Yes! For once, I was not to busy to forget this very special day!!

Fujoshis! Run amock! Go wild! Buy some lovely BL and snicker behind every nasty page you’re reading! You deserve it!

Over the last year, I’ve also crossed a fun fujoshi who I don’t mind pimping to everyone. If you guys haven’t read Hazukashii kedo…, then as a fujoshi it’s about time you do so. Fuuko’s a lovely fujoshi who is not afraid to squee over her BL. She’s got some of the latest news from Japan since, she’s admittedly, a fantastic stalker (of the legal kind of sorts) to her favorite BL mangaka. I suggest you guys follow her blog and read through some titles which we can hope can get licensed someday. If you guys enjoyed Men of Tattoes (Shisei no Otoko) then Fuuko has tons of Aniya Yuiji manga for recommendation. I have been getting BL recs from her and I haven’t felt disappointed. <3 Fujoshi-chan, it’s time you get on with the program.

Of course, 801 no hi is a reminder not only of this blessed day to be a fujoshi but on this particular 801, Otaku Champloo will also start its month-long 5th anniversary celebration! \o/ I can’t believe it’s been five years since I started this blog! I’ve got things lined up for this month and I hope you guys won’t mind that I bring out my fujoshi side! At the same time, I’ll be raffling off some manga every weekend! Call me crazy but I’m feeling quite generous after five years and I know I owe it to some of my readers!

Hence! With great gusto, let’s all celebrate being a fujoshi by shouting our beloved oath, “Gentlemen! I like BL!”

Gentlemen, I like BL
Gentlemen, I love BL

I like Kichiku Megane
I like underage assaults
I like naughty assaults
I like gakuen monogatari
I like riiman
I like parallels
I like gachi muchi
I like crossdressers

In parks, in schools
In companies, on streets
In harems, in deserts
In darkness, in daylight

I love every aspect of boy’s love that takes place on this earth

I like quickly shooting the customer with the cash register while packing up the merchandise
When new publications on the stand decrease at amazing speed, my heart dances

I like operating the computer and responding to customer inquiry quickly
When new books arrived at the cash register, my heart leapt

Gentlemen, I desire BL, BL that is like hell
Gentlemen, my companions in the battalion, who follow me
Gentlemen, what do you desire?

Do you desire BL as well?
Do you desire PC games and commercial magazines that strike the wallet with no mercy?
Do you desire doujinshi that stretch the limits of iron, wind, lightning and fire to the limit, one that will kill all the delusions on this planet?

“BL! BL! BL!”
Very well, they are on the 3rd, 4th floor

I believe I’ve been told by one of my advisers that I shouldn’t write something that I’m obsessed about. Bias, after all, is one of the greatest sins in historical writing. It’s like a painted picture where everything is all right or all wrong and it’s hard to tell whether it’s the truth or not because of all the biases people have on it. Is it pretty? Is it ugly? Does the picture really translate the heart of what it’s trying to represent? Or are we simply translating what the painter wishes to portray and nothing more?

It’s hard to get rid of biases but when images sway you to the point of obsession then maybe, just maybe, that picture has more truth that it should hold.

It is in this obsession that I cannot forget Nakamura Asumiko. She draws a gaze that convinces me more than ever that she deserves this spotlight.

An Everwatchful Eye

It’s a little over a year since I caught Nakamura’s gaze and yet here I am still mesmerized and in awe of her as if it was just yesterday.

I remember sitting still with my head tilted at the side, staring at the strange cover of Double Mints. I must admit that it’s not a genius title but it was still a curious sight: two men forming a circle, one man latching on the other’s leg. The lines were smooth and clean but the short cropped boy on the cover had an unforgettable glare, as if he’s wondering why I’m looking their way, as if he didn’t want me to mess with their story.

I felt criminal just by looking at that cover. The longer I stared at that boy, the more I wanted to know why those eyes didn’t want me to go past the cover. In the end, I got a copy, read the comic and was blown away. Double Mints turned out to be with one of the best BL stories I’ve read.

My first encounter with Nakamura Asumiko was strong, sexy, powerful, and deeply provocative. She tackled BDSM so beautifully in Double Mints that she didn’t have to illustrate it with tacky whips and leather thongs. What best illustrated the obsessive relationship with the protagonists were those lovely pair of eyes.

