Boys' love (Japanese:ボーイズ ラブ,Hepburn:bōizu rabu), also known by its abbreviationBL (ビーエル,bīeru), is a genre of fictional media originating inJapan that depictshomoerotic relationships between male characters.[a] It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it from the equivalent genre ofhomoerotic media created by and for gay men, though BL does also attract a male audience and can be produced by male creators. BL spans a wide range of media, includingmanga,anime,drama CDs, novels, video games, television series, films, andfan works.
Though depictions of homosexuality in Japanese media have a history dating to ancient times, contemporary BL traces its origins to male-male romance manga that emerged in the 1970s, and which formed a new subgenre ofshōjo manga (comics for girls). Several terms were used for this genre, includingshōnen-ai (少年愛,lit. "boy love"),tanbi (耽美,lit. "aesthete" or "aesthetic"), andJune (ジュネ,[dʑɯne]). The term‹See RfD›yaoi (/ˈjaʊi/YOW-ee;Japanese:やおい[jaꜜo.i]) emerged as a name for the genre in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the context of‹See RfD›dōjinshi (self-published works) culture as a portmanteau ofyama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi ("no climax, no point, no meaning"), where it was used in a self-deprecating manner to refer to amateur fan works that focused on sex to the exclusion of plot and character development, and that oftenparodied mainstream manga and anime by depicting male characters from popular series in sexual scenarios. "Boys' love" was later adopted by Japanese publications in the 1990s as an umbrella term for male-male romance media marketed to women.
Concepts and themes associated with BL includeandrogynous men known asbishōnen; diminished female characters; narratives that emphasizehomosociality and de-emphasize socio-culturalhomophobia; and depictions of rape. A defining characteristic of BL is the practice of pairing characters in relationships according to the roles ofseme, the sexualtop or active pursuer, anduke, the sexualbottom or passive pursued. BL has a robust global presence, having spread since the 1990s through international licensing and distribution, as well as through unlicensed circulation of works byBL fans online. BL works, culture, and fandom have been studied and discussed by scholars and journalists worldwide.
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Multiple terms exist to describe Japanese and Japanese-influenced male-male romance fiction as a genre. In a 2015 survey of professional Japanese male-male romance fiction writers by Kazuko Suzuki, five primary subgenres were identified:[1]
Despite attempts by researchers to codify differences between these subgenres, in practice these terms are used interchangeably.[21] Kazumi Nagaike and Tomoko Aoyama note that while BL and‹See RfD›yaoi are the most common generic terms for this kind of media, they specifically avoid attempts at defining subgenres, noting that the differences between them are ill-defined and that even when differentiated, the subgenres "remain thematically intertwined."[21][23]
In Suzuki's investigation of these subgenres, she notes that "there is no appropriate and convenient Japanese shorthand term to embrace all subgenres of male-male love fiction by and for women."[1][21]‹See RfD›Yaoi has been used as anumbrella term in the West for Japanese-influenced comics with male-male relationships,[11] and was preferentially used by American manga publishers for works of this kind due to the belief that the term "boys' love" carries the implication ofpedophilia.[21] In Japan,‹See RfD›yaoi is used to denotedōjinshi and works that focus on sex scenes.[11] In all usages,‹See RfD›yaoi and boys' love excludesgay manga (bara), a genre which also depicts gay male sexual relationships, but is written for and mostly by gay men.[11][20]
In the West, the termshōnen-ai is sometimes used to describe titles that focus on romance over explicit sexual content, whileyaoi is used to describe titles that primarily feature sexually explicit themes and subject material.[24][25][16]Yaoi can also be used by Western fans as a label for anime or manga-basedslash fiction.[26] The Japanese use ofyaoi to denote only works with explicit scenes sometimes clashes with the Western use of the word to describe the genre as a whole, creating confusion between Japanese and Western audiences.[22]
Homosexuality andandrogyny have ahistory in Japan dating to ancient times, as seen in practices such asshudō (衆道, same-sex love betweensamurai and their companions) andkagema (陰間, male sex workers who served as apprenticekabuki actors).[27][28] The country shifted away from a tolerance of homosexuality amidWesternization during theMeiji Era (1868–1912), and moved towards hostile social attitudes towards homosexuality and the implementation ofanti-sodomy laws.[29][30]
In the face of this legal and cultural shift, artists who depicted male homosexuality in their work typically did so throughsubtext.[31] Illustrations byKashō Takabatake [ja] in theshōnen manga (boys' comics) magazineNihon Shōnen formed the foundation of what would become the aesthetic ofbishōnen: boys and young men, often inhomosocial orhomoerotic contexts, who are defined by their "ambivalent passivity, fragility, ephemerality, and softness."[32] The 1961 novelA Lovers' Forest bytanbi writerMari Mori, which follows the relationship between a professor and his younger male lover, is regarded as an influential precursor to theshōnen-ai genre.[4][33] Mori's works were influenced byEuropean literature, particularlyGothic literature, and laid the foundation for many of the commontropes ofshōnen-ai,‹See RfD›yaoi, and BL: western exoticism, educated and wealthy characters, significant age differences among couples, and fanciful or evensurreal settings.[33]
Inmanga, the concept ofgekiga (劇画) emerged in the late 1950s, which sought to use manga to tell serious and grounded stories aimed at adult audiences.Gekiga inspired the creation of manga that depicted realistic human relationships, and opened the way for manga that explored human sexuality in a non-pornographic context.[34]Hideko Mizuno's 1969shōjo manga (girls' comics) seriesFire! (1969–1971), which eroticized its male protagonists and depicted male homosexuality in Americanrock and roll culture, is noted as an influential work in this regard.[35]
