answer the original topic question, I can't really speak for anyone else, but personally I do generally go by the "Western" definition, i.e. fan music. Still, you'll find plenty of original stuff in niki's thread.

OCR albums qualify as doujin in my opinion, but I think most other people would restrict the term to stuff released in Japan.

I researched that quite a lot back a couple years ago, and even wrote some of those wiki entries. I still have doubts on a couple things though.

Fact is "doujin" is a Japanese word that relates to amateur/non official works. Now, what I'd like to know, is if the word unavoidably has a juridic status in Japan or not.

I mean, doujins are legally sold in Japan. Not only at conventions but also in specialized stores. They're obviously subject to some special regulation.

If the word doujin implies belonging to that regulation, then no, we cannot call any amateur work from any country "doujin", and it remains a Japan-specific term.

If not, well, I'm still not sure why we need to use a Japanese word, but if we really want a generic word for "VGM fan arrangements", I guess it can do ~

"Doujin Ongaku" would refer to music (同人音楽) =)

Oh wow, eh..for a good while there weren't any responses to this thread and I had practically forgotten about it.

Well, all that having been said, I think I have a pretty good idea of what the term means. Thanks for the input!