The term refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein prepubescent or pubescent male characters are depicted in a suggestive or erotic manner, whether in the obvious role of object of attraction, or the less apparent role of 'subject' (the character the reader is designed to associate with).Īn illustration of an older female character attracted to a shota, characteristic of shotacon Shotacon ( ショタコン, shotakon), abbreviated from Shōtarō complex ( 正太郎コンプレックス, shōtarō konpurekkusu), is, in Japanese contexts, the attraction to young (or young-looking) boy characters, or media centered around this attraction.
