A Guy’s Guide to BL
The following article appeared in the March 2017 issue of Da Vinci magazine, which is a popular magazine about books and the literary world. I thought it was a good counterpoint to the popular western framing of the BL (Boys Love) genre as explicitly LGBTQ+ which I think oversimplifies how the genre is understood in Japan with Japanese readers.
As an example, in the film version of 『窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る』(which is recommended in the article below) there is a scene where the main (male) character is made to choose between two potential partners, one male and one female. He’s already formed an emotional connection with the male character but tells him that a regular (普通) man couldn’t choose a man as a life partner. The fan subtitles translated this as him saying “straight” but there is a rainbow of difference between “straight” and “regular” in this context. To be straight is to identify as heterosexual and it turns the conflict that the character has into one of taking on the gay identity.
And while that is one way to interpret his reluctance to admit his desires, looking at the work without that lens, as a Japanese reader would, emphasizing the “regular” or normal, shows you a guy who has gone along with the flow his entire life and finds himself unable to move against the stream to pursue what makes him happy. In this framing, it’s not a conflict of personal identity but one revolving around his role in society. His enjoyment of his relationship with the male character is amply demonstrated (and thank you for your service Kanjani8’s Okura) before this scene. There’s no Christian guilt over enjoying homosexual sex here.
This is not to diminish or dismiss the feelings of readers who do value the “queer reading” of BL but simply to point out that--as our expert Sankyuu Tatsuo-san says below--there are many ways to read these stories and those attempting any scholarly analysis of the genre in English shouldn’t let their preconceived notions color their work.
One further aside before I leave you to it is that while I do have a little glossary at the end, it’s worth being aware of semeru and ukeru, which are BL character tropes that loosely correspond to (sorry for being crude) the person doing the fucking and person getting fucked. There are other character traits that go with this and in very true-to-stereotype BL the “seme” character is the more masculine character who pursues and the “uke” character is the more feminine character who is chased. Sankyuu-san uses the terms but I tried to translate the meaning in those passages without them. However, it’s worth keeping these phrases in mind.
And as always, I’m not a professional translator and this was done for my (and your) personal enjoyment only.
______________________
Will it become okay to enjoy? BL for Men
In this era that’s been called the Manga Recession, every year a new industry-conquering style is born. In the blink of an eye, it moves to the very top.
There’s a genre that’s celebrating this golden era. That genre is BL (Boys Love). There are a lot of people who haven’t read this genre, with it’s stories about romance between men, but who only know the name.
Possibly they even misunderstand, hating without having tried it…. That really is a huge shame. There are many wonderful writers working in BL today.
Audacious stories, finely detailed characters, deep human relationships. Things that can only be written about in BL are abundantly represented.
If they’re open-minded, it seems like more people should be able to enjoy it, even men!
Will it become okay to enjoy? Here’s a guide to BL manga for men who are starting from zero.
Sankyuu Tatsuo will instruct you
A guide to BL for men
“The world changes once you know about BL. Everyday is shining.” (From the introduction----)
In A Guy’s Guide to BL, Sankyuu Tatsuo-san logically lays out his thoughts about BL in a serious way. For male readers of Da Vinci, here’s a lecture on how to enjoy the genre. He’ll even politely answer pointed questions from uneasy readers with only trivial personal experience with BL.
Article by Kadokura Shima (門倉紫麻)
As a representative male BL reader, Sanyuu Tatsuo-san has previously laid out BL’s atrractions point by point in numerous mediums. However, upon initially encountering BL, with that first taste you think, “What on earth is this feeling?!” There’s fascination as well as confusion.
“You could say that the people who enjoyed BL from the beginning have ‘good instincts,’ and took to it naturally. Because I have bad instincts (when it comes to BL), it’s necessary for me to explain with words.”
Tatsuo-san, who’s “world was changed” when he encountered BL, says, “Men who like BL are often mistaken for homosexuals and are misunderstood.” Although one could choose to enjoy it secretly alongside one’s kindred spirits, Tatsuo-san says that personally he would rather announce his love.
“Generally, it’s only the word BL that’s known, just like a ‘kabe-don’ perhaps it’s difficult to use the word if you’re consuming without having an accurate understanding. It felt like the number of BL readers met with misunderstanding and hurt feelings was growing and I absolutely hated that it was like this. So, because there are people like me who are intrigued by the theory, I thought it would be good if this book (A Guy’s Guide to BL) became something like a guidebook to BL from that direction.”
Written into BL are relationships “full of humanity”
“In a broader sense, I think it’s a genre for people who are interested in romance and people who are unsure what romance is, or people who want to see the drama of human relationships,” says Tatsuo-san. There’s no reason that people who follow the trends or people who have particular tastes should not become BL readers.
“What’s written about in BL is human relationships. If you write about deep connections, it won’t just be stale tropes, the full range of human nature is sometimes hateful, becoming so angry you can’t speak. Human nature will even have figurative “romantic” emotions. This industry that enjoys literal romance rather than figurative “romantic” emotions is called “degenerate” but is it not simply deeply emotional?
However, this romance is between “two men,” why is that?
“I think that with heterosexual relationships there are things that become less distinct. In the act of love making in heterosexual relationships, fundamentally the partner who gets fucked is the woman. But when it’s two men, either one can become the partner who gets fucked. Being able to switch who is doing the fucking, the difference in the couples you are able to write about is like day and night. As ‘human beings’, the nature of the relationship changes depending on the context and type of relationship that the couple arrives at. With two men, there are no limits on the variations that can be created.”
Many male readers are probably thinking that since they are not homosexual, they can’t identify with the characters or enjoy romance between two men.
