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Boys' love (BL), a genre of male-male homoerotic media originating in Japan that is created primarily by and for women, has a robust global fandom. Individuals in the BL fandom may attend conventions, maintain/post to fansites, create fanfiction/fanart, etc. In the mid-1990s, estimates of the size of the Japanese BL fandom were at 100,000 to 500,000 people. Despite increased knowledge of the genre among the general public, readership remained limited in 2008.
In Japan, fans of BL are referred to as fujoshi (腐女子). Translating literally to "rotten woman" or "rotten girl", the term originated as a pejorative for fans of the genre, but was later reappropriated by BL fans as a self-deprecating identity label. The term fudanshi (腐男子, lit. "rotten boy") later emerged to describe male fans of BL.
Most BL fans are either teenage girls or young women. The female readership in Thailand is estimated at 80%, [1] and the membership of Yaoi-Con, a convention in San Francisco, is 85% female. [2] It is usually assumed that all female fans are heterosexual, but in Japan there is a presence of lesbian manga authors [3] and lesbian, bisexual, other or questioning female readers. [4] Recent online surveys of English-speaking readers of BL indicate that 50-60% of female readers self-identify as heterosexual. [5] [6] It has been suggested that Western fans may be more diverse in their sexual orientation than Japanese fans and that Western fans are "more likely to link" BL ("Boy's Love") to supporting gay rights. [6] Much like the BL readership base, the majority of BL fanfiction writers are also believed to be heterosexual women. The reasoning behind this trend is sometimes attributed to patriarchy- that women who write BL fanfiction are in fact acting out heterosexual fantasies through these male figures. [7]
Although the genre is marketed at women and girls, gay, [5] [8] bisexual, [5] [9] and even heterosexual males [2] [10] [11] also form part of the readership. In one library-based survey of U.S. yaoi fans, about one quarter of respondents were male; [12] online surveys of Anglophone readers place this percentage at about 10%. [5] [6] [13] Lunsing suggests that younger Japanese gay men who are offended by gay men's magazines' "pornographic" content may prefer to read yaoi instead. [14] That is not to say that the majority of homosexual men are fans of the genre, as some are put off by the feminine art style or unrealistic depictions of homosexual life and instead seek "Gei comi" (Gay comics), manga written by and for homosexual men, [3] as gei comi is perceived to be more realistic. [15] Lunsing notes that some of the narrative annoyances that homosexual men express about yaoi manga, such as rape, misogyny, and an absence of a Western-style gay identity, are also present in gei comi. [3] Some male manga artists have produced yaoi works, using their successes in yaoi to then go on to publish gei comi. [3]
Authors of BL present themselves as "fellow fans" by using dust jacket notes and postscripts to chat to the readers "as if they were her girlfriends" and talk about the creative process in making the manga, and what she discovered she liked about the story she wrote. [16]
In the mid-1990s, estimates of the size of the Japanese yaoi fandom were at 100,000-500,000 people; [3] at around that time, the long-running yaoi anthology June had a circulation of between 80,000 and 100,000, twice the circulation of the "best-selling" gay lifestyle magazine Badi . [17] Most Western yaoi fansites "appeared some years later than pages and lists devoted to mainstream anime and manga". As of 1995, they "revolved around the most famous series", such as Ai no Kusabi and Zetsuai 1989 ; and by the late 1990s, English-speaking websites mentioning yaoi "reached the hundreds". [18] As of 2003, on Japanese-language internet sites, there were roughly equal proportions of sites dedicated to yaoi as there were sites by and for gay men about homosexuality. [19] On 16 November 2003 there were 770,000 yaoi websites. [20] As of April 2005, a search for non-Japanese sites resulted in 785,000 English, 49,000 Spanish, 22,400 Korean, 11,900 Italian and 6,900 Chinese sites. [21] In January 2007, there were approximately five million hits for 'yaoi'. [22] Hisako Miyoshi, the Vice Editor-in-Chief for Libre Publishing's manga division, said in a 2008 interview that although Boys Love is more well known to the general public, the numbers of readers remains limited, which she attributes to the codified nature of the genre. [23]
Thorn noted that while some fans like both equally, fans tend to either prefer BL or non-BL shōjo manga. [31] and Suzuki noted BL fans have a preference for BL over other forms of pornography, for example, heterosexual love stories in ladies' comics. [32] Jessica Bawens-Sugimoto feels that in general, "slash and yaoi fans are dismissive of mainstream hetero-sexual romance", such as "the notorious pulp Harlequin romances". [33] Deborah Shamoon said that "the borders between yaoi, shōjo manga and ladies' comics are quite permeable", suggesting that fans of BL probably enjoyed both homosexual and heterosexual tales. [34] Kazuma Kodaka, in an interview with Giant Robot suggested that the Japanese yaoi fandom includes married women who had been her fans since they were in college. [35] Dru Pagliassotti's survey