Forum - View topicHouse of 1000 Manga - Massive
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Cetais
Posts: 507 |
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Pre-ordered it right back in July!
Right next to The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, Endless Game by Gengoroh Tagame and Gunji, also by Gengoroh Tagame. <3 I still haven't read Fumi Miyabi's part, and Kazuhide Ichikawa's part. (The last two in the book) and so far I really enjoyed it. The only thing I don't enjoy it's that for a good numbers of artists, it feels like it's only a teaser and not a complete one-shot. The one for Gai Mizuki is a sequel to an untranslated doujin, Gengoroh's part feel incomplete, Takeshi Matsu also feels incomplete. I pretty much knows some works from all those artists, except for Kumada Poohsuke, it was a real surprise, I found his comics genuinely funny. I'm in no way disapointed, it was everything I wanted it to be. I'll look forward to the sequel, after I finally receive The Fisherman's Lodge (Gengoroh Tagame) and More And More of You (Takeshi Matsu) sometimes this week. 
(Thought, there's Priapus from Mentaiko coming in March...) |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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Sounds interesting. It's the type of thing I would look at mostly out of intellectual curiosity. The whole super huge muscle-bound grizzly men thing is not something that appeals to me from a sexual perspective, but it is something that is rare enough in manga/anime mediums that there is a curiosity as to the culture behind it. Interestingly, I am also pretty bored with the (now) totally cliche BL stories with bishie boys where one of them is a girly boy and the other a rude and possibly abusive bastard with a heart of gold. I often wonder if there is a huge amount of BL/yaoi stuff out there completely hidden from the average person where the guys are just regular people (whether older men or young adults) who fall in love and/or mutually seek each other's intimacy. I feel like it must be out there, but it's invisible to the larger number of consumers.
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bluesheep02
Posts: 78 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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As a gay man, living, doing traditional job hunting, having studied extensively and am living in the gay culture, contribute to my colleges lgbt circle, and am dating a Japanese boy (and have experiences with many before,) I find it very misleading to say this is a time when many young people are starting to come out. I would say 95% of people are not out to their families and most would not dare come out at work. It's a constant and very real fear that everyone is living under. I did a research paper on the discrimination on gays in the workplace (in Japanese) and I can attest that to say it is a slow progress is an very misleading understatement. To make it seem at all like things are magically changing for gay people here is actually somewhat belitingm and offensive for what people, including myself, go through regarding our sexuality...
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Shaenon
Posts: 18 |
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I'm in no position to speak for gay men in Japan, but I hope I made it clear in the column that things aren't good for LGBT people now, just better than they used to be. Many of the artists in Massive expressed the feeling at least now it's possible to come out of the closet and connect with some kind of gay culture; when they were coming of age just ten or twenty years ago, that was unthinkable. However, most of the artists (except Tagame, who is an unbelievable badass) still conceal their identities and worry about the repercussions of being outed.
One of the exciting things about Massive is that the artists in it were instrumental in creating a gay culture in Japan, a culture that didn't exist when they were growing up. I get the feeling that gay rights are likely to start progressing more quickly, the way they have in the U.S., now that the culture and the conversation are out there. I could be wrong, of course, but I have a lot of hope. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2273 |
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While porn (of any kind) doesn't really do anything for me, I think I'd be very interested in reading those essays. I've always wondered how Japan's actual gay community felt about BL comics since it's roots are grounded in aiming for an audience that's very much not them.
Personally, I've always felt the emerging market of manga made by and for gay men was quite a massive step forward, considering how the manga industry in general seems skewed towards certain demographics. |
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lebrel
Posts: 374 |
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There's tons, including a lot available in English; it's not hard to find either. You might start with est em or Keiko Kinoshita; unfortunately, most of their translated books are out of print or were never available in print, so try looking at Kindle/Nook, SuBLime's digital releases, or eManga (both of the latter offer convenient download-to-own PDFs). It's kind of amazing how many BL fans aren't aware of what's actually available; I think a lot of people are oblivious to anything that doesn't get adapted to anime. Although not liking pretty femmy guys is evidence of a serious lack of taste.
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2911 |
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this was a moving article.
95% is beter than 99% , I live in a third world conutry where things are awful, but improvements are welcome and apreciated. |
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Brand
 Posts: 1029 |
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Because of this I have discovered there is a whole book of translated Takeshi Matsu works. Thank you. I am very excited now.
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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Ah, bara (sorry, mangaka! That's just the term I'm used to). Even though I'm a queer man, I'm not actually one for it, possibly due to my bisexuality as opposed to flat-out homosexuality. I can appreciate MANLY men (like that second manga picture; mmmm~) but the large bear types don't do it for me. Regardless, it's interesting seeing the sheer difference between gay erotic manga aimed at women (yaoi), and the ones aimed at gay men themselves (bara), and hell, throw in the ones aimed at bisexual men (otokonoko). Three different genres, all about the same thing at their core--male homoeroticism--yet they handle them so differently.
This looks fascinating, but I have no idea how I'd hide it from my parents >_> |
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Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
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Tagame's art reminds me of Jiro Taniguchi... he is a good draftsman.
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bluesheep02
Posts: 78 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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I appreciate your response. Sorry if I seemed a little irritated, I just got back from meeting my boyfriends family in Iwate where I had to hide our relationship because he's not out yet, so I was just a little taken aback. I think it depends on many factors. Many people in Japan outside of Tokyo don't even understand what "gay" means. Due to inaccurate media representation, gay has become to mean "new half" or "transgendered." So the biggest problem people face here is lack of knowledge surrounding their sexuality. The more you get out of Tokyo the less likely people are to come out, while in Tokyo Itself it is still pretty rare. This past summer I interned at a Japanese company and on my last day my co-coworkers and I had a very deep discussion regarding sexuality. I was surprised that I was able to be so frank with them about issues that are so often viewed as taboo. I think to say Japan will be following the US's lead is sadly a bit much, as the root of discrimination against gays goes back to the Meiji reforms rather than having any religious roots, but I too have hope
Your article was beautifully written, and if you are interested I could recommend various books on the subject of sexuality in Japan. My professor is a PHD who often deals with the subject, so if you like I have a varied list of books that go more in depth on the subject! |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1529 Location: Sunny California |
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You have some fantastic lines in this article! 
This was very well written. I like how you balanced the book with a bit of background history. I don't know much about the genre formerly known as bara. This book looks like a fantastic place to start. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11626 |
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So if "bara" is out (npi), is there an alternative term(s) in use? "Manga about, by and for gay men" doesn't really roll off the tongue (again, npi).
Also, is there a word for manga about, by and for lesbians? Does the genre even exist in Japan? From what I can tell (and I hope I'm wrong, which is why I'm asking) lesbians seem to have to make do with yuri aimed at men (even when written by lesbians), or BL/yaoi. |
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kevinx59
 Posts: 959 Location: In sunny California |
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Man its a shame I didn't hear about this till now. Although these types of works don't personally appeal to me, I was doing a project on gays in anime and manga last semester and this sounds like it would have been a great resource.
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1862 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Yuri is the catch-all term, regardless of target audience. |
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