Hello from J-List! As we prepare for the upcoming Anime Expo, we’re starting pre-orders for our new J18 line of licensed doujinshi and art books, which will be available at the convention, or you can order them from our website now. Browse the new J18 English-translated books and shimapan on the site here, or read our post about our presence at Anime Expo, so you can plan your visit to our 18+ and all-ages booths…and get something signed by cosplay star Kaho Shibuya, who’s our guest at the show! Most important, if you’re attending day 0, come to the JAST USA panel at 9 pm on Wednesday!
I’ve been running J-List for 23 years, with the help and support of the hardworking J-List staff in Japan and San Diego. While it’s naturally been a lot of work, making sure orders are accurately processed and shipped and customer emails responded to at 2 a.m., in a lot of ways it’s also been the easiest job in the world. The reason is that everyone seems to be in love with Japan, or at least with certain aspects of Japan, whether it’s the country’s traditional history and architecture, delicious food, martial arts, animation and manga culture, and so on. Because everyone loves Japan on at least some level, it means there’s a huge number of fans in all corners of the world who are potential J-List customers. And that’s why running J-List is the easiest job in the world.
J-List has sold many different kinds of products in our long history. Originally founded to sell used JPOP music CDs in the days before Napster made all that go away, the popularity of JAV models on the nascent Internet caused us to quickly pivot to selling sexy photobooks and JAV magazines, which our customers loved, though we never stopped looking for new products to stock. We set a lot of weird trends over the years, selling thousands of Hello Kitty “shoulder massagers,” being the first to evangelize an adorable line of plush toys called The Dog (which moved on to McDonald’s and Nordstrom after us), and were the only company NHK licensed to sell official Domo-kun plush toys internationally. All while building the market for English-translated visual novels and providing a way for high-quality Japanese companies like Nitroplus to bring their amazing stories to English-speaking fans.
One of the true joys of visiting Japan is going to the Comiket, the magical doujinshi direct-sales event held at Tokyo Big Sight where you can find parody comics of your favorite anime characters (usually, though not always) doing sexy things they can’t do in the official creations. There’s nothing like standing in line to buy the latest book from your favorite artist, maybe shaking his hand and thanking him for his work as you buy the item. J18 is a new publisher that wants to put the enjoyment of holding doujinshi works in your hands for fans all around the world!
J18’s products are
- Officially licensed from top artists in Japan, like Iyapan creator 40hara
- Fully translated into English, so fans around the world can enjoy them
- Free of censorship or changes from the original work
- Printed for the highest quality
- Available both online and at anime conventions
Are you surprised to hear that running a company selling anime and hentai is the easiest job in the world? What are your favorite products stocked by J-List? Tell us on Twitter!
While we prepare for our huge presence at Anime Expo, the J-List staff is hard at work, stocking the site with new products for you to browse and buy. In addition to those sexy new J18 officially licensed doujin products, we’ve got lots of awesome anime magazines in stock, filled with new visuals from the most popular anime series. Browse the new anime magazines here!
