At the 2010 New York Anime Festival/New York Comic Con, an hour long panel moderated by Robin Brenner called Gay for You? Yaoi and Yuri Manga for GBLTQ Readers was held. Panelists included a range of queer and straight manga experts, fans, and librarians: Erica Friedman, Leyla Aker, Alex Woolfson, Scott Robins, and Chris Butcher. I was not at NYAF/NYCC but I have heard several people state that this panel was one of the best and a favorite. Fortunately for us who couldn’t be there, Deb Aoki of About.com: Manga has posted a transcript of the event: Gay for You? Yaoi and Yuri Manga for GBLTQ Readers. I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone even nominally involved in the panel and I would especially like to thank Deb for providing the transcript. The panel was very informative, with great questions and discussion, and I would highly recommend taking the time to read through the transcript.
I love manga. I’m also queer. I realize that some people still find that term derogatory, and like many words it can certainly be used in such a way, but I mean no offense. It’s actually my preferred term—I feel that it encompasses more fully all aspects of my life and I love its inclusiveness and ambiguity. I wanted to bring more attention to the Gay for You? panel and briefly provide a personal, and hopefully semi-coherent, response. What follows are my own thoughts and opinions and I fully respect and appreciate those that are different from mine. I also readily admit that I might just be wrong about some things and reserve the right to change my mind. I by no means represent all queer people—our experiences, thoughts, feelings, and opinions are much to diverse for that—but I can speak for myself.
In general, yaoi and yuri are not aimed towards queer audiences. Queer comics for queer readers do exist, both here and in Japan. I am a huge admirer of the creator Alison Bechdel, to provide one American example. Unfortunately, very few if any of those types of Japanese materials have been officially licenced or translated for English readers. Scantalations can be fairly easily found, but I would love it if some bian and bara were brought over legitimately. In the meantime, yaoi and yuri can act as a stop gap in some ways since they are queer and can readily be found published in English (although yaoi more so than yuri).
I read yaoi and yuri for the queer content even though I am not the intended audience. But like every other genre of fiction I read, I also read it for the good stories and characters and in the case of comics the appealing art. Even if bian and bara were readily available in English, I would continue reading yaoi and yuri in addition to the more “authentically” queer material. I’m an eclectic reader—I read romance novels, speculative fiction, “literary” fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and just about anything else you can think of. Straight and queer. And sometimes I just want some smut—I read erotica, porn, and hentai, too. Plus, some yaoi and yuri is just plain good. Of course, like most everything, there’s a lot of crap out there, too.
Does the intended audience even matter? I would say yes and no. One person’s fantasies and escapism is not necessarily another’s. However, as a reader and a librarian, I believe in S. R. Ranganathan’s philosophy and theory: to every book its reader, and to every reader their book. Even if a work wasn’t intended for a particular audience, it can still fulfill a need outside of its original purpose. I don’t think yaoi and yuri should be recommended to queer readers based on their queer content alone, but also on their quality and what exactly it is the reader needs or is looking for.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings and rehashing of what others have already stated far better than I ever could. In addition to the panel transcript, Deb has also posted the list of titles recommended by the panel specifically keeping queer readers in mind. (I’ve included the titles here but not the useful commentary.) The list was also previously posted by Erica at her website Okazu where she has provided additional comments and suggestions. I’ve actually read most of the twenty titles and think they are great recommendations. They also happen to include some of my personal favorites. I’ll definitely be picking up copies of the ones I haven’t read yet:
After School Nightmare by Setona Mizushiro
Age Called Blue by est em
Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga
Black Winged Love by Tomoko Yamashita
Bond(z) by Toko Kawai
Dog Style by Modoru Motoni
Don’t Blame Me! by Yugi Yamada
Future Lovers by Saika Kunieda
Hayate x Blade by Shizuru Hayashiya
Ichigenme: The First Class Is Civil Law… by Fumi Yoshinaga
Iono-sama Fanatics by Miyabi Fujieda
Little Butterfly by Hinako Takanaga
Love Pistols by Tarako Kotobuki
The Moon and the Sandals by Fumi Yoshinaga
Rin! by Satoru Kannagi and Yukine Honami
Seduce Me After the Show by est em
Shout Out Loud! by Satosumi Takaguchi
Strawberry Panic by Sakurako Kimino
Tea for Two by Yuya Sakuragi
Yuri Monogatari by various
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