Contemporary Japanese homoerotic romance manga originated in the 1970s as a subgenre ofshōjo manga.[21] The decade saw the arrival of a new generation ofshōjo manga artists, most notable among them theYear 24 Group. The Year 24 Group contributed significantly to the development of theshōjo manga, introducing a greater diversity of themes and subject material to the genre that drew inspiration from by Japanese and European literature, cinema, and history.[36] Members of the group, includingKeiko Takemiya andMoto Hagio, created works that depicted male homosexuality:In The Sunroom (1970) by Takemiya is considered the first work of the genre that would become known asshōnen-ai, followed by Hagio'sThe November Gymnasium (1971).[37]
Takemiya, Hagio,Toshie Kihara,Ryoko Yamagishi, andKaoru Kurimoto were among the most significantshōnen-ai artists of this era;[38][17] notable works includeThe Heart of Thomas (1974–1975) by Hagio andKaze to Ki no Uta (1976-1984) by Takemiya.[38][39][40] Works by these artists typically featured tragic romances between androgynousbishōnen in historic European settings.[3][35] Though these works were nominally aimed at an audience of adolescent girls and young women, they also attracted adult gay and lesbian readers.[3][41] During this same period, the firstgay manga magazines were published:Barazoku, the first commercially circulated gay men's magazine in Japan, was published in 1971, and served as a major influence on Takemiya and the development ofshōnen-ai.[42]
Thedōjinshi (self-published works) subculture emerged contemporaneously in the 1970s (seeMedia below),[43][44] and in 1975, the firstComiket was held as a gathering of amateur artists who producedōjinshi.[45] The termyaoi, initially used by some creators of male-male romancedōjinshi to describe their creations ironically, emerged to describe amateur works that were influenced byshōnen-ai and gay manga.[46][47] Earlyyaoidōjinshi produced for Comiket were typicallyderivative works, withglam rock artists such asDavid Bowie andQueen as popular subjects as a result of the influence ofFire!;[45]yaoidōjinshi were also more sexually explicit thanshōnen-ai.[48]
In reaction to the success ofshōnen-ai and earlyyaoi, publishers sought to exploit the market by creating magazines devoted to the genre. Young female illustrators cemented themselves in the manga industry by publishingyaoi works, with this genre later becoming "a transnational subculture."[49][50][51] Publishing houseMagazine Magazine [ja], which published the gay manga magazineSabu [ja], launched the magazineJune in 1978, whileMinori Shobo [ja] launchedAllan in 1980.[52][53] Both magazines initially specialized inshōnen-ai, which Magazine Magazine described as "halfway betweentanbi literature and pornography,"[54] and also published articles on homosexuality, literary fiction, illustrations, and amateuryaoi works.[55] The success ofJune was such that the termJune-mono or more simplyJune began to compete with the termshōnen-ai to describe works depicting male homosexuality.[42][56]
By the late 1980s, the popularity of professionally publishedshōnen-ai was declining, andyaoi published asdōjinshi was becoming more popular.[57] Mainstreamshōnen manga with Japanese settings such asCaptain Tsubasa became popular source material for derivative works byyaoi creators, and the genre increasingly depicted Japanese settings over western settings.[58] Works influenced byshōnen-ai in the 1980s began to depict older protagonists and adopted a realist style in both plot and artwork, as typified by manga such asBanana Fish (1985–1994) byAkimi Yoshida andTomoi (1986) byWakuni Akisato [ja].[38][41] The 1980s also saw the proliferation ofyaoi intoanime,drama CDs, andlight novels;[59] the 1982 anime adaptation ofPatalliro! was the first television anime to depictshōnen-ai themes, whileKaze to Ki no Uta andEarthian were adapted into anime in theoriginal video animation (home video) format in 1987 and 1989, respectively.[60]
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The growing popularity ofyaoi attracted the attention of manga magazine editors, many of whom recruitedyaoidōjinshi authors to their publications;[61]Zetsuai 1989 (1989–1991) byMinami Ozaki, ayaoi series published in theshōjo magazineMargaret, was originally aCaptain Tsubasadōjinshi created by Ozaki that she adapted into an original work.[62] By 1990, seven Japanese publishers includedyaoi content in their offerings, which kickstarted the commercial publishing market of the genre.[5] Between 1990 and 1995, thirty magazines devoted toyaoi were established:Magazine Be × Boy, founded in 1993, became one of the most influentialyaoi manga magazines of this era.[63] The manga in these magazines were influenced by realist stories likeBanana Fish, and moved away from theshōnen-ai standards of the 1970s and 1980s.[63][64]Shōnen-ai works that were published during this period were typically comedies rather than melodramas, such asGravitation (1996–2002) byMaki Murakami.[65] Consequently,yaoi and "boys' love" (BL) came to be the most popular terms to describe works depicting male-male romance, eclipsingshōnen-ai andJune.[59]
An increasing proportion ofshōjo manga in the 1990s began to integrateyaoi elements into their plots. The manga artist groupClamp, which itself began as a group creatingyaoidōjinshi,[66] published multiple works containingyaoi elements during this period, such asRG Veda (1990–1995),Tokyo Babylon (1991–1994), andCardcaptor Sakura (1996–2000).[67] When these works were released in North America, they were among the firstyaoi-influenced media to be encountered by Western audiences.[67] BL gained popularity inmainland China in the late 1990s; the country subsequently outlawed the publishing and distribution of BL works.[68]
The mid-1990s saw the so-called "yaoi debate" oryaoi ronsō (や お い 論争), a debate held primarily in a series of essays published in the feminist magazineChoisir from 1992 to 1997.[69] In anopen letter, Japanese gay writer Masaki Satō criticized the genre ashomophobic for not depicting gay men accurately,[33] and called fans ofyaoi "disgusting women" who "have a perverse interest in sexual intercourse between men."[69] A years-long debate ensued, withyaoi fans and artists contending thatyaoi is entertainment for women that does not seek to be a realistic depiction of homosexuality, and instead serves as a refuge from the misogyny of Japanese society.[33] The scholarly debate that theyaoi ronsō engendered led to the formation of the field of "BL studies", which focus on the study of BL and the relationship between women and BL.[70] It additionally impacted creators ofyaoi: author Chiyo Kurihara abandonedyaoi to focus on heterosexual pornography as a result of theyaoi ronsō, while Hisako Takamatsu took into account the arguments of the genre's critics to create works more accommodating of a gay audience.[33]
