Fujojocast #11 – Gay Manga Dialogues with Thomas Baudinette (Part 1)

08/01/17 • 53 min

Geshuku no Oniisan by Nohara Kuro

Even when my life since last year has been moving forward like a jet plane, I always make an effort to do something special for Yaoi no Hi! That’s August 1, and that is today!

For this Yaoi no Hi, I decided to upload a podcast featuring my awesome friend and colleague, Thomas Baudinette (or Tom, as I call him in the show) about gay manga in Japan and its place in gay and women’s culture. We brushed on various related topics to gay manga such as gei komi and, of course, boys love.

In this episode

Thomas Baudinette is an anthropologist and Japanese Studies scholar who is currently teaching at Macquarie University in Sydney. We’ve worked together for a couple of conferences and often found ourselves talking about our research which looks at people’s consumption of boys love texts. Finally, I had a chance to invite him on a podcast!

In this show, we talked about so many things about gay manga and BL that I had to divide the show into two parts. The first part deals with Tom’s research on gay manga and how Japanese gay men are defining and consuming this comic genre. We also talked about the subgenres within gay manga, some of which are beyond what I perceive as aesthetically gei komi. Of course, we also brushed upon “bara” and how English discourse packages gay manga through English-translated texts such as Massive and other gay-translated titles.

It was a fun first hour, and hopefully, you learned so much from Tom about Japan’s vibrant gay manga culture.

Fujojocast #11: Gay Manga Dialogues with Thomas Baudinette (Part 1)

Note: The opinions of both Thomas and Khursten do not represent their respective institutions.

Download the episode
OP: Doukyusei BGM 1 by Oshio Kotaro (from the Doukyusei Movie OST)
EP: Doukyusei BGM 1 by Oshio Kotaro (from the Doukyusei Movie OST)

Show notes

Articles

Thomas Baudinette’s “An evaluation of physicality in the bara manga of Badi magazine” and “Japanese gay men’s attitudes towards ‘gay manga’ and the problem of genre” (See Thomas’ academia for more articles).

James Welker’s “Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: Boys Love as Girls Love in ShÅjo Manga” and “Flower Tribes and Female Desire Complicating Early Female Consumption of Male Homosexuality in ShÅjo Manga.” (See James’ academia for more articles)

Wim Lunsing’s “Yaoi RonsÅ: Discussing Depictions of Male Homosexuality in Japanese Girls’ Comics, Gay Comics and Gay Pornography”

Gay Manga Artists from Badi

Geshuku no Oniisan by Nohara Kuro

Nijiiro Sunrise by Maeda Poketo

Nijiiro Sunrise by Maeda Poketo (See a sample over on twitter!)

Gay Manga Artists and Works Published in English

Gengoro Tagame’s My Brother’s Husband

Geshuku no Oniisan by Nohara Kuro

Even when my life since last year has been moving forward like a jet plane, I always make an effort to do something special for Yaoi no Hi! That’s August 1, and that is today!

In this episode

It was a fun first hour, and hopefully, you learned so much from Tom about Japan’s vibrant gay manga culture.

Fujojocast #11: Gay Manga Dialogues with Thomas Baudinette (Part 1)

Note: The opinions of both Thomas and Khursten do not represent their respective institutions.

Download the episode
OP: Doukyusei BGM 1 by Oshio Kotaro (from the Doukyusei Movie OST)
EP: Doukyusei BGM 1 by Oshio Kotaro (from the Doukyusei Movie OST)

Show notes

Articles

Wim Lunsing’s “Yaoi RonsÅ: Discussing Depictions of Male Homosexuality in Japanese Girls’ Comics, Gay Comics and Gay Pornography”

Gay Manga Artists from Badi

Geshuku no Oniisan by Nohara Kuro

Nijiiro Sunrise by Maeda Poketo

Nijiiro Sunrise by Maeda Poketo (See a sample over on twitter!)

Gay Manga Artists and Works Published in English

Gengoro Tagame’s My Brother’s Husband

Previous Episode

Fujojocast #10: Building a BL starter kit!

So I posted last weekend about pooling people’s recs for a BL starter kit! If you’ve got a few titles in mind, that’s great! Let me know about it!

However, if you’re still thinking how to go about it, let Airin, Maija, and I help you build a criteria for your BL starter kit! In this podcast, we share our thoughts on BL titles we think is accessible for curious readers! It may have been recorded last year but I think our selection still holds! Listen in and I hope it inspires you to rec for the BL Starter Kit!

OP/Insert: Spicy Marmalade by Bad Luck
ED: Shining Collection by Nittle Grasper

Airin’s list

Est Em’s Ultras
Takarai Rihito’s Seven Days
Junko’s Kasa no Shita, Futari
Ogeretsu Tanaca’s Renai Rubi wo Tadashiikata

Maija’s list

Homerun Ken’s I want to become your bird
Est Em’s Red Blinds the Foolish
Nakamura Asumiko‘s Doukyuusei

Khursten’s List

Yuki Shimizu Love Mode
Saburo Nagai’s Smells Like Green Spirit
Yamamoto Kotetsuko‘s works (Chunchun ga Chun, Honto Yajuu, etc.)

Honorable Mentions

Kumota Haruko’s Itoshi no Nekokke
Yuzuha Ougi’s Darling
Sakurai Shushushu’s Vibrator Company
Yamato Nase’s Chintsubu

As always, all my love and thanks to Airin and Maija. If you are Finnish and you love BL, please visit their awesome website Fujoshiluola!!

If you have your BL Starter Kit recs ready, do leave a comment here and you might have a chance to win a BL care package from me!!

Next Episode

Fujojocast #12: Gay Manga Dialogues with Thomas Baudinette (Part 2)

Herculion’s Full Service. Illustration by Mazjojo

I am finally back from check republic ((as my students call final markings)) with the second part of my conversation with Thomas Baudinette on gay manga.

In the last episode, we talked about Tom’s research, how he stumbled upon gay manga, and how this genre is consumed by readers in Japan. As for this episode, Tom and I will continue and conclude our discussions on gay manga as it moves in transnational spaces.

In this Episode

Thomas and I continue our discussions on gay manga. This time, we look into new concepts of “hard” BL or “hard” yaoi as terms fans use to describe what Tom considers as hybrids of BL manga and yaroukei. As we discuss the works of some artists such as Matsu Takeshi and Zariya Ranmaru, we acknowledge that these works are changing the landscape of BL manga and has shifted the eroticism of the manga to what some of his respondents consider as pornographic.

We continue to discuss the authenticity of these hybrid manga and see its in impact in transnational spaces. Thomas and I look into the works of Asian artists such as Mazjojo and Guilt|Pleasure and see how their works highlight the transformations of gay comic, as seen through this transnationational concept of “bara”.

As we conclude the show, we summarise the main points of the show and reflect upon the future of gay manga as it continues to navigate in a transnational space.

Fujojocast #12: Gay Manga Dialogues with Thomas Baudinette Part 2

Note: The opinions of both Thomas and Khursten do not represent their institutions

OP: Doukyusei BGM 1 by Oshio Kotaro (from the Doukyusei Movie OST)
EP: Doukyusei BGM 1 by Oshio Kotaro (from the Doukyusei Movie OST)

Show Notes

Scarlet Beriko’s BL Design Manuals: Kissing Scenes, Love Scenes, Mousou Poses) Ranmaru Zariya: Coyote, Void, Nemuri Otoko, Pet Keiyaku Kinnniku BL Naono Bohra (