Adventure!

I may not be as knee deep in BL as I was a year ago, but I try to keep up with what's current. Recently I fell upon a discussion where individuals commented on how they were sick of reading BL where it was just about the men falling in love. They wanted something more. They wanted action and adventure with a nice side of love. What these ladies failed to realize is BL is a sub genre of romance; therefore the focus is romance. If the story's focus is adventure than it is an adventure story; it's no longer in the realm of BL just because two guys fall in love at some point in the story.

Think of it this way, it's like reading a mystery novel and then giving it the critique that it focused too much on mystery and the romance should be at the forefront of the story. Sounds a little absurd, right?

Mystery is read for the mystery, adventure for the adventure, and BL for the boys love.

I am not implying genre's can't mix and have awesome little spliced babies, this happens all the time. We've all read or seen a good action/romance. But you're misleading yourself if you come to the BL genre expecting the action to be something other than what goes on between the sheets.

Going Global

Ah, Global BL. BL with origins from outside Japan. Or, as I see it: a mishmash of a marketing scheme and Japanese purism. Love it!

No. No I don't love it. I've never been a fan of calling Japanese comics manga or Japanese animation anime. I do not live in Japan, and unless I'm speaking Japanese, usage of those words are unnecessary. I am not trying to be a word Nazi like John Locke and demand everyone apply the same definition to each word or not have so many words for one definition. It's an unrealistic goal. In this particular case I am a bit perplexed as to why an extra word is needed to distinguish a product. At its core, BL is romance shared between males. Does this change if a Mexican is penning the story? No. So why is global necessary?

Some part of me believes this has to do with keeping Japanese products exotic. Seriously, doesn't Global BL sound like a cheap knock off of the real thing? But I can't follow that line of thought because I know the phrase came from within my own community. So I'm doubly puzzled since us fujoshi tend to be very accepting of all forms of BL because in the end it's all about the love, baby.

I just can't willing go along with the segregation of a genre based upon the origins of the creator, especially when there is no core distinction between what the Japanese produce and everyone else. Yes, there can be sci-fi BL, western BL, and  fantasy BL, but there is no global BL.

More Tea, Please.

Dear Travis Mccoy, if I were a billionaire I'd pay the fine ladies behind Teahouse enough to woo them away from Marvel so they can dedicate all their time to working on their comic. In my opinion, Teahouse is far superior to many comics published by DC and Marvel (btw, Marvel, I'm not a fan of retconning MJ's pregnancy).

I've been excited about the upcoming print release of the first chapter of Teahouse, which is odd for me since I'm not a big fan of print anymore. But this is different since it's a full color BL comic. I can't say no to that. I also can't say no to a bonus story about Rhys and Axis. Love. Those. Boys. So. Much. If you are super excited too I hope you're going to participate in the fanart contest. Entries are due the 31st of this month.

Speaking of fanart, why is Y!Gal not being flooded with fanart for this series? I guess everyone is too busy drawing Hinabn smut. Which, I won't complain about because I love me some ConWorth.

The book review that grew into a great article

Near the beginning of the month, the peeps over at The Comic Journal had a roundtable to discuss the book, Boys' Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre. Dirk Deppey's contribution was my favorite because he did so much more than review Boys' Love Manga. He also gave great insight on homosexuality, BL, yaoi, and fandom. In his blurb before the article he comments on how he had every intention to contribute to the roundtable on the book but his addition ended up spiraling out of control (Four pages worth, baby). All I will say is reading his four pages is probably a million times more beneficial than purchasing the above book.

Dirk Deppey's post, The Mirror of Male-Love Love, is four pages of great writing. He begins by explaining the history of--not homosexuality--but pederasty, which was prevalent at one time or another in many countries around the world. He does this to combat the assumption of some of the authors that homosexuality had been tolerated at one time. He then moves on to explain his own homosexual experience before diving into reviewing Boys' Love Manga. He ends by wondering why no one wrote about masturbation and then outlines the real difference between the top and bottom roles in homosexual sex.

He also wrote this:

I am a gay bottom. Oh, I can top, if that’s what circumstances require. I’m quite good at it, actually, but the reason that I’m good at it is precisely because I am a bottom, and therefore I know what a bottom wants from sexual intercourse.

Which made me think of this:

And then I wasted my morning rereading Carp. In Japanese. Oy Vey.

BACK ON TOPIC. The conclusion Dirk reaches in his essay are echoed in the sentiments of his fellow contributors. Why are people trying to make a simple equation so complex? Or as Dirk puts it:

We also need to finally learn to forgive each other for being fucking monkeys, and start understanding and celebrating it instead.

There's nothing deep and profound behind why females like yaoi and/or BL. Boys' Love Manga, for the most part, seems to try to explain a fandom to our patriarchal overlords who can't quite grasp why some of us don't fit into the rigid spectrum they created for us. So if you're white/male/cis gendered and can't understand why girls love BL but you totally believe the hot lesbian stuff you watch online is a-okay, this may be the book for you. However, if you frolic in the land of BL and yaoi, Dirk's article will undoubtedly better service you. He's not trying to figure you out. He celebrates the fact we all like sex. And you know what, sometimes it's just that simple.

