Saturday, September 30, 2017

Shoujo-ai

In English, shoujo-ai is a genre of lesbian fiction. Any manga or anime focused on the romantic relationship of a girl with another girl falls in this genre. In Japanese, the word means "pedophilia" instead.

Its gay counterpart is shounen-ai.

Koito Yuu 小糸侑, Nanami Touko 七海燈子, a couple from a yuri 百合 anime.
Left: Koito Yuu 小糸侑
Right: Nanami Touko 七海燈子
Anime: Yagate Kimi ni Naru やがて君になる (Episode 1, Stitch, Censored)
Thursday, September 28, 2017

seme, uke 攻め, 受け

You may have heard words seme and uke before, they're two related terms used to describe the roles of characters in gay fiction, mostly gay fanfics, with their gay ships. But what does seme and uke mean? What's the difference between a seme and an uke? And what does seme and uke mean in Japanese?
Thursday, September 21, 2017

bara

In Japanese, bara 薔薇 means "rose," the flower. In the English anime fandom, bara typically refers to a genre of gay drawn pornography (hentai) featuring muscular, overweight, or hairy men. It's also spelled バラ, ばら.

Marie, マリー, fantasizes about Lloyd Belladonna, ロイド・ベラドンナ, having a gay relationship.
Right: Marie, マリー
Left: Lloyd Belladonna, ロイド・ベラドンナ
Anime: Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu You na Monogatari, たとえばラストダンジョン前の村の少年が序盤の街で暮らすような物語 (Episode 9)

yuri 百合 - Meaning in Japanese

In anime, yuri 百合, meaning literally "lily," the flower, refers to lesbian fiction. In Japanese, yuri is lesbian fiction in general. In English yuri is normally lesbian hentai (drawn pornography), its gay counterpart is yaoi. The term originates as a counterpart of bara 薔薇, "rose," another gay genre. Sometimes, Yuri, or Yuuri, is somebody's name instead. It's also spelled ユリ, ゆり.

An example of "lilies," yuri 百合, used as a visual pun for lesbian romance.
Left: Kirishima Shouko 霧島翔子
Right: Himeji Mizuki 姫路瑞希
Anime: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu バカとテストと召喚獣 (Episode 2, Censored)
Monday, September 18, 2017

BL

In Japanese, BL is a genre of gay fiction, specially manga, anime, and doujinshi 同人誌 that focus on a gay romantic or sexual relationship and targets a female audience (e.g. shoujo 少女), as opposed to bara 薔薇, that targets a male, gay audience. An erotic, plot-less sub-genre is yaoi やおい. Rarely, it means "to be gay" instead. BL is an acronym standing for "Boys' Love," booizu rabu ボーイズラブ. It's pronounced bii-eru びーえる.

Example of BL shipping Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.
Left: Neville Longbottom
Right: Harry Potter
Anime: Asobi Asobase あそびあそばせ (Episode 4)
Saturday, September 16, 2017

yaoi やおい - Meaning in Japanese

In English, yaoi やおい is gay drawn pornography (hentai). Any manga, anime, doujinshi, or fanfic with explicit gay sex is yaoi, although sometimes the term is used more generally toward any gay scenarios. Gay romance for general audiences is sometimes called shounen-ai. The lesbian counterpart is yuri 百合. In Japanese, gay fiction is called BL (Boys' Love), and yaoi is a sub-genre of BL without plot, originally fan works without plot. It stands for Yama nashi Ochi nashi Imi nashi マなしチなしミなし, "without climax, punch-line or meaning." It can also be spelled with numbers, as 801.

Usui Kenta 雨水健太 and Maaka Ren 真紅煉 apparently having a gay relationship, example of rose background.
Left: Usui Kenta 雨水健太
Right: Maaka Ren 真紅煉
Anime: Karin かりん (Episode 12, Censored)
Saturday, September 2, 2017

hentai 変態

In the western anime fandom, hentai means drawn porn, while, in Japanese, hentai 変態 means a "pervert," or more literally something that's been "perverted" in the sense of changed.

ほら このシーンだって! そ そんなの見せるな  馬鹿!変態!
Manga: Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai 僕は友達が少ない (Chapter 7)