Category Archives: fujoshi

Let’s Analyze Genshiken Chapter 56

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Now that a good number of you have received my Christmas present, I think it’s time we take a closer look at this Chapter 56 of Genshiken. Warning, spoilers follow for the original Genshiken series as well as Chapter 56. You might also want to check out my review of Genshiken.

Ever since Genshiken ended back in 2006 or so, I, being rather fond of Ogiue, wanted to see what the club would be like with her as chairman. If you were lucky enough to pick up the two volumes of Kujibiki♡Unbalance, then you got a glimpse into this future. Ogiue changed hairstyles, using the straight-down style from the final chapter of the manga as her default and only switching to her signature brush head when working on manga. Sue started studying in Japan, and her Japanese has improved by leaps and bounds. Ohno is delaying graduation in order to fend off the real world for just a little longer. And now with this new special, we get to see the next generation of Genshiken members.

From left to right: Hato, Yoshitake, and Yajima

While Ogiue is of course always wonderful and Sue pretty much steals the show with her penchant for references and her skillful impersonation of an American Character in Anime probably the most fascinating part of Chapter 56 is the long-awaited arrival of new blood in the circle. Hato, Yoshitake, and Yajima’s biggest impact on Genshiken is that they make you realize the fact that characters like them were missing from the series all along.

“Well yeah, it’s not like Genshiken ever had a crossdresser aside from that one time with Kohsaka,” you might be saying, but we’ve also not seen a guy who’s on the other side of the doujin fence, so to speak. Yoshitake meanwhile is a super enthusiastic fujoshi unlike any we’ve seen before, even among Yabusaki’s friends or Ohno’s American pals. Yoshitake’s the kind of character who would probably fit in best at an American con. Yajima is kind of similar to Ogiue in personality, except that where Ogiue is often like a blazing inferno kept in check by a thick insulated coating, Yajima is actually just a woman of few words. She also seems to have the most “normal” stance on yaoi, asking Yoshitake to restrain her enthusiasm in public. Her weight also can’t be overlooked, as it gives her an interesting quality in that she feels a bit overwhelmed by the previous generation of gorgeous Genshiken girls.

Much like how Ogiue’s first glimpse of Sasahara as a leader colored her perceptions of him, the three new members of the Modern Culture Society are viewing Ohno entirely as that motherly figure she eventually became, and Ogiue as an authority figure. . It’s all summed up in the scene where Ohno starts to “brag” at the new members about Ogiue’s accomplishments, and it just goes to show how different things can be when the person on the bottom of the totem pole has suddenly reached the top.

And though I said that the most fascinating part about Genshiken Chapter 56 is the new members, I still want to spend some time talking about Ogiue. It is wonderful to see how she handles her leadership role, using her talents and ideas to try and grow the club which she has grown to love over time. It’s great to see her relationship with Sasahara, even if it at times becomes awkward and semi-professional. She’s the Ogiue I remember, and yet still quite different from what she was. She’s matured in her time at college and become more comfortable in her own skin, and it’s just a reminder of why I consider her the best female character, period.

So that’s the next generation of Genshiken. To top it off, let’s go through the references Sue and others make, or at least the ones I was able to figure out. The tricky thing about Sue now is that because her Japanese has gotten better, sometimes she doesn’t make references and instead just speaks actual Japanese, and so everything she says you have to first figure out if she’s taking a line from something or just her own head.

Sue: “Oh no! What an awful room! It’s like a rabbit pen in here!“

This is from Kinnikuman Lady, a genderbent parody of the original Kinnikuman. Sue is dressed like Terryman’s female counterpart Terrygirl. Keep in mind that Sue actually says, “Oh no!” in English here.

Sue: “Ogiue Chika is mah wife!”

Again from Kinnikuman Lady. In the Japanese version, Sue is imitating the Terryman-style of Janglish by saying “Me no yome” instead of “My” or “Ore no.”

Ohno: “I really wanted to be Robin, though.”

Kinnikuman Lady once again, as well as her cosplay.

Kuchiki: “Ramen Angel P (etc.).”

Ramen Angel Pretty Menma is a made-up visual novel/ero game in Genshiken. Sasahara really likes the series.

Sue: “My harsh remarks are made by transmuting…”

A line by Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonogatari.

Yuki x Shige

I’m not sure if this is just a made up series or not, but I suspect it’s Sengoku Basara-related.

Sue: “My name is Ogiue and I hate otaku!”

This and the followup is of course from Ogiue’s infamous introduction.

Sue: “Rararame.“

Again from Bakemonogatari, but this time Sue is referencing the character Hachikuji Mayoi. The entire gag following this is an extended Hachikuji reference.

Snapple Pricking Gheam

A parody of the Zan Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei OP “Apple Picking Beam.” In Japanese, the original song is “Ringo Mogire Beam” while Genshiken wrote it as “Bingo Mobire Geam.” According to the Genshiken timeline this show shouldn’t actually exist yet, but we’ll let it slide.

Sue: “Yahhh! Your house is haunted!”

This is a line from My Neighbor Totoro.

That’s all. To Genshiken. May it get another anime adaptation to finish its story. May Kio Shimoku feel the desire to revisit these characters again. May Angela and Sue get their own most excellent American spin-off.

