1988 Pacific hurricane season

The 1988 Pacific hurricane season was the least active Pacific hurricane season since 1981. It officially began May 15, in the eastern Pacific, and June 1, in the central Pacific and lasted until November 30. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The first named storm, Tropical Storm Aletta, formed on June 16, and the last-named storm, Tropical Storm Miriam, was previously named Hurricane Joan in the Atlantic Ocean before crossing Central America and re-emerging in the eastern Pacific; Miriam continued westward and dissipated on November 2.

The season produced 23 tropical depressions, of which 15 attained tropical storm status. Seven storms reached hurricane status, three of which became major hurricanes. The strongest storm of the season, Hurricane Hector, formed on July 30 to the south of Mexico and reached peak winds of 145 mph (233 km/h)—Category 4 status—before dissipating over open waters on August 9; Hector was never a threat to land. Tropical Storm Gilma was the only cyclone in the season to make landfall, crossing the Hawaiian Islands, although there were numerous near-misses. Gilma's Hawaiian landfall was unusual, but not unprecedented. There were also two systems that successfully crossed over from the Atlantic: the aforementioned JoanMiriam and Hurricane Debby, which became Tropical Depression Seventeen-E, making the 1988 season the first on record in which more than one tropical cyclone has crossed between the Atlantic and Pacific basins intact. Three systems caused deaths: Tropical Storm Aletta caused one death in southwestern Mexico, Hurricane Uleki caused two drownings off the coast of Oahu as it passed by the Hawaiian Islands, and Hurricane Kristy caused 21 deaths in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chipas.

## Seasonal summary

The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index for the 1988 Pacific hurricane season was 127.45 units (87.79 units from the Eastern Pacific and 39.66 units from the Central Pacific).

The total tropical activity in the season was below-average. There were 13 cyclones in the Eastern Pacific, as well as two in the Central. Of the 15 cyclones, one crossed from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific, and another moved from the Central Pacific to the Western Pacific. In the Eastern Pacific, there were seven cyclones peaking as a tropical storm, and six hurricanes, of which two reached Category 3 intensity or higher on the Saffir–Simpson scale. A tropical storm and a major hurricane occurred in the Central Pacific.

Tropical Storm Gilma made the only landfalls of the season in the Hawaiian Islands, causing some rainfall, but no direct deaths or damage occurred as a result of it. These were the only landfalls in the season that were made, which is unusual as most landfalls in the Eastern Pacific occur on the Mexican coast. This is due to the closeness of the Mexican region to the major source of tropical activity to the west of Central America. Hurricane Uleki, the strongest hurricane in the Central Pacific region during the season, caused two drownings in Oahu and heavy waves hit the coast of the Hawaiian Islands. Tropical Storm Miriam, the last storm of the season, formed as a result of Hurricane Joan from the Atlantic, and flooding resulted in parts of Central America, due to heavy rainfall.

## Systems

### Tropical Depression One-E

A tropical disturbance organized into the first eastern Pacific tropical depression of the season on June 15. A convective band on the north and west sides of the system became well-defined, and anticyclonic outflow allowed for initial organization. After forming, the depression tracked west-southwestward and intensified due to disrupted outflow from a large air stream disturbance. On June 16, strong convection with spiral banding developed over the depression, although it failed to strengthen further. A low-pressure l northwest of the depression in combination with Tropical Storm Aletta to the northeast caused the depression to weaken, and it dissipated on June 18.

### Tropical Storm Aletta

A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa and progressed westward through the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean, before crossing over Central America on June 13 and emerging into the warm waters of the east Pacific on June 14. Shortly after, satellite imagery showed good upper-level outflow, although cloud banding remained disorganized. On June 16, the broad circulation better organized on the northeastern section, with deep convection developing. A tropical depression formed later that day about 200 miles (320 km) to the southeast of Acapulco, Mexico. It developed further as it moved northward toward the southwest coast of Mexico, and had organized sufficiently to be named Tropical Storm Aletta on June 17. The cyclone drifted north-northwest for the next 36 hours before turning westward, parallel to the Mexican coast. The storm began to lose its convection on June 19 and weakened into a tropical depression later that day. The depression weakened further into a weak low-level circulation before dissipating on June 21. Although Aletta approached the Acapulco area of the Mexican coast, it did not make landfall. The portion of coast affected by Aletta received heavy rainfall; unofficial reports state that one person died as a result of the storm, and the storm produced some damage due to rainfall and flooding.

### Tropical Storm Bud

Satellite imagery first detected a low-level circulation on June 20, associated with some heavy convection, 200 miles (320 km) south of the Mexico–Guatemala border, and it intensified into a tropical depression. The cyclone moved northwest then west-northwest over two days. A 40 mph (64 km/h) wind report from a ship on June 21 allowed the depression to be upgraded to Tropical Storm Bud later that day. For the next day, the low-level circulation moved away from its deep convection, dissipating near Acapulco, Mexico. A portion of Bud remaining over land may have been part of the reason for the lack of strengthening of the cyclone.

### Tropical Depression Four-E

A system developed in the eastern Pacific, and later strengthened into a tropical depression on July 1, when it obtained a better defined low-level circulation. The center was exposed, with little convection on the northeast side, due to shear aloft. The system moved to the northwest, while shear continued to move the deep convection of the cyclone to the southwest of its center of circulation. The circulation completely lacked deep convection late on July 2, although it continued to have a well-defined low-level center. The depression drifted slowly northward, located south of Baja California, before dissipating just south of the peninsula on July 4, with no circulation or deep convection detected. A small amount of associated rainfall affected Baja California, as the cyclone passed near the peninsula.

### Hurricane Carlotta

A tropical wave moved off the western coast of Africa on June 23, and for the next two weeks, moved through the tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean and later crossed Central America. It began developing further when it entered the Pacific Ocean and became a dense area of moisture and cloudiness. The wave developed into a disturbance on July 8, and attained tropical depression status in the afternoon on July 8, south of Mexico. After entering a favorable area of warm waters, the depression strengthened to Tropical Storm Carlotta on July 9. Carlotta continued to develop, reached peak strength, and developed into Hurricane Carlotta on July 11. During the duration of the storm, Carlotta was not considered a hurricane, however after post-season reanalysis Carlotta's strength was upgraded to minimal hurricane status. As it moved into less favorable conditions it lost strength and weakened to a tropical storm on July 12. Carlotta began to lose its deep convection, and weakened into a tropical depression on July 13 as it moved into cooler waters. It later moved west-southwest and dissipated on July 15.

### Tropical Storm Daniel

A tropical wave moved off the coast of northwestern Africa on July 4, and moved through tropical regions of the northern Atlantic and Caribbean without the indication of development. The tropical disturbance crossed Central America on July 14, and from then until July 18, the westward motion decreased, as convection and organization increased over warm waters. It developed into a tropical depression on July 19, and into Tropical Storm Daniel 600 miles (970 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California on July 20. A high pressure system over the western United States and northern Mexico forced Daniel and an upper-level low on parallel west-northwest paths. Daniel stayed generally the same strength for the next few days, reaching peak strength on July 23. Daniel declined into a tropical depression on July 25 and dissipated on July 26.

### Tropical Storm Emilia

On July 15, a tropical wave exited Africa and crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It crossed into the Pacific Ocean on July 24, developing convection and outflow. On July 27, it organized into a tropical depression off the southwest coast of Mexico. Continuing generally westward, the thunderstorm activity fluctuated, and slowly developing, it intensified into Tropical Storm Emilia on July 29. The storm attained peak winds of 70 mph (110 km/h) on July 30, although wind shear and interaction with nearby Tropical Storm Fabio prevented further intensification; the low-level circulation was located along the northwest edge of the deepest convection. It became disorganized and difficult to locate on satellite imagery, and soon the circulation was exposed from the thunderstorms. On August 1, Emilia weakened to tropical depression status, and late on August 2, the last advisory was issued as the system had become very disorganized with minimal convection. Its remnants were tracked for the next few days, and although some deep convection returned momentarily, the system's convection soon disappeared.

### Hurricane Fabio

A well-organized ITCZ disturbance with deep convection organized further over the northeastern Pacific Ocean on July 28. It developed into a tropical depression later that day, while 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. The position of Fabio's formation was much further south and west than where most tropical cyclones form during the same time period. The depression moved westward while gradually strengthening and it developed into Tropical Storm Fabio on July 29. It intensified further over the next few days and it intensified into a hurricane on July 31. The system increased its speed as it steadily strengthened further. A trough turned the storm west-northwestward on August 3. Satellite estimates indicated that Fabio reached its maximum intensity later on August 3, with a well-defined eye with very deep convection surrounding it. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for the Big Island on August 4, due to the threatening west-northwest turn towards it. However, the retreat of a trough later turned Fabio back to the west and the CPHC discontinued the tropical storm watch on August 5. Fabio's good upper-level conditions later weakened and began to lose its convection over cooler waters. Fabio quickly weakened and it weakened into a tropical storm again later on August 5, and back to a depression on August 6. The depression turned west-northwestward again on August 8, but Fabio dissipated on August 9. As the cyclone moved near the Hawaiian islands, heavy rainfall fell across the chain, peaking at 18.75 in (476 mm) near Pāpa'ikou on the island of Hawaii.

### Tropical Depression Nine-E

A tropical depression developed in the eastern Pacific on July 28, forecast to be absorbed by a very close nearby depression, later Tropical Storm Gilma. The depression moved northward, although in unfavorable conditions. The cyclone weakened as the depression to the southwest strengthened further. Limited deep convection developed with the system, although the cyclone continued in unfavorable conditions with shearing. Visible satellite imagery later showed a very weak system, and the storm dissipated on July 29.