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The economic crisis caused by theLost Decade came to affect the manga industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but did not particularly impact theyaoi market; on the contrary,yaoi magazines continued to proliferate during this period, and sales ofyaoi media increased.[64][71] In 2004,Otome Road inIkebukuro emerged as a major cultural destination foryaoi fandom, with multiple stores dedicated toshōjo andyaoi goods.[72] The 2000s also saw an increase in male readers ofyaoi, with a 2008 bookstore survey finding that between 25 and 30 percent ofyaoi readers were male.[73]
The 2000s saw significant growth ofyaoi in international markets, beginning with the founding of the Americananime conventionYaoi-Con in 2001.[74] The first officially-licensed English-language translations ofyaoi manga were published in the North American market in 2003 (seeMedia below);[75][76] the market expanded rapidly before contracting in 2008 as a result of the globalfinancial crisis of 2007–2008, but continued to grow slowly in the following years.[74] South Korea saw the development of BL in the form ofmanhwa, notablyMartin and John (2006) by Park Hee-jung andCrush on You (2006) by Lee Kyung-ha.[77]
The 2010s and 2020s saw an increase in the popularity ofyaoi and BL media in China and Thailand in the form ofweb novels, live-action films, and live-action television dramas (seeMedia below). Though "boys' love" and "BL" have become the generic terms for this material across Asia, in Thailand, BL dramas are sometimes referred to as "Y" or "Y series" as a shorthand foryaoi.[78][79] Thai Series Y explicitly adapts the content of Japanese BL to the Thai local context and in recent years has become increasingly popular with fans around the world who often view Thai BL as separate to its Japanese antecedents.[80] Thai BL also deliberately borrows fromK-pop celebrity culture in the development of its own style of idols known askhu jin (imaginary couples) who are designed to be paired together by Thai BL's predominantly female fans.[81] For cultural anthropologist Thomas Baudinette, BL series produced in Thailand represent the next stage in the historic development of BL, which is increasingly becoming "dislocated" from Japan among international fans' understanding of the genre.[82]
While BL fandom in China traces back to the late 1990s asdanmei (theMandarin reading of the Japanese termtanbi),[83] state regulations in China made it difficult fordanmei writers to publish their works online, with a 2009 ordinance by the National Publishing Administration of China banning mostdanmei online fiction.[84] In 2015, laws prohibiting depictions of same-sex relationships in television and film were implemented in China.[85] The growth instreaming service providers in the 2010s is regarded as a driving force behind the production of BL dramas across Asia, as online distribution provides a platform for media containing non-heterosexual material, which is frequently not permitted onbroadcast television.[79]
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The protagonists of BL are oftenbishōnen (美少年,lit. "beautiful boy"), "highly idealised" boys and young men who blend bothmasculine andfeminine qualities.[86]Bishōnen as a concept can be found disparately throughoutEast Asia, but its specific aesthetic manifestation in 1970sshōjo manga (and subsequently in‹See RfD›shōnen-ai manga) drew influence from popular culture of the era, includingglam rock artists such asDavid Bowie,[87] actorBjörn Andrésen's portrayal of Tadzio in the 1971 film adaptation ofDeath in Venice, and kabukionnagataBandō Tamasaburō.[88] Thoughbishōnen are not exclusive to BL, theandrogyny ofbishōnen is often exploited to explore notions of sexuality and gender in BL works.[87]
The late 2010s saw the increasing popularity of masculine men in BL that are reminiscent of the body types typical ingay manga, with growing emphasis on stories featuring muscular bodies and older characters.[89][90] A 2017 survey by BL publisherJuné Manga found that while over 80% of their readership previously preferredbishōnen body types exclusively, 65% now enjoy bothbishōnen and muscular body types.[91] Critics and commentators have noted that this shift in preferences among BL readers, and subsequent creation of works that feature characteristics of both BL and gay manga, represents a blurring of the distinctions between the genres;[90][92] anthropologist Thomas Baudinette notes in his fieldwork that gay men in Japan "saw no need to sharply disassociate BL from [gay manga] when discussing their consumption of 'gay media'."[93]
The two participants in a BL relationship (and to a lesser extent inyuri)[94] are often referred to asseme (攻め,lit. "top", as derived from theichidan verb "to attack") anduke (受け,lit. "bottom", as derived from theichidan verb "to receive").[86] These terms originated inmartial arts, and were later appropriated as JapaneseLGBT slang to refer to the insertive and receptive partners inanal sex.[95] Aleardo Zanghellini suggests that the martial arts terms have special significance to a Japanese audience, as an archetype of the gay male relationship in Japan includessame-sex love between samurai and their companions.[95] He suggests that the samurai archetype is responsible for age differences and hierarchical variations in power of some relationships portrayed in BL.[95]
Theseme is often depicted as restrained, physically powerful, and protective; he is generally older and taller,[96] with a stronger chin, shorter hair, smaller eyes, and a more stereotypically masculine and "macho"[97] demeanour than theuke. Theseme usually pursues theuke, who often has softer, androgynous, feminine features with bigger eyes and a smaller build, and is often physically weaker than theseme.[98] The roles ofseme anduke can alternatively be established by who is dominant in the relationship; a character can take theuke role even if he is not presented as feminine, simply by being juxtaposed against and pursued by a more dominant and masculine character.[99] Anal sex is ubiquitous in BL,[100] and is typically rendered explicitly and not merely implied;[101] Zanghellini notes that illustrations of anal sex almost always position the characters to face each other rather than "doggy style", and that theuke rarelyfellates theseme, but instead receives the sexual and romantic attentions of theseme.[95]
