Thursday, March 19, 2009

Fujoshi Kanojo - Definitely not your average girlfriend

Are you a female manga or doujinshi reader?
Do you know what exactly BL, shounen-ai and yaoi stand for?
And most important of all, are you into BL?

If ALL of your answers for above are YES :
Congratulations! You've earned yourself a 'fujoshi' title! (and you can start dancing with joy, or feels dejected for being labeled as such)

If ALL of your answers are NO :
You should skip this post altogether. And be very aware of the BL label and yaoi warnings in this blog.

If your answers are mixed between YES and NO :
I still recommend you to skip this post. *laugh*



Fujoshi Kanojo Vol.01 Cover

The basic understanding for the title :
'Fujoshi', literally means "rotten girl", is a term for female fans of BL (Boy's Love), yaoi and shounen-ai genre, which the genres are all about romantic relationship between men. Fujoshi is also considered as a subculture of otaku culture, as you could say all fujoshi are otaku, but not all female-otaku are fujoshi. (This superb phrase is quoted from this post about fujoshi from Reverse Thieves blog). 'Kanojo' is a japanese word for girlfriend. By now you should have grasped half of what this Fujoshi Kanojo series is all about.

The series starts with Mutou Taiga, university student looking for a part-time work for some extra cash. He landed with a job right after he fell in love at first sight with a female employee, Ameya Yuiko in the hiring company. Determined and blindly in his crush mode, he made his way to get her attention and courageously confessed to her. To his luck, Yuiko responded positively, but she meekly confessed that she's actually a fujoshi. Taiga who was still very nervous with her reply, accepted her right away without knowing the real meaning of her confessions. Soon enough, Mutou realized that he'd gotten himself into something he would least expected, especially when Yuiko started revealing her true side of a hardcore fujoshi!

The first time I read this, I was thinking along the line, "Ah, it's so familiar!". It's probably like how otaku feels when they're reading Densha Otoko? Although Fujoshi Kanojo do it much better about Yuiko not hiding her fujoshi side to Taiga. IMHO, Fujoshi Kanojo is the first novel/manga series that actually let a fangirl openly declare her BL interest. I don't know about how the Japanese or the Western view BL, but it isn't something you can openly say out loud in this country. People here are more closed-minded that they show sometimes in public, and you get weird glances if you stand at the yaoi section in Kinokuniya for too long. Unfortunately enough, the yaoi books and the other shounen shoujo books are next to each in one large section, so sometimes it's not actually a direct hit on BL readers alone, but the general manga readers as well.
Although I've long since accepted that curious wonders, it still amused me a lot when someone stumbles upon my years of shounen-ai collection in my bookshelves. Yaoi books are very hard to find in here, although I did found a couple of One Piece and Houshin Engi doujinshis back then. I remembered flipping away the saucy pages so fast that I hardly understand what the whole book were all about, it's hard to accept a full yaoi make-out scene when you were just 16 back then! It's something I'll never be apart of, together with all my other mangas definitely.

8 active agents:

s7even said...

ah... so they got own their term. i thought they only known as "bl fan girls" XD

anyway, my closest colleague female friends are fujoshi and always like to see my reaction after got my deskstop spammed with yaoi pics through the network.. XD

kirsch said...

omg lol! the last time i did that to one of my male friend, he turned green almost immediately!
but u seemed like u don't mind a bit! hahah :P

s-yz said...

O_O" i'm not i'm not! xD~ *takmau mengaku* yey new update. read later when have time xD

s-yz said...

eh mana mau baca T_T i want to read lol

kate said...

Narutaki and I were have a big discussion over the fact that if you read BL does that automatically make you a fujoshi.

Narutaki reads BL. She owns BL. She does not read BL on a regular basis but she does not shy away from it. But she says she is not a fujoshi.

Does this mean that you can be a female BL fan and still not be a full on fujoshi or does it mean you are just in denial?

There is a sizable number of people in the anime community who are clearly otaku but refuse to admit it because they see otaku as a dirty word. Is reading BL automatically make you a fujoshi is is there some level of BL commitment before you "earn" that title?

Also is fujoshi a term that is beginning to have a different connotation on both sides of the Pacific like otaku?

I don't really have answers to these questions. I am mostly just putting them out on the table for discussion.

- Hisui

kirsch said...

sakura: sry i forgot to give a link. I've got them from mangatraders.

kate:
In my own understanding, reading BL doesn't automatically makes you a fujoshi. Fujoshi is just a self-made title for those who deeply enjoyed BL works to the levels of an otaku to any genre of their obsession (eg Game otaku). It's just a term; a "name" that people identify themselves in a particular "group". In Narutaki's case, she may or may not call herself a fujoshi, no matter what level is her interest in BL. I believe that there's no actual requirement of BL commitment level if you decide to label yourself as such. It's the same for others who may or may not label you as a fujoshi, doesn't matter how few or many BL books you've read.
Just like the otaku term, the actual meaning for the fujoshi is not pretty. "Fujoshi" literally means 'rotten girl', that already made some people avoid using it to label themselves, or being label as. It's only how you would want to be perceived at; there are people who wears the 'otaku' or 'fujoshi' label proudly (most of the western side, I think), people who dismissed the terms and think of them as insults (in east asia countries, otaku or 御宅族 is a negative term), and also people who doesn't care about these titles.
I hope I've given you a fair opinion on your open discussion, hisui-san. ^^

s-yz said...

ohhh. dl d until vol2 chap 6. issit ongoing manga? coz that is the only chap i can found. xD havent read yet. home later =3

lavender said...

I have a love/hate relationship with BL sometimes I will it other times I can't stand it so I don't consider myself a fujoshi. Reading this I can idenity with both characters although she is a pretty hardcore fujoshi lol