### Tropical Storm Gilma

A wave that previously moved through the Atlantic from the northwest coast of Africa, crossed over Central America into the Pacific on July 17 or July 18. On July 19, this disturbance was 700 miles (1,100 km) to the southeast of the developing Tropical Storm Daniel. The system moved westward for the following week without any signs of intensification. However, on July 26 and 27, the system appeared to be strengthening due to a banding pattern. By July 28, the convection underwent further organization with some weak outflow high in the storm. It developed into a tropical depression later on July 28, much further west then most east Pacific storms develop at. For the next day the cyclone remained fairly stationary, but began to strengthen over warm waters. On July 29 the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Gilma, based on satellite imagery. Limited intensification followed, due to shear high in the storm. It weakened a tropical depression again on July 30, due to weakness depicted in satellite imagery. Gilma then moved west-northwestward through the northeast Pacific. The depression skirted the Hawaiian Islands, but dissipated near Oahu on August 3. On the Hawaiian Islands there were no direct damage or deaths, although some rainfall occurred on the islands.

### Hurricane Hector

A tropical depression formed on July 30, while 400 miles (640 km) south of Acapulco, Mexico. The depression tracked west-northwestward, becoming Tropical Storm Hector on July 31. Its west-northwest motion continued, due to an area of high pressure to its north, and Hector intensified into a hurricane on August 2. Based on satellite data, the hurricane is estimated to have reached its peak intensity of 145 mph (233 km/h) on August 3; this made Hector a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, which was the strongest storm of the season. Hector began to move due west on August 5 and it had already begun weakening. The storm continued westward increasing its forward speed. On August 6 it had appeared Hector had strengthened, but steadily weakened afterwards and finally dissipated on August 9, while 650 miles (1,050 km) east of Hilo, Hawaii. Hector was never a threat to land.

### Hurricane Iva

A wave that first came off the northwest coast of Africa moved through the Atlantic, before entering the East Pacific on August 4. The wave developed more organized convection when it entered the region, and it turned into a tropical depression on August 5, while 165 miles (266 km) south of Oaxaca, Mexico. It developed into Tropical Storm Iva on August 6. Iva turned on a west-northwestward course and continued strengthening, before it developed into a hurricane on August 7. The cyclone moved northwestward after becoming a hurricane, and satellites estimate it reached peak intensity on August 8. On the same day Iva passed within 50 miles (80 km) of Socorro Island. Winds of 45 mph (72 km/h) were reported on the island along with moderate rain. The storm moved through cooler waters for the next day, and began to weaken. Iva declined into a tropical storm again on August 9, and by August 10 the cyclone lost its deep convection along with organization. It intensified into a tropical depression again on August 11, and moved southwest due to a high pressure before dissipating on August 13.

### Tropical Depression Thirteen-E

A tropical depression formed on August 12, with movement towards the west-northwest. It continued toward the west-northwest, near the circulation of Tropical Storm Iva. The low-level circulation of the cyclone was displaced to the east of the deep convection, and the system moved to the northwest. The depression lost much of its convection later on August 13, and it had a less defined center. The cyclone turned to the south, and lost its associated deep convection. Some weak convection redeveloped near the center, but the depression dissipated later on August 14.

### Tropical Storm John

A disturbance that passed off the northwestern African coast on August 3 crossed the Atlantic Ocean, before entering into the Pacific. A tropical depression formed in the East Pacific on August 16, 150 miles (240 km) southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, based on satellite estimates. The cyclone progressed slowly northwestward, and intensified Tropical Storm John on August 17, less than 24 hours after its formation. John continued northwest for a short while, before the low-level center of circulation had been exposed. John degenerated to a tropical depression on August 18 due to a lack of convection, made a loop while less than 100 miles (160 km) south of the southern tip of Baja California. It shortly became a little better organized after completing the loop on August 20, but John dissipated on August 21, southwest of Baja California, due to shearing and cold waters. Its remnants continued northwestward parallel to the southwest coast of Baja California. John caused no reported deaths or damage.

### Tropical Depression Fifteen-E

On August 26, a disturbance south of Baja California organized into Tropical Depression Fifteen-E. Initially, the system moved northwest towards cooler waters as the location of the low-level circulation was to the southwest of the deep convection associated with the cyclone. The center drifted to the east of the small area of concentrated convection, and its intensity remained steady. It weakened and became loosely defined due to upper-level wind shear, and the storm lost all of its convection before dissipating and degenerating into a low-level swirl.

### Hurricane Uleki

Towards the end of August, tropical activity in the ITCZ southeast of the Hawaiian Islands began to be monitored. On August 28, this tropical disturbance organized into a tropical depression, as it was located about 800 miles (1,300 km) southeast of the Big Island. It intensified at a fair rate, and intensified Tropical Storm Uleki the next day. It continued to strengthen, and reached hurricane intensity on August 31. It moved slowly west-northwest until steering currents collapsed on September 1. Now a Category 3 hurricane, Uleki slowly edged north towards the Hawaiian Islands. After looping, Uleki resumed its westward path on September 4. Its stalling in the ocean had weakened it, and the hurricane passed midway between Johnston Island and French Frigate Shoals. Uleki crossed the dateline on September 8. It turned slightly to the north and meandered in the open Pacific days until it dissipated on September 14.

As Uleki drifted towards the Hawaiian Islands, tropical storm watches were issued for Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau on September 3. In addition, reconnaissance missions were flown into the hurricane. Uleki caused heavy surf on the Hawaiian Islands, that being its only significant effect. This heavy surf flooded the southeastern runway on Midway Island, and produced two drownings on Oahu. Nineteen people were also rescued from rough surf, with five- to six-foot (1.5 to 1.8 meter) waves, off the coast of beaches in Hawaii.

### Hurricane Kristy

A tropical wave passed off the northwestern coast of Africa on August 6. It did not develop as it passed through the Atlantic Ocean, until August 19 when convection began to form. On August 20 the disturbance turned into Tropical Depression Six in the Atlantic basin. It passed from the Leeward Islands up to the central Caribbean, until it dissipated on August 23. As it passed over Central America, the disturbance had little remaining convection. However, the convection associated with the system began to organize when it entered the Pacific, and it strengthened into a tropical depression on August 29, while located 300 miles (480 km) south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico. Later that day the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Kristy, based on ship reports of tropical storm force winds. Kristy strengthened into a hurricane on August 31, based solely on satellite imagery. Hurricane Kristy had short lifespan though, and weakened to a tropical storm on September 2. The easterly shear associated with an anticyclone south of Baja California, which caused Kristy's convection to be forced west of the low-level center of the system, and therefore weakened it. Kristy weakened further to a depression on September 3, and weak steering currents allowed the cyclone to remain stationary on September 4, loop the following day, and then began to move eastward. The depression dissipated on September 6.

Although the storm passed relatively close to the coast, no tropical cyclone warnings and watches were required as the storm remained offshore. However, Kristy produced heavy rains and widespread flooding in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca; as a result, several rivers overflowed their banks. Thousands of tourists were stranded from the beaches. At least 21 deaths were attributed to Kristy: 16 in Oaxaca and 5 in Chiapas. More than 20,000 people in the former were evacuated from their homes; consequently, a state of emergency was declared. The outer rainbands of Kristy delayed the rescue of the victims of a Brazilian-made aircraft that crashed west of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. No official damage figures were reported by the Mexican government.

### Tropical Depression Seventeen-E

The remnants of Hurricane Debby moved over the mountainous areas of Mexico, passing into the Pacific from the Pacific coast of Mexico near Manzanillo. The disturbance moved towards the north-northwest and organized into a tropical depression on September 6 just south of the Gulf of California. The cyclone remained stationary due to weak low-level steering currents, later drifting to the north-northwest with an area of deep convection causing rain on the Mexican coast. It later moved to the northwest, with partial exposure of the center of the system, and with some shear still affecting it. The cyclone continued to have shear over the system, which caused it not to strengthen, and its movement became nearly stationary. After remaining stationary longer, the system dissipated as a low-level swirl.

### Tropical Depression Eighteen-E

A disturbance organized, and based on satellite imagery it strengthened into a tropical depression on September 12. The center of circulation remained on the eastern fringe of its deep convection and the storm moved west or west-northwestward. On September 13, the depression underwent shearing, while its low-level circulation center had only a small amount of deep convection associated with it. The cyclone became poorly defined, and its movement turned stationary on September 14. The low-level circulation of the system remained visible, even though it weakened due to shearing. Little deep convection remained associated with the system, and the cyclone stayed stationary. The depression having no remaining convection and having become just a low-level cloud swirl, dissipated on September 15.

### Tropical Storm Wila

A tropical depression formed on September 21 as an area of deep convection. The cyclone organized slowly though, drifting slowly, initially west then to the northwest. However, the depression recurved northeast, due to a trough. As the cyclone moved northeast, the system strengthened as indicated by an Air Force reconnaissance plane showing tropical storm force winds. It therefore intensified into Tropical Storm Wila on September 25. Wila, however, weakened within a day, and therefore became a tropical depression. The remnant low of Wila produced some heavy rain over the Hawaiian Islands on September 26 and 27.