Though McLelland notes that authors are typically "interested in exploring, not repudiating" the dynamics between theseme anduke,[102] not all works adhere toseme anduke tropes.[103][104] The possibility ofswitching roles is often a source of playful teasing and sexual excitement for the characters,[105] indicating an interest among many genre authors in exploring theperformative nature of the roles.[25]Riba (リバ), a shorthand for "reversible" (リバーシブル), is used to describe couples where theseme anduke roles are not strictly defined.[106] Occasionally, authors will forego the stylisations of theseme anduke to portray both lovers as "equally attractive handsome men", or will subvert expectations of dominance by depicting the active pursuer in the relationship as taking the passive role during sex.[97] In other cases, theuke is presented as more sexually aggressive than theseme; in these instances, the roles are sometimes referred to asosoi uke (襲い受け, "attackinguke") andhetare seme (ヘタレ攻め, "wimpyseme").[107]
Historically, female characters had minor roles in BL, or were absent altogether.[108][109] Suzuki notes that mothers in particular are often portrayed in a negative light; she suggests this is because the character and reader alike are seeking to substitute the absence of unconditional maternal love with the "forbidden" all-consuming love presented in BL.[110] Indōjinshi parodies based on existing works that include female characters, the female's role is typically either minimized or the character is killed off;[109][111]Yukari Fujimoto noted that in these parodies, "it seems thatyaoi readings and likeable female characters are mutually exclusive."[112]Nariko Enomoto, a BL author, suggests that women are typically not depicted in BL as their presence adds an element ofrealism that distracts from a fantasy narrative.[113]
Since the late 2000s, women have appeared more frequently in BL works as supporting characters.[114] Lunsing notes that earlyshōnen-ai andyaoi were often regarded asmisogynistic, with the diminished role of female characters cited as evidence of theinternalized misogyny of the genre's largely female readership.[18] He suggests that the decline of these misogynistic representations over time is evidence that authors and readers "overcame this hate, possibly thanks to their involvement with‹See RfD›yaoi."[18]
BL stories are often stronglyhomosocial, giving men freedom to bond and pursue shared goals together (as indojinshi adaptations ofshōnen manga), or to rival each other (as inEmbracing Love). This spiritual bond and equal partnership is depicted as overcoming the male-femalegender hierarchy.[115] As is typical in romance fiction, couples depicted in these stories often must overcome obstacles that are emotional or psychological rather than physical.[116] Akiko Mizoguchi notes that while early stories depicted homosexuality as a source of shame to heighten dramatic tension in this regard, beginning in the mid-2000s the genre began to depict gay identity with greater sensitivity and nuance, with series such asBrilliant Blue featuring stories ofcoming out and the characters' gradual acceptance within the wider community.[117] BL typically depicts Japanese society as more accepting of LGBT peoplethan it is in reality, which Mizoguchi contends is a form of activism among BL authors.[117] Some longer-form stories such asFake andKizuna: Bonds of Love have the couple form a family unit, depicting them cohabiting and adopting children.[118] It is also possible that they marry and have children, as inOmegaverse publications.[119] Fujimoto citesOssan's Love (2016–2018) and other BL television dramas that emerged in the 2010s as a "'missing link' to bridge the gap between BL fiction and gay people," arguing that when BL narratives are presented using human actors, it produces a "subconscious change in the perception of viewers" towards acceptance of homosexuality.[120]
Although gay male characters are empowered in BL, the genre frequently does not address the reality of socio-culturalhomophobia. According to Hisako Miyoshi, vice editor-in-chief forLibre Publishing, while earlier works in the genre focused "more on the homosexual way of life from a realistic perspective", over time the genre has become less realistic and more comedic, and the stories are "simply for entertainment".[121] BL manga often have fantastical, historical or futuristic settings, and many fans consider the genre to beescapist fiction.[122] Homophobia, when it is presented as an issue at all,[103] is used as a plot device to heighten drama,[123] or to show the purity of the leads' love.Rachel Thorn has suggested that as BL is primarily a romance genre, its readers may be turned off by political themes such as homophobia.[124] BL authorMakoto Tateno expressed skepticism that realistic depictions of gay men's lives would become common in BL "because girls like fiction more than realism".[125] Alan Williams argues that the lack of a gay identity in BL is due to BL beingpostmodern, stating that "a common utterance in the genre—when a character claims that he is 'not gay, but just in love with a man'—has both homophobic (ormodern) temporal undertones but alsonon-identitarian (postmodern) ones."[126] In 2019, BL manga magazine editors have stated that stories where a man is concerned about coming out as gay have become uncommon and the trope can be seen as outdated if used as a source of conflict between the characters.[127]
Eroticized depictions of rape are often associated with BL.[115]Anal sex is understood as a means of expressing commitment to a partner, and in BL, the "apparent violence" of rape is transformed into a "measure of passion".[128] Rape scenes in BL are rarely presented as crimes with an assaulter and a victim: scenes where aseme rapes anuke are not depicted as symptomatic of the violent desires of theseme, but rather as evidence of the uncontrollable attraction felt by theseme towards theuke. Such scenes are often aplot device used to make theuke see theseme as more than just a good friend, and typically result in theuke falling in love with theseme.[115]
While Japanese society often shuns or looks down upon women who are raped in reality, the BL genre depicts men who are raped as still "imbued with innocence" and are typically still loved by their rapists after the act, a trope that may have originated withKaze to Ki no Uta.[128] Kristy Valenti ofThe Comics Journal notes that rape narratives typically focus on how "irresistible" theuke is and how theseme "cannot control himself" in his presence, thus absolving theseme of responsibility for his rape of theuke. She notes this is likely why thenarrative climax of many BL stories depicts theseme recognizing, and taking responsibility for, his sexual desires.[129] Where the uke is raped by a third party, the relationship is shown to be emotionally supportive.[130] Conversely, some stories such asUnder Grand Hotel subvert the rape fantasy trope entirely by presenting rape as a negative and traumatic act.[131]