Nakamura draws her eyes with a sanpakugan, irises that are so big that it divides the white of the eye into three. While most mangaka could be happy with just a simple blotted circle to draw the iris, Nakamura draws her eyes (including the eyelashes) with the finest of lines that you could not resist but be drawn in to her characters. Sometimes, I find myself wondering whether I’m drawn at those eyes or those eyes are looking at me. Needless to say, they’re stunning to look at.

Embracing the Dark

After Double Mints, I found myself hungry, if not starving, for her works. I found myself reading her older works which contained the same level of brutality and grace as Double Mints. Her earlier works under Ohta Shuupan such as J no Subete and Barairo no Hoo no Koro were not shy of approaching topics such as sexual aggression and obsession.

A scene from Barairo no Hoo no Koro

A friend once said that upon seeing just the images of her works, you could see a little bit of Keiko Takemiya in her.  Like the Forty Niners, she was an artist who is not shy of tipping towards the taboo. She’s fully aware of the sensitive topics that she writes and she successfully manages to conceal it behind soft curls and lithe limbs. Looking at her earlier works do bring you back to the old school premises of the Forty Niners however unlike them, there’s sharpness in Nakamura’s works that her work is like a wolf against the Forty Niners’ flock of sheep. There’s something violent, almost masculine and carnal in her earlier stories that if you were to put them with Jules or Juli, the boys of the Forty Niners would crumble and submit to Nakamura’s boys. At times, her characters shock me as they deliberately choose destruction.

I always wondered why she had that side of her. It took another friend to tell me that it was perhaps the influence of the gothic lolita world unto her. My friend was an avid follower of gothic lolita trends hence when she found out about my fascination for Nakamura Asumiko, she told me that the woman has been consistently contributing stories to the Gothic Lolita Bible and that it actually surprised her that Nakamura had ventured outside of the genre and has moved towards BL. I managed to catch some of these gothic Lolita works which were quite… gothic (for lack of a better word) and almost philosophical in nature. If anything, my impression of Nakamura Asumiko is she’s one intelligent mangaka who has a taste for dark complicated stories. I honestly have no qualms with how she pushes her imagination with every story she’s written. One of the things I love about her is how she always pushed her stories to the edge but not too much that story dies with it. She knows when to stop her fantasies and the limits of her stories.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Taken from Anata no Tame nara doko Made mo

As I continued my journey (fangirling) towards Nakamura’s works, it seems that in recent years she has thrown her gothic laces and wore a red nose. Not that she has given up her dark side (Utsubora’s a fantastic reminder of that!) but it seems that she doesn’t mind lightening up her stories for some good cheeky fun.

Her recent fans are most familiar with her Doukyuusei series (the other title is Sotsugyousei which has 2 volumes), a light-hearted comedy about an unusual couple who sort of found love in the classroom. We’ve seen this all before and there’s really nothing new in this genre. What makes it fresh is her art (which takes you back to the springtime of your youth) and her own witty humor.

Her previous dabbles with humor were either poignant or sardonic but it’s quite surprising how she managed to pull off some classic comedy routines. I, for one, could not believe that this was the same girl who wrote those hot dark romances filled with tragedy and misery. Her comedy is tastefully done, nothing insane, just enough for a good laugh. If I can compare her comedy to something, it would be close to a Richard Curtis (writer for Four Weddings and a Funeral) romance comedy: it’s hilarious, raw, real, and unapologetic at the same time. One of her later works, Anata no Tame nara Doko made mo, is a sexy yet crazy cat and mouse chase between a detective and a swindler who manages to distract the good well-meaning detective with sweet little kisses (and some some).

One might think that because she has changed her stories, her style has changed as well. She didn’t compromise her art for these comedies, although she manages to switch those pretty sanpaku eyes for some cartoonish reactions. Her lines remain thin, clean, and wispy and she still manages to seduce us with those lithe frames and soft curls.

Can a mangaka write for lots of genres? Of course they can.

From Tetsudou Shoujo Manga

I believe it was in my Yoshinaga Fumi spotlight that I mentioned something about how it was a great ability for a mangaka to move outside their comfortable genre. Yoshinaga, as we know, is one of the first few who have done this.  Nakamura Asumiko has also done this in her career.

Her earliest series started in Manga Erotics F (currently, her series Utsubora is running in this magazine) but she has also started to write for other manga magazines such as Opera (where her Doukyuusei series started) and Morning (where her new series about sumo wrestling Yobidashi Hajime is running¹).