### Hurricane Lane

A wave moved westward off the coast of Africa, passed through the Caribbean, and into the ITCZ of the eastern Pacific on September 20. The system developed organized deep convection, and strengthened into a tropical depression on September 21, while 300 miles (480 km) southeast of Acapulco, Mexico. As the low-level circulation organized further in the depression it intensified into Tropical Storm Lane, later on September 21. Lane developed further with an upper-level outflow pattern, and the cyclone turned into a hurricane on September 23. Later on September 23 and on September 24, an eye appeared on satellite imagery. A trough to the northwest of Lane disturbed its upper-level outflow on September 24. Diminishing convection and loss of its eye caused Lane to weaken to a tropical storm on September 27, and into a depression on September 28. Later on September 28, the cyclone moved into cooler waters and Lane lost nearly all of its deep convection. It weakened into a low-level swirl, and Lane dissipated on September 30. Lane caused no reported casualties or damage.

### Tropical Depression Twenty-E

The remnants of Atlantic basin Tropical Storm Isaac moved into the eastern Pacific. These remnants underwent better organization and strengthened into a tropical depression on October 11 south of Baja California. Strong vertical southwesterly wind shear affected the cyclone, with the center of circulation later seen on the west side of the lessening amount of deep convection. The system remained poorly organized and had trouble strengthening to this continual poor organization as it moved westward. The system could not be located on satellite imagery and therefore dissipated on October 12.

### Tropical Storm Miriam

Atlantic Hurricane Joan survived the passage over Central America and entered the Pacific, although greatly weakened. Following the policy at the time, Joan was renamed Miriam.

Miriam brought heavy rains to parts of Central America. Isolated flooding and mudslides happened, although casualties and damage reports are not available. 10.37 in (263 mm) of rain fell in Kantunilkin/Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico as a result of Miriam and the former Joan. Guatemala's ports along its Pacific coast were closed and people in El Salvador were evacuated from low-lying areas due to the storm. Miriam then turned away from Central America and weakened to a depression. The depression survived for over a week until it dissipated on October 30. Tropical Depression Miriam's remnants regenerated the next day, and Miriam finally dissipated on November 2.

## Storm names

The following names were used to name storms that formed in the northeastern Pacific Ocean during 1988. Retired names, were announced by the World Meteorological Organization in the spring of 1989. The names not retired from this list were used again in the 1994 season. This is the same list used in the 1982 season.

For storms that form in the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility, encompassing the area between 140 degrees west and the International Date Line, all names are used in a series of four rotating lists. The next four names that were slated for use in 1988 are shown below.

### Retirement

The World Meteorological Organization retired one name in the spring of 1989: Iva. It was replaced with Ileana for the 1994 Pacific hurricane season.

## Season effects

This is a table of all of the storms that have formed in the 1988 Pacific hurricane season. It includes their duration, names, landfall(s), denoted in parenthesis, damages, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but were still related to that storm. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a wave, or a low, and all of the damage figures are in 1988 USD.

\|- \| One-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Aletta \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Southwestern Mexico \|\| Minor \|\| \|\| \|- \| Bud \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Mexico \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Four-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Carlotta \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Daniel \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Emilia \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Fabio \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Hawaii \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Nine-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Gilma \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Hawaii \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Hector \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Iva \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Thirteen-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| John \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Fifteen-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Uleki \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Hawaii \|\| None \|\| \|\| \|- \| Kristy \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Western Mexico \|\| Unknown \|\| \|\| \|- \| Seventeen-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Western Mexico \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Eighteen-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Wila \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Lane \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Twenty-E \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| None \|\| None \|\| None \|\| \|- \| Miriam \|\| \|\| bgcolor=#\| \|\| \|\| \|\| Central America \|\| Unknown \|\| None \|\| \|-

## See also

- List of Pacific hurricanes
- Pacific hurricane season
- 1988 Atlantic hurricane season
- 1988 Pacific typhoon season
- 1988 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- South-West Indian Ocean cyclone seasons: 1987–88, 1988–89
- Australian region cyclone seasons: 1987–88, 1988–89
- South Pacific cyclone seasons: 1987–88, 1988–89

Hurricane season in the Pacific Ocean

Articles which contain graphical timelines


Lolicon

In Japanese popular culture, lolicon (ロリコン, also romanized as rorikon or lolicom) is a genre of fictional media in which young (or young-looking) girl characters appear in romantic or sexual contexts. The term also refers to desire and affection for such characters (ロリ, "loli"), and fans of such characters and works. Associated with unrealistic and stylized imagery within manga, anime, and video games, lolicon in otaku (manga/anime fan) culture is understood as distinct from desires for realistic depictions of girls, or real girls as such, and is associated with the concept of moe, or feelings of affection and love for fictional characters as such (often cute characters in manga and anime).

The phrase "Lolita complex", derived from the novel Lolita, entered use in Japan in the 1970s, when sexual imagery of the shōjo (idealized young girl) was expanding in the country's media. During the "lolicon boom" in adult manga of the early 1980s, the term was adopted in the nascent otaku culture to denote attraction to early bishōjo (cute girl) characters, and later to only younger-looking depictions as bishōjo designs became more varied. The artwork of the boom, strongly influenced by the round styles of shōjo manga (marketed to girls), marked a shift from previous realism and the advent of "cute eroticism" (kawaii ero), an aesthetic now common in manga and anime more broadly. The lolicon boom faded by the mid-1980s, and the genre has since made up a minority of erotic manga.

A moral panic against "harmful manga" in the 1990s has made lolicon a keyword in manga debates in Japan. Child pornography laws in some countries include depictions of fictional child characters, while those in other countries, including Japan, do not. Opponents and supporters have debated if the genre contributes to child sexual abuse. Cultural critics generally identify lolicon with a broader separation between fiction and reality in otaku sexuality.

## Definition and scope

Lolicon is a Japanese abbreviation of "Lolita complex" (ロリータ・コンプレックス, rorīta konpurekkusu), an English-language phrase and wasei-eigo derived from Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita (1955) but in Japan more associated with Russell Trainer's The Lolita Complex (1966, translated 1969), a work of pop psychology in which the author uses the term to describe adult male attraction to pubescent and pre-pubescent females. In Japanese, the phrase was adopted to describe feelings of love and lust for young girls over adult women, which remains the phrase's common meaning. Due to its association with otaku (manga and anime fan) culture, however, the term today is more often used to describe desires for young or young-looking girl characters (ロリ, "loli") which are generally understood to exist and be satisfied in fiction, though the meaning of the term remains contested and for the public at large still carries a connotation of pedophilia. Lolicon also refers to sexualized works which feature such characters, and fans of these works and characters. It is distinct from more formal words for pedophilia (yōji-zuki or pedofiria; clinically, shōniseiai or jidōseiai) and child pornography (jidō poruno).

The meaning of lolicon in the otaku context developed in the early 1980s, during the "lolicon boom" in adult manga (see ). According to editor and critic Akira Akagi, the term's meaning moved away from the sexual pairing of an older man and a young girl, and instead came to describe desire for "cuteness" and "girl-ness" in manga and anime. Other critics defined lolicon as the desire for "cute things", "manga-like" or "anime-like" characters, "roundness", and the "two-dimensional", as opposed to "real". At the time, all eroticism in the manga style featuring cute girl (bishōjo) characters was associated with the term, and synonyms of "Lolita complex" included "two-dimensional complex" (nijigen konpurekkusu), "two-dimensional fetishism" (nijikon fechi), "two-dimensional syndrome" (nijikon shōkōgun), "cute girl syndrome" (bishōjo shōkōgun), and simply "sickness" (byōki). As character body types in erotic manga became more varied by the end of the lolicon boom, the scope of the term narrowed to more young-looking depictions.

Lolicon became a keyword in debates after the 1989 arrest of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a serial killer of young girls who was portrayed in media reports as an otaku (see ). As lolicon was conflated with desire for real children in debates on "harmful manga", the early meaning was replaced among otaku by moe, which refers to feelings of affection and love for characters more generally. Like moe, lolicon is still used by otaku to refer to attraction that is consciously distinct from reality; some otaku identify as "two-dimensional lolicon" (nijigen rorikon) to clarify their attraction to characters. The term has become a keyword in criticism of manga and sexuality within Japan, as well as globally with the spread of Japanese popular culture.

## History

### Background

In the 1970s, shōjo manga (marketed to girls) underwent a renaissance in which artists experimented with new narratives and styles, and introduced themes such as psychology, gender, and sexuality. These developments attracted adult male fans of shōjo manga, who crossed gendered boundaries to produce and consume it. The first appearance of the term "Lolita complex" in manga was in Stumbling Upon a Cabbage Patch, an Alice in Wonderland–inspired work by Shinji Wada published in the June 1974 issue of the shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret, where a male character calls Lewis Carroll a man with a "strange character of liking only small children" in an inside joke to adult readers. Early lolicon artwork was influenced by male artists mimicking shōjo manga, as well as erotic manga created by female artists for male readers.

The image of the shōjo (young girl) became dominant in Japanese mass media by the 1970s as an idealization of cuteness, innocence, and an "idealized Eros", attributes which became attached to imagery of younger girls over time. Nude photographs of shōjo, conceived as fine art, gained popularity: a photo collection entitled Nymphet: The Myth of the 12-Year-Old [ja] was published in 1969, and in 1972 and 1973 there was an "Alice boom" in nude photos themed around Alice in Wonderland. Specialty adult magazines carrying nude photos, fiction, and essays on the appeal of young girls emerged in the 1980s; this trend faded in the late 1980s, due to backlash and because many men preferred images of shōjo in manga and anime. The spread of such imagery, both in photographs and in manga, may have been helped by prohibitions on displaying pubic hair under Japan's obscenity laws.

