I don't feel like getting into where I've been these past two months, because it doesn't really matter. But I have been exploring a few things as I get my future together. Forgive the seemingly random order of my posts over the next several days, but if I don't break things up it's going to be one unbearably long post instead, and even I can't stand to hear myself ramble that much. At any rate, expect a few separate (yet loosely related) subjects to follow in the coming days when I have the time.
To start off, I'll discuss the springboard for much of my recent research. In a word or two, playing the intriguing yet (very) traumatic Kichiku Megane got me thinking about a few things. I was curious as to who exactly would lend their voice to such a game, if it was normal or even expected of male seiyuus to do so, and why they didn't bother hiding their participation in these projects like the actors in regular eroge games do. (I did indeed uncover answers to these questions, but I don't have room to discuss them in this post.) The results of my research have proven surprising, all the way down to the very basis of the BL universe.
In short, while the “Boy's Love” genre is a relatively new phenomenon here in America, it's actually a runaway success in Japan. It's aimed at women, oddly enough, and there's a definite distinction between BL products and products aimed at the gay male demographic. Generally, BL characters are prime examples of bishonen (“pretty” males, often effeminate) while characters aimed at gay men are more muscular, emphasizing the masculinity. Plotlines found in the BL world are also usually far more intricate and emotionally involving...often to a gutwrenching and/or tragic degree. You're not always guaranteed a happy ending; in fact, many times it's the exact opposite.Conversely, I also wonder about products aimed at straight men involving relationships between women (AKA “yuri”.) They don't seem to be nearly as popular as the BL genre, and from what I've been told the plots certainly don't have the same kind of emotional depth and impact found in BL products. But would they really be more popular if they did?
So this leads me to believe that the perceived attraction to the BL universe is supposed to lie in the generally accepted idea that women appreciate beauty and strong emotion. My only guess as to why the result of that perception would manifest in the form of homosexual relationships is that it's something “new” for women, watching men take a role traditionally assigned to female characters in a romance story. Since it's not actually a woman being depicted, the usual socially accepted boundaries (such as the pursuer being too physically aggressive) are negated.
Or it could be something else entirely. Someone suggested that watching an otherwise “regular” human drama with an all-male cast attracts women because they don't feel any competition, nor any pressure to identify with the female character. Who knows? Judging from the rapidly increasing number of teen and college-age BL fans, I'm sure someone will write a great psychology paper on it someday.
As this post is getting too long already, I'll end it here. Next up should be my thoughts on the seiyuus who lend their voices to the BL genre, and how my interest in the rather expansive career of one particular voice actor indirectly drew my attention to the live acting scene in Japan.
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