“I think if they enjoy anime and manga, they’ll almost certainly understand; in a two dimensional world a reader can fall in love regardless of his or her gender. Whether a character is male or female doesn’t matter, as long as you think the character is attractive. When I watched a BL anime for the first time, I thought, you know, this boy is really sweet. It wasn’t just his appearance, but I also thought his words and deeds and his behaviors were charming. Just like worlds where there are giant robots or where magic exists, I think BL can be taken as a world where men falling in love with each other is normal. That said, fundamentally, rather than reading while identifying with the characters, I’m reading from the point of view of a ‘guardian spirit’.
“That also goes for fujoshi. In their spaces they will often say, ‘I wish I was a fly on the wall’ but in both cases at the core is a desire to observe, so there is that way of looking at it. In ordinary life, when men are suffering from hardships or so on you don’t get to see their suffering but in BL you get to see it. Of course there are also readers who empathize with the characters and will project themselves into the story. There are various ways to enjoy BL. You can’t generalize and I think you must not generalize. The books can also become a critique of men from women who say, oh I wish there were men like this or I adore men who act like this. I think that for male readers, this aspect is also fascinating.”
When the couple comes together, you get a warm feeling like “I’m so glad”
Incidentally, there are unfortunately also many people of both sexes who feel hesitant when reading an explicit love making scene between male partners. However, sensual scenes are “one way to know a character’s inner self,” says Tatsuo-san.
“When a character is being pursued, of course you want to know the reaction when one confesses their interest to the other. In the same way, which attack method a man uses or the way that he reacts to or counteracts the attack method is something that you gradually come to want to know. When I read the final bed scene between Godai and Kyoko in Maison Ikkoku, I was really moved. Fundamentally it’s the same. Thanks to that scene, you come to understand how much Godai-kun treasures Kyoko-san as well as the nature of the couple’s relationship. So in a love making scene, a side of the character is shown that nobody else sees, it’s a moment only for his or her partner------I think it becomes a mutually special moment for both partners. I think, ‘I’m glad’ when I see it and my heart skips a beat.”
BL continues to put forward new tropes
According to Tatsuo-san, today’s BL world “is the genre in which the most brilliant authors are working.”
“Every year, incredible stars are appearing. There’s no other genre as thrilling as this. Trends shift rapidly. With new tropes like ‘uncle’ or ‘mafia’ or ‘agriculture’, previously unknown authors conquer the industry and enter the fujoshi vocabulary. It’s a genre where new tropes are continually being put forward. When you read BL, you can discover people’s goodness and attractiveness. At any rate, I hope you try to read these books without preconception, as you would a romance manga or relationship manga. Da Vinci readers and BL should be compatible. I think you’ll only encounter good works.”
Recommended for beginners are Classmates by Nakamura Asumiko and Junjo Romantika by Nakamura Shungiku.
“You could call these two works entry models, I think they’re representative prototypes that surpass their era. Because they both have anime versions, I think either is a good entry point. I’d also recommend Mizushiro Setona-sensei. People may know the popular drama Shitsuren Chocolatier based on Mizushiro-sensei’s series. I’d recommend her BL work The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese as the kind of thing that Da Vinci readers would enjoy.”
_________
Glossary
Kabe-don (壁ドン) is a girls manga romance-trope where (male) Character A traps (female) Character B against a wall by forcefully placing his hand against the wall by her head. “Kabe” means wall and “don” is the onomatopoeia sound the hand makes as it hits the wall. Please enjoy idol group King & Prince doing a kabe-don demonstration.
Semeru・ Ukeru (攻める・受ける) Literally the attacker and receiver, used as euphemism for the person doing the fucking and the person getting fucked.
Shugorei (守護霊) Guardian Spirit, similar to a guardian angel in Christianity
Fujoshi (腐女子) Enthusiastic female fans of BL fiction; the kanji literally read “degenerate girl” (so no judgement there lol).
Kabe ni naritai ・Hattearu posuta ni naritai (壁になりたい・貼ってあるポスターになりたい) roughly equivalent to the English idiom “I wish I was a fly on the wall” but literally meaning “I want to be the wall” and “I want to be the poster hanging up”. These are common phrases in fujoshi spaces and express a desire to observe undetected.
Maison Ikkoku (めぞん一刻), a famous romance manga written by Takahashi Rumiko, incidentally it was the first manga I ever read probably 20 years ago at this point when you could buy those early translated versions of manga in the book section of ~trendy~ stores like Tower Records so it has a fond place in my heart.
Classmates (同級生; Doukyuusei) by Nakamura Asumiko (中村明日美子)
Junjo Romantika (純情ロマンチカ; lit. Naive Romance) by Nakamura Shungiku (中村春菊), which I personally would not recommend to beginners. I’d suggest something more like Seven Days by Tachibana Venio but then I am not a male reader suggesting a work for other male readers.
Mizushiro Setona (水城せとな)
Shitsuren Chocolatier (失恋ショコラティエ; lit. Heartbroken Chocolatier) was made into a popular drama starring Arashi’s Matsumoto Jun. It’s specified in the original text as a “月9” or “getsukyuu” drama airing Monday at 9 p.m. which is a coveted time slot for dramas--think back to NBC’s Thursday Must See TV--but I didn’t want to clog up the text with more information explaining 月9 so I’m leaving that here.
The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る; kyuuso wa chizu no yume o miru) was just turned into a film starring Kanjani8’s Okura Tadayoshi and I highly recommend it. I do not recommend the clunky English translation of the title which annoys me. In English, something like “A Trapped Rat Dreams of Cheese” sounds more natural to me. Like what on earth is a “cornered mouse”?