The World of JE from the n00b POV, Part 2: Boys in skirts and yaoi

[winterspel]

NOTE: The following discusses slash and boy/boy pairings. If this offends you, please do not read.

Comments

[seiwei]

Girls are who JE tries to sell to, so they do whatever they can to provide enough fanservice to catch the girls' attention. Yaoi appeals to girls. I mean, cmon, one pretty boy = good, two pretty boys = extremely better, two pretty boys molesting each other = major nosebleeding right there. It's shameless and vulgar, but we aren't complaining at all XD. In fact, it's better this way. Notice that everytime a JE boy is paired with a girl in a dorama, fangirls all over the world hate the girl.

JE doesn't even have to promote yaoi for the fangirls to make up their own fantasies, but they do sometimes. Akame is one of the most popular pair.

Yaoi isn't only found in JE. All anime series with two boys have some yaoi fanfics behind it.

And girl x girl is called Yuri: a favorite of men all over the world.

And I agree about the feminizing of these japanese boys. But we like our boys pretty. Koki of KAT-TUN is cute, but unfortunately looks like a guy, and fangirls run him over to get to Jin and Kame, who look like women. It's just what appeals to the girls *shrugs*

Sorry for going back to read and comment on old posts, but I couldn't help myself ^^;. You have very interesting entries!

[winterspel]

Sorry for going back to read and comment on old posts, but I couldn't help myself

There is absolutely no need to apologize! I tag and link these things so that I and others can find this stuff again, and I really want to hear from people who might have more experience and knowledge than I do.

At first I thought that the whole yaoi in JE was just like slash amongst online fans of western television and novels, but when I found out about the manga connection, it all made sense, and yes, of course it's also in anime. Slash (in the U.S.) is merely a fantasy projection that is not really known in the mainstream at all, but it seems that yaoi is a mainstream of its own. Of course it is a projection, but the whole idea of "fanservice" as something designed to provide fodder for the fantasy projection is what is so different from what I'm used to. No one would purposefully provide that in mainstream entertainment in the U.S. at least. I think it's really neat that it does happen in Japanese entertainment.

In the west, I think it's still NOT COOL to put two guys together in a romantic/sexual scenario unless they are clearly indentified as being gay and even that isn't completely mainstream yet (although it's getting there what with the Will & Grace & Queer as Folks of the television world). Japan is just different, and I'm fascinated by it.

And I agree about the feminizing of these japanese boys. But we like our boys pretty. Koki of KAT-TUN is cute, but unfortunately looks like a guy, and fangirls run him over to get to Jin and Kame, who look like women. It's just what appeals to the girls *shrugs*

So this is really just a thing among Japanese girls/women? I find that very interesting. Obviously, I have no problem with their feminine portrayal, or I wouldn't be here, but again, it's just very different from what I'm used to.

I do wonder how these guys feel about being portrayed this way, about doing fanservice, about their own girliness. I wonder how it affects them to be in this environment through their adolesence and into adulthood.

Ahh, I thank you for all the fantastic comments! My brain is buzzing with these thoughts. I love analyzing culture and trying to understand how it evolves, so I love it when I can get more information!

[seiwei]

LOL I'm not that experienced in JE and I'm not Japanese. I live in Minnesota, actually ^__^. I'm fascinated by them, is all. I think I only got into it near the end of fall semester 2005.

In the west, I think it's still NOT COOL to put two guys together in a romantic/sexual scenario unless they are clearly indentified as being gay and even that isn't completely mainstream yet

You know what...I totally agree with you o__o! I can NOT see myself googling at two american guys, even if they are gay, and JE boys are not gay at all. But then again, my friend Brianne's friend Bridgette does have an obsession with Canadians.

I do wonder how these guys feel about being portrayed this way, about doing fanservice, about their own girliness. I wonder how it affects them to be in this environment through their adolesence and into adulthood.

Err...my thoughts on this are they like the attention it brings them XD. Or they wouldn't have joined JE in the first place. Sure, they were young getting into it (Kame was 12 when he joined JE, and Ueda and Maru, the eldest of KAT-TUN, were 15) and might not know exactly what "fanservice" was all about and what they were getting into, but their parents should have known, ne? Tegoshi's parents surely have seen this photoshoot of him:
nya and
nya. God, whatever happened to cute innocent little Tesshi?

If you want to see how it affects them...look to their sempai, the older JE men (can't be called boys anymore). They turned out just fine. Fangirls respect their wives and don't send used pads to them, thank god. In fact, I think they're glad to retire or grow older, because fangirls turn their attention to the younger JE boys, and they aren't under so much pressure to be sexy. Is it pressuring to be sexy Oo?