2ch

2channel is a huge BBS in Japan that covers all kinds of eclectic topics, similar to Something Awful, except 200 times larger, and without a registration system.


 * Address: http://2ch.net/
 * Furry male oekaki board: http://tusk.x0.com/site/pbbs/kemonote.cgi
 * Furry female oekaki board: http://new2f.nyanta.jp/pbbs/bbsnote.cgi
 * Kemoshota (kemono boy) oekaki board: http://pig.oekakist.com/kemosho/
 * Dragon (Kemono Dragon) oekaki board: http://dog.oekakist.com/fakefang/
 * Founder: "Hiroyuki"
 * Administrators: Selected by Hiroyuki for particular boards
 * Ran from/to: 1999 - present

2channel and furry
A majority of the geeks on 2channel are anime and manga fans, but there is a small furry community, mainly confined to a single thread on one of the thirty-odd adult boards. The site features an oekaki board for 2ch kemono artists, plus it has an ongoing thread for furries (in Japanese):
 * Part 1 (1000 posts, archived)
 * Part 2 (1000 posts, archived)
 * Part 3 (active)

Kemono artists in Japan have a mixed opinion of 2ch. Because of its troll culture and light moderation, it is generally not a friendly place to post artwork. However, artists who don't mind this, including some objectively good ones, post their artwork anyway. They do it anonymously (following 2ch etiquette), using upload boards or oekaki BBSes like the one linked above.

2ch AA art
2channel has its own brand of simplified kemono art, made using Unicode characters and posted in threads without having to link to outside images. Shift_JIS art ("AA") is best displayed with Japanese fonts.

AA is only vaguely anthropomorphic, but Flash movies such as Nightmare City give AA characters colorful and humanoid designs and are popular with furries and kemono fans around the world.

AA characters
One of the most common AA characters is Monar, 2ch's mascot. Others include Shii, Giko, Shobon, and Hattoushin, but because AA is so easy to make, there is a universe of characters, compiled in large printed (published!) dictionaries as well online at AA dictionary websites such as the one listed below.