Beyond that, just early this year, her contributions for the shoujo anthology Rakuen Le Paradis by Hakusensha were compiled to a manga. Tetsudou Shoujo Manga is a lovely compilation of stories about various kinds of love found along the Odakyu railway lines. Beyond this, she has an upcoming work for web magazine named Poco Poco under Ohta Shuppan as well. Then we also have to consider the illustrations she does for books such as Moedanshigatari.

From Tetsudou Shoujo Manga

As you can see, Nakamura is not only good at BL but she also has the talent to cater to a lot of genres. She even did a bit of yuri in Tetsudou Shoujo Manga! According to her Japanese Wikipedia page, she’s got quite a lot on her hand that she’s taken a break to take care of her health. I’m quite sure that once she got some rest, her stories will be rolling, we’ll be seeing more and more of her.

Nakamura Asumiko’s an amazing talent that comes once in a blue moon. The critics have not yet sniffed her work for a Taisho or a Kodansha award but I’m quite sure that give it some time, she’ll be in the same ranks as her predecessor, Yoshinaga Fumi. The balance, humor, and versatility that she shows in her works as well as the care that she puts in every art makes her one of my favorite mangaka to date.

What I’m surprised though is that US publishers haven’t caught on to her work. Not even David Welsh has even requested for a license request of her works. If I may suggest,I’m hoping that Tetsudou Shoujo Manga would be picked up by Viz and the thriller Utsubora would be picked up by Vertical. The world needs to know more about Nakamura Asumiko. She’s a wonderful addition to the world of manga. I’m quite sure you won’t be able to resist her gaze once you’ve read her works.

The Reading List

The Dark Side (For those who would like to read Nakamura Asumiko’s Darker stories): Copernicus no Kokyuu, J no Subete, Barairo no Hoo no Koro, Her Gothic Lolita Bible Shorts, Utsubora, Double Mints

The Lighter Side (For those who would like to read her funny, light-hearted stories): Doukyuusei, Sotsugyousei, Tetsudoh Shoujo Manga, Anata no Tame nara Doko Made Mo, Yobidashi Hajime

1. Yes, I did just mention she’s currently writing a series about sumo wrestling. She seems to be passionate about that.

I write this spotlight today with a mildly sore leg as March started with a big bump… in more ways than one.

I wonder if living life past a quarter of a century meant seeing your life in still panels with soft lines and endearing faces. Surely, my face was far from endearing, nor was the experience of being hit by a car in any way graceful. But strangely, all worries, anxieties, and fears disappeared as soon as I shared a meal with the lady who hit me with her car. And I can visibly remember the joy of eating food with someone, even if she kind of messed up my legs a little.

At that time, I felt that moment reminded me of a Yoshinaga Fumi panel, two people eating, healing pains and worries with a quiet but hearty meal and smiles on their faces.

Hence, in commemoration of being thankful for life, I put a spotlight on Fumi Yoshinaga.

My journey in writing this spotlight was nothing but enlightening. My rule of thumb is to try to read the artist’s work in sequence and try to see their development as a mangaka, both in art, their themes, their interests, and their stories. Strangely though, I have read Yoshinaga-sensei in various points in my life that when I started to look back, I couldn’t exactly see pin-point where she started. When I started asking if she had grown as a writer, in the back of my head, I was thinking… she had always felt mature as a writer.

So I went back, taking cues from the Japanese Wiki and tried to read most of her works in order. What I had thought as a flawless consistent act turned to be quite a growth of an artist.

Fumi the fangirl

Yes. Tachibana should be uke.

As some would know, Yoshinaga’s beginnings started with doujin. She was a prolific doujin artist, known to participate even in Comic Market. Her doujin work is popular enough to sell for thousands in Mandarake. When I was in Osaka, her old MitKo Slam Dunk doujin was being sold for 5,000 yen. This said pairing was so popularized by her that it was even mentioned in Genshiken.

One thing clear is that Yoshinaga started as bubbly fangirl with homosexual fantasies. While this was obvious in her early doujins, this could also be seen in her debut work, Tsuki to Sandal (The Moon and the Sandals).

Her first published work was an interesting fantasy of lovers struggling to come to terms with their relationship, as asymmetric as it was. And while this debut was, the way I see it, virginal and pure, in more ways than one, Yoshinaga was one of the few mangaka who opened up issues of homosexuals in Japanese society in her BL works.

