cynbaby
(?)Community Member
Offline
- Posted: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 07:28:47 +0000
I'm sick and tired of people using the wrong terminology when talking about BL (Boys Love) manga and anime.
Hopefuly this will clear up some of the misconceptions.
yaoi (やおい) = The word yaoi is an acronym. The words that form it roughly mean"yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi," or, 'no climax, no point, no meaning'. In western usage it has come to be a blanket term for any romantic or sexual interaction between two males. In western fandom yaoi is usualy used to indicate graphic sex.
Shonen-ai *= boys love (this is a literal translation. shonen = boy & ai = love).
Originaly this term was used to refer to an aesthetic seen in Kaze to Ki no Uta (Song of Wind and Trees) and Heart of Thomas . This aesthetic revolved around pretty boys in impossible situations and usualy involved on of the characters dying.
Wiggle - from the website boysonboysonfilm gives a great definition of the aesthetic and why it fell out of favor.
"shounen-ai" refers to an aesthetic of older stories that were fraught with angst, tearfulness, strong and beautiful emotions, very little if any actual physical sexual contact, and desperately sad and tragic endings. The characters are generally younger and there is a sad and wistful feeling to it all. That genre isn't really written anymore -- I guess everyone got tired of their favorite characters dropping dead left and right. wink
In western fandom it has come to indicate a romantic story with little to no graphic sex.
The western interpertation is incorrect, but it's still prevalent in the fandom.
少年愛 （しょうねんあい） shounen ai
Comes from: 少年 （しょうねん） shounen meaning "male child" or "boy under the age of 15" and 愛 （あい） ai meaning "sexual love"
Note that "love between a men and woman" or just plain love is: 恋 （こい） koi.
Romantic love is: 恋愛 （れんあい） renai.
Love "in general" is: 愛情 （あいじょう） aijou.
Like, as in "I like you" is: 愛好 （あいこう） aikou or 強い好み （つよいこのみ）tsuyoi konomi.
Like, as in "I like cheese" is: 好き（ すき） suki.
Like as in "I really like cheese" is: 大好き （だいすき） daisuki.
June - Longstanding term for m/m using original characters. Has two syllables because it's not the English name of the month, it's the English name of the month used as the name of a Japanese magazine. Hence ju-nay. (Which was *the* pioneering m/m magazine, by the way.) Is both an amateur and professional genre. Purists argue that June is about 'serious' romantic m/m relationships and hence should not be used for the increasing number of 'peakless, endless, pointless' sexual stories modelled on series-based yaoi. IOW Koji and Izumi's on-going angsty many-volumed relationship in the BRONZE series is June. A fifteen page story in BBoy Gold where the lusty section head hits on his subordinate, screws him for half the story's length, and then leaves him crying is not.
Lemon = graphic sex in the western BL anime fandom
Lime = hints of sex - nothing graphic in the western BL anime fandom
Shota = A term for the sub-genere of BL that has two under age males together, or an under aged male with an older man.
Usualy the young characters are very cutsyfied in Shota.
*just for the record - "Shonen-ai is an outdated term. In Japan the current common usage of shounen-ai is to refer to adults who like young boys (i.e. *****]
BL or Boys Love is the term used in Japan to cover the entire genere. If any of you read the authors notes in the manga Eerie Queerie you will see the mangaka refer to her work as BL
I hope this clears up some of the confusion out there. Please don't refer to things such as Fake as shonen-ai. They are BL series, just the way that Love mode and Under Grand Hotel are BL series.
Seme - The character who is doing the screwing
攻: kou - meaning "attack, assault, assail"
攻め: seme from the verb 攻める semeru - meaning "to attack, assault, or assail."
Uke - The character who is receiving the screwing
受: juu - meaning "accept"
受け uke from the verb 受ける ukeru - meaning "to be given, to receive, to get."
Therefore, the seme can only be the giver, while the uke can only be the taker. One who gives and receives is called a switch, and is neither seme nor uke.
(many thanks to Iolanthe Aisling for her definitions complete with Kanji)
What about Gay manga in Japan? Manga by gay males for gay males. I asked Gynocrat from the Elegant Madness doujinshi circle for some help with terminology.
My information was gathered from the websites boys next door and aesthestisim.
___________________________________________
More information on these terms (and many many more) including audio files to help with pronunciation can be found at the Commonly Asked Vocabulary/Pronunciations thread by Snookums. This idea was (unknowingly) ganked from him.
___________________________________________
The thread The Truth about Yaoi and Homosexuality by Spider Jerusalem makes a lot of good points about the BL fandom, the nature of fans and how the influx of BL is effecting or views on homosexuality. If you're a literate BL fan and not one of the screaming 14 year old gravi fangirls you should really check this out.
___________________________________________
The thread A BL/Yaoi clarification for new BL fans by Iolanthe Aisling is another necessary read for anyone interested in the genre.
__________________________________________
bumps are more than welcome!
Hopefuly this will clear up some of the misconceptions.
yaoi (やおい) = The word yaoi is an acronym. The words that form it roughly mean"yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi," or, 'no climax, no point, no meaning'. In western usage it has come to be a blanket term for any romantic or sexual interaction between two males. In western fandom yaoi is usualy used to indicate graphic sex.
Shonen-ai *= boys love (this is a literal translation. shonen = boy & ai = love).
Originaly this term was used to refer to an aesthetic seen in Kaze to Ki no Uta (Song of Wind and Trees) and Heart of Thomas . This aesthetic revolved around pretty boys in impossible situations and usualy involved on of the characters dying.
