Shota-con

sexual complex where an adult, usually male, is attracted to an underage boy. It has also been applied to graphic art depicted underage boys in sexual situations and even to adult women with this fetish, mostly for ease of explanation.

The phrase derives from "Shotaro complex" (Shotaro is a hero character from Tetsujin 28-Go and is a popular generic name for young male characters in anime) and is sometimes contracted further to shota. Shotaro, in those anime and manga, often outwitted and was never afraid to say what he had to against ungainly grownups. Except for few occasions where his physical limits failed him, he had everything that could be had for an adult. His appearance was also deemed cute.

Where this Shota-con concept developed is hard to prove but one of the earliest root of this syndrome can be traced to readers responses to detective series written by Edogawa Rampo featuring a cool detective Kogoro Akechi. In it, Yoshio Kobayashi and his friends form "Shonentanteidan" (Junior Detective Group, similar to the Bakers Irregular of Sherlock Holmes)) to aid Mr. Akechi. Kobayashi was written as a perfect young teenager who, some might say, had a strong 'dependency' to Mr. Akechi. Every time he appears, he is either worried about Akechi being or helping Akechi set the trap for criminals. On numerous occasions that he was captured, Akechi swooped in for a timely rescue. He even lived together in the Akechi's house who happened to be not married. In short, he acted almost as though he was Akechi's wife and no doubt not few female readers had read stories picturing them to be in Kobayashi's position.

Different definitions are available. Some define it exclusively as comic art depicting a sexual relationship between an underage boy (usually prepubescent) and another male (adult or child.) Others use a looser definition, including any fiction (not just comic art), and sexual/erotic art depicting a lone underage boy, or an underage boy with a woman or older teenage girl. Some also use it refer to anyone (male or female) who's attracted to underage boys (and is not him/herself underage).

Loli-con is the female equivalent.

See also: shonen-ai, hentai, yaoi, child pornography.