In those two volumes, she managed to explain the difficulty of homosexuals taking an apartment, being accepted in the workplace, and the possibility of marriage by means of adoption. To a degree (and I’m not saying a reality), she also opened up the difficulty of sexual orientation as Ida and Kobayashi experience their “first time”.  Unfortunately the stories were still hazy, still tapering between reality and fantasy. What was perhaps disappointing was how sudden and instant things were happening that it was like reading through a fangirl fulfilling her fantasies with every chapter. You’re shown bombs rather than montages and while I have always admired her art, her first work was very crude, messy, and cartoony that it wasn’t as graceful as her cover.

It was a rough start, and not exactly the Yoshinaga that we actually have grown to admire. In fact, her works that came after, Don’t say any more, Darling and Truly Kindly were closer to experiments on what kind of stories were best for her. By reading these one shots we could see how she played with themes and characters that by the end of Solfege, she had stories to tell.

And her stories were fantastic. I believe every girl who read yaoi or BL will not deny how memorable her French Revolution series were. We loved Claude. We loved Gerard and Jacques. It was hardly their cleft chins, sharp jaws and regal standing that got us but rather the intense passion that she captured in every panel that she drew. Finally, she had given her characters life. Gone were the faceless and unmemorable BL stereotypes and here were characters that stood out and stuck to our memory.

Sure, the lines she drew were chiefly soft but one could swiftly be caught in the romance and wished they witnessed this passion first-hand. Most of us met Yoshinaga this way and we began to starve for her works however she was taking a different turn as soon as she was wrapping up Ichigenme. Perhaps it came with age and taste but the dreamy fag hag fangirl was slowly noticing other stories brewing in her heart. The wild scribbles were traded in for soft refined and calculated lines. Fumi the fangirl was growing up.

Fumi and her cafe

Yoshinaga Fumi dreamt of other things as soon as she started writing outside of Biblos Eros. It was fascinating how her move to Wings, a shoujo magazine, was not a complete change but rather just a small shift in the way she built her stories. Hence Garden of Dreams, Kodomo no Taion and All my Darling Children were explorations on fragile human relations. The works were nostalgic and picturesque. At the same time, Yoshinaga manage to capture the emotions of her characters luring our sentiments and sympathies towards their stories.

The gay did not disappear (it honestly never disappeared!) but has now taken a different position in her stories. They’ve now become a part of an ensemble – not characters in the background, but part of a whole.

From the 5th Antique Bakery Doujin

In reading Antique Bakery, we read her first ensemble: Tachibana, Ono, Chikage, and Kanda. The story of Antique, while light-hearted, presented real questions on love and life. It was honestly a strange read at first as fangirls were hoping to get some action only to find simple and heart-warming servings that made people hope for a better day, one cake at a time. Suddenly, you wished you had an Antique nearby. Suddenly, you started craving for whatever pastry Ono just made. Suddenly, you wanted to dance and seduce someone under the rain. Suddenly, you wanted to forgive, forget, smile, live, and say “It’s going to be a beautiful day.” Japan, and eventually the world, was enchanted by this little pastry shop that as soon as the series ended, we were hungry for more. And we got more! We got a TV drama, an anime, and even a Korean version of the movie which was thrice better than the Japanese TV drama (the drama didn’t even make Ono gay!) Her success in Antique opened tons of opportunities for Yoshinaga however she stuck through familiar elements and honed her craft further under Wings.

Her stories in Wings showed a great ensemble of people who seem to teach us a little or two about life, one chapter at a time. The ensemble allowed Yoshinaga to move away from being just another BL writer to someone who had a grasp of people, and not just gays. Yoshinaga focused on the banality of everyday life and highlighted the small but wonderful memories that we often taken for granted. Flower of Life was such a story that it was clear that Yoshinaga was more concerned with reminding us about the important things her stories.

This sense of nostalgia and sentimentality became her trademark under Wings. It captured a lot of people’s hearts enough to give her prestigious prizes such as the Kodansha Manga Award and even an Eisner. I’m not exactly sure how much she is of a household name in Japan but in my experience, the mention of her titles more often than not bring smiles unto people’s faces.

Fumi today and beyond

I really began to fully appreciate Yoshinaga’s style and genius when she started to venture outside of Wings and wrote Kinou Nani Tabeta and Ooku.