Here are links to the other roundtable articles if you're interested:

BL Roundtable: No Point, No Meaning, Maybe Tenure by Noah Berlatsky
BL Roundtable: Do we really need to spill this much ink over the question of whether girls like porn? by Shaenon Garrity
BL Roundtable: Anthropologize Me One More Time, Baby by Kinukitty
BL Roundtable: Conclusions: On Dream Police, Cigars and Maybe Not Shutting Up Forever Noah Berlatsky
BL Roundtable: Conclusions: I didn’t make him for you! by Dirk Deppey
BL Roundtable: Conclusions: Men Doing Makeouts by Shaenon Garrity

The difference between yaoi and bl

I spent my morning blog surfing and happened upon the Yaoi Review. The webmaster restructured the way she does reviews on her site. There are four categories she grades: plot/readability, character development, illustrations, and sexual explicitness. The fact sexual explicitness is given its own section made me think about how many fans in the US think of sex when they think of BL. Why is this?

The majority of BL fans in the US didn't start out reading BL. Yaoi came first. With yaoi comes the expectation of sex. When fans move onto BL the expectation carries over. Because of this the line between Yaoi and BL has been muddled and mixed up to the point where the two words are used interchangeably. Or, in most cases, BL isn't used at all.

I don't have a problem with US fans calling BL yaoi. However, I think it is important for fans to know the difference between fan made works and professional ones. Yes, you can find BL manga where the whole purpose is to titillate, but this is also true of shoujo and shounen. Sex isn't tied to those genre's. Sex shouldn't be tied to BL.

Up, up and away...

Back home in the states and I'm welcomed by this news: Tokyopop is raising prices on their BL titles. BLU manga will now cost 14.99. This doesn't sit well with me. I know the economy sucks for everyone and TP probably is hurting for money, but I don't see how raising prices is going to help them any, especially when everyone is cutting back. And I doubt BL is on the top of anyone's buy list. I'm also not easily won over by their promise of bonus color pages. Going by their track record they can just as easily pull these pages without any explanation to the customers and expect us to keep paying the same price. This is probably why I'm not too keen about the new price because I don't know how long they will keep printing these color pages, nor am I confident this new price raise will prevent them from doing yet another, and another, and another.

I don't know. I'm all about supporting the genre, but I guess everyone has their limits and I think TP has reached mine. This isn't just about the raise in prices, but a lot of things TP has done over the years. So, this is more about not supporting a company then not supporting a genre. BL will continue to get my money one way or another, but TP won't.

Review: You Will Fall in Love

First, let me point out there is no color insert in this manga, and it would seem for the time being all Blu gn's are going this route. I've been a fan of the color inserts and will miss them. But, hey Blu, we're all suffering in this economic downturn, how about taking a dollar off the price tag if we're not going to get the color insert?

Now, to zee review. Here is the summary you will find on the back of the book:

Painful, heartbreaking memories suddenly surface for Haru when he agrees to fill in as teacher for the high school archery club. In his youth, Haru was a brilliant archer who competed for the national championship. But uncontrollable urges for a male rival forced him to give up on his archery dream and run away from his true feelings. Now that he's back in the bow-and-arrow game, Haru becomes drawn to the brother of his long-lost love--and he must find out if desire has taken on a new, seductive aim...

Let me correct something in that summary. Haru first becomes a substitute teacher for a class before he agrees to also substitute for the archery club, by this time he has already met Tsukasa. Next, I'm surprised they somehow left out the most dramatic part of the story in that summary, and that's Tsukasa's older brother, Reiichiro. Reiichiro plays a bigger role in this story than just a lingering memory. He shows up a quarter into the book and puts a strain on Haru and Tsukasa's blossoming relationship.

For those of you who like student/teacher relationships this will probably be right up your alley. And if you're just getting into the BL genre this is also a good book to start with. But for the most part, this is your typical student/teacher romance story: Student loves teacher, teacher rebukes student, student molests the teacher, teacher cries but likes it and the two live happily ever after. Sound familiar? You know it does.

But, you know what? I really liked the addition of Reiichiro. He added just enough drama to the story to keep me eagerly flipping from page to page. Other then the fact that I really enjoyed his character I also liked watching and reading the reaction Tsukasa had to him meeting up with Haru. And I appreciated that Reiichiro wasn't treated like some villain. I'd say buy the book just for him. And also, the Hakama. Guys + Hakama = Total Win. Indeed.

Where does this book rate smut-wise? On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being no smut and 10 being an orgy of deliciousness, I give this a 3. There's only one sex scene but there are no drawings that focus on anything lower then the torso. There's not even any tongue kissing (boo to no frenchin' I like me some tongue).

If you liked Takanaga's other work, such as Little Butterfly, or if cutesy art is your thing then this title should please you. But, for those of you familiar with BL, this isn't a title that will have you jumping up and down. But that's not to say you should pass on this book. It's a good read. It's no Future Lover's, but it's something nice to keep for a rainy day.