On Friday, June 11 9:00 pm (CST), I’ll be giving a talk at Fujocon on Fujoshi Bait!
What is Fujoshi Bait? How does it work? Why is it successful for some but not for others? How much of it is intentional or unintended? Central to this lecture is the idea of Boys Love literacies and the effective and ineffective ways media use these literacies to keep and maintain a captive female audience and market.
I hope that I can see you at this talk! The talk is for free just register at Fujocon’s website. (And for those who live in my region PH+8, the talk is at 10 AM!!)
There are also many fantastic talks from other BL academics and fans so it’d be a worthwhile experience this weekend. ALSO, I heard Futekiya’s list of guests for Fujocon are A++. Check out the panels!
It was a short and sweet event. It was fun seeing everyone celebrate 801 and it was great to also sit back and enjoy this genre that I love.
It’s been a very busy period for me, no thanks to this new normal. So celebrating BL yesterday kept my anxieties at bay. BL helped me recentre my life and focus on what’s important–boys love. *pfft*
Today would have been the Blush Convention. For years, as organisers, we’ve sought to find ways to hold the con as close to 801 yet schedules fail to align until this year. There were some exciting things that could have happened. We would have had Kumota Haruko as our first BL manga artist as guest! Our array of speakers would have helped us squee over our favourite ships and series in the last year.
That said there’s no point in crying over spilled milk. The new normal has kept us apart but I’m genuinely happy that we are all celebrating it one way or another through our virtual hashtag party #Blush801.
And in the spirit of fun and giveaways that we usually do in the con, I’m happy to giveaway 5 one month subscriptions to Futekiya! I’ll be giving it to three BL fans in the Philippines and two BL fans outside of the Philippines. These fans MUST also have active paypal accounts.
How will you get to have a chance for this price? Here’s the mechanics.
In a comment below, name three Futekiya titles that you are looking forward to reading and why you want to read them. You can check the list of Futekiya titles here. Let me know where you’re from too by placing which country you’re from.
Is it that easy? Yes! It’s that easy!
All entries must be given before the 11:59 August 1 GMT +8. I’ll announce the winners the next day.
So let me know the titles you’d like to try below while I share my own recs on August 1!!
This new normal has certainly left the introvert in me happy but the lockdown has certainly made me miss some of the fun things I do outside my home. Like walking around a green campus. Having a leisurely cup of coffee while sharing a cake with friends. And of course, conventions.
Virtual conventions (or even conferences) are just not good enough. This year, one of our local BL cons in Manila, BLush, had to cancel because of COVID-19. It could have been an awesome convention given that for the first time in years, the calendars aligned and we were FINALLY hosting it on 801. Quite a number of people were excited about the convention, however, they had to replan the event for the safety of everyone involved.
Interestingly, virtual conventions are a thing now but given the reliability of internet connections in Manila, the people of BLush decided to hold a virtual hashtag party instead. From July 27 until August 1, @BlushCon will be launching a set of activities for BL fans in Manila all over the globe. Even when the world robbed us the opportunity to squee together, the folks at BLush feel that we still deserve a decent 801 party online. And I am TOTALLY up for that.
So, what happens?
During this week, follow @BLushCon and they’ll be releasing some activities for everyone under the hashtag #BLush801. If you’re an artist, there’s a fun activity to do. If you’re just a fan of boys love, there’s something for you too! And this event is open to fans of all iterations of boys love–from danmei, ThaiBL, BL manhwa and of course BL in Japan!
Over here at Otaku Champloo, I’ll also be writing some articles just to contribute to this BLush801 party! I’ve also got some more surprises for everyone especially towards the actual 801 weekend!
The last few months felt like I went around the world in 90 days. I can never apologise enough for the time I have not been giving this site more so giving this little baby a shout out. That’s right, a mini-version of Blush is coming out this August!
So the awesomesauce organizers of last year’s awesome yuri and yaoi convention are back and they’re flying mile high for this year’s Room 801!! I am totes excite to spend the weekend with this lovely crew as they’re holding their event on 28-29 March at Holiday Inn, Paramatta!
You can check the Room 801 schedule here and yes, I’ll be there to give some talks on Fujojosports and Fujoshibait. A great colleague of mine, Thomas Baudinette, will be talking about bara and gei manga. I’m totally excited to hear this as lines are blurred between yaoi, bara, bl, and gei manga in fandom outside of Japan. Kittyhawk will also be there to talk about yuri! There’s also the fun Igiari! Debate, a preview of a DMMD fan game, and a film showing of Free! and Yurikuma Arashi!
If you’re in town and want to fangirl with us this weekend, feel free to join us! It’s one of the loveliest BL-related events I’ve been in!
I always say I’m too old for conventions but I guess I’m never too old for Boys’ Love conventions.
This year, I took part in another Boys’ Love convention, this time it’s closer to home. Last 3 May 2014, my friends and I organised and held the second BL convention in Manila, Blush Convention. The theme this year is Secret Confessions and we used it to launch our second Blush anthology. However, it seems that there’s a lot of girls (and boys) who had a lot of feels to confess. Their voices are still ringing in my ears.
Hallo Fujoshi and Fudanshi! This weekend is gonna be aaaawwwweeeesooooomesauce!
I’m so excited to attend Room 801, Australia’s Yaoi and Yuri Con this weekend! Is this my fate to attend awesome BL cons? Maybe I’ll make it my mission to attend all the BL-related conventions all over the globe!
Anyway, I’ll be taking part of some of the activities in Room801! On Saturday, I’ll be at the Workshop Room (Mary Jane Baker A) from 12:15 – 1:00 p.m. talking about BL Manga’s New Wave. In the afternoon, I’ll be a part of Igiari! The Great Debate at the Main Theatre from 4:00-4:45. On Sunday, I have a focus group discussion on fandoms and censorship at 9 a.m. in the AV Club Room! Now, I’m not the only one babbling about BL, yaoi, and porn for the entire day. The folks behind Room801 have lined up a really awesome schedule for the weekend!
If you’re a fujoshi, fudanshi, or even a lilyzoku in Sydney, let’s all meet up in Room801!
Room801 will be held on the 4th floor of the Y-Hotel Hyde Park, Sydney from 21-23 February 2014. Don’t miss it!
While I often complain that the Philippines does not have a rich localized manga industry like Singapore and Indonesia, we do have a very rich history in animation.
Some of you may have heard of members of Pixar coming from our shores, but for all the local otaku out there, did you know that Toei animation has been in Manila for 25 years?
Last Nov. 16, Toei celebrated their 25th anniversary in the Philippines, sharing the works that they’ve done all these years as well as some goodies (in fact, A LOT OF AWESOME merchandise!). Currently, Toei Manila is working on Precure, Toriko, and One Piece. Their animation history extends as far as Dragon Ball, Sailormoon, Kinnikuman, Hokuto no Ken, and Voltes V (The Philippine Fan favorite). Almost all of these titles have had their chances in being shown in local television.
Seeing the event reminded me of all the anime that was generously shown in local TV. I suppose, it’s not much of a surprise that Filipinos immediately associate Japan with anime rather than manga because most Filipinos encountered Japan through television… and World War II… but we’ll get to that later.