Ooku is a brilliant work that takes manga to the levels of Taiga. It was something unexpected for many but for those who knew her love for history, knew that this was a story that was only meant for her and only her. I don’t think any other author can pull off something like this without compromising either the story or the sensuality that comes out in these volumes. Yoshinaga’s art manages to tell the delicate situation of this alternate time without making it feel too boring or too simple. It’s an elaborate world filled with complex social striations that she manages to capture so flawlessly. I love it even if it makes my head ache everytime I read it. She’s quite a poet in Ooku and I can’t help but feel like I’m reading some old Japanese story when I’m reading this manga. It’s such a shame that in English, her poetry was misappropriated as Shakespeare.

No one knew that she was capable of doing these things for we have only read her simpler trivial slice of life stories. However,  we believed that she was someone who was capable of telling complex situations because of we knew how she understood people. If there’s one thing she really understood well and managed to illustrate well, it was people. She has a way with faces and expressions and it became more refined as she grew older.

From Kinou Nani Tabeta

Thus as such her everyday life tale of two homosexuals living together was nothing but heartwarming, if not a filling read. Unlike her other stories, Kinou Nani Tabeta basks in everyday life and does not find any closure beyond that of the dinner table. It’s a lovely read that takes on the formula of Antique but with a far more sophisticated, if not mature altogether. To be honest about it, it feels domestic. More so, unlike Antique, Kinou Nani Tabeta puts as much focus on food as it does on its character. Then again this was expected of Fumi. She is a foodie after all.

Fumi’s not just about love but all about food

Kenji expresses his joy that Kakei chose to make their dinner sweet for his sake and this was an expression of his love.

One of the things I find amusing about reading all of Fumi’s works is that this food does not fail to mention food at any given point in her stories. In Tsuki to Sandals, there were doughnuts. There were tons of cakes and pastries in Antique. Even bento looked great in Flower of Life. Of course we can’t forget that she dedicated Kinou Nani Tabeta to the act of eating and cooking plus there was her restaurant hopping escapades in Not Love But Delicious Food.

This woman loves her food and I can feel her heart skip every time she has the opportunity to explain how a particular food is made and why it is awesome. I love her passion for food and while this is mostly seen in Kinou Nani Tabeta, I think anyone who has read Fumi would have also grown to appreciate food.

Fumi is the fangirl that I wish to be

If there was one thing that made this spotlight really delayed (beyond my accident) was how I had so many things to say about Yoshinaga Fumi.  On one end, I want to talk about her representation of homosexuals and how she has captured a movement in the least politicized manner that I have seen in comics. I can go on about the social relevance of her works and how she had a flair for kitsch and so on and so forth but I thought overthinking her work defies the heart of her work.

I believe that at its core, Yoshinaga works simply wished to portray the beauty of humanity, in all of its simplicity, banality, and its complexity. Her art is simple not because it’s her style but I think it captures how straightforward our emotions are that even the simplest of lines can portray our sadness or happiness.

Personally, as a fujoshi, I’d like to be in that same age of maturity as she is. I’d like to appreciate the porn without compromising the story and the emotions of the characters. I’d like to poke fun at my fangirl self and have a laugh at the couples I adore. I think to a degree I have turned into the fangirl that she is but at the same time, I am much like her who still manages to squee and dream about the possibilities of the love that’s never said. In her heart of hearts, Yoshinaga Fumi is a fangirl and that fangirl was never lost. She just matured in a very graceful and elegant manner.

It is this very gracefulness that made her one of the 20 important shoujo mangaka of this day and age. She was unlike the 49ers because she did not bask too deep in a fantasy. On the other hand, she was not too hardcore to over dramatize the reality. She was the perfect example of a contemporary author who was dealing with post-modern concerns of identity, banality, and meaning. However she did not have to write an existential piece for us to appreciate it. She merely wrote down fascinating personalities living their lives as they believed it.  I personally feel she paved the way of other BL mangaka who also managed to present great slice of life stories driven by great characters: Nakamura Asumiko, Basso, Est Em, and Yamashita Tomoko. And I think I’m more than grateful to her for giving me not only some of the best stories I’ve ever read in manga but also the best lessons in life.