indicates that loyalty to an author is a common factor in readers' purchase decisions. [6] Yōka Nitta has noted a split in what her readers want - her younger readers prefer seeing explicit material, and her older readers prefer seeing romance. [36] There is a perception that the English-speaking yaoi fandom is demanding increasingly explicit content, [37] but that this poses problems for retailers. [38] In 2004, ICv2 noted that fans seemed to prefer buying yaoi online. [39] Andrea Wood suggests that due to restrictions placed on the sale of yaoi, many Western teenage fans seek more explicit titles via scanlations. [40] Dru Pagliassotti notes that the majority of respondents to her survey say that they first encountered BL online, which she links to half of her respondents reporting that they get most of their BL from scanlations. [6] In 2003, there were at least five BL scanlation groups. [41] Japanese fan practices in the mid to late 2000s included the concept of the feeling of moe , which was typically used by male otaku about young female characters prior to this. [42]
Robin Brenner and Snow Wildsmith noted in their survey of American fans that gay and bisexual male fans of yaoi preferred more realistic tales than female fans did. [43]
Shihomi Sakakibara (1998) argued that yaoi fans, including himself, were homosexually oriented female-to-male transgender people. [44] Akiko Mizoguchi believes there is a "shikou" (translated as taste or orientation), both towards BL/yaoi as a whole, and towards particular patterns within the genre, such as a "feisty bottom (yancha uke)" character type. Her study shows that fans believe that in order to be "serious" fans, they should know their own preferences, and "consider themselves a sort of sexual minority". She argues that the exchange of sexual fantasies between the predominantly female yaoi fandom can be interpreted that although the participants may be heterosexual in real life, they can also and compatibly be considered "virtual lesbians". [16] Patrick Galbraith suggests that androgynous beautiful boys contribute to the appeal of yaoi amongst women who are heterosexual, lesbian or transgender. [45]
The small Taiwanese BL fandom has been noted to be against real-person BL fanfiction, banning it from their messageboard. [46]
Fujoshi (腐女子, lit. "rotten girl") is a Japanese term for female fans of manga, anime and novels that feature romantic relationships between men. The label encompasses fans of the yaoi genre itself, as well as the related manga, anime and video game properties that have appeared as the market for such works has developed. The term "fujoshi" is a homophonous pun on fujoshi (婦女子), a term for respectable women, created by replacing the character fu (婦) meaning married woman, with the character fu (腐) meaning fermented or rotten, indicating that a woman who enjoys fictional gay content is ruined for marriage. The name was coined by 2channel in the early 2000s as a derogatory insult, [47] but was later reclaimed as a self-descriptive term. "Fujoshi" carried a connotation of being a "fallen woman". [48] An issue of Yureka which examined fujoshi in detail in 2007 contributed to the spread of the term. [49]
Older fujoshi use various terms to refer to themselves, including as kifujin (貴腐人, "noble spoiled woman"), a pun on a homophonous word meaning "fine lady", and ochōfujin (汚超腐人), which sounds similar to a phrase meaning "Madame Butterfly", possibly taken from a character nicknamed Ochōfujin (お蝶夫人) in the 1972 manga series Ace o Nerae! by Sumika Yamamoto. [50]
According to a 2005 issue of Eureka, in recent times fujoshi can refer to female otaku in general, although it cautions that not all yaoi fans are otaku, as there are some more casual readers. [51] As fujoshi is the best-known term, it is often used by the Japanese media and by people outside of the otaku subculture to refer to female otaku as a group, regardless of whether they are fans of yaoi or not. This usage may be considered offensive by female otaku who are not yaoi fans. [50]
Men who, like fujoshi, enjoy imagining relationships between characters (especially male ones) in fictional works when that relationship is not part of the author's intent may be called fudanshi (腐男子, "rotten boy") or fukei (腐兄, "rotten older brother"), both of which are puns of similar construction to fujoshi. [52] Bara manga author Gengoroh Tagame has said that men may choose a fudanshi label because it is more socially acceptable than coming out as gay. [53] However, the sexual orientation of fudanshi is not necessarily gay, as heterosexuals also enjoy reading BL. [54]
Around 2020, fans began adopting the term "shipper" from English-speaking fandoms for its versatility, as it could be used for fan-preferred pairings of different genders. [55]
Fujoshi and fudanshi are used as characters in mostly otaku -themed anime and manga, particularly those aimed at women. Popular titles include Tonari no 801-chan , My Girlfriend's a Geek , Kiss Him, Not Me, The High School Life of a Fudanshi , and Sasaki and Miyano . [45] On the other hand, BL Metamorphosis and Princess Jellyfish , which both contained fujoshi characters and were aimed at a female audience, were praised for their female-centric view on the fujoshi subculture. [56] A TV series featuring a policewoman who is a fujoshi, Fujoshi Deka, has been broadcast. [57]