A 2012 survey of English-language BL fans found that just 15 percent of respondents reported that the presence of rape in BL media made them uncomfortable, as the majority of respondents could distinguish between the "fantasy, genre-driven rape" of BL and rape as a crime in reality.[65] This "surprisingly high tolerance" for depictions of rape is contextualized by acontent analysis, which found that just 13 percent of all original Japanese BL available commercially in English contains depictions of rape. These findings are argued as "possibly belying the perception that rape is almost ubiquitous in BL/yaoi."[65]
Tragic narratives that focused on the suffering of the protagonists were popular earlyJune stories,[132] particularly stories that ended in one or both members of the central couple dying fromsuicide.[133] By the mid-1990s,happy endings were more common;[133] when tragic endings are shown, the cause is typically not an interpersonal conflict between the couple, but "the cruel and intrusive demands of an uncompromising outside world".[134] Thorn theorizes that depictions of tragedy and abuse in BL exist to allow the audience "to come to terms in some way with their own experiences of abuse."[135]
Bara (薔薇, "rose"), also known as gay manga (ゲイ漫画) orgei komi (ゲイコミ, "gay comics") is a genre focused on malesame-sex love, as created primarily bygay men for a gay male audience.[136] Gay manga typically focuses onmasculine men with varying degrees of muscle, body fat, andbody hair, in contrast to the androgynousbishōnen of BL.Graham Kolbeins writes inMassive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It that while BL can be understood as a primarilyfeminist phenomenon, in that it depicts sex that is free of thepatriarchal trappings of heterosexual pornography, gay manga is primarily an expression of gay male identity.[137] The early 2000s saw a degree of overlap between BL and gay manga inBDSM-themed publications: the‹See RfD›yaoi BDSM anthology magazineZettai Reido (絶対零度) had several male contributors,[18][138] while several female BL authors have contributed stories to BDSM-themed gay manga anthologies or special issues,[138] occasionally under malepen names.[137]
Shotacon (ショタコン,shotakon) is a genre that depictsprepubescent orpubescent boys in a romantic or pornographic context. Originating as an offshoot of‹See RfD›yaoi in the early 1980s, the subgenre was later adopted by male readers and became influenced bylolicon (works depicting prepubescent or pubescent girls);[113] the conflation ofshotacon in its contemporary usage with BL is thus not universally accepted, as the genre constitutes material that marketed to both male and female audiences.[65]
Omegaverse is a male-male romance subgenre that originated from the American seriesSupernatural[139] and in the 2010s became a subgenre of both commercial and non-commercial BL.[140][141] Stories in the genre are premised on societies wherein humans are divided into adominance hierarchy of dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas". These terms are derived from those used inethology to describesocial hierarchies in animals.[142]
The "dom/sub universe" subgenre emerged in 2017 and gained popularity in 2021. The subgenre usesBDSM elements and also draws influences from Omegaverse, particularly the use of a caste system.[143]
In 2003, 3.8% of weekly Japanese manga magazines were dedicated exclusively to BL. Notable ongoing and defunct magazines includeMagazine Be × Boy,June,Craft,Chara,Dear+,Opera,Ciel [ja], andGush.[16] Several of these magazines were established as companion publications toshōjo manga magazines, as they include material considered too explicit for an all-ages audience;Ciel was established as a companion toMonthly Asuka, whileDear+ was established as a companion toWings.[144] A 2008 assessment estimated that the Japanese commercial BL market grossed approximately¥12 billion annually, with novel sales generating¥250 million per month, manga generating¥400 million per month, CDs generating¥180 million per month, and video games generating¥160 million per month.[145] A 2010 report estimated that the Japanese BL market was worth approximately¥21.3 billion in both 2009 and 2010.[146] In 2019, editors fromLynx,Magazine Be × Boy, andOn BLUE have stated that, with the growth of BL artists in Taiwan and South Korea, they have recruited and published several of their works in Japan with expectations that the BL manga industry will diversify.[127]
The‹See RfD›dōjinshi (self-publishedfan works) subculture emerged in the 1970s contemporaneously with BL subculture and Westernfan fiction culture.[43][44] Characteristic similarities of fan works in both Japan and the West include non-adherence to a standardnarrative structures and a particular popularity ofscience fiction themes.[86] Early BLdōjinshi were amateur publications that were not controlled by media restrictions, were typicallyderivative works based on existing manga and anime, and were often written by teenagers for an adolescent audience.[44][147] Several legitimate manga artists produce or produceddōjinshi: the manga artist groupClamp began as an amateurdōjinshi circle creating‹See RfD›yaoi works based onSaint Seiya,[66] whileKodaka Kazuma[148] andFumi Yoshinaga[149] have produceddōjinshi concurrently with professionally-published works. Many publishing companies review BLdōjinshi to recruit talented amateurs; this practice has led to careers in mainstream manga forYouka Nitta,Shungiku Nakamura, and others.[150][60]
Typically, BLdōjinshi feature male-male pairings from non-romantic manga and anime. Much of the material derives from male-orientedshōnen andseinen works, which contain close male-male friendships perceived by fans to imply elements ofhomoeroticism,[19] such as withCaptain Tsubasa[20] andSaint Seiya, two titles which popularized‹See RfD›yaoi in the 1980s.[44]Weekly Shonen Jump is known to have a large female readership who engage in BL readings;[151] publishers ofshōnen manga may create "homoerotic-themed" merchandise asfan service to their BL fans.[152] BL fans may "ship" any male-male pairing, sometimes pairing off a favourite character, or create a story about two original male characters and incorporate established characters into the story.[20] Any male character may become the subject of a BLdōjinshi, including characters from non-manga titles such asHarry Potter orThe Lord of the Rings,[153] video games such asFinal Fantasy,[154] orreal people such as actors and politicians. Amateur authors may also create characters out ofpersonifications of abstract concepts (as in the personification of countries inHetalia: Axis Powers) or complementary objects likesalt and pepper.[155] In Japan, the labeling of BLdōjinshi is typically composed of the two lead characters' names, separated by amultiplication sign, with theseme being first and theuke being second.[156]
