Why I Read Yaoi

Oh, Erioca With Love, I love you for your Bowie-esque-ed-ness

Yaoi, also known as boys love, shonen-ai, BL or whatever, here in the States, is a genre of story telling, specifically manga and anime, that focuses on male to male pairings involved in romantic and sexual relationships (though those two need not be mutually exclusive). Stories sometime only nod to romantic possibility and some get down right and dirty.

Yoai is written primarily for women by women. I've tried to share yaoi with gay men friends of mine, and they were just not interested. That's not to say there aren't men out there who love this stuff.

I'm just generalizing here.

Jazz's Doc and Naoki are desperately in love, but it takes them a long time to figure that out.

Why would a woman make a comic about two men getting it on for other women to read? Why would a fangirl get all squee seeing two boys kissing? I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm all that hetronormative, but I would like to, one day, marry a man and hold hands and have a stork bring us a baby. Reading stories about sloppy sex between two guys is not scoring me many points in that department, but I'm not about to put the manga down, at least not until I finish this next scene:

Fake's Dee and Ryo share a private kiss in their patrol car.

There's some speculation and research into why yaoi has become so popular. Some folks think it has to do with women gaining more power in society. Others think it has to do with sexuality. Some apply feminist or other theories to the phenomenon. It's all really interesting.

Because I'm always thinking about stories and how they're told, I think the reason I like yaoi is because if feel like it essentially sucks gender politics right out of the narrative and the characters' relationship with the reader.

What the heck does that mean? I'll tell you! To me, it means all of the characters in a story are on equal footing. The story may be full of sex, but free of sexual politics. There's no, this is how a woman should be in relationship to a man and this is how a man should be in relationship to a woman.

The reader isn't obligated to identify with the character of her sex/gender just because that's who it's natural to identify with. She can identify with any number of characters, and in the context of stories about sex and relationships, it becomes a safe space for her (the lady reader) to explore different roles and dynamics. The reader doesn't have to ally herself with female characters who might be weak or coy or strong even, or who fall into acceptable societal roles and have the same parts that she does. Nor does she need to feel uncomfortable in forsaking female characters (and thereby rejecting a part of herself) because she embraces and relates to qualities present in the male characters.

As a younger reader/consumer of media, I often identified more with male characters. Frankly, a lot of them were more active, fun, adventurous and stoic than the female characters I encountered. We don't have to go into the psychology of this right now, but as a little girl, I spent endless hours fantasizing about growing up to be GI Joe's Storm Shadow or Snake Eyes. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were way more capable and engaged than Leia in my mind and Indiana Jones was such a bad ass compared to any of his weaker female companions. Even my real life heroes, Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi (look, I was a weird little kid) were men, and the smart people, too, Einstein, Jung, Freud (Yes, weird, weird little kid.).

What would Storm Shadow vs Snake Eyes slash look like?

That's not to say I didn't encounter strong female characters who I absolutely loved. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Menolly from the Harper Hall stories (Oh yeah, that's one for the deep geeks out there) are a couple. It was their fortitude I admired, less than their "masculine" strength.

I'm in my mid-thirties and I'm sure the young women who were born after me had subtly different experiences. I was raised by a parent who grew up in the fifties and sixties and though she was a wild child, I'm sure she had a lot of values about male/female relationships present in her psyche. I observed that a lot growing up, and felt very resistant to it. I was always uncomfortable with being "a girl" or "girly" because I didn't feel it represented me or who I was inside. I do love being a woman, but sometimes, especially when I was younger, I found society's definition/shaping of that gender identity very chafing.

I found a lot of relief in identifying with the male characters I saw on the big screen and television and read about in my books, but I also felt uncomfortable. I wasn't a man, nor did I ever want to be a man, and I felt a slight self-disgust, like, am I a hater of women? All of these female characters aren't like me. Am I rejecting them because they are women or because I don't identify with them? Do other people ask these questions when they read? I really hope so.

Preach it, Fumi Yoshinaga!

In Yaoi, all of the couples are "male" and in some sense genderless. This gender-less-ness creates a space free of preconceptions about what a man or woman is or should be or what-have-you. There is an equality between the characters not present in a man/woman pairing, where each member of the couple comes already imbued with a preset notion of gender identity.