Besides commercially published original material, Japanese yaoi also encompasses fan-made dōjinshi, fanart, computer games, etc.; a large percentage of the dōjinshi offered at Comiket are yaoi stories based on popular anime and manga series. [58] This may be seen as a parallel development to slash fiction in the West. Although shōjo manga stories featuring romances between boys or young men were commercially published in Japan from the mid-1970s, and soon became a genre in their own right, the spread of yaoi though the Western fan community is generally linked to the pre-existing Western slash fiction community. In the mid-1980s, fan translations of the shōjo manga series From Eroica with Love began to circulate through the slash community via amateur press associations, [58] [59] creating a "tenuous link" between slash and yaoi. [60] Although the English-speaking online yaoi fandom is observed to increasingly overlap with online slash fandom, [61] slash fiction has portrayed adult males, whereas yaoi follows the aesthetic of the beautiful boy, often highlighting their youth. Mark McLelland describes this aesthetic as being seen as problematic in recent Western society. [21] Yaoi fans tend to be younger than slash fans, and so are less shocked about depictions of underage sexuality. [17] Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto detects a tendency in both yaoi and slash fandoms to disparage the others' heteronormativity, potential for subversiveness or even the potential for enjoyment. [33]
Boys' love, also known by its abbreviation BL, is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it from homoerotic media created by and for gay men, though BL does also attract a male audience and can be produced by male creators. BL spans a wide range of media, including manga, anime, drama CDs, novels, video games, television series, films, and fan works.
Yuri, also known by the wasei-eigo construction girls' love, is a genre of Japanese media focusing on intimate relationships between female characters. While lesbian relationships are a commonly associated theme, the genre is also inclusive of works depicting emotional and spiritual relationships between women that are not necessarily romantic or sexual in nature. Yuri is most commonly associated with anime and manga, though the term has also been used to describe video games, light novels, and literature.
Shotacon, abbreviated from Shōtarō complex, is, in Japanese contexts, the attraction to young boy characters, or media centered around this attraction. The term refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein prepubescent or pubescent male characters are depicted in a suggestive or erotic manner, whether in the obvious role of object of attraction, or the less apparent role of "subject".
Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex. While the term "slash" originally referred only to stories in which male characters are involved in an explicit sexual relationship as a primary plot element, it is now also used to refer to any fan story containing a romantic pairing between same-sex characters. Many fans distinguish slash with female characters as a separate genre, commonly referred to as femslash.
In Japanese popular culture, lolicon is a genre of fictional media which focuses on young girl characters, particularly in a sexually suggestive or erotic manner. The term, a portmanteau of the English-language phrase "Lolita complex", also refers to desire and affection for such characters, and their fans. Associated mainly with stylized imagery in manga, anime, and video games, lolicon in otaku culture is generally understood as distinct from desires for realistic depictions of young girls, or real young girls as such, and is associated with moe, or affection for fictional characters, often bishōjo characters in manga or anime.
The following is a glossary of terms that are specific to anime and manga. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes graphic novels, drawings and related artwork.
Antique Bakery is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga. The slice of life series follows the lives of four men who work in a pâtisserie. It was originally serialized in the manga magazine Wings from 1999 to 2001, and collected into four tankōbon volumes published by Shinshokan; a spin-off dōjinshi series has also been produced.
Kaze to Ki no Uta is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keiko Takemiya. It was serialized in the manga magazine Shūkan Shōjo Comic from 1976 to 1980, and in the manga magazine Petit Flower from 1981 to 1984. One of the earliest works of shōnen-ai, Kaze to Ki no Uta follows the tragic romance between Gilbert Cocteau and Serge Battour, two students at an all-boys boarding school in late 19th-century France.
In comics, LGBT themes are a relatively new concept, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) themes and characters were historically omitted from the content of comic books and their comic strip predecessors due to anti-gay censorship. LGBT existence was included only via innuendo, subtext and inference. However the practice of hiding LGBT characters in the early part of the twentieth century evolved into open inclusion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and comics explored the challenges of coming-out, societal discrimination, and personal and romantic relationships between gay characters.
Tonari no 801-chan is a Japanese four-panel Internet manga written and illustrated by Ajiko Kojima. It centers on the relationship between a male otaku named Tibet and his yaoi-obsessed fujoshi girlfriend Yaoi whose obsession manifests as a small, green furry monster. Kojima started the manga on April 18, 2006 on his blog. Ohzora Publishing released the first bound volume in December 2006, and by June 2007, it had sold 150,000 copies. Serialization of the manga began with the first chapter in Ohzora's Romance Tiara magazine in April 2009, spanning a total of eleven volumes. The series concluded in 2016.
My Girlfriend's a Geek is a Japanese light novel series in two volumes by Pentabu based on a popular blog of the same name with 11 million page views. A manga adaptation by Rize Shinba started serialization in 2007 and was published by Enterbrain under their B's LOG Comic imprint. A movie adaption was published in 2009 with My Geeky Girlfriend as the International English title. Both the light novel and manga have been licensed for release by Yen Press.
Bara is a colloquialism for a genre of Japanese art and media known within Japan as gay manga (ゲイ漫画) or gei komi. The genre focuses on male same-sex love, as created primarily by gay men for a gay male audience. Bara can vary in visual style and plot, but typically features masculine men with varying degrees of muscle, body fat, and body hair, akin to bear or bodybuilding culture. While bara is typically pornographic, the genre has also depicted romantic and autobiographical subject material, as it acknowledges the varied reactions to homosexuality in modern Japan.
Boys' Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre is a 2010 anthology about Boys Love (BL) and the Boys Love fandom edited by Antonia Levi, Mark McHarry, and Dru Pagliassotti.
LGBTQ culture in Japan has recently begun to distinguish. The Japanese adopted the English term gender to describe cultural concepts of feminine and masculine. Previously, sei was used to distinguish the binary biological sexes, female and male, as well as the concept of gender. Ai Haruna and Ayana Tsubaki, two high-profile transgender celebrities, have gained popularity and have been making the rounds on some very popular Japanese variety shows. As of April 2011, Hiromi, a fashion model, came out as a lesbian. There is a genre of anime and manga that focuses on gay male romance known as yaoi.
The High School Life of a Fudanshi is a Japanese yonkoma manga series written and drawn by Michinoku Atami. The manga is published online in Ichijinsha's Zero-Sum Online with first tankōbon format released on September 25, 2015. The manga is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. This work parodies BL's cliche and fandom, but is more focused on the genre, than other elements.
In anime and manga, the term "LGBTQ themes" includes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender material. Outside Japan, anime generally refers to a specific Japanese-style of animation, but the word anime is used by the Japanese themselves to broadly describe all forms of animated media there. According to Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin, the fluid state of animation allows the flexibility of animated characters to perform multiple roles at once. Manga genres that focus on same-sex intimacy and relationships resulted from fan work that depicted relationships between two same-sex characters. This includes characters who express their gender and sexuality outside of hetero-normative boundaries. There are also multiple sub genres that target specific consumers and themes: yaoi, yuri, shoujo-ai, shonen-ai, bara, etc. LGBT-related manga found its origins from fans who created an "alternative universe" in which they paired their favorite characters together. Many of the earliest works that contained LGBT themes were found in works by dōjinshi, specifically written content outside the regular industry. The rise of yaoi and yuri was also slowed due to censorship laws in Japan that make it extremely hard for Japanese manga artists ("mangakas") and others to create work that is LGBT themed. Anime that contained LGBTQ content was changed to meet international standards. However, publishing companies continued to expand their repertoire to include yuri and yaoi, and conventions were created to form a community and culture for fans of this work.
Danmei is a Chinese genre of literature and other fictional media that features romantic relationships between male characters. Danmei is typically created by and targeted towards female audiences, but not necessarily straight women. While danmei works and their adaptations have achieved widespread popularity in China and globally, their legal status remains unclear due to Chinese censorship policies. The female same-gender counterpart to danmei is known as bǎihé, which is an orthographic reborrowing of the Japanese word yuri, but it is not as well known or popular as danmei.
Fudanshi Shōkan: Isekai de Shinjū ni Hameraremashita is a Japanese manga series by Moe Fujisaki. It began serialization in NTT Solmare's monthly digital yaoi manga magazine Comic Marginal in June 2019.
New York New York is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Marimo Ragawa. Originally serialized in the manga magazine Hana to Yume from 1995 to 1998 and adapted into an audio drama in 2000, New York New York is focused on the relationship between a police officer and a civilian.
Tomoi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Wakuni Akisato. It was originally serialized in two parts, respectively titled Nemureru Mori no Binan and Tomoi, in the manga magazine Petit Flower from 1985 to 1986. Set in the early 1980s in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City, the series follows the life of Hisatsugu Tomoi, a gay Japanese doctor living in New York. The series is the first Japanese literary work in any medium to depict HIV/AIDS, and is noted by critics for its influence on the yaoi genre of manga.
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