Flower of Our Youth
A BNHA Shotacon Zine
Flower of Our Youth is a BNHA zine centered around shotacon — the dark, erotic world of underage boys — released January 21, 2025! The zine is digital and free for all to enjoy.
ABOUT & FAQ
What is a zine?
A zine is a themed collection of art and writing created by fans of a media or franchise. Physical zines are printed to resemble magazines and sold to consumers, while digital zines are published as PDFs and typically free.
How do zines work?
This zine will begin with an interest check to gauge our potential audience. After the interest check concludes, potential contributors will apply. Once contributors are selected and onboarded, they will be expected to pitch 2-3 ideas to the mod team about what they’d like to create, and will create for their approved pitches. The zine will be released to the public once every piece has been finished and formatted.
What is this zine about?
Flower of Our Youth will center shotacon BNHA characters. Shotacon is a Japanese term referring to erotic material of underage, pre-adolescent boys. The nature of this topic means this zine will be NSFW and feature problematic content. This zine will be multiship, and ships represented will be determined by the interest check.
How is shotacon defined?
For the purpose of this zine, a shotacon character is defined as any boy between 5 and 12 years of age. LGBTQ+ interpretations and omegaverse-style AUs (such as the shotacon character having a vagina) are welcome.
Are lolicon characters allowed in the zine?
Yes. Lolicon characters (underage, pre-adolescent girls) are allowed, but this zine will still center shotacon.
Are only M/M ships allowed in the zine?
This zine will accept all ships, as long as shotacon characters are present. F/F ships involving lolicon will potentially be allowed for the zine’s “cautionary” section.
Are only shota/adult ships allowed in the zine?
Not at all! Shota/shota, shota/teenager, shota/adult and poly ships are all acceptable.
Are only characters canonically under 12 allowed in the zine?
Every character is allowed! You can de-age a UA student into a shota, a teacher, a Pro Hero, etc. — as long as they're portrayed as 12 or under, they're welcome.
What kinks are allowed in the zine?
All kinks and problematic tropes, from noncon to major character death, are allowed in this zine. Problematic tropes unrelated to shotacon, such as gore and toilet kinks, will be in a separate, “cautionary” section of the zine.
How do I participate?
Once our interest check concludes, we will open contributor applications for everyone interested in participating. See our contributor guidelines for more information. The amount and kinds of contributors we will be accepting will be determined by the interest check.
SCHEDULE
| Milestone | Date(s) |
|---|---|
| Interest Check opens | February 1 |
| Interest Check closes, results posted | March 1-5 |
| Contributor applications open | March 5 (tentative) |
| Contributor applications close | March 31 (tentative) |
| Results & onboarding | April 1-7 (tentative) |
| Creation | April-January |
| Zine Release | January 2025 |
EXPECTATIONS
Artists will create at least one fully-rendered piece of art centering shotacon.
Writers are expected to create at least one original story between 1,500 and 3,500 words centering shotacon.
Creating explicit/graphic porn is not required, but romantic or sexual themes centering shotacon are necessary.
All contributors must be willing to pitch 2-3 ideas of content they're interested in creating. Across all the pitches, at least two different main ships must be included. Role reversal (eg. BkDk vs. DkBk) does not count as two separate ships.
All contributors are expected to participate in check-ins and communicate with the mod team over Discord; failure to communicate will result in removal from the project.
ARTIST APPLICATION
GUIDELINES
Submit no more than three completed/rendered pieces that best showcase your skills. Any traditional art submitted should be scanned at the best quality possible and on lineless paper.
At least one piece must center BNHA characters.
At least one piece must be suggestive or NSFW.
Artwork featuring shotacon content is heavily encouraged, but not required.
All submitted pieces must have accompanying content warnings. This includes tagging NSFW, problematic or dark content, shotacon, and shotacon-related topics (eg. incest or grooming.)
Please make sure you submit your pieces via links we can access (eg. Google Drive links with appropriate permissions or public social media links.) If your links are broken or inaccessible, we will not chase after you to fix them, and your application will be discarded.
WRITER APPLICATION GUIDELINES
Submit no more than three written pieces with a combined word count less than 8000.
At least one piece must be complete and standalone (ie. not a chapter or installment, not an excerpt.) We encourage submitting complete stories that are between 1500-3500 words.
At least one piece must center BNHA characters.
At least one piece must be NSFW.
Stories featuring shotacon content are heavily encouraged, but not required.
All submitted pieces must have accompanying content warnings. If you would tag it on AO3 for others' comfort, tag it here. This includes tagging NSFW, problematic or dark content, shotacon, and shotacon-related topics (eg. incest, grooming.)
Submitting pieces via Google Docs link is preferred. If your links are broken or inaccessible, we will not chase after you to fix them, and your application will be discarded.
ZINE MODS
