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

KakaIru heading into 2009

In japan the KakaIru fan community seems to be slowing down. Dying? Not quite, and probably not until we see the end of Naruto. But it has reached a sort of loll. One of the signs of this is when Halco of Chikadou fame announced in her blog that she would cease publication of any future KakaIru material. Halco, I believe, is one of the people who has helped shape Kakashi and Iruka by giving them traits that have become a part of fanon. These personality quirks such as Iruka's shyness and Kakashi's overactive libido can be found in many doujinshi. Not to say there aren't those that go against the norm or there isn't any tweaking between the artist. Sometimes Kakashi is super sweet, or kinda jerky, but undoubtedly he will also be a total horn dog. This shows how certain aspects have become a standard in this community.

artwork by Halco

This consistency found throughout the fandom is one of the reasons I find it so enduring. For me, it has become the definitive. Really. If I read a fanfic and Iruka is the seme or if I see a fanart with him on top I literally get pulled out of the element. This very rarely happens to me because I'm usually all about swithcin' it up. But when it comes to KakaIru I'm all about Kakashi being on top.

As the years continue to pass the KakaIru community will begin to dissipate even more. In order for it to regain some strength there will have to be a resurgence of new artist and writers willing to breathe life into the fandom. As much as the consistent characterization has given KakaIru staying power, I think changing it up might help revitalize it. Making Iruka an aggressive uke would be interesting. Or even just making them sex buddies while they carry on romantic relationships with other female Naruto characters would be a cool twist. Be creative! Although KakaIru will never return to what it was when Naruto was at its height in Japan I would love to see it go out with a bang. So keep it coming with the fanfiction, art, and comics, 'cause I'll be here to read, look, and buy.

artwork by Satoru Shigemi