Outside of Japan, the 2000 broadcast ofMobile Suit Gundam Wing in North America onCartoon Network is noted as crucial to the development of Western BL fan works, particularlyfan fiction.[157] As BL fan fiction is often compared to the Western fan practice ofslash, it is important to understand the subtle differences between them. Levi notes that "the youthful teen look that so easily translates into androgyny in boys' love manga, and allows for so many layered interpretations of sex and gender, is much harder for slash writers to achieve."[158]
The first officially-licensed English-language translations of‹See RfD›yaoi manga were published in the North American market in 2003; by 2006, there were roughly 130 English-translated‹See RfD›yaoi works commercially available,[75] and by 2007, over 10 publishers in North America published‹See RfD›yaoi.[159] Notable English-language publishers of BL includeViz Media under their SuBLime imprint,Digital Manga Publishing under their 801 Media and Juné imprints,Media Blasters under their Kitty Media imprint,Seven Seas Entertainment, andTokyopop.[43][160] Notable defunct English-language publishers of BL includeCentral Park Media under their Be Beautiful imprint,Broccoli under their Boysenberry imprint, andAurora Publishing under theirDeux Press imprint.[98]
Among the 135‹See RfD›yaoi manga published in North America between 2003 and 2006, 14% were rated for readers aged 13 years or over, 39% were rated for readers aged 15 or older, and 47% were rated for readers age 18 and up.[161] Restrictions among American booksellers often led publishers to label books conservatively, often rating books originally intended for a mid-teen readership as 18+ and distributing them in shrinkwrap.[162]Diamond Comic Distributors valued the sales of‹See RfD›yaoi manga in the United States at approximatelyUS$6 million in 2007.[163]
Marketing was significant in the transnational travel of BL from Japan to the United States, and led to BL to attract a following ofLGBTQ fans in the United States. The 1994original video animation adaptation ofKizuna: Bonds of Love was distributed by Ariztical Entertainment, which specializes inLGBT cinema and marketed the title as "the first gay male anime to be released onDVD in the US."[164] The film was reviewed in the American LGBT magazineThe Advocate, which compared the film to gayart house cinema.[165]
A large portion of Western fans choose topirate BL material because they are unable or unwilling to obtain it through sanctioned methods.Scanlations and otherfan translation efforts of both commercially published Japanese works and amateurdojinshi are common.[166][167]
When‹See RfD›yaoi initially gained popularity in the United States in the early 2000s, several American artists began creatingoriginal English-language manga for female readers featuring male-male couples referred to as "American‹See RfD›yaoi". The first known commercially published original English-language‹See RfD›yaoi comic isSexual Espionage #1 by Daria McGrain, published bySin Factory in May 2002.[168] As international artists began creating‹See RfD›yaoi works, the term "American‹See RfD›yaoi" fell out of use and was replaced by terms like "original English language‹See RfD›yaoi",[169] "global‹See RfD›yaoi", and "global BL".[170][171] The majority of publishers creating original English-language‹See RfD›yaoi manga are now defunct, includingYaoi Press,[172]DramaQueen,[173] and Iris Print.[174][175]Digital Manga Publishing last published original English-language‹See RfD›yaoi manga in 2012;[176] outside of the United States, German publisherCarlsen Manga also published original‹See RfD›yaoi works.[177][178]
BLaudio dramas, occasionally referred to as "drama CDs", "sound dramas", or "BLCDs", are recordedvoice performances of male-male romance scenarios performed by primarily male voice actors. They are typically adaptations of original BL manga and novels.[179] The first BL audio dramas were released in the 1980s, beginning withTsuzumigafuchi in 1988, which was published as a "June cassette".[180] BL audio dramas proliferated beginning in the 1990s with the rise in popularity ofcompact discs, peaking at 289 total CDs released in 2008, which dropped to 108 CDs in 2013.[180]
While Japanese BL manga has been adapted into live action films andtelevision dramas since the early 2000s, these works were marketed towards a niche audience ofBL fans rather than towards a general audience.[181] When these works were adapted for a general audience, same-sex romance elements were typically downplayed or removed entirely, as in the live-action television adaption ofAntique Bakery that aired onFuji TV in 2001.[127] The development of Japanese live-action television dramas that focus on BL and same-sex romance themes explicitly was spurred by the critical and commercial success of theTV Asahi television dramaOssan's Love (2016), which features an all-malelove triangle as its central plot conceit.[120] WhileOssan's Love is an original series, it influenced the creation of live-action BL works adapted from manga that are marketed towards mass audiences; notable examples include the television dramasThe Novelist [ja] (2018) onFuji TV,What Did You Eat Yesterday? (2019) onTV Tokyo,[g]Cherry Magic (2020) on TV Tokyo, and the live-action film adaptation ofThe Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (2020).[181]
In 2022,Kadokawa Corporation employee Kaoru Azuma established Tunku, Kadokawa's label for publishing live-action BL drama series, partnering withMBS TV to create the programming blockDrama Shower.[182] The label was created to promote Japanese BL dramas based on existing BL novels and manga due to the growing popularity of BL caused byOssan's Love.[182] While creating Tunku, Azuma stated that she noticed that prejudice against boys' love has dwindled, and that many people have seemed to accept the genre as "normal".[182]
The Thai romantic drama filmLove of Siam (2007), which features a gay male romance storyline, found unexpected mainstream success upon its release and grossed overTH฿40 million at the box office.[183] This was followed byLove Sick: The Series (2014–2015), the first Thai television series to feature two gay characters as the lead roles.[184] Cultural anthropologist Thomas Baudinette argues thatLove Sick: The Series represented a "watershed moment" in the depiction of queer romance in Thai media, exploring how the series adapted tropes from Japanese BL to create a new genre of media.[80] While Japanese BL manga attracted an audience in Thailand as early as the 1990s,[185] the success ofLove of Siam andLove Sick kick-started the production of domestic BL dramas: between 2014 and 2020, 57 television series in the BL genre were produced and released in Thailand.[186]