### 1970s–1980s

The rise of lolicon as a genre began at Comiket (Comic Market), a convention for the sale of dōjinshi (self-published works) founded in 1975 by the group Meikyu [ja] (Labyrinth), made of adult male fans of shōjo manga; in 1979, a group of male artists published the first issue of the fanzine Cybele [ja], whose standout work was an erotic parody of Little Red Riding Hood by Hideo Azuma, known as a pioneer of lolicon. Prior to Cybele, the dominant style in seinen (marketed to men) and pornographic manga was gekiga, characterized by realism, sharp angles, dark hatching, and gritty linework. Azuma's work, in contrast, displayed light shading and clean, circular lines, which he saw as "thoroughly erotic" and sharing with shōjo manga a "lack of reality". Azuma's combination of the stout bodies of Osamu Tezuka's manga and the emotive faces of shōjo manga marked the advent of the bishōjo character and the aesthetic of "cute eroticism" (kawaii ero). While erotic, Azuma's manga was also viewed as humorous and parodic; only a minority of readers found his style erotic at first, but a large fan base soon grew in response to the alternative to pornographic gekiga that it represented. Erotic manga mostly moved away from combining realistic bodies and cartoony faces towards a wholly-unrealistic style. Lolicon manga played a role in attracting male fans to Comiket, an event originally dominated by women (90 percent of participants were female at its first run in 1975); in 1981, the number of male and female participants was equal. Lolicon, mostly created by and for men, served as a response to yaoi (manga featuring male homoeroticism), mostly created by and for women.

The early 1980s saw a "lolicon boom" in professional and amateur art. The popularity of lolicon within the otaku community would attract the attention of publishers with the creation of specialty publications dedicated to the genre, including Lemon People (1982) and Manga Burikko (1982). Lemon People in particular was one of the first lolicon manga magazines published in Japan, with the first issue's cover stating that it "had the monopoly on lolicon comic content in 1982", expressing the excitement over the word lolicon itself. Other magazines of the boom included Manga Hot Milk [ja], Melon Comic, and Halfliter [ja]. The genre's rise was closely linked to the concurrent development of otaku culture and growing fan consciousness; the word otaku itself was coined in Burikko in 1983. Originally founded as an unprofitable gekiga magazine, the publication was transformed into a lolicon magazine in 1983 by editor Eiji Ōtsuka, whose intention was to publish "shōjo manga for boys". Artwork in the magazine continued the trend started by Azuma rooted in the soft styles of shōjo manga, with less realism and fewer explicit depictions of sex; in November 1983, Burikko's editors yielded to reader demands by removing photographs of gravure idol models from its opening pages, printing an issue with the subtitle "Totally Bishōjo Comic Magazine". Lolicon magazines regularly published female artists, such as Kyoko Okazaki and Erika Sakurazawa, and male artists such as Aki Uchiyama [ja], the "King of Lolicon", who produced 160 pages of manga per month to meet demand. Uchiyama's works were published in both niche magazines such as Lemon People and in the mainstream Shōnen Champion. The first-ever pornographic anime series was Lolita Anime, released episodically in 1984–1985.

Iconic characters of the boom include Clarisse from the film Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (1979) and Lana from the TV series Future Boy Conan (1978), both directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Clarisse was especially popular, and inspired a series of articles discussing her appeal in the anime specialty magazines Gekkan Out [ja], Animec [ja], and Animage, as well as a trend of fan works (dubbed "Clarisse magazines") that were not explicitly sexual, but instead "fairytale-esque" and "girly". Many early lolicon works combined mecha and bishōjo elements; Kaoru Nagayama highlights the premiere of the Daicon III Opening Animation at the 1981 Japan SF Convention as a notable example of the link between science fiction and lolicon in the nascent otaku culture of the time. Anime shows targeted at young girls with young girl heroines, such as Magical Princess Minky Momo (1982–1983), gained new viewership from adult male fans, who started fan clubs and were courted by creators. Helen McCarthy suggests that lolicon anime is rooted in magical girl shows such as Minky Momo, where transforming heroines can blur lines between girls and women.

While the lolicon boom in commercial erotic manga only lasted until 1984, it marked the beginning of its now-dominant bishōjo style. Near the end of the boom, because "readers had no attachment to lolicon per se" and "did not take [young girls] as objects of sexual desire", a majority of readers and creators of erotic manga moved towards the diversifying bishōjo works featuring "baby-faced and big-breasted" characters, which were no longer considered lolicon. At Comiket, lolicon manga had declined in popularity by 1989 with developments in erotic dōjinshi, including new genres of fetishism and the growing popularity of softcore eroticism popular among men and women, particularly in yuri (manga with lesbian themes).

### 1990s–present

In 1989, lolicon and otaku became the subject of a media frenzy and moral panic after the arrest of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a young man who had kidnapped and murdered four girls between the ages of four and seven and committed sexual acts with their corpses. Widely disseminated photos of Miyazaki's room revealed an extensive collection of video tapes, which included horror/slasher films on which he had modelled some of his crimes, and manga, including shōjo and lolicon works. In the extended public debates that followed, Miyazaki's crimes were blamed on supposed media effects: namely, a reduction in his inhibitions to crime, and a blurring of the lines between fiction and reality. Miyazaki was labelled as an otaku, and an image of otaku as "socially and sexually immature" men, and for some as "pedophiles and potential predators", was established for much of the public. The decade saw local crackdowns on retailers and publishers of "harmful manga", and the arrests of some dōjinshi artists. Despite this, lolicon imagery expanded and became more acceptable within manga in the 1990s, and the early 2000s saw a small boom in the genre sparked by the magazine Comic LO.

## Media

Lolicon media is loosely defined. Some define its characters by age, while others define its characters by appearance (those that are small and flat-chested, independent of age). Lolicon works often depict girl characters as innocent, precocious, and sometimes flirtatious; characters may appear in borderline or outright sexual situations, though the term can be applied to works with neither (see ).

According to Kaoru Nagayama, manga readers define lolicon works as those "with a heroine younger than a middleschool student", a definition which can vary from characters under age 18 for "society at large", to characters "younger than gradeschool-aged" for "fanatics", and to "kindergarteners" for "more pedophiliac readers". Elisabeth Klar observes that girl characters in lolicon can show an "contradictory performance of age" in which their body, behavior, and role in a story conflict; an example is the roribabā ("Lolita granny") archetype, a girl character who speaks with the mannerisms of an old woman. Curvy hips and other secondary sex characteristics similarly appear as features in some of the genre's characters. Plot devices often explain the young appearance of characters who are non-human or actually much older.

Lolicon manga, often published as dōjinshi or compiled in anthology magazines, is mostly consumed by male audiences, though Nagayama notes that the works of Hiraku Machida [ja] have "resonated with female readers" and "earned the support of women". Other notable artists include Aguda Wanyan and Takarada Gorgeous. Female creators of lolicon works include Erika Wada and Fumio Kagami [ja].

Lolicon imagery is a prominent theme in Superflat, a manga-influenced contemporary art movement founded by Takashi Murakami. Prominent Superflat artists whose works feature lolicon imagery include Mr. and Henmaru Machino. Murakami himself did a lolicon-inspired photoshoot with Britney Spears for the cover of the magazine Pop.

### Relation to moe

In the 1990s, lolicon imagery evolved and contributed to the mainstream development of moe, the generalized affective response to fictional characters (typically bishōjo characters in manga, anime, and computer games) and its associated design elements. The bishōjo character form moved from niche, otaku publications to mainstream manga magazines, and saw explosive popularity in the decade with the rise of bishōjo games and anime series such as Sailor Moon and Neon Genesis Evangelion, which pioneered media and merchandising based on fan affection for their female protagonists. Moe characters, which tend to be physically immature girl characters exemplified by cuteness, are ubiquitous in contemporary manga and anime. In contrast to lolicon works, sexuality in moe is treated indirectly or not at all; the moe response is often defined with emphasis on platonic love.

John Oppliger of AnimeNation identifies Ro-Kyu-Bu!, Kodomo no Jikan, and Moetan as examples of series which challenge the distinction between moe and lolicon through use of sexual innuendo, commenting that they "satire the chaste sanctity of the moé phenomenon" and "poke fun at viewers and the arbitrary delineations that viewers assert". "Moe-style" lolicon works depict mild eroticism, such as glimpses of underwear, and forgo explicit sex.

### Genre features

Akira Akagi identified five themes in lolicon manga in 1993: sadomasochism, "groping objects" (alien tentacles or robots in the role of the penis), "mecha fetishes" (combinations of a machine and a girl), erotic parodies of mainstream anime and manga, and "simply indecent or perverted stuff", also noting common themes of lesbianism and masturbation. Media scholar Setsu Shigematsu argues that these forms of substitution and mimicry enable lolicon to "transform straight sex into a parodic form". More extreme works depict themes including coercion, rape, incest, bondage, and hermaphroditism.

Nagayama argues that most pornographic lolicon manga deal with a "consciousness of sin", or a sense of taboo and guilt in its consumption. Some manga manage this by portraying the girl as enjoying the experience in the end, while others represent the girl as the active partner in sex who seduces men to her. Other lolicon manga, where "men are absolute evil and girls are pitiable victims", indulge in the "pleasure of sin" through the breaking of taboos, which he argues affirms the fragility of the characters. He posits that manga depicting sex between children avoid the "consciousness of sin" via mutual innocence, while also thematizing nostalgia and an idealized past, while other lolicon manga accomplish this through characters with especially unrealistic and moe designs, where "it is precisely because fiction is distinguished from reality as fiction that one can experience moe".

