The Truth Behind Shogakukan's Agressiveness Toward Doraemon Doujinshi?

Back in May, Tajima T. Yasue (pen name) officially apologized to Shogakukan and Fujiko Production for the now-legendary Doraemon doujinshi, and announced that he will pay an undisclosed amount of money for the settlement based on the sales generated by the doujinshi (rumored to be several million yen).

Many doujinshi creators have criticized Shogakukan for taking legal actions and generally making a big deal out of one doujinshi. Shogakukan responded by saying the doujinshi has sold over 13,000 copies, which has far surpassed the normal sales of a doujinshi, and some people have even started asking if the story was true.

According to a recent news article from Livedoor (originally from the tabloid magazine Saizou), when Shogakukan first became aware of the doujinshi's existence, the publisher didn't pay much attention to the doujin.

However, Shogakukan's attitude toward the doujin took a 180 degree turn in April, after hearing some elementary school teachers commenting that "the ending in Doraemon - Last Episode was very touching and contains educational value, and plan to use the work as material for teaching moral lessons in their class."

The "Last Episode" doujin is influenced by a text on the internet from around 1998. A 20-page doujinshi was created and released in 2005 by a person using the pen name "Tajima T. Yasue." The doujinshi was sold at a doujin shop in Akihabara and via internet for around 500 yen, and managed to sell over over 13,000 copies before being stopped by Shogakukan.

Some are questioning whether Shogakukan's actions against the Doraemon doujin was largely due to jealousy toward the doujin's popularity.

The doujinshi in question is still available here, translations can be found here and here.