Wiggle - from the website boysonboysonfilm gives a great definition of the aesthetic and why it fell out of favor.
Wiggle
"shounen-ai" refers to an aesthetic of older stories that were fraught with angst, tearfulness, strong and beautiful emotions, very little if any actual physical sexual contact, and desperately sad and tragic endings. The characters are generally younger and there is a sad and wistful feeling to it all. That genre isn't really written anymore -- I guess everyone got tired of their favorite characters dropping dead left and right. wink
In western fandom it has come to indicate a romantic story with little to no graphic sex.
The western interpertation is incorrect, but it's still prevalent in the fandom.
少年愛 （しょうねんあい） shounen ai
Comes from: 少年 （しょうねん） shounen meaning "male child" or "boy under the age of 15" and 愛 （あい） ai meaning "sexual love"
Note that "love between a men and woman" or just plain love is: 恋 （こい） koi.
Romantic love is: 恋愛 （れんあい） renai.
Love "in general" is: 愛情 （あいじょう） aijou.
Like, as in "I like you" is: 愛好 （あいこう） aikou or 強い好み （つよいこのみ）tsuyoi konomi.
Like, as in "I like cheese" is: 好き（ すき） suki.
Like as in "I really like cheese" is: 大好き （だいすき） daisuki.
June - Longstanding term for m/m using original characters. Has two syllables because it's not the English name of the month, it's the English name of the month used as the name of a Japanese magazine. Hence ju-nay. (Which was *the* pioneering m/m magazine, by the way.) Is both an amateur and professional genre. Purists argue that June is about 'serious' romantic m/m relationships and hence should not be used for the increasing number of 'peakless, endless, pointless' sexual stories modelled on series-based yaoi. IOW Koji and Izumi's on-going angsty many-volumed relationship in the BRONZE series is June. A fifteen page story in BBoy Gold where the lusty section head hits on his subordinate, screws him for half the story's length, and then leaves him crying is not.
Lemon = graphic sex in the western BL anime fandom
Lime = hints of sex - nothing graphic in the western BL anime fandom
Shota = A term for the sub-genere of BL that has two under age males together, or an under aged male with an older man.
Usualy the young characters are very cutsyfied in Shota.
*just for the record - "Shonen-ai is an outdated term. In Japan the current common usage of shounen-ai is to refer to adults who like young boys (i.e. *****]
BL or Boys Love is the term used in Japan to cover the entire genere. If any of you read the authors notes in the manga Eerie Queerie you will see the mangaka refer to her work as BL
I hope this clears up some of the confusion out there. Please don't refer to things such as Fake as shonen-ai. They are BL series, just the way that Love mode and Under Grand Hotel are BL series.
Seme - The character who is doing the screwing
攻: kou - meaning "attack, assault, assail"
攻め: seme from the verb 攻める semeru - meaning "to attack, assault, or assail."
Uke - The character who is receiving the screwing
受: juu - meaning "accept"
受け uke from the verb 受ける ukeru - meaning "to be given, to receive, to get."
Therefore, the seme can only be the giver, while the uke can only be the taker. One who gives and receives is called a switch, and is neither seme nor uke.
(many thanks to Iolanthe Aisling for her definitions complete with Kanji)
What about Gay manga in Japan? Manga by gay males for gay males. I asked Gynocrat from the Elegant Madness doujinshi circle for some help with terminology.
Quote:
You mean like Seinen-gei or geicomi?
The kanji is ゲイ.
The man is homosexual: 男性同性愛
Homosexuality: 同性愛
Gay manga anthologies are hard to sniff out anymore because of the rise of anthy's catering for gay male fans of 'yaoi'.
Bakudan, Gekidan, and DanDan, for example, are for Gay fans of 'the yaoi' style of comic whereas Kinniku Otoko is for 'female' fans of gay comics! The lines are getting blurry in Japan. An Anthology mags like G-Pro, G-Men, or the SM-Z specials are pure Gay...no yaoi plotting whatsoever and have little to no female readership.
The Imprint 'G Project' is BAKUDAN COMICS way of catering to gay fans of Yaoi, but does employ more gay male mangaka than DanDan or Kinniku Otoko would.
The kanji is ゲイ.
The man is homosexual: 男性同性愛
Homosexuality: 同性愛
Gay manga anthologies are hard to sniff out anymore because of the rise of anthy's catering for gay male fans of 'yaoi'.
Bakudan, Gekidan, and DanDan, for example, are for Gay fans of 'the yaoi' style of comic whereas Kinniku Otoko is for 'female' fans of gay comics! The lines are getting blurry in Japan. An Anthology mags like G-Pro, G-Men, or the SM-Z specials are pure Gay...no yaoi plotting whatsoever and have little to no female readership.
The Imprint 'G Project' is BAKUDAN COMICS way of catering to gay fans of Yaoi, but does employ more gay male mangaka than DanDan or Kinniku Otoko would.
My information was gathered from the websites boys next door and aesthestisim.
___________________________________________
More information on these terms (and many many more) including audio files to help with pronunciation can be found at the Commonly Asked Vocabulary/Pronunciations thread by Snookums. This idea was (unknowingly) ganked from him.
___________________________________________
The thread The Truth about Yaoi and Homosexuality by Spider Jerusalem makes a lot of good points about the BL fandom, the nature of fans and how the influx of BL is effecting or views on homosexuality. If you're a literate BL fan and not one of the screaming 14 year old gravi fangirls you should really check this out.
___________________________________________
The thread A BL/Yaoi clarification for new BL fans by Iolanthe Aisling is another necessary read for anyone interested in the genre.
__________________________________________
bumps are more than welcome!
