Where we belong

TRU FAX: I see breast on the front page of Deviant Art more often than I see my own. I wonder if the creators of pieces such as this image (NSFW) ever get noted about their work being derogatory? I've read journal entries where artist who draw yaoi were nagged by fans not to do so. And you'll find a few artist on Y!Gal who are more comfortable posting their risque art there than on DA. I don't know, I just feel everyone should feel comfortable on DA regardless of what they draw. I know I've seen some very sexual girl on girl pics on DA and I doubt they receive the amount of complaints yaoi artist receive.

I guess, all I'm saying is an imbalance exist. I know, I know, we live in a patriarchal society so this is no big surprise. But since the majority of yaoi artist prefer using their DA more often than their Y!Gal accounts it would be nice if they didn't have to put up with any hub-bub. I just want them to feel as comfortable posting their hot man loving as the guy above felt posting his hot girl on girl photography.

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

Lesson learned

Pride month is winding down. In case you missed out on some of the awesomeness ontd_political has a couple of post collecting some very beautiful images of pride parades from around the world. Check 'em out!

Sadly, this month was also plagued with a few mishaps in the land of comics. Lets begin with Apple's infamous crusade against porn. In the middle of the month two comics, The Importance of Being Earnest and Ulysses Seen, were rejected by the Apple app store only to be approved when resubmitted with black bars blocking out any nudity. Later Apple backtracked and allowed the creators to submit unedited versions of their work to the app store.

Here is a montage of some of the censored images from The Importance of Being Earnest complied by Prism Comics:

And here are the images uncensored:

I believe the sad Keanu pic below parallels my feelings of this situation quite well.

Moving onto DC and their never ending problems with presenting characters that aren't white/male/cis-gendered. Gail Simone's Bird's of Prey was released this month and fans were shocked to discover she used a tired, sad, overused trope. In this most recent issue a homosexual male commits suicide after the death of a straight male he had been pining over died. Many fans saw this as ironic since Gail Simone became known for her Women in Refrigerators website, which chronicled the demeaning deaths of women in superhero comics. There was a big blowout on scans_daily with some back and forth between Gail and the fans that led to some hurt feelings but also to some awesome articles on homosexuals in comics, such as this one by neo_prodigy on noscans_daily. He gives an extensive writeup on the tropes comics tend to fall back on when it comes to writing homosexuals and explains why they shouldn't be used. I love the part on "the mythical straight boy unicorn". Here's a little taste:

Stop me if you recognize this plot device or some variation thereof. Miserable gay boy who has given up on love falls in love with the mythical straight boy. Gay boy in desperate need of being rescued falls in love with the mythical straight boy. Gay boy is persecuted by life and homophobes, who shall ever save him, the mythical straight boy. The gay boy is miserable and has no confidence in himself. Who teaches him to be cool, self confident and self reliant? The mythical straight boy. The gay boy is looking to recruit and win over that white knight. So who does he convert? The mythical straight boy. The gay boy needs saving? Who shall save him? I know, how about the mythical straight boy.

Gail Simone also read this article and posted about it in her blog in a response to the craziness which unfolded at scans_daily. Gail is human and is prone to make mistakes, but it seems she's taking the high road and learning from them. Hopefully we won't see so much fail in any of her upcoming releases.

We are nerds and the small little blips of fail in our community won't put a dent in the month long celebration of being yourself.

 Party hard, people!

How not to write a review

The Yaoi Review made me realize I need to stop reading reviews from yaoi blogs (the few that are in existence) after reading Jennifer's review for Incubus Master. She gives the plot an A+, the readability a B (wtf indeed), the sexual content an A-. The overall grade is an A-. What is saddening about this review--other than the outlandish grades--is the lack of substance. Instead of telling us what is exceptional about the plot, what sets it a part from your typical fanfiction and why you need to spend 3 dollars on each section, we are given smoke and mirrors:

What can I say? I love this plot. It’s always a good sign when you find yourself eagerly awaiting the next release. At no point in time did I find myself predicting where the story was going or thinking I already knew the ending. There are a lot of original elements to the story and I found it to be very engaging throughout. The synopsis provided for the story doesn’t do the story justice in my opinion. I think Yamila does a good job of 'going there' when tough situations arise in the story; not every element is sunshine and unicorns but that’s what makes the story a little deeper than most we get.

What about the story kept her waiting in suspense? What elements are original? How does Yamila go there? There is no elaboration. So, yes, I am frustrated--doubly frustrated since I am a English major--to read a review which tells me as much as the story's synopsis. And, yes, when I read a positive review with little to no substance I feel the writer is either purposely trying to mislead their audience or they have no writing skills. And not to be crude, I believe in this case it may be the latter. I understand reviews are opinions, but these blogs are not personal or casual blogs. These people are in contact with companies and undoubtedly believe their blogs serve a great purpose. They have the power to convince individuals to spend their hard earned cash. If you wield such power, it's your responsibility to at least learn how to write a good review.

Another aspect of her review I find quite puzzling is how Character Development received an A+ when she never discussed the character development. There is a section labeled "character" where she basically gives character descriptions:

Jinady, a human, is the main character the story follows. From the illustrations, he looks like your typical feminine long haired bishie and in some aspects he is but what I liked most about him is how the author chose to go beyond the typical bishie mold. Jinady not only is a bit of a slut throughout the story with his partner swapping but he also switches up once becoming the seme. I think it’s all his sexual risk taking that makes some of the sex scenes so steamy.

Figaru is Jinady’s main love interest although not his only one. He’s a demon who’s looking for love after losing his wife and although there are plenty of potential suitors, he knows he must be careful with who he partners with. Don’t feel sorry for Figaru when Jinady gets slutty, he’s getting his needs met as well!

There are plenty of other characters to keep the story interesting including a shape shifting demon named Gor, a slightly crazy transvestite named Leatha, spoiled brat and not to be trusted Rowan and our poor Vandrel, who is just too love sick over Leatha to make any good decisions

None of the above has anything to do with character development, which is about change and growth. So the reader is left in the dark as to why character development received an A+. We know Jinady likes to top and/or bottom and Figaru lost a wife but how does this add to the story? This information seems more like random facts than an in-depth dissection of a character.

Now, lets talk about sex, baby:

As I mentioned above, you get to see the sexual content illustrated and in color. Each part provides at least one sex scene and they are usually quite graphic and long. There are a lot of different partners written about so you definitely get some variety. I found the sex scenes written about Jinady to be the most appealing, probably because he’s the one we get to know the best (and is the most slutty!). The writing at times does detract a bit from the sex scenes and one of them early on didn’t really do it for me, moreso due to one of the characters involved but I saw improvement with each subsequent scene.

How does the author improve the sex scenes? What technique is applied to make them interesting? Is the sex there for mere titillation or is the reader able to garner any information about the characters through this physical act? Since one sex scene was found distasteful, mostly due to who was involved, is the only improvement whom Jinady is having sex with? What about the writing? How does the writing improve from what is presented in the free sample? As a reader all I gleaned from the above paragraph is there is graphic sex in each section and the sex scenes with Jinady are the best. The absence of how and why makes the writing come off lax and sloppy. It's that book report you wrote on the Giver in the fourth grade where you believed "it's cool" was a sufficient enough description to receive an A.

Look, I have yet to buy Incubus Master because I read the free preview and was not convinced it was worth so much as a nickel. These other reviewers have read the story and it's their job to convince me I am missing out. A good review would pique my interest and make me doubt my own preconceptions. The reviews I've read so far make me question whether or not these people have even written an essay for a class because rule number one of any essay is BACK UP WHAT YOU WRITE.

Furthermore, do not be quick to brush off those who only read the free sample. The job of the writer is to hook a reader with the first sentence. Incubus Master does not succeed at this task. So to casually forgive the poorly written opening and promise improvements in the sections which require payment is disingenuous.

Last and final scanlation post....for now.

What bothers me about articles such as this one written by Kuriosity's Lissa Pattillo is she is placing all the blame for the downward spiral of manga squarely on the shoulders of the fans. Want to read manga? Learn Japanese. Want to own manga? Import from Japan. These are all great suggestions but they're very much detached from reality. The majority of individuals don't have time to invest into learning a foreign language just to enjoy a leisure activity and despite her skewed facts the majority of people do not have the money to import manga from Japan.

However, people are more than willing to pay for entertainment if they believe it's worth it. Sita Sings the Blues is a great example of how fans will clamor behind a product they like. Even though Sita was free to the public the creator, Nina Paley, made a fifty-five-thousand dollar profit. Paley embraced the internet and in turn was rewarded. Such an acceptance of the internet has yet to happen within the corporate world of manga. There's no Netflix for manga. But maybe the aggregator's have shown companies there is a need for a similar service for manga fans.

I believe, for the most part, the fans have done their part. We've shouted loud and clear, "we want this". Now it's up to the companies to provide. If they don't, we'll find our own way. People such as Lissa may point their fingers and cry "thief", but I'll sleep soundly tonight regardless.

Where do we go from here?

This week DMP officially released information on their new translating venture to ANN:

The program is set to feature over a thousand manga titles or as many as "a few thousand," mostly in the boys love genre, to establish a following before branching out into other genres and possibly novels, Sasahara said. The business model will allow for DMP, the Japanese licensors, and the translators to each receive a cut of digital sales, and additional revenue will come from derivatives such as advertising, and possibly television or other adaptations of manga titles. Titles that perform well online may also go into print.

According to Sasahara, the venture was established as a reaction to the high up-front costs of licensing manga titles, coupled with long production time. He states that he was not aware of the Digital Comics Association's plan to work with U.S. publishers in a coalition against scanlation aggregators. He said that DMP's new program has been in development for over a year, and that "a few" unnamed content providers in Japan have verbally agreed to participate.

Sasahara also indicated that DMP would like to invite translation/lettering groups to the DMP offices at the company's expense for a presentation on the program in the near future.

It would seem DMP wants to become a legal BL aggregator site. But how do they intend on getting thousands of titles overnight? I believe they want those scanlations already in existence. All those titles Dangerous Pleasure, Nakama, and Arigatomina have been working on for years. I'm sure some scans will need touch ups here and there but for the most part I believe DMP just wants all these scans under their name. They're just doing what One Manga or Manga Fox already do but are actually asking the scanlators for permission to post their work and promising pay someday...maybe.

I can't really make heads or tails of this. My knee-jerk reaction is to not trust DMP because they are the big evil company who only cares about money. However DMP is at a disadvantage in this situation. They do not have the scans and they do not have the fans. By teaming up with scanlators they gain both. However, once DMP has a hold of those scans and the fans the power balance will shift, this is one reason why scanlators are probably wary about negotiating with DMP.

I wish the scanlators luck. And who knows, maybe this new initiative will transform the corporate manga world. A BL aggregator is a wonderful idea and if done right has the ability to be beneficial to all. So I'm just gonna wait to see how this all pans out.

Waaaaant....or maybe not.

Found this gem while looking up on Sakira:

Ryo Mutobe! For me, she's one of those automatic purchases. If she made it and it's BL or yaoi--I want it. So off to Jpqueen I went. I was excited to discover they had a copy. They also had this lovely preview up:

I then scrolled up and saw this:

WTF indeed. The price caught me off guard because it's more than double the original price (680). Jpqueen usually charges a bit more for all their purchases, I know. But this is quite the increase. Look, this is what I paid for a new yaoi manga in 2008:

This was the usual one would expect to pay for a yaoi manga from Jpqueen around that time and before. Some people may wonder why I'm making such a big deal since BL manga in the US goes for about 13-17 dollars, depending on the publisher. The key difference is shipping. If I buy this and ship EMS I'd have to pay 33 dollars. There are other shipping options: air, sea, SAL, all cheaper but with no tracking. I could take a chance and ship it without EMS...

There's also the whole thing where I feel like Jpqueen just charges too much in general. In Japan used manga usually goes for about 1-5 dollars. Jpqueen seems to slap an extra 3-4 onto used manga and I don't understand why this is done. I guess I could understand if they were relying purely on sales from outside of Japan. However, I don't know. And I guess not knowing makes me hesitant to rush into making a purchase.

If I'm lucky some store like Akadot Retail will someday have a few copies for sale. Until then I think I'll hold off on this purchase. If someone out there is willing to cough up the dough you can purchase the manga here. If it's not there it may be because I somehow talked myself into getting it. Maybe...maybe...

Woooooo, cliffhanger!

Harder, Better, Faster, Cheaper

The Yaoi Review has an article up on DMP's new effort in the digital market. Here's a little snippet:

DMP is working on a new ‘secret’ project for publishing more manga faster and cheaper than it is now. It would be via a digital format and they are looking to hire scanlators to help with this. Essentially, scanlators would be doing what they do now except there is the possibility of getting paid based on the sales of said manga titles they worked on. They also get to have their name on everything they translate and retain certain rights to the work they do. What rights I do not know. There is also the possibility of becoming a paid translator ‘if qualified’ and you’d be ahead of the pack when it comes to any other candidates that applied for the position.

Nine times out of ten faster and cheaper translates to cheap and/or free labor. DMP is hoping to snatch up scanlators with promises of "pay someday, maybe". This is a common tactic used throughout the business world and it's sad to see DMP being so open about it. I want to believe in this because having an American comic/manga company finally embrace digital media is great. Not paying people who work for you isn't so great.

However, Jennifer, Yaoi Review's blogger, finds the situation a bit ironic:

If I recall correctly, when a scanlator scanlates a title, the author and artist already did their work… where is their pay? Don’t they have a right to be “paid for that service regardless of the manga’s success” as in, even if it isn’t successful enough to be published in the U.S. or other countries, they should still get paid?

I think Jennifer probably doesn't remember the good ol' days when BL was not being sold in the US and scanlating groups such as Nakama were havens for us fans who were unable to get their hands on the real deal. Scanlators served and still serve a purpose to our community. Even though BL has finally found a way to our shores there's still a time delay. How long did we have to wait for Under Grand Hotel to make its way over here despite being a fan favorite? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for supporting the creator, but where would the fans for the work be if not for the scanlators? I wouldn't have discovered Suzuki Tanaka if not for Obsession. I know it's the same for many other fans.

DMP knows this and it's probably the reason why they want to integrate these individuals into their company. I applaud them for their efforts but find it deplorable if they intend on not paying the very people who created the fans who give them their profits.