Let's start with an introduction to Boys Love, also known as Yaoi. Why? Well, so that you will know what I am talking about when Simona's BL Research Lab kicks off and every time I talk about one of the hip & hot, or up & coming, or veteran & evergreen but in any case unique & special or representative & interesting authors I had the pleasure to study during my Boys Love research. Yes because it is a research you know, it is not like I read these manga for fun... (Simona's nose suddenly grows some 20 inches).
But anyway, I realize that BL, even though it is really hugely popular here in Japan, is still a pretty controversial phenomenon so I will not get into too much detail and try to deliver a tasteful account of each authors' characteristics and style.
But anyway - again - let's not linger any further... let's start with a glossary!
Boys Love
(ボーイズラブ) indicates those works (manga, anime, videogames, novels, drama
CDs, movies, dramas, etc), aimed at the female public, that depict male
homosexual relations. BL works can span from very innocent and pure
love stories with not more (or even less) than a kiss scene to next to
pornographic manga with not much of a storyline, with a lot of subgenres
in between. There are also SM BL works. Incidentally, BL stories are
not necessarily only about boys but can also talk about grown-ups.Yaoi (やおい) is an older term that indicates the same genre, short for "Yama nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi", "No climax, no punch-line, no meaning", which referred especially to original stories (mainly of romantic or sexual content) written or drawn in dojinshi (fanzines) using characters of existing commercial manga, anime, videogames, etc. (also known as paro-yaoi, from "parody") just for the fun of seeing one's favorite heroes indulge in naughty behavior :D Apparently the fujoshi decided that it was a bit too diminishing and they started calling it Boys Love, a term that was probably coined by the magazines.
Dojinshi
(同人誌) is the Japanese word for "fanzine"; "dojin" literally means
"peer", someone who is the same as you, a comrade, and also indicates a
literary group, while "shi" means "magazine". There are also text-only
dojinshi: short novels, short essays, poems, often enriched by some
black and white illustration, or a mix of both manga and written text
pieces. You can find fan-fiction as well as original fiction.Fujoshi (腐女子) means literally "rotten girl/s", and refers to fans of yaoi. Fujoshi can be very active and organize events, cosplay, draw or write dojinshi themselves. There are many Kakure Fujoshi (隠れ腐女子), the "hidden" rotten girls who cannot, or prefer not, to profess their passion in public.
Kifujin (貴腐人) pun on the word "fine lady", which has the same sound, it means "noble rotten lady" and indicates older fujoshi, generally married, with children or not, who did not give up their hobby.
Seme
(攻) "aggressor"; from the verb "semeru", "to attack", indicates the man
on top. "Tachi" = "the one who stands up" in "real" gay slang.Uke (受) "target"; from the verb "ukeru", "to receive", indicates the passive guy. "Neko" = "cat" in "real" gay slang.
Bishonen (美少年) is the male equivalent of "Bishojo", "beautiful boy".
Shota (ショタ) refers to the branch of BL that focuses on younger boys. The term Shota comes from Shotaro, the protagonist of Testujin 28, who was hailed by a journalist as a bishonen who looks great in shorts and thus the term "Shotaro Complex" was born as the male counterpart of the "Lolita Complex". A woman (or man) with the Shota complex is someone who likes much younger boys.
Now you are ready to discover the world of Kichiku Megane, Oyaji Uke, Wanko Seme, Hetare and all the other funky, mysterious, fascinating clichés of the world of Boys Love! Stay tuned!!
simona.com
images copyrights:
© Dokuro Jaryu / Tokyo Mangasha
© Mika Sadahiro / Magazine Magazine
© Asumiko Nakamura / Akaneshinsha
© Tsuta Suzuki / Takeshobo
© Kou Yoneda / Taiyohtosho
