Queer Nerds Series Begins with Look at Yaoi
On February 16, the Center Authors series presented the first of a three part series focused on Queer Nerds. For the “Yaoi for Beginners” installment, Ray Cha, editor of FAQNP: FAQNP’s A Queer Nerd Publication, discussed and showed examples of this popular subgenre of manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese animation).
Yaoi focuses on boy love romances and is primarily targeted towards women (as opposed to the Bara genre which is created specifically for gay men). It also tends to be written by women.
To help illustrate the genre, Cha screened two examples. Junjo Romantica dates back to 2002 in manga form and 2008 in its anime version. The stories, written by Shungiku Nakamura, have three couples at its core. In the episode shown on couple was featured—Hiroki, an associate college professor, and Norwaki, a med student four years younger than Hiroki. As is common in Yaoi, in the span of the 20-minute episode the couple went back and forth between “I love you” and “I hate you” several times.The second program, Ouran High School Host Club, written by Bisco Hatori, debuted in magna in 2002 and went into anime in 2006. This series has element of Yaoi included, along side other manga/anime genres. Of interest to the Yaoi enthusiasts is the relationship between twins Hikaru and Kaoru, who often use “forbidden brotherly love” to entertain the female customers of the host club.
Cha explained that while Yaoi started out as a genre for women, often written by women, it became mainstream entertainment with some Yaoi anime series airing during prime time on Japanese TV. Over the last twenty years, as magna and anime has grown in the US, the genre has grown in popularity here as well.
While Japan is still fairly homophobic due to its conservative nature, the Yaoi genre thrives because it is considered “safe” with the characters insulated in their own world that would likely not manifest itself in the real world. Cha likened it to the slash fiction genre where characters are plucked from pop culture and into romantic situations that don’t happen within their regular contexts, such as Star Trek’s Kirk and Spock having a romantic relationship.
The Queer Nerds series continues in March with Cha digging into the Center’s Archive to show examples of queer nerds in LGBT history. In May the series wraps up with the launch party for the latest issue of FAQNP.
Written by Jeff Adams
