One anime I’ve been following has been Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san, or Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou, a cute-and-sexy love comedy for fans of shota situations. Aki Shiina has always been a small boy and is often mistaken for a girl, so he decides to go to Tokyo for high school to try to man up a little. Little does he know what’s in store for him when he meets the caretaker of his dormitory: Ayaka Sunohara, a busty woman full of kindness who doesn’t realize that smothering the boy with her ample breasts, or taking baths with him, or encouraging her to sleep in the same futon as her, is not always appropriate behavior.
There are plenty of other cute girls around, too, as you can expect. The pushy student council president Yuzu, who wants to be the boss of the dorm because she’s got a complex about her short height. Or Yuri, who has a penchant for dressing Shiina-kun up as a girl because he’s so cute. Or Nana, Ayaka’s younger sister, a tanned gyaru who likes to tease Shiina-kun sexually, and who has that tanline thing going all over her body, wow. Compared with other fanservice shows of the current season, there’s actually less to see visually—no supernatural panties for example—so the humor is more situational…which is actually an improvement because it forces the creators to focus on characters and plot instead of just plot.
Of course the main character in this series is a shota, which is a boy who’s small and young-looking in comparison to the buxom, highly developed characters around him. This word was coined in 1981 when a reader wrote into Fanroad magazine asking, “If lolicon is the term for the fascination with lithe female 2D characters, what should the opposite be called?” The magazine suggested Shoutarou Complex, after the main character from Gigantor (Tetsujin 28 in Japanese), and this got shortened to shotacon.
What do you think the attraction for this genre is? The humor generated when a shy boy is teased by more experienced females? The freedom of social responsibility that such a character would enjoy? The envy we naturally feel towards these characters? Discuss it with us on Twitter!
(Interestingly, Shouta is a pretty common boy’s name in Japan these days, which might lead to some giggling when the current generation grows up and goes out into the world.)
Wow, more great news! We’ve added tons of new ecchi doujinshi to the site, which were released at the just-ended C94 Comiket! From Fate/Grand Order to sexy demon girls to everyone’s favorite pantsu centric doujin series, we’ve got everything in stock for you! Browse the new C94 doujinshi here.
