WHY BL?

(BL Metamorphosis - by Kaori Tsurutani)

Hopefully, you'll get to know me more throughout this blog but disclosing that I am always looking at this through the lens of a queer POC, woman, who grew up just outside of New York City.

I love manga in general. I recently went through a great loss and somehow wound up reading exclusively romance manga (I also have a blog for that underway) mainly because - I needed happy endings.

But eventually, hetero-romance manga became to be too much. Don't get me wrong, I still like to escape into a simpler time when my crush would give me butterflies. I like plot lines with teens that are wholesome because I remember being young (I'm now in my 30s) and feeling like my crush on someone would crush me. But, aside from teens, it is so weird to drag out plot points in adult romance by delaying confessions (even though the signs are OBVIOUS), building volume after volume of anticipation for a hand to be held, or for a date to happen. I realize that I am American (NYC area) and so it seems ludicrous to me that two 30-year-olds were cooking a meal full of someone's favorite foods and still - no confession.

I couldn't take it. I stumbled into BL by way of Given, then Embracing Love, and then The World's Greatest First Love - but more on all of those later. I was taken with the characters involved and honestly, the nerves and delays are way more believable given the challenges faced by same-sex couples. I hold my hubby's hand in way more places than I probably would a girlfriend's.

In addition to the above, while I also read GL (Yuri) manga as well (blog underway there too - but for now, noting it has evolved to target male audiences), for the most part, the representation of women in Manga as a whole is challenging for me - but especially in romance (whether Shonen, Sienen, or Shojo). Simply, it was nice to read a compelling story without seeing a whole lot of boobs or female characters who aren't complete without being "protected" and princess carried by their male lover.

Lastly, as someone with a media studies background, I find BL FASCINATING. Its existence, who writes it, its target female demographic, the social issues brought forth in the text, and so much more. All of these themes I will continue to explore here.