“Yowie!”: The Stateside appeal of boy-meets-boy YAOI comics

Meanwhile, Nakaya finds himself drawn to Fuse, another hockey player at his school. Nakaya tries to discuss his unfamiliar feelings for Fuse by asking Shino if his YAOI roles have led him to consider what it’d feel like to be attracted to a guy. Fuse, meanwhile, is an out young man who is hesitant to get involved with someone who is still questioning his sexual orientation. While relationship melodrama is the main focus of Shout Out Loud!, it’s also a title with discussions of sexual orientation and homophobia that are uncommon in YAOI.

Another YAOI creator who includes characters who identify as gay in her work is Makoto Tateno, whose stories have, so far, focused on a man who identifies as heterosexual finding himself attracted to one who is openly and proudly gay. In Yellow, Tateno follows Taki and Goh, a pair of sexually-irresistible thieves. Taki is identified as straight while Goh is gay. Their adventures typically involve one or both partners seducing someone to gain access to their target and end when one is captured, requiring the other to spring to the rescue. As Yellow progresses, however, the sexual tension between Goh and Taki becomes clear, eventually leading to a night of passion for the pair.

Yellow would be a light, escapist title if not for an appalling complication that comes late in the series. Soon after Taki and Goh acknowledge their feelings for each other, Taki’s past returns to break up the two. Taki’s former accomplices are a pair of assassins known as “Sandfish” who eager to get Taki to rejoin their team. One of the Sandfish, Mizuki, is revealed to be a gay man who went through gender reassignment surgery to make himself appealing to Taki.

Yellow’s third-act twist reflects a lack of understanding of gay men that can frustrate gay readers of YAOI. Sometimes it seems like YAOI creators’ perceptions of gay men are based solely on reading other YAOI titles, a self-perpetuating cycle of stereotypes. However, two highly esteemed YAOI creators are known for attempting to accurately reflect the experiences of being gay in Japan.

Yugi Yamada frequently uses coming out issues as a source for romantic angst. In her short story “Picnic,” Yamada tells the tale of two gay teens, Koreeda and Noda, who evolve from close friends to boyfriends. While Noda has strong feelings for Koreeda, the thought of going out with him in public as a date causes anxiety. Noda’s journey to get over his fear of publicly expressing affection for Koreeda drives the short story.

In Close the Last Door, Yamada follows the complex relationship between three men who haven’t come out to themselves, despite being in their twenties. The story opens just after Saitoh’s wedding, an event that upsets his friend Nagai, who has long nursed an unrequited crush on Saitoh. Nagai tries to console himself with a one-night stand with Honda, who he meets at the reception. However, Nagai gets another chance the morning after the celebration, when Saitoh wakes up and learns his bride has left him for another man. Saitoh turns to Nagai for comfort and slowly acknowledges that his feelings for Nagai go beyond friendship. He also comes to realize that both he and his bride got married in response to societal pressure when she returns to ask Saitoh for a divorce.

None of the men in Close the Last Door identifies as gay, but all three have failed histories with women. Nagai runs into Honda’s arms after a failed attempt to get back with his girlfriend, Ryouko. Honda has an unsuccessful night with Ryouko, which falls apart when Nagai interrupts it. Saitoh’s failed marriage, meanwhile, makes him realize how much Nagai means to him. Of the three, Nagai does claim outright that he’s not gay, and that Saitoh is the only man he’s attracted to. Yamada questions his assertion, however, by having him stick his tongue down Honda’s throat soon after saying it.

Another popular YAOI creator, Fumi Yoshinaga, goes even further in writing her characters as gay men. While her YAOI work meets many expectations of the genre, her characters face discrimination and tough choices, giving a glimpse of what it’s like to be gay in Japan. Even with that level of realism, however, Yoshinaga deftly manages to create the kind of romantic escapism that YAOI readers seek.