I do have one heartbreak with her… she didn’t give me closure for Ono and Tachibana in her doujins.  :<

The Reading List

Fumi at her BL Best: Tsuki to Sandal (The Moon and Sandals), Lovers in the Night, Gerard and Jacques, Don’t say Any More Darling, Solfege, Ichigenme wa Yaruki no Minpou (First Class is Civil Law)

Fumi at her Foodie Best: Antique Bakery, Not love but Delicious Food, Kinou Nani Tabeta

Fumi at her Best: Flower of Life, Garden of Dreams, All my Darling Daughters, Ooku

About my favorite panel

I believe it was Melinda who asked me what was my favorite BL panel ever and I told her that it had come from a Yoshinaga Fumi manga. As I have lost my copy of the Japanese version, this panel does not capture the exact amazing of the Japanese hence I modified this English copy to mimic that scene in Japanese.

My favorite scene ever

This was taken from my favorite Yoshinaga BL story, Ichigenme wa Yaruki no Minpou volume 2, and as you guys can see Tamiya’s panting “haa… haa…” before screaming “hazukashii!!” which means “it’s so embarrassing!” It just sounds a lot better in Japanese because you’re not exactly sure if he was panting or he was soooo embarrassed that it was it was a mixture of both. It’s gold and I think it led to one of the hottest BL scenes I’ve read.

That said, I want to ask, what are your favorite Yoshinaga Fumi moments and why do you love her work?

Note: This spotlight was intended for February so this counts as the February Spotlight.

I thought that this has got to be the funniest joke but it turns out, it was no joke at all.

I’ve seen this being tweeted for some while but it wasn’t long until I finally saw the commercial for Shueisha’s new quarterly BL magazine (under its subsidiary Homesha), BL-ink.

But don’t they have Weekly Shounen Jump already?

I know. It’s crazy. But it seems Weekly Shounen Jump is not the “Sweet BL” that BL-ink is trying to offer. The magazine is a dedicated BL magazine for Homesha and I think this is perhaps an outright acceptance of the popularity of BL.¹

What I found interesting was it took some google powers to find the site. It’s mostly mentioned as BLink which doesn’t come out much in searches. Looking at Shueisha’s website doesn’t even announce the magazine (or at least I didn’t see it.) I had to find the websites of actual authors in the magazine to actually figure out that it should be searched as BL-ink to finally find the proper search term for the said magazine.

As I mentioned, BL-ink will be sold more under Homesha, but it’s inevitable to not associate this publishing firm with Shueisha. In fact, in the advertisements, they would proudly put the banner of Shueisha as if it’s quite important and crucial that Shueisha’s involved in this. After all, the company has had a love affair with fujōshi especially with Shounen Jump.

This love affair can be seen with the appearances of some famous JUMP BL doujinshika turned mangaka in the magazine. The two that I recognize are Aoi Levin, who is notoriously famous for Dino x Hibari from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, and Ichinomiya Shihan, known best as the circle Love Potion No. 9 and is known for Gintoki x Hijikata doujins from Gintama. I’m quite sure that other mangaka in the magazine had also done some SJ doujin at some point. Upon researching, the mangaka for the opening story (in color) is Natsume Isaku who has done Sanji x Zoro from One Piece at one point. So does Takaoka Nanaroku who did Inui x Kaidou from Prince of Tennis, and L x Light from Death Note.

The other authors that are contributing in this magazine are Sakura Haiji, Haruno Ahiru, Takanaga Hinako (The Tyrant Falls in Love), Kusunoki Jun, Akiba Touko, Kamon Saeko, Hashimoto Aoi, Enzou (who apparently made a Gintama doujin BUT I DON’T KNOW AS WHAT CIRCLE! THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS!), Tamaquis Wren, Misasagi Kumiko, Kawamura Natsu, Murakami Sachi, Kuju Sham, Cotonorino Desuko, and Jaryuu Dokuro.

The magazine presents itself as a collection of “Sweet like chocolate” BL stories and it shows in the number of authors that will be present in the magazine. I’ve read most of these author’s works outside of the magazine and they’re the kind of authors who will write sickeningly sweet BL that would make you either believe in romance again or for rather cynic readers, make you flip over the next page. Of course, the road to love might come a little different for everyone, but I’m quite sure that those in the magazine will make any fujōshi squee and giggle. What is amazing is that hardly any of these artists are familiar to American audiences as only Takanaga Hinako has been licensed in the US. Still, a number of these authors has been causing waves in the fujōshi world that their presence in this magazine is nothing but important.

Minazuki Yuu also contributes to this magazine by writing a column. To cap it all off, magazine will also include a CD called “Icha icha CD” and eventually they’ll also have a net radio.

I’m completely roaring in laughter upon hearing this endeavor. I am totally amused and mildly excited for this issue, hoping to see new works, familiar works, and at least evolution of the Shounen Jump BL doujinshika into a full-fledged mangaka.

