porn
I wanted to talk about gay sex manga. Specifically about Fumi Yoshinaga gay sex manga, which I like. Everyone likes gay sex comics, but not that many people like Fumi Yoshinaga comics! I think this has something to do with the diff between "BL" and "Yaoi".
In my head, it's like, Yaoi = shitty.
Which is sort of bogus right
Is it a semantic thing? One is somehow more authentically of Japan, and the other is somehow creepy. Or is it an old art vs. new art thing? One can always identify an artist who got her start in the 90s because everyone on the page wears these. I don't even know. These ill-fitting white shirts with the top buttons undone in a way that is meant to seem desirable but instead just makes you wonder who even dresses like that. Tech I suppose "BL" is an umbrella term, whereas "yaoi" as a term isolated from its stigma means simply that the content is specifically about the goods, as it were, but I have not seen any such distinction applied to gay sex mangas concretely on a gay sex manga by gay sex manga basis. /illiterate
I want to call Fumi Yoshinaga mangas "yaoi", even though they are pretty much not shitty. The art quality is in the eye of the beholder, and the material is specifically about the goods. Unless the mangas in question are Seinen, of course, and contain no goods at all. The thing is, Fumi Yoshinaga is almost a better storyteller than she is a porn artist (she is a good porn artist), which is confusing. Her Kinou Nani Tabeta series, for instance, runs in a men's magazine and offers good, clean, healthy meal recipes. And consistently charming stories! It's pretty typical Yoshinaga Seinen where there is obv no porn but you keep expecting there to be porn even though you are aware that not all readers would be down.
Antique Bakery gave me the same sense. I am willing to argue that the 2008 Korean film adaptation is actually the better version, because it hits most of the right notes instead of beating around them for four volumes (also it is a musical, which is totally on message re: rape-y subject matter), but I for one love Yoshinaga art with its sketchiness and its subtle shifts of emotion, so I guess I was trying to read in from the get-go. 2001. And then, just last month, I discovered that there was actually an official doujin volume full of crazy things! These things were crazy! I am not sure how I feel about them. It is potentially awesome for authors to produce official fanfictions based on their own work, demystifying as those fanfictions might prove w/r/t the initial material, but this doujin was all porn and now I'm just confused again.
The Neko to Ojisan one-shot was pretty great, but following that, did I absolutely need to see noncon Ono/Tachibana? Yes and no? Like, maybe an imaginary AU version, not an official version, which was what this was according to Yoshinaga's super apologetic preface. My tender eyes. I defs did not need to see like 10 chapters of Ono/Chikage. But all in all I am glad this doujin exists, and that a decade after the fact I actually found out it exists, because it dispelled my concerns w/r/t Ono/Tachbana ever after. As, uh, the main event seems to suggest. Instead Tachibana insists on their being hetero life mates while Ono languishes in unrequited love and self-loathing. As it should be? Idk yes. /cruel The last two chapters were really beautiful and touching you guys, the one with Deko especially -- TIPOFF: these were all story, no fan service -- I only wish I could make out more of Yoshinaga's chickenscratch hand-lettering. Use a computer sensei, persocom de kaite kudasai.
So goes my conflicted opinion of Fumi Yoshinaga gay sex stories. I am depraved and basically in the tank with them -- especially well-rounded, well-paced stuff like Ichigenme or Gerard et Jacques where legitimate storylines exist alongside and outside of the porn -- but in the end I am almost more engaged by series, chapters, or one-shots where gay sex pages are either not the focus or altogether nonexistent. I had this semi visceral reaction reading Sore wo Ittara Oshimai Yo, a collection full of just. Like. Incredibly inappropriate, weird, sad, nihilistic stories, m/m, het, and gen. They are pretty literate! The last one is my favorite, but I like the story about the submissive wife as well. Deep stuff. It's clear that Yoshinaga is a very thoughtful author who happens to be known in part for her super explicit pornos, pornos that are memorable and all but nevertheless get labeled "yaoi". Which ought not be but unfortunately does sometimes end up filed under "shitty".