Major producers of Thai BL includeGMMTV, a subsidiary ofGMM Grammy, which has produced2gether: The Series (2020),A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021),SOTUS: The Series (2016–2017),Dark Blue Kiss (2019), andTheory of Love (2019);[187] andLine Corporation, which produces BL dramas in Thailand for distribution on itsLine TV platform.[79] The genre has seen some backlash from conservative elements in Thai society: in 2020, theNational Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission introduced new guidelines around material containing "sexually explicit or suggestive" scenes, while public broadcasterMCOT cancelled the BL seriesLove by Chance in 2018.[78] Thai BL dramas are noted as having gained popularity in Indonesia, where LGBT representation in domestic television is less common;[186] as well as in the Philippines, where many fans view BL as an originally Thai form of popular culture.[82] The coming-of-age BL series,I Told Sunset About You (2020) was awarded by theSeoul International Drama Awards as the International Drama of the Year in 2021.[188] It has been suggested that BL dramas could become a source of Thai culturalsoft power in Southeast Asia and beyond.[184]
There are no specificcensorship policies in China concerning depictions of LGBT subject material in media; nevertheless,Variety reports that such material is "deemed sensitive and is inconsistently but regularly removed" from distribution.[85]Addicted (2016), the first Chinese BL web series, accumulated 10 million views before being pulled from the streaming platformiQiyi.[189][187] In reaction to state censorship, Chinese BL works typically depict male-male romance as homoerotic subtext: the web novelGuardian (2012) depicted a romance between its two lead male characters, though when it was adapted into a television drama on the streaming platformYouku in 2018, the relationship was rendered as a close, homoerotic friendship.[190] The 2015 BLxianxia novelGrandmaster of Demonic Cultivation was adapted intoan animated series in 2018 anda live-action series in 2019, both of which similarly revise the nature of the relationship between the lead male characters. Consequently, fans of bothGuardian andThe Untamed discussed the series' male homoerotic content under the hashtag "socialist brotherhood" or "socialist bromance" to avoid detection from state censors.[191]
In South Korea, the web seriesWhere Your Eyes Linger launched as the first domestically-produced BL series in 2020.[192] The BL genre didn't receive much traction in the country until 2022, when the seriesSemantic Error achieved a major domestic success and became asocial phenomenon in South Korea.[193] The unexpected success of the series introduced the BL genre to the mainstream South Korean audience, which subsequently resulted in a rising production of South Korean BL dramas and films.[194]
In Taiwan, the BL anthology seriesHIStory premiered in 2017.[195]
In the Philippines, BL television dramas gained popularity through the broadcast of foreign BL dramas such as2gether andWhere Your Eyes Linger.[196] This spurred the creation of domestically-produced BL dramas, such asGameboys (2020),[196]Hello Stranger (2020),[197] andOh, Mando! (2020);[198] the 2020 filmThe Boy Foretold by the Stars billed itself as "the first Filipino BL movie".[199]
BLvideo games typically consist ofvisual novels oreroge oriented around male-male couples. The first BL game to receive an officially-licensed English-language release wasEnzai: Falsely Accused, published byJAST USA in 2006.[200] That same year, the company publishedAbsolute Obedience,[201] whileHirameki International licensedAnimamundi; the later game, although already nonexplicit, was censored for US release to achieve a "mature" rather than "adults only"ESRB rating, removing some of both the sexual and the violent content.[202] Compared to BL manga, fewer BL games have been officially translated into English; the lack of interest by publishers in licensing further titles has been attributed to widespread copyright infringement of both licensed and unlicensed games.[203]
Suzuki notes that "demographic analyses of BL media are underdeveloped and thus much needed inyaoi/BL studies,"[204] but acknowledges that "the overwhelming majority of BL readers are women."[204] 80% of the BL audience is female,[205][206] while the membership ofYaoi-Con, a now-defunct American‹See RfD›yaoiconvention, was 85% female.[207] It is usually assumed that all female fans areheterosexual, but in Japan there is a presence of lesbian manga authors[18] and lesbian,bisexual orquestioning female readers.[208] A 2008 survey of English-speaking readers of BL indicated that 50-60% of female readers self-identify as heterosexual.[209]
Although the genre is marketed to and consumed primarily by girls and women, there is a gay,[75] bisexual,[210] and heterosexual male[211][212][213] readership as well. A 2007 survey of BL readers among patrons of a United States library found about one quarter of respondents were male;[214] two online surveys found approximately ten percent of the broader English-speaking BL readership were male.[162][209] Lunsing suggests that younger Japanese gay men who are offended by "pornographic" content in gay men's magazines may prefer to read BL instead.[215] Some gay men, however, are put off by the feminine art style or unrealistic depictions ofLGBT culture in Japan and instead prefergay manga,[18] which some perceive to be more realistic.[20] Lunsing notes that some of the BL narrative elements criticized byhomosexual men, such as rape fantasies, misogyny, and characters' non-identification as gay, are also present in gay manga.[18]
In the mid-1990s, estimates of the size of the Japanese BL fandom ranged from 100,000 to 500,000 people.[18] By April 2005, a search for non-Japanese websites resulted in 785,000English, 49,000Spanish, 22,400Korean, 11,900Italian, and 6,900Chinese sites.[216] In January 2007, there were approximately five million hits for‹See RfD›yaoi.[217]
Female fans of BL are often referred to asfujoshi (腐女子, lit. "rotten girl"), a derogatory insult that was laterreappropriated as a self-descriptive term.[218] The male equivalent isfudanshi (腐男子, lit. "rotten boy") orfukei (腐兄, "rotten older brother"), both of which are puns of similar construction tofujoshi.[219][220]