## Legality and censorship

Child pornography laws in some countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, have expanded since the 1990s to include sexually explicit depictions of fictional child characters, while those in other countries, including Japan and the United States, exclude fiction from relevant definitions.

In 1999, Japan passed a national law criminalizing the production and distribution of child pornography. The law's original draft included depictions of fictional children in its definition of child pornography; after "criticism from many in Japan", this text was removed in the final version. In 2014, Japan's parliament amended the 1999 law to criminalize possession of child pornography; the 2013 draft introduced by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which maintained the existing legal definition, included a provision for a government investigation on whether manga, anime, and computer-generated images "similar to child pornography" were connected to child sexual abuse, which would be followed by a later decision on regulation. This provision was opposed by anime and manga artist and publishing associations, which argued that regulation would infringe on freedom of expression and negatively impact the creative industry and cited a lack of existing evidence linking fiction and crime. The provision was removed from the law's final version, which took effect in 2015.

Lolicon media is a common target of local ordinances in Japan which restrict distribution of materials designated "harmful to the healthy development of youth", which were strengthened throughout the 1990s and 2000s. An amendment proposed in 2010 to the Tokyo law on material banned from sale to minors (described by Vice Governor Naoki Inose as targeting non-pornographic lolicon manga, writing that "We had regulation for eromanga, but not for lolicon") restricted depictions of "non-existent youths" who appeared under age 18 and were portrayed in "anti-social sexual situations". Under massive opposition from manga creators, academics, and fans, the bill was rejected in June 2010 by Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly; however, a revision passed in December 2010 which restricts "manga, anime, and computer games" where any characters engage in "sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life" depicted in a way that "glorifies or exaggerates" such acts. In 2011, several manga were listed for restriction, including Oku-sama wa Shōgakusei [ja] ("My Wife Is an Elementary Student"), which had been previously criticized on television by Inose. It was later published online by J-Comi, avoiding restriction.

Sexualized depictions of young girl characters have also been subject to censorship and restriction outside of Japan. In 2006, North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga series Kodomo no Jikan for release under the title Nymphet, but cancelled its plans in 2007 after vendor cancellations. In a statement, the company noted that the manga "cannot be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard". In 2020, Australian senator Stirling Griff criticized the Australian Classification Board for giving ratings to manga and anime depicting "child exploitation", and called for a review of classification regulations; later in the year, the board banned the import and sale of three volumes of the light novel series No Game No Life for sexualized depiction of young characters. Some online platforms, including Discord and Reddit, ban lolicon content.

### Debate

Explaining the exclusion of lolicon from the 2014 amendment to Japan's child pornography laws, an LDP lawmaker stated that "Manga, anime, and CG child pornography don't directly violate the rights of girls or boys. It has not been scientifically validated that it even indirectly causes damage. Since it hasn't been validated, punishing people who view it would go too far;" his statement echoes activist arguments. Statistically, sexual abuse of minors in Japan has declined since the 1960s and 1970s while the prevalence of fictional lolicon has increased; Patrick W. Galbraith interprets this as evidence that lolicon imagery does not necessarily influence crimes and argues that lolicon characters do not necessarily represent real boys or girls, but rather what McLelland calls a "third gender," while Steven Smet suggests that lolicon is an "exorcism of fantasies" that contributes to Japan's low crime rates. Galbraith further argues that otaku culture collectively promotes a media literacy and ethical position of separating fiction and reality, especially when the conflation of the two would be dangerous. Drawing on his fieldwork as an anthropologist, he writes that the sexual imagination of otaku, including lolicon, "did not lead to 'immoral acts', but rather ethical activity". A 2012 report by the Sexologisk Klinik for the Danish government found no evidence that cartoons and drawings depicting fictive child sexual abuse encourage real abuse. Academic Sharalyn Orbaugh argues that manga depicting underage sexuality can help victims of child sexual abuse to work through their own trauma, and that there is greater harm in regulating sexual expression than potential harm caused by such manga.

Legal scholar Hiroshi Nakasatomi argues that lolicon can distort readers' sexual desires and induce crime, and that it violates the rights of children, a view shared by the non-profit organization CASPAR (founded after the Miyazaki case). Some critics, such as the non-profit organization Lighthouse, claim that lolicon works can be used for child grooming, and that they engender a culture that is accepting of sexual abuse. Guidelines released in 2019 by the United Nations Human Rights Committee encouraged state parties to include explicit drawings of fictional children in laws against child pornography, "in particular when such representations are used as part of a process to sexually exploit children". Feminist critic Kuniko Funabashi argues that lolicon manga contributes to sexual violence by portraying girls passively and by "presenting the female body as the man's possession". Legal scholar Shin'ichirō Harata argues that child pornography laws should not collapse reality and fiction together, but also that fans should not dismiss an ambivalence represented by lolicon. He describes the practice of keeping the two separated as the "ethics of moe", or "responsibility of otaku".

Dilton Rocha Ferraz Ribeiro analyzes the debate over the legal status of lolicon works in Japan and finds that both the pro-regulation and anti-regulation coalitions are relatively stable, with each reacting to actions by the other coalition. Catherine Driscoll and Liam Grealy argue that these debates, including international pressure on Japan to regulate these works, create a "discourse of Japanese exceptionalism" to international norms.

## Critical commentary

Cultural critics responding to lolicon generally emphasize it as distinct from attraction to real young girls. Anthropologist Patrick W. Galbraith finds that "from early writings to the present, researchers suggest that lolicon artists are playing with symbols and working with tropes, which does not reflect or contribute to sexual pathology or crime". Psychologist Tamaki Saitō, who has conducted clinical work with otaku, highlights the estrangement of lolicon desires from reality as part of a strict distinction for otaku between "textual and actual sexuality", and observes that "the vast majority of otaku are not pedophiles in actual life". Manga researcher Yukari Fujimoto argues that lolicon desire "is not for a child, but for the image itself", and that this is understood by those "brought up in [Japan's] culture of drawing and fantasy". Cultural historian Mark McLelland identifies lolicon and yaoi as "self-consciously anti-realist" genres, given a rejection by fans and creators of "three-dimensionality" in favor of "two-dimensionality", and compares lolicon to the yaoi fandom, in which largely female and heterosexual fans consume depictions of male homosexuality which "lack any correspondent in the real world". Setsu Shigematsu argues that lolicon reflects a shift in "erotic investment" from reality to "two-dimensional figures of desire". Queer theorist Yuu Matsura argues that two-dimensional characters are non-human "artifacts" and that desire oriented to such characters is not a desire toward humans. Matsuura calls the marginalization of fictosexuals or Nijikon "interpersonal sexuality centrism" (対人性愛中心主義, taijin seiai chūshin shugi) and criticizes that considering two-dimensional lolicon as "child pornography" is interpersonal sexuality centrism.

Most scholars also identify lolicon as a form of self-expression on the part of its male creators and consumers. Sociologist Sharon Kinsella suggests that for lolicon fans, "the infantilized female object of desire [...] has crossed over to become an aspect of their own self image and sexuality". Akira Akagi argues that lolicon manga represented a notable shift in reader identification from the "hero" penetrator common to pornographic gekiga: "Lolicon readers do not need a penis for pleasure, but rather they need the ecstasy of the girl. [...] They identify with the girl, and get caught up in a masochistic pleasure." Manga critic Gō Itō views this as an "abstract desire", quoting lolicon artist who told him that "he was the girl who is raped in his manga", reflecting a feeling of being "raped by society, or by the world". Kaoru Nagayama posits that lolicon readers adopt a fluid perspective that alternates between that of an omniscient voyeur and the multiple characters in a work, reflecting an active reader role and a projection onto girl characters. Writing in The Book of Otaku (1989), feminist Chizuko Ueno argued that lolicon, as an orientation towards fictional bishōjo, is "completely different from pedophilia", and characterized it as a desire to "be part of the 'cute' world of shōjo" for male fans of shōjo manga who "find it too much to be a man".

Several scholars identify the emergence of lolicon with changes in Japanese gender relations. Sociologist Kimio Itō attributes the rise of lolicon manga to a shift in the 1970s and 1980s, when boys, driven by a feeling that girls were "surpassing them in terms of willpower and action", turned to the "world of imagination", in which young girl characters are "easy to control". Kinsella interprets lolicon as part of a "gaze of both fear and desire" stimulated by the growing power of women in society, and as a reactive desire to see the shōjo "infantilized, undressed, and subordinate". Media scholar Chizuko Naitō views lolicon as reflecting a "societal desire in a broader sense" for young girls as sex symbols in Japan (which she calls a "loliconized society"). Christine Yano argues that eroticized imagery of the shōjo, "real or fictive", reflects "heteronormative pedophilia" in which emphasis is placed on the ephemerality of childhood: "it is as child that [the shōjo] becomes precious as a transitory figure threatened by impending adulthood".

Responding in 1982 to the popularity of Clarisse from his film Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, Hayao Miyazaki criticized artists and fans who idolized her in what he considered a demeaning manner, and said that he "hate[d] men who use the word lolicon." Despite his apparent rejection, Saitō and Galbraith still find connections between Miyazaki and desire for young girl characters. Interpreting Miyazaki's own words and his acknowledgment of eroticism as key to his creative process, Galbraith suggests that the distance between Miyazaki and the lolicon boom was about "shame": he criticized men who were open and playful about lolicon desire for having little shame, while he felt embarrassment about his own "longing" for girl characters.