It’s interesting how it comes full circle doesn’t it? These girls starting out in admiration for Shueisha’s titles and now they are writing for that magazine. I wonder if it’s greater respect if they can actually manage to write a title in Shounen Jump. CLAMP (who did St. Seiya parodies) managed to break through Jump Square… but it’s not quite Jump yet. Other authors like Natsume Ono (who did Kakashi x Gai from Naruto) and Yoshinaga Fumi (who did Mitsui x Kogure from Slam Dunk) have found their niche and have soared far from the pages of Shueisha. These BL-ink authors may have possibly tickled the fancies of Shuiesha’s Homesha enough to at least merit them the pride of writing for the first BL magazine for that company. Of course, I wasn’t surprised that they got some of the most romantic mangaka in BL, but hey, Shueisha’s the kind of company that takes pride in formula. These girls can sell and for their first BL project, they’ve got to make sure that it sells.

BL-ink will be on sale in Japan on February 7. You can visit the site (which still seems to be in construction) at bl-ink.net. You can view the Niconico douga ad here. You’ll need a niconico account to view the video.

1. strangely, the niconico video has only been seen by 1000++ people!

Red Blinds the Foolish by Est Em
Serialized in Mellow Mellow and Gekidan
Published by Ohzora Publishing and Deux Press

There was a time when I used to dream of Spanish fiestas. La Tomatina. Hogueras de San Juan. San Isidro de Madrid. Corrida de toros.

And I did not dream of this because my country, the Philippines, used to be a Spanish colony. My fascination with it lies in the romance of the activity. There was something beautiful and romantic with the order that comes with the chaos of a fiesta. I’ve seen bits and parcels of it in my own local fiesta, but that charm extends just as much with the Spanish ones, particularly with the Corrida de toros. I find the power in controlling the bull fascinating.

It is in this same fascination that I ended up reading more through the pages of Est Em’s Red Blinds the Foolish. While I admit that I did grab it first because it was written by Est Em, I didn’t realize that she will drag me into this romantic world of toreros.

Red Blinds the Foolish is the first story in this collection. It is the story of a torero named Rafita Alonso and his relationship with a matador, Mauro. In many ways, both men deal with the same thing. They’re both involved in killing bulls however one does it in the most artistic dance of sword and cloth while the other deals with cleavers and hooks. Mauro was mesmerized by Rafita’s dance and the man could not stop himself from admiring, eventually, loving the torero. Rafita’s had a long history of killing bulls and finds himself closer to a matador than a torero until he met Mauro.

The story is beautiful as the art is beautiful. It is fast in the way that it is beautifully clipped. The movements of the torero is just as fast as how their romance progresses. A year, a month, a week, or a day could have passed but the intensity of their exchange, the passion shared by the two men were well portrayed in the comic. It’s fascinating how Est Em wrote the story in such a way that you are entranced by the movement of the story in the same way the bull was entranced to the torero. The author understood the beauty of the corrida well and she transformed it to one of the most powerful romances I have ever read.

And then there was football, ballet, and shoes

BL mangas lately have evolved from long winding epic love stories of forbidden love affair to a collection of short passionate stories. Red Blinds the Foolish is accompanied by three interesting tales, both curt yet filled with meaning. I love the extra stories beautifully for different reasons. Tiempo extra looks into seduction, Lumiere looks into admiration, and the Baby, Stamp Your Foot is about growing up. All of them tackle love differently and strangely they are not bound by the conventions of boys love. While it is believed that BL is all about boy bonking, sex is complementary but not necessary in Est Em’s stories. She wonderfully illustrates affection in many ways other than sex. There was warmth in the closeness of two lovers, holding each other, or even just watching each other from afar.

That said, I cannot deny though how I’m enjoying her manly illustrations of men. Est Em is one of the few BL mangaka who stray away from gangly, lean, bishounen machines. While her men aren’t the beastiest of the lot (there’s Takeshi Matsu for that), her man are handsomely masculine enough that I do not feel disgusted when I see hair on their legs.

I finish this manga with a giant smile on my face. I feel joy in seeing have my torero and football fantasies fulfilled and at the same time I’m warmed by the idea that I actually had a story to reflect upon rather than a manga to flip just for the sex. This is one manga whose brand of eroticism is engaging without having to expose itself too much just to attract my attention. This is the kind of porn that I love.