BL works, culture, and fandom have been studied and discussed by scholars and journalists worldwide, especially after translations of BL became commercially available outside Japan in the 21st century.[221] InManga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, the 1983 book byFrederik L. Schodt that was the first substantial English-language work on manga, Schodt observes that portrayals of gay male relationships had used and further developed bisexual themes already extant inshōjo manga to appeal to their female audience.[222] Japanese critics have viewed BL as a genre that permits their audience to avoid adultfemale sexuality by distancing sex from their own bodies,[223] as well as to create fluidity in perceptions of gender and sexuality and rejects "socially mandated"gender roles as a "first step toward feminism".[224] Kazuko Suzuki, for example, believes that the audience's aversion to or contempt for masculineheterosexism is something which has consciously emerged as a result of the genre's popularity.[225]
Mizoguchi, writing in 2003, feels that BL is a "female-gendered space", as the writers, readers, artists and most of the editors of BL are female.[2] BL has been compared toromance novels by English-speaking librarians.[96][123] In 2004,Paul Gravett summarized the dominant theories for the popularity of BL with a female audience: that Japanese women were disillusioned or bored with classic male-female relationships in fiction, that the‹See RfD›bishōnen populating the genre were a backlash against male sex fantasies of a feminized ideal of adolescent girls, that the genre offered a safe space for sexual fantasies with the free choice of identification figure in the relationship, and that the male characters in BL are interpreted by female readers as girls, thus making the stories expressions of readers' same-sex fantasies.[226]
Other commentators have suggested that more radical gender-political issues underlie BL. Parallels have been noted in the popularity oflesbianism in pornography,[100][75] and BL has been called a form of "femalefetishism".[227] While early approaches to the popularity of the genre often referred to the role of women in patriarchal Japanese society, to which the genre offers a resistance and escape, this approach has been rejected by others who note that BL and BL-like media became popular outside of Japan in other social circumstances, such asslash fiction in the west. Against this background, theories emphasizing pleasure gained support: BL could be compared to pornography or even considered a specifically female form of pornography, appealing to desires for eroticism,voyeurism, or a desire to push against established gender roles.[228]Mariko Ōhara, a science fiction writer, has said that she wroteKirk/Spock fiction as a teen because she could not enjoy "conventional pornography, which had been made for men", and that she had found a "limitless freedom" in BL, much like in science fiction.[229]
In 1998, Shihomi Sakakibara asserted that‹See RfD›yaoi fans, including himself, were gaytransgender men.[230] Sandra Buckley believes thatbishōnen narratives champion "the imagined potentialities of alternative [gender] differentiations",[231] while James Welker described thebishōnen character as "queer", commenting that manga critic Akiko Mizoguchi sawshōnen-ai as playing a role in how she herself had become a lesbian.[232] Dru Pagliassotti sees this and theyaoi ronsō as indicating that for Japanese gay and lesbian readers, BL is not as far removed from reality as heterosexual female readers like to claim.[162] Welker has also written that boys' love titles liberate the female audience "not just from patriarchy, but from gender dualism and heteronormativity".[232]
Some gay and lesbian commentators have criticized how gay identity is portrayed in BL, most notably in the‹See RfD›yaoi ronsō or "‹See RfD›yaoi debate" of 1992–1997 (seeHistory above).[18][33] A trope of BL that has attracted criticism is male protagonists who do not identify as gay, but are rather simply in love with each other, withComiket co-founderYoshihiro Yonezawa once describing BLdōjinshi as akin to "girls playing with dolls".[100] This is said to heighten the theme of all-conquering love,[108] but is also condemned as a means of avoiding acknowledgement ofhomophobia.[233] Criticism of the stereotypically feminine behaviour of theuke has also been prominent.[104]
Much of the criticism of BL originally rendered in the‹See RfD›yaoi ronsō has similarly been voiced in the English-language fandom.[103][234][235][236]Rachel Thorn has suggested that BL andslash fiction fans are discontented with "the standards of femininity to which they are expected to adhere and asocial environment that does not validate or sympathize with that discontent".[237][238]
BL has been the subject of disputes on legal and moral grounds. Mark McLelland suggests that BL may become "a major battlefront for proponents and detractors of 'gender free' policies in employment, education and elsewhere",[239] while BL artistYouka Nitta has said that "even in Japan, reading boys' love isn't something that parents encourage."[240] In Thailand, the sale of unauthorized reproductions ofshōnen-ai manga to teenagers in 2001 led to media coverage and amoral panic.[241] In 2006, an email campaign pressuring theSakai City Central Library to remove BL works from circulation attracted national media attention, and promoted a debate over removal of BL works constituted a form of discrimination.[239] In 2010, theOsaka Prefectural Government included boys' love manga among with other books deemed potentially "harmful to minors" due to its sexual content,[242] which resulted in several magazines prohibited from being sold to people under 18 years of age.[243]
Anhui TV reported that in China, at least 20 young female authors writingdanmei novels on an online novel website were arrested in 2014.[244] In 2018, the pseudonymous Chinese BL novel author Tianyi was sentenced to10+1⁄2 years in prison under laws prohibiting the production of "obscene material for profit".[245][246] Hu, Ge and Wang summarise the trajectory of consorship over danmei from 2004 to the present, and suggest that the Chinese party-state has endeavoured to boost a discourse as regard danmei hatred in particular since 2021 as exemplifed in the ban of danmei-adapted web dramas and media representation of male effeminacy in September 2021.[247] Zanghellini notes that due to the "characteristics of the‹See RfD›yaoi/BL genre" of showing characters who are oftenunderage engaging in romantic and sexual situations,child pornography laws in Australia andCanada "may lend themselves to targeting‹See RfD›yaoi/BL work". He notes that in theUK, cartoons are exempt from child pornography laws unless they are used forchild grooming.[95]
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