*
Regarding BL though. milkfed recently linked t3rribletrio's scanlations. They are so nice! I will be following Nobara and Tsubaki Byori. Ashita Hare Nochi Inu Youbi was a really cute one-shot about a cockblocking dog.
the theme is single fathers ❤
In my head, it's like, Yaoi = shitty.
Which is sort of bogus right
Is it a semantic thing? One is somehow more authentically of Japan, and the other is somehow creepy. Or is it an old art vs. new art thing? One can always identify an artist who got her start in the 90s because everyone on the page wears these. I don't even know. These ill-fitting white shirts with the top buttons undone in a way that is meant to seem desirable but instead just makes you wonder who even dresses like that. Tech I suppose "BL" is an umbrella term, whereas "yaoi" as a term isolated from its stigma means simply that the content is specifically about the goods, as it were, but I have not seen any such distinction applied to gay sex mangas concretely on a gay sex manga by gay sex manga basis. /illiterate
I want to call Fumi Yoshinaga mangas "yaoi", even though they are pretty much not shitty. The art quality is in the eye of the beholder, and the material is specifically about the goods. Unless the mangas in question are Seinen, of course, and contain no goods at all. The thing is, Fumi Yoshinaga is almost a better storyteller than she is a porn artist (she is a good porn artist), which is confusing. Her Kinou Nani Tabeta series, for instance, runs in a men's magazine and offers good, clean, healthy meal recipes. And consistently charming stories! It's pretty typical Yoshinaga Seinen where there is obv no porn but you keep expecting there to be porn even though you are aware that not all readers would be down.
Antique Bakery gave me the same sense. I am willing to argue that the 2008 Korean film adaptation is actually the better version, because it hits most of the right notes instead of beating around them for four volumes (also it is a musical, which is totally on message re: rape-y subject matter), but I for one love Yoshinaga art with its sketchiness and its subtle shifts of emotion, so I guess I was trying to read in from the get-go. 2001. And then, just last month, I discovered that there was actually an official doujin volume full of crazy things! These things were crazy! I am not sure how I feel about them. It is potentially awesome for authors to produce official fanfictions based on their own work, demystifying as those fanfictions might prove w/r/t the initial material, but this doujin was all porn and now I'm just confused again.
The Neko to Ojisan one-shot was pretty great, but following that, did I absolutely need to see noncon Ono/Tachibana? Yes and no? Like, maybe an imaginary AU version, not an official version, which was what this was according to Yoshinaga's super apologetic preface. My tender eyes. I defs did not need to see like 10 chapters of Ono/Chikage. But all in all I am glad this doujin exists, and that a decade after the fact I actually found out it exists, because it dispelled my concerns w/r/t Ono/Tachbana ever after. As, uh, the main event seems to suggest. Instead Tachibana insists on their being hetero life mates while Ono languishes in unrequited love and self-loathing. As it should be? Idk yes. /cruel The last two chapters were really beautiful and touching you guys, the one with Deko especially -- TIPOFF: these were all story, no fan service -- I only wish I could make out more of Yoshinaga's chickenscratch hand-lettering. Use a computer sensei, persocom de kaite kudasai.
So goes my conflicted opinion of Fumi Yoshinaga gay sex stories. I am depraved and basically in the tank with them -- especially well-rounded, well-paced stuff like Ichigenme or Gerard et Jacques where legitimate storylines exist alongside and outside of the porn -- but in the end I am almost more engaged by series, chapters, or one-shots where gay sex pages are either not the focus or altogether nonexistent. I had this semi visceral reaction reading Sore wo Ittara Oshimai Yo, a collection full of just. Like. Incredibly inappropriate, weird, sad, nihilistic stories, m/m, het, and gen. They are pretty literate! The last one is my favorite, but I like the story about the submissive wife as well. Deep stuff. It's clear that Yoshinaga is a very thoughtful author who happens to be known in part for her super explicit pornos, pornos that are memorable and all but nevertheless get labeled "yaoi". Which ought not be but unfortunately does sometimes end up filed under "shitty".
*
Regarding BL though. milkfed recently linked t3rribletrio's scanlations. They are so nice! I will be following Nobara and Tsubaki Byori. Ashita Hare Nochi Inu Youbi was a really cute one-shot about a cockblocking dog.
the theme is single fathers ❤