Gay Japanese Cartoon Love
Our friends over at AfterElton have an illuminating article on gay love in manga, Japanese illustrated serials. (We called them “comics” once and our friend nearly shat. We replied, “Why get bogged down by semantics?” our favorite post-modern linguistic dismissal.) In the article, written by Hikaru Freeman, one learns all about a series called Gravitation.
Set in modern day Japan, the story revolves around up-and-coming rock star, Shuichi Shindo, and his burgeoning love affair with writer, Eiri Yuki. What struck us most about the piece is that there’s an entire genre of boy love manga Freeman refers to as shonen-ai, “which literally translates to ‘young-boy love.’”
We did a little research on the everyman’s encyclopedic website, Wikipedia, and apparently shonen-ai is dated term, and typically refers to actual pedophilia. But, again, semantics… Originally, the genre was marketed to women, who adored the stories of fagling love, but has drawn new audiences as more young Japanese men and women find the strength to come out. If only we had a similar genre when we were young…
“Gay Love in Japanese Manga” [AfterElton]
Shonen-ai [Wikipedia]
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find that you find this to be news. I thought everyone knew about this… but then, I forget sometimes that not everyone is a geek like I am.
BTW, shonen-ai, whereas it’s a bit old, is still the word for the boy love genre, whereas the term yaoi describes homosexual relationships between men and is generally more sexually explicit. I’ve seen yaoi used to replace the word shonen-ai, used to talk about the men loving men/boys loving boys genre in general.
The female equivalent of this is shojo-ai and yuri.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_%28animation%29
they are fucking comics. manga is japanese for comics. it’s like me insisting i’m eating queso dip, not cheese dip.
The terminology has become an overly-nitpicky part of the genre’s fanbase, IMO, as I’ve seen contradictory definitions for YAOI/BL/shounen-ai, espeically since publishers (who are doing the most to spread awareness of the genre and its terminology) aren’t following any of those rules.
Gravitation’s not my favorite, mostly because Eiri is such a jerk. Fake was a better romance (with hysterically bad police stories) and Yellow’s fun for being like a gay sexploitation/action movie.
Hmm…I was wondering when you guys would do a bit on yaoi/BL! My fave of the manga genres, of course ^_~ That pic is from Yami no Matsuei btw ^_^.
HAHAHAHA, omg, I think I was 12 when I watched the program. Oh, back in the day.
“shounen ai” comics (which are actually called “Boys Love” comics in Japan, not “shounen ai”, international fandom can be a little retarded) are really big for women on the other end of the ocean. Especially old. I remember my first week in Japan and seeing a group of old ladies rush a table that I later found out was covered in comic books of gay porn. If only my grandmother could be that way…
Williams Anthony un chico que cultivaba rosas un confeti de petalos cayendo unos años despues para calcar el sueño de piedra que somos