Actually, one last question to you all: should Hato be considered for the fujoshi files?

In Remembrance of Asahiya NYC

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Though this post is being made one week after the event, it’s better late than never as they say, and I’d like to commemorate the life and times of the New York City branch of Asahiya Bookstores, which saw its last day on October 31st, 2009.

I did not become aware of Asahiya until many years after it opened, and even then I didn’t visit it very often, but for me it was a very special store. After I came back from Japan, the story in Genshiken was at its absolute climax with Ogiue at the forefront, and it was through Asahiya that I would buy issues of Monthly Afternoon so I could continue to keep up with the story, and it was also through them that I bought the remaining collected volumes that were not out when I was in Japan, namely volumes 7, 8, and 9. Since then, while I would also buy from Kinokuniya occasionally and Book Off especially, Asahiya was my go-to place for Genshiken-related goods, which included the first volume of Jigopuri that I reviewed. From a rational point of view, I know that Kinokuniya would have served the same function had I ordered from them, but that was not the choice I made, and call me silly or sentimental, but I had grown attached to Asahiya for that reason. It also didn’t hurt that they tended to have better prices on items compared to Kinokuniya.

So despite the paucity of hamburger and hamburger-related materials on Halloween, I made one last stop at Asahiya, where most of the manga had already been bought out, and everything remaining was either $1 or $2. I picked up a ton of manga, including another title about fujoshi.

It’s always a funny feeling when you’re at a Going Out of Business sale at a store you frequented (earlier in the year geeks in NYC saw the demise of gaming store Neutral Ground). You’re enjoying the really good deals you’re getting, but you’re doing so at the cost of having the store fold in the first place. I got a similar feeling from scooping up sweet DVD deals from the ashes of Geneon USA, and while the savings are nice I can’t help but feel we lose much more as a result.

The end of Asahiya NYC. The end of Geocities. It really does feel like the end of an era.

Please Hunt Me, Onii-chan: The Willingly Poached Anime

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Cardcaptor Sakura

Cardcaptor Sakura is a magical girl series released in 1996 (manga) and 1998 (anime) which remains very popular among otaku. Following the life of a young girl who discovers magic powers and must use those new-found abilities to collect magical cards which have been dispersed throughout her city, Cardcaptor Sakura’s main draw is the natural charm its characters possess, particularly the heroine Kinomoto Sakura. Sakura exudes a sense of authenticity in her character that makes older male fans feel for her, and sometimes even develop sexual feelings for her.

While it’s never clear as to whether or not Cardcaptor Sakura was intended to be received by the fans in this manner (even though Sakura creators CLAMP were fans themselves before becoming professionals), there exists little of that ambiguity with a similar show, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Essentially following the same basic premise as Cardcaptor Sakura, Nanoha features a young girl who receives magical powers and has to go collect items, but the key difference between the two series is that while Cardcaptor Sakura was targeted towards primarily young girls, Nanoha was aimed squarely at those older male otaku who were very fond of Kinomoto Sakura and the world in which she lived. The late-night time slot, the merchandising (posters in the otaku-oriented Megami Magazine, Nanoha-themed hug pillows), all of it points to a show made for otaku. Why then, do the people who make and promote Nanoha go through all the trouble of giving the series this magical girl facade and having it designed to look on the surface as if it were designed for the enjoyment of young girls when it clearly is not? The answer is, because that’s what the fans want.


Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

“Textual poaching” is a term which refers to the act of engaging a work of media, be it text, television, radio, etc., and taking from it not so much what the author intended, but what is pleasurable or enjoyable to the reader/viewer instead of the work as a whole. Coined by Michael de Certeau in 1984, the term was utilized by Henry Jenkins in his study of Star Trek fans, particularly in the way that fans approached their own creative endeavors pertaining to their chosen fandom. The classic example of this is the notion that Kirk and Spock are romantically interested in one another, based on their close friendship and lines which are interpreted as “hints” towards their “true” relationship.

More recently, Jenkins has talked about how the one-sided conversation between creator and consumer has broken down, and how easy it is now for people to talk to a creator, albeit in the indirect form of shouting into the internet. While Jenkins does not focus particularly on Japanese animation, this is essentially the environment modern anime finds itself in, and in this setting you will find that a number of shows, like Nanoha, are designed to be poached.

At the zoo, chimpanzees are not fed by simply placing the food in front of them. Instead, what the zookeepers do is hide the food in the chimpanzees’ cage so that the chimps may find it themselves, and in doing so are creating a facsimile of the wild setting where chimps would forage for food. Even though the zoo is obviously not the jungle, this artificial foraging is what the chimpanzees prefer to simply having the food given to them. In essence, this is the situation surrounding the otaku and the otaku-conscious creator. The otaku, the fan, gains enjoyment from being able to draw from these works a secondary interpretation of events and characters within, and so the creator responds by making a story which on the surface seems very similar to an “innocent” series, but in actuality is constructed from the ground up as a work meant to simulate the foraging otaku engage in to find aspects of a work they can extrapolate as fans. Another example of this is Prince of Tennis and other similar series which, while running in Shounen Jump, are designed in part to attract the female readers who, similar to