## See also

- Hentai – anime and manga pornography
- Junior idol – child or early teenager pursuing a career as a photographic model
- Lolita fashion – Japanese fashion style and subculture
- Shotacon – male equivalent of lolicon, focusing on young boy characters
- Simulated child pornography – produced without direct involvement of children

Genre of sexualized young girl characters

Female stock characters in anime and manga


John Middleton (Norfolk artist)

John Middleton (9 January 1827 – 11 November 1856) was an English artist known for his accomplished watercolour paintings. He was the youngest and the last important member of the Norwich School of painters, which was the first provincial art movement in Britain. As well as being a talented etcher, he produced oil paintings and was an enthusiastic amateur photographer.

Middleton's father, also named John, was a Norwich glass stainer. His mother painted plants and twice exhibited her work with the Norwich Society of Artists. Middleton was educated in Norwich and studied art under the landscape painters John Berney Ladbrooke and Henry Bright. He first exhibited his paintings before the age of twenty and went on to show paintings at both the Royal Academy and the British Institution. Many of his works have been acclaimed by art historians for their masterly tonal values, confidence and freshness, which gives them a more modern appearance in comparison with the sometimes over-detailed works of other Victorian painters.

Middleton's death in 1856 from tuberculosis, which cut short his career at the age of 29, has been described by the art historian Josephine Walpole as "the supreme tragedy for the Norwich School of painters".

## Background

The Norwich School of painters, which included Middleton, was a group connected by geographical location, the depiction of Norwich and rural Norfolk, and by close personal and professional relationships. The school's most important artists were John Crome, Joseph Stannard, George Vincent, Robert Ladbrooke, James Stark, John Thirtle and John Sell Cotman, along with Cotman's sons Miles Edmund and John Joseph Cotman, and Middleton himself. The Norwich School was a unique phenomenon in the history of 19th-century British art. Norwich was the first English city outside London where a school of artists arose, creating the first provincial art movement in Britain. It had more local-born artists than any subsequently-formed school elsewhere. Norwich's theatrical, artistic, philosophical and musical cultures were cross-fertilised in a way that was unique outside London.

Within the Norwich School was the Norwich Society of Artists, founded in 1803. It arose from the need for a group of Norwich artists to teach each other and their pupils. Though not all of the members of the Norwich School were also members of the Norwich Society, the latter was key in establishing the artists' associations with each other. Its stated aims were "to conduct an Enquiry into the Rise, Progress and Present State of Painting, Archaeology and Sculpture with a view to point out the Best Methods of Study to attain to Greater Perfection in these Arts". It held regular exhibitions and had an organised structure, showing works annually until 1825 and again from 1828 until it was dissolved in 1833. The leading spirits and finest artists of the movement were Crome and Cotman.

John Middleton, who was too young to have had any association with the Norwich Society of Artists, was the last great watercolourist of the Norwich School and the most gifted of the school's third generation of artists. His works provided, according to Andrew Moore, the former Keeper of Art at the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, "a distinguished coda to the spirit of his immediate contemporaries and the artists of the first generation, John Sell Cotman and John Crome".

Interest in the Norwich School declined during the 1830s, but the school's reputation rose after the Royal Academy's 1878 Winter Exhibition. By the end of the century, however, its paintings—once regarded as modern and progressive—were seen as belonging to a bygone age. This has been attributed by the art professor Andrew Hemingway to the "mythology of rural Englishness" that prevailed at the start of the 20th century. He has commented on a lack of analysis of the Norwich School, such as connections between the Norwich School painters and other artists and developments in landscape painting during the 19th century.

## Life

### Early life and training

Parish records show that John Middleton was born in Norwich on 9 January 1827 and was baptised on 14 January at St Stephen's Church, by his parents John Middleton and Ann Bayfield. Little of his early childhood has been documented and his biographers do not mention any siblings, although the Middletons' memorial in St Stephen's Church includes an unnamed daughter who died in infancy. Some of the family's relatives in Norwich were blacksmiths and weavers, but John Middleton senior was a glass stainer. He was the business successor of Daniel Coppin, one of the founding members of the Norwich Society of Artists. In addition to running a glass colouring business, Middleton senior undertook plumbing and painting work, and studied and collected ferns in his spare time. His wife specialised in painting plants, and as 'Mrs. J. Middleton' exhibited two pictures with the Norwich Society: Cactus Speciocissimus, flowered in the greenhouse of Mr. C. Middleton, April 1828 and Georgina, or Dahlias from Nature (1829). Ann Middleton died in Norwich on 1 January 1830, aged 29.

Middleton was educated at Norwich Grammar School. Upon the completion of his formal education he became the pupil of the landscape painter John Berney Ladbrooke, who referred to "my pupil John Middleton" in a letter dated 11 February 1850. Ladbrooke, a Norwich School artist who produced a large output of works despite having to earn a living as a drawing master, particularly influenced Middleton's oil technique.

Middleton was taught by Henry Bright, whom he visited in London in 1847. Middleton moved to the capital at this time, living at 1, The Terrace, Kensington. From 1847 to 1849 he was both the pupil and friend of Bright, probably travelling with him on a trip to Kent.

Following his father's death in April 1848, Middleton moved back to Norwich in order to take over the running of the family business. His duties as a businessman both interrupted his training and acted to reduce his artistic output. In 1850 he moved with his step-mother from their house adjoining the business to a much larger house in Surrey Street, around the corner from the business in St Stephen's Street.

### Artistic career and friendships

Middleton was a precocious artist, exhibiting before he was twenty. He exhibited in London from 1847 to 1855, despite the interruption caused by his business commitments: he showed fourteen pictures at the Royal Academy and fifteen at the British Institution, where his work was acclaimed.

Middleton's artistic output was influenced by (and in turn had an influence upon) the works of Henry Bright, Thomas Lound and Robert Leman. The four artists were very good friends.

According to the author and art historian William Frederick Dickes, Middleton was the devoted young friend of Lound, who probably introduced him to the works of Thirtle, as well as to photography. Lound worked as a brewer clerk and an insurance agent, whose wealth allowed him to pursue his enthusiasm for collecting, copying and producing art. He was especially passionate about Thirtle's paintings. Along with Middleton, Bright and Leman, Lound was a member of the Committee of the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts (1848–1852). A central figure in the history of the Norwich School watercolour painters, the remaining Norwich artists depended on the leadership of Lound (and Leman) for three decades after the demise of the Norwich Society of Artists in 1833.

Middleton befriended William Johnson Jennis Bolding, a resident landowner and farmer in the coastal village of Weybourne. Bolding, known for his pioneering photographs of Norfolk landscapes and estate workers, is regarded as an important early photographer. Middleton was responsible for enrolling him as a member of the Norwich Photographic Society, which held exhibitions that included William Bolding's work. Bolding was also a talented artist who exhibited two oil paintings in 1853. The two friends sketched together, with Middleton often staying at Weybourne, and some of Bolding's landscape photographs have an affinity with Middleton's watercolour technique. A small etching by John Middleton, made en plein air, closely resembles a photograph by Bolding, showing that the friends were working together. Some of Bolding's landscape photographs that show trees, and trees near water, were photographed with a typical Middleton-like composition, with one particular image containing many of the ingredients found in Middleton's watercolours, such as trees, water, fences and a gate.

Although Henry Bright was Middleton's teacher, the outstanding watercolours Bright produced in the 1840s made after a sketching tour of Kent, when he was possibly accompanied by Middleton, show clearly how he was influenced by his pupil. It often difficult to distinguish between the two artists. According to the art historian Francis Cheetham, Lane over the Hill shows Bright's capacity to "use watercolour with (the) freshness and simplicity which characterises the finest work of John Middleton". Their friendship was not always smooth: in a letter of 22 February 1850 to Thomas Lound's son, Bright wrote, "J. Middleton dined here tonight, he was wondrous polite. Tell your good papa that my Lecture did him good."

Middleton travelled to various parts of Britain during his working life. As well as spending time sketching and painting during an excursion to Tunbridge Wells in Kent, he produced paintings of the area around Clovelly during a visit to the Devon coast. Included amongst works he exhibited in London were Scene near Tunbridge Wells (1847) and Clovelly, on the coast of Devonshire (1851). Whilst in London he and other members of the Norwich School attended the evening meetings of the Graphic Society of Painters and Engravers. He became a member of the Society in 1854, but resigned in 1856, shortly before his death.

### Decline and death

During much of his life Middleton suffered from poor health. He became consumptive and was forced to work outdoors less and less as his illness advanced. The art historian Derek Clifford noted that Middleton's inspiration, brilliant colours and confidence in his drawings tailed away after 1848, four years before his last known drawings were made.

Middleton died of tuberculosis at his home at 29, Surrey Street, Norwich, on 11 November 1856. He was buried in the new cemetery at Earlham. His obituary in the local Norfolk press noted that "he painted nature just as he found her in the quiet sequestered nooks which abound in this county, and many a spot, otherwise of little note, will live long on the canvas touched by Middleton’s hand". His will, which was proved in Norwich in July 1857, stipulated that Mary Middleton should inherit both the family business and the remaining funds from the estate. From his estate, which was assessed at under £30,000, he provided for his servants, his relatives and to charities, including the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, which received £100.

The author Josephine Walpole believes that "the supreme tragedy for the Norwich School was the death of John Middleton at the age of only 29" and that the later works of the most gifted of the school's watercolour artists only "lost their fire and life" because of the debilitating effect of his illness. According to Hemingway, Middleton's death in 1856 marked a decline in the quality of painting produced in the region, and he was the last significant watercolourist to be based in East Anglia.

## Works

There is no published catalogue raisonné of John Middleton's drawings, pictures or photographs. An idea of his artistic output can be obtained from the catalogue of a sale of his works that took place in June 1883, following the death of Mary Middleton earlier that year. On sale were 108 sketches (including a series made by Middleton when he was Ladbrooke's pupil), 108 pencil drawings, 4 sketch books, more than 40 etchings, 63 watercolour paintings, 11 oils and 20 oil painting sketches.

### Watercolours, oil paintings and etchings

John Middleton was a highly talented watercolourist, who according to Clifford, was the most successful of all the Norwich School artists working in this medium during the late 1840s, with the possible exception of John Sell Cotman. Middleton produced works using clear colours and incisively-outlined forms, boldly using the white of his paper and being, in Clifford's words, "delighted in the potentialities of his medium". The author Robert Brall considers Middleton's best paintings to have an "astonishingly modern" look, in comparison with the elaborate detail found in contemporary works. Brall notes that Middleton's more laboured paintings, painted from 1850, lacked much of the fresh and spontaneous appearance of his earlier works, probably because of a growing public interest in art that contained fine detail and an elaborate 'finished' look'.

Writing in 1905, Dickes described Middleton as a painstaking and energetic artist. The Dictionary of National Biography noted his "effective rendering of the seasons of the year, especially the early spring". Walpole has assessed his approach to his work as being more advanced than that of his contemporaries Robert Leman and Thomas Lound. Commentators have praised his ability to show tone in his paintings. According to Josephine Walpole, Middleton's "exquisite use of light and shade enhances the mastery of tonal values", a comment that echoes the Norfolk Chronicle′s report of 11 December 1847, which described his "charming use of light and shade".

His etchings required a different technique from his watercolours: their delicacy and intricacy are said by the author Geoffrey Searle to resemble the work of John Crome. In contrast to his watercolours, his etchings are mostly depictions of wooded landscapes, ranging in tone from those that are heavily inked, to others with a light, silvery touch and delicate lines. None of them depict human figures. A set was published separately in 1852 as Nine Etchings by John Middleton, now held at the British Museum and Norwich Castle. He also painted in oils, but little has been written of his oil paintings, whose subject matter was similar to his watercolours and which displayed a similar immediacy of execution.

### Photographic work

Middleton took a great interest in photography and was an early committee member of the Norwich Photographic Society, which was formed in 1854. He was one of the earliest artists to use a camera as an aid to producing watercolour landscapes, working in the medium whilst it was still in its infancy. Like Lound, who was also a keen amateur photographer, he possessed his own equipment, which at that time only the wealthy could afford.

Middleton used waxed paper negatives to produce his images of the Norfolk countryside. It is not known if he sold any of his photographs or displayed them in any major exhibition. The only photographs that can be attributed to him are a group made during a trip to North Wales. His landscape photographs are reminiscent in their contrasting dark and light tones of the large paintings produced by Bright in the late 1840s, such as Study of a Beech Tree.

Norwich's photographic community, centered around Thomas Damant Eaton (c. 1799–1871), was particularly active during the 1850s. During this period a close relationship existed between the artistic community and Norfolk photographers. An indication of this relationship was a major exhibition of works by both the Norfolk and Norwich Arts Association and the Norwich Photographic Society from November 1856 to February 1857, in which 500 photographs and 425 works of art were shown. It took place only four years after the first large public exhibition of photographs in the world. Middleton died shortly before the Norwich exhibition was opened, and its catalogue shows that none of his works were shown.

### Exhibitions and sales

Middleton's works have been included in fine art exhibitions in both London and Norwich:

- Exhibitions of the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts (1848, 1849, 1852, 1853 and 1855)
- British Institution exhibitions (1847–1855)
- Royal Academy exhibitions (1847–1855)
- Exhibition of the Works of Deceased Local Artists, Norfolk and Norwich Fine Arts Association (1860)
- Norwich and Eastern Counties Working Classes Industrial Exhibition (1867)
- British Medical Association Loan Collection (1874)
- Norwich Art Loan Exhibition, Church of St Peter Mancroft Restoration Fund (1878 and 1885)
- Fine Art Exhibition, in aid of the new Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (1883)
- Loan Collection of Drawings in the New Picture Gallery, Norwich Castle (1903)
- Exhibition of Norwich School Pictures, Norwich Castle Museum (October 1927)
- Exhibition at the Bankside Gallery in London from 25 May to 27 June 1982

Few of Middleton's paintings can be seen on public display outside the Norwich area. Several of his works have been sold at auction. His undated At Gunton Park (33 x 47.6 cm), which was sold at Chiswick Auctions in 2018, fetched £3,500. The etching At Hatfield (11 x 16.3 cm) was sold by Keys in 2016, for £120. A shady lane, Tunbridge Wells, Kent realised £6,675 at Christie's in London in July 2012, whilst another watercolour, An old cottage at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, realised £18,000 when sold there in 2007.

### Gallery

English landscape painter, born 1827


Ghosts I–IV

Ghosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by The Null Corporation on March 2, 2008. It was the band's first independent release following their split from longtime label Interscope Records in 2007. The production team included Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, studio collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and contributions from Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew, and Brian Viglione.

Reznor described Ghosts as "a soundtrack for daydreams," a sentiment echoed by critics, who compared it to the work of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. The tracks are unnamed, identified only by their track listing and group number, and are almost entirely instrumental. Although conceived as a five-track EP, the final release consisted of four nine-track EPs, totaling 36 tracks. The album was released under a Creative Commons license (BY-NC-SA) and in a variety of differing packages and prices, including a \$300 deluxe edition, without prior announcement. A YouTube-based film festival was also announced, inviting fans to visually interpret the music and post their submissions, but no mention has been made of the festival since its announcement.

Ghosts I–IV received positive reviews; critics praised its experimentalism and unorthodox release. It reached number 14 in the US, and was nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, the first time music released under a Creative Commons license had been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Ghosts preceded a series of soundtrack albums recorded by Reznor and Ross, including four collaborations with director David Fincher. In March 2020, Nine Inch Nails released two follow-up albums to Ghosts I–IV: Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts.

## Production

### Recording and music

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor announced in 2007 that the band had completed its contractual obligations to its record label, Interscope Records, and would no longer be working with the company. He also revealed that the band would likely distribute its next album independently, possibly in a fashion similar to Saul Williams' 2007 album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, which Reznor produced.

Following the Performance 2007 Tour in support of the band's previous album Year Zero (2007), Reznor set out to make a record "with very little forethought". Ghosts I–IV originated from an experiment: "The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as... something." Reznor explained, "I've been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn't have made sense until this point".

The core creative team behind the project was Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Alan Moulder. Live-band member Alessandro Cortini and studio musicians Adrian Belew and Brian Viglione also contributed instrumental performances on select tracks. Reznor described the band's early intentions for the project as "an experiment", and explained the group's process: "When we started working with the music, we would generally start with a sort of visual reference that we had imagined: a place, or a setting, or a situation. And then attempt to describe that with sound and texture and melody. And treat it, in a sense, as if it were a soundtrack."

The musicians created the album tracks through improvisation and experimentation. As a result, the initial plan to release a single EP of the material expanded to include the increasing amount of material. Viglione contributed percussion to tracks 19 and 22. He stated that Reznor's instructions to him were to "build a drumkit. Piece together any stuff that you want to bang on; rent what you want to rent. Have fun and... be creative—See where your mind and your ideas take you." Viglione's makeshift drum kit included a 50-gallon trash can, a pair of water cooler jugs, and a cookie tray with a chain across it. Alessandro Cortini is credited on a total of ten tracks from Ghosts for his contributions on guitar, bass guitar, dulcimer, and electronics. Cortini was brought onto the project two weeks into the process, and his involvement evolved from "first recording some extra parts to some tracks" and eventually into "a collaboration on [the] tracks noted in the booklet". Adrian Belew was also brought on for select instrumental contributions, but as the project evolved Reznor expanded Belew's involvement and shared writing credit with him on two tracks.

Ghosts I–IV is an almost entirely instrumental album, with only a few tracks containing sampled vocals. Reznor described the album's sound as "the result of working from a very visual perspective—dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams." PopMatters' review of the album compared its musical style to that of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, ultimately categorizing it as "dark ambient". The review went on to describe the music as "a tonal painting, a collection of moods and not all of these moods are good ones." NPR compared the album to the music of Erik Satie and Brian Eno. Rolling Stone also compared the album to the work of Brian Eno, specifically the album's sound to the instrumentals of Another Green World (1975) and the rhythm collages of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981). Robert Christgau also compared the album to the work of Brian Eno, summarizing Ghosts' sound as "mental wallpaper".

Ghosts I–IV features a wide assortment of musical instruments, including piano, guitar, bass, synthesizer, marimba, tambourine, banjo, dulcimer, and xylophone, many of which were sampled and distorted electronically. Percussion instruments, contributed primarily by Brian Viglione, were constructed largely out of found objects and household items.

### Artwork

Rob Sheridan acted as the album's art director, in collaboration with Artist in Residence. Sheridan was also art director for the previous two Nine Inch Nails studio albums, With Teeth (2005) and Year Zero. Since Ghosts was released in a variety of versions, some of the versions feature somewhat differing (or additional) album art and related artwork. A 40-page PDF comes with each version of the album and contains a photograph for each of the 36 tracks. These photographs are also embedded into the ID3 tags of every downloadable track.

## Release

Ghosts I–IV was released online on March 2, 2008, on the official Nine Inch Nails website in a number of different formats at various price points. The only prior advertisement or notice of the release was a post by Reznor two weeks prior on the site saying "2 weeks!" Ghosts was the first album released by Reznor's independent label The Null Corporation. Retail copies of the album were distributed by RED Distribution on April 8 on CD and vinyl formats, and May 1 for the "Deluxe" and "Ultra-Deluxe" editions. The smallest Ghosts package contains the first nine tracks, available for free online from either the official Nine Inch Nails website or officially from various BitTorrent trackers, including The Pirate Bay. The entire album was also made available for download directly from the band for US\$5. Physical copies of the album were available for pre-sale online, with immediate access to the digital version. A two-disc version includes two audio CDs and a 16-page booklet for \$10. A "Deluxe Edition" is available for \$75 and includes two audio CDs, a data-DVD containing multitrack files of the album, a Blu-ray Disc with the album in high-definition stereo and accompanying slide show, and a 48-page hardcover book with photographs. A \$300 "Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition" included everything in the "Deluxe" edition, as well as a 4-LP 180 gram vinyl set in a fabric slipcase, and two exclusive limited edition Giclée prints, unique to each copy. These were limited to 2,500 pieces, each copy numbered and signed by Trent Reznor. Reznor described the limited edition release as "the most luxurious physical package we've ever created." Finally, the album was also released on 4-LP 130 gram vinyl, set in a double gate fold package, for \$39.

The album is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license. Reznor explained this move by saying "It's a stance we're taking that we feel is appropriate [...] with digital technology, and outdated copyright laws, and all the nonsense that's going on these days". Jim Guerinot, then manager of Nine Inch Nails, explained the unconventional release of the album as "[not] a reaction to what doesn’t exist today. [...] it’s more just like, 'Hey, in a vacuum I can do whatever I want to do.'" The digital-release of the album reportedly required an extensive overhaul of the Nine Inch Nails website in order for the site to cope with the influx of traffic, online-payments, and customer service needs of releasing the album. These upgrades cost Reznor approximately \$20,000 to implement. Despite these measures, upon the release of Ghosts the site crashed, and additional servers were necessary to handle the traffic.

### Film festival

Nearly two weeks after the release of the album, Reznor organized and announced a user-created "film festival" as an accompaniment to the album, hosted at the official Nine Inch Nails YouTube channel. It was revealed that the album was stripped of much artwork and song titles to provide a blank canvas for the project. Reznor explained that the endeavor was not meant as a contest, but as "an experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship." Over 2,000 video submissions were posted and over 13,000 members joined the festival group, which started in March 2008.

### Live performances

Ghosts I–IV material was implemented into Nine Inch Nails live performances typically as a distinct section of instrumental songs midway through the show. Ghosts material was performed in this manner primarily as part of the Lights in the Sky tour in 2008, immediately after the album's release. During these segments the music was largely acoustic, as opposed to the electric instrumentation of other Nine Inch Nails live sets. The Ghosts segment included instrumentation from a marimba, harmonium, glockenspiel, double bass, banjo and various homemade percussion instruments. The Ghosts section was later scrapped for the "NINJA" and "Wave Goodbye" tours, as Reznor felt the instrumental songs did not fit with the set lists.

## Critical reception

Critical response to Ghosts I–IV was generally favorable, with an average rating of 69/100 based on 12 reviews on Metacritic. Seth Colter Walls of Newsweek described the album as "the kind of absorbing musical experience that the surviving ranks of know-it-all record-store clerks would be pushing on customers, if only they could offer it for sale." IGN gave the album a rating of 8.7 out of 10 and wrote, "The music is so engrossing and encompassing that time ceases to be a factor—at least until the music finally stops." PopMatters gave the album an 8 out of 10, and described the album as "36 tracks, but no songs", and went on to call it "dark, brooding [...] haunting." Pitchfork criticized the album by saying "nearly every one of the untitled instrumental sketches here feels emaciated and half-finished", and gave the work a 5.0 out of 10.0. Blender also criticized the album, summarizing the review by saying "Nine Inch Nails return with no label oversight, no boundaries and no tunes." The Washington Post stated, "There's too much here. Yet it's the most interesting NIN in years." The review went on to describe each track as "the sonic equivalent of a silver orb hovering in your living room [which then] explodes into a million shiny balls of mercury that splash to the floor before trickling, magnetically, back into a large round mass."

The album's unorthodox distribution methods also garnered the attention of various news agencies, such as Wired'''s Eliot Van Buskirk, who labeled Ghosts as "a remarkably extensive release." Ben Worthen of The Wall Street Journal hypothesized that "most business execs [...] could learn a lot from [Reznor's] experiments with online business models." Many news agencies compared the release to Radiohead's 2007 "pay what you want" digital release of In Rainbows, as well as the similar release of Saul Williams' album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! the same year, which Reznor produced. Rolling Stone's review called the album a "a new-media showpiece", while Tiny Mix Tapes said "the circumstances surrounding the release are so forward-thinking that they could be considered just as key to appreciating the album as the music itself." Financial website The Motley Fool wrote an article on the album's release titled "Music Industry Gets Nailed Again," forecasting that "Innovators like Nine Inch Nails are paving the way for new media business models that may bypass the middleman while making sure artists and fans are happy." In its review of The Slip, however, PopMatters described Ghosts I–IV in retrospect as an "aimless batch of... instrumentals packaged in a brilliant marketing scheme" and said that it was "basically a CD release with a couple of mail-order special editions available for the 'true fans'."

### Accolades

Ghosts was nominated for two Grammy Awards, under the categories Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track "34 Ghosts IV", and Best Boxed Set or Limited Edition Package for the "Ultra-Deluxe" edition of the album. These nominations represented the first time music licensed under Creative Commons had been nominated for a Grammy Award. Following the release of Ghosts and the similar online release method of the band's follow-up, The Slip, Reznor was awarded the Webby Artist of the Year Award at the annual Webby Awards in 2009. Rolling Stone magazine named Reznor number 46 in its "100 People Who Are Changing America" list, concluding that he has "been more creative than anyone in embracing the post-CD era".

## Commercial performance

The album's initial release on the official Nine Inch Nails website suffered problems as the website was inundated with traffic, and was not fully operational until extra servers were added to handle the influx of downloads. A week after the album's release, the official Nine Inch Nails site reported over 780,000 purchase and download transactions, amassing over \$1.6 million in sales. Pre-orders of the \$300 "Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition" sold out in less than 30 hours of its release.

The physical release of the album debuted at number 14 on the US Billboard 200 with 26,000 copies sold in its first week. The album also topped Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart. It had sold 149,000 copies in the United States by May 2013. Internationally, Ghosts peaked at number three in Canada, number 15 in Australia, number 26 in New Zealand, number 58 in Austria, and number 60 in the United Kingdom.

## Influence

"02 Ghosts I" has been featured in the 2012 documentary film Kony 2012. Portions of the album were used as the soundtrack to the 2014 documentary film Citizenfour. The 2018 documentary series The Fourth Estate features variations of songs from Ghosts I-IV, in addition to the series' opening sequence being scored by Reznor and Ross.

"34 Ghosts IV" was sampled by music producer YoungKio for a beat subsequently used on the 2018 Lil Nas X song "Old Town Road," with Reznor's and Ross' writing credits. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2019, and stayed there for a record-breaking nineteen consecutive weeks. The song also earned both Reznor and Ross a Country Music Association Awards nomination for Musical Event of the Year.

## Follow-up albums

Reznor wrote in 2008 that "more volumes of Ghosts are likely to appear in the future." In a 2009 interview with Trent Vanegas, he repeated his intention to make another Ghosts album in the near future.

The release of Ghosts I–IV foreshadowed a stream of soundtrack albums, recorded and labeled by Reznor and Ross, apart from Nine Inch Nails catalogue. The duo's three consecutive collaborations with director David Fincher: The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and Gone Girl (2014), were followed by a collaboration Before the Flood (2016), and subsequent scores for Patriots Day (2017), The Vietnam War (2017), Mid90s (2018), Bird Box (2018), Watchmen (2019), Waves (2019), Mank (fourth collaboration with Fincher, 2020), Soul (2020), Bones and All (2022), and Empire of Light (2022).

On March 26, 2020, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band released the previously unannounced Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts, for free download on the band's website, YouTube channel, and streaming platforms.

## Track listing

## Personnel

Album credits adapted from the liner notes of Ghosts I–IV'':

- Trent Reznor – performance, production, art direction
- Atticus Ross – programming, arranging, production
- Adrian Belew – guitars (3, 4, 7, 10–11, 14, 16, 21, 25, 27, 31, 32, 35), electronics (25), marimba (30)
- Alessandro Cortini – bass (4), guitars (4, 11, 17, 20, 24, 28), dulcimer (22), additional electronics (19, 22, 29, 33)
- Josh Freese – drums (38)
- Brian Viglione – drums (19, 22)
- Alan Moulder – engineering, mix engineering, production
- Tom Baker – mastering
- Rob Sheridan – art direction, photography, visual and physical elements
- Artist in Residence – art direction, photography, visual and physical elements
- Phillip Graybill – photography
- Tamar Levine – additional photography

## Charts

### Weekly charts

### Year-end charts

Albums free for download by copyright owner