When she reads yaoi, a skinny teen girl can be the brawny, strong and silent type, the pushy type, the shy, quiet type; she can be any type. She can explore whether and from which side she likes unrequited love or if she believes in love at all. She can be the top or the bottom. She can think about sex outside of a the context of gender politics. She can, and so can any other woman: housewives, day traders, grocery baggers. There's something revolutionary in that, a freedom, albeit a little strange, but healthy and fun.

A sweet, public kiss between the two main characters of "Only the Ring Finger Knows"

For our yaoi readers, I'd be interested to hear about why you like the genre?

For the love of Gravitation!

Dear Readers, I promised some Rock 'n' Roll around here! And, I mean to deliver! I've been thinking for ages about how to talk about Maki Murakami's classic many incarnated animanga-marketing extravaganza: Gravitation.

But, where do I start? Let's see, there's an anime, an OVA, a manga, a "remix" manga, light novels and oh, also dōjinshi, which Maki Murakami authored herself (and it is some really sick stuff, folks, sick.). I mean, who does that? So, meta. Actually, I think it was just so disturbing her publisher wouldn't touch it, but anyway.

At the heart of the blitz of materials that make up the Gravitation-verse, the story of a budding pop / rock star, Shuichi Shindou, and his love for a tortured romance novelist, Eri Yuki (sigh...). Shuichi, the lead singer of Bad Luck, is a little pink haired freak with too much energy, self-doubt, self-belief, passion and OCD. And, hrm, he is completely not like anyone I happen to know...

I've been thinking a lot about Shuichi lately, and why I even like him as a character? Point of truth: he can be a little annoying and abrasive, moving from the highest of heights to the lowest of lows, creatively and emotionally; he goes chibi too often for my tastes, and he is kind of pathetic. His band only has like two songs, and he wears the same outfit at every concert (oh, that's just the anime? Production value? Whatever.)

But, the thing is, I just love this character.

Shuichi is naively open to love. He sees what he wants, and he goes after it. He often agonizes and mopes, but he realizes that he shouldn't deny how he feels even if others don't approve. He's passionate about his creative life, and about the people he loves.

I'm going to go on record as saying: Shuichi Shindou inspires me!

In a forthcoming post, I will actually talk about one of the myriad associated comic type, moving picture what-have-you's that he appears in.

What? A Fake -- Season 2 Manga????!??!?!?

It's like finding a whole new Beatles album or something! I think I'm going to have a Squeezuire!!!! Ha! Ha! I've been writing bad copy all day, and I just heart my little puns.

I have not yet read M's below breakdown, only scanned it enough to get the feeling of a little bit of disappointment.

Hmm, I wasn't disappointed by Matoh's one shot depicting Dee and Ryo's future lives together...but who know's? Something as good as Fake can't be repeated, or can it?

I've read the series like 10 or 15 times and I always want it to go on and on and on and on. It's one of those things that could sustain itself for a long, long time, but again, we shall see.

I'm off to watch Jeopardy, read Fake part Deux, watch Blood + and maybe study up on my Japanese particles. Ugg, man, you got to watch out for those suckers.

Loveless (Manga) Vol. 8, Post Game Show

"No matter what happens, you still get sleepy, and you still get hungry, and the sun still rises."Semei and Ritsuka and Soubi reunite in Loveless Vol. 8. Like most everything in Loveless, it's not a happy occasion.

As readers we've spent a number of volumes believing along with Ritsuka and Soubi that Semei was dead. From Ritsuka's perspective, we also believed that, when alive, he was essentially a good person, Ritsuka's savior in times of abuse and neglect. If we only watched the anime, this image of Semei essentially never changed. But, the story arc of the anime ends around the time Vol. 6 of the manga does, and what we find is a whole other villainous and possibly mentally ill Semei lurking just beyond the credits, a cunning sadist who finds self-satisfaction in torturing the ones who are closest to him.

What we get in Vol. 8 is a better understanding of the relationships of all of the players involved. We get a lot of back story and learn more about Soubi's relationships with Minami Sensei and Semei and Kio. We learn more about Nigisa and her relationship to Minami Sensei and Zero as well.

It's implied that Minami Sensei was the one who "took Soubi's ears" at an abnormally young age, though not shown outright. Whether this was consensual or not, we don't know, but we do know that Minami Sensei was in love or hate with Soubi's mother. We know that he could not stand to look at Soubi, and he could not stand to look away. "I brought you here to be my slave," he tells Soubi, but in truth, he has simply taught Soubi to be "a" slave. Soubi does not even have the personal power to call some one or some thing his own. We know that Minami Sensei is a Sacrifice and that his Fighter Unit died, that he could have had Soubi for his own, because Soubi was born nameless, but instead he chose to "give" Soubi to Semei, who proceeded to abuse him, first by carving his name "Beloved" into Soubi's neck.

We learn that Soubi, as physically powerful as he is, is only a secondary fighter unit...whether it's true or not, his self-esteem and sense of personal autonomy have been worn down to nothing by Semei and by Minami Sensei (and has only recently begun to heal through his exposer to Ritsuka). He has been abandoned and abused and shaped into someone else's image his entire life. It seems only Ritsuka is able to treat Soubi like an individual person.

Well, Ritsuka AND Kio, his best friend -- a real friend -- a person who seems to be only a minor distraction, but we're learning about the strong bond he shares with Soubi more and more.

But, Soubi's self is still very weak. Though he is able to tell Ritsuka to not believe Semei's lies, he is unable to ignore them himself. After Semei blinds Minami Sensei and generally reeks havoc on the Academy, he orders Soubi to help him escape by shattering the glass of window in the library. Soubi does so without hesitation, and though no one blames him -- Zero says it can't be helped: A fighter must respond to his sacrifice -- he can't forgive himself.

Soubi understands that he is Ritsuka's fighter unit (even if it is at Semei's orders); he gets it that Semei is not a good person; he is afraid of what Semei might be intending for Ritsuka, but he is still physically and/or mentally ruled by Semei. He can't let go of what he percieves to be his own betrayl. He goes into a kind of "toddler" state, as Ritsuka says.

Here we see an example of the role reversal of this pair. Ritsuka, a twelve year old, who has als been abused mentally and physically most of his life, becomes the adult. Like a parent, he takes Soubi to task, tells him matter -of -factly to listen to his own advice: Semei lies, to not beat himself up (because no one else is) and to go to bed. Soubi, who in so many ways is still like a child, responds. In the last scene of the main storyline we find him fast asleep next to Ritsuka and there is something safe and comforting about that scene.

***

Of course the other thing I really love about Loveless are the quieting side stories. The main story is painful and heart wrenching, but Yun Kouga is able to lend it some levity by showing "normal" episodes in the character's lives. In this edition we find a split story of Yuiko and her and Ritsuka's teacher. Both stories take place at home, and they become more firmly grounded as "real" by the end of each.

The second side story is of Ritsuka and Soubi on New Year's Eve. It's cute and pedestrian and gentle.

Vol. 8 of the English language edition does not have an essay at the end. Too bad. I really look forward to those.

Loveless (Manga Vol 8 - preread) Yun Kouga

Uncomfortable Reading: Thoughtful Reading

Tonight, before I fall asleep, I'm going to crack open the latest English language release of Yun Kouga's beautifully rendered manga Loveless.

I'll give you fair warning: you're going to read a lot about Loveless here at Squeefinity, both the manga and the anime. M and I are big fans. We're both writers. We're both readers. We love words, and we feel, or at least I do, that this is a manga as much about language as it is about anything else. It's interesting for a graphic genre is so centered in language, or maybe not at all.

M and I also like to read things that make us uncomfortable, works that force us to fall in love with a character who may, to outside eyes, be despicable. Loveless can be very uncomfortable.

There is no doubt that the central relationship of this work is highly questionable. Soubi, a "Fighter Unit" is much older than Ritsuka, his "Sacrifice." The relationship is sexualized to some extent. Ritsuka may be exceptionally mature for a twelve-year-old, but the fact remains, he is twelve. Soubi's advances, though I'm not quite sure that's the right word, are confusing and comforting and Ritsuka is subtly aware that he can exert control over Soubi through what can sometimes be an uncomfortably adult affection, or a mimicry of adult affection. Soubi is an adult, and as such, should know better than to relate to Ritsuka in this way, but to be fair, he's lost and confused and in terrible pain himself.

In the context of any other narrative, I would find Soubi creepy --at the very least. However, Yun Kouga is a master story teller. She creates characters of such depth and complexity that what would seem like a clear cut taboo becomes something beautiful and forgivable when nestled in its framework. The relationship, which just isn't quite right from the outside, is the most stable and gentle in the entire work. It invokes a kind of a desparate feeling, a sad passion. It feels a little like a late Autumn day --you'll understand when you read it.

It's a manga worthy of intellectual discourse, because it is smart and elegant and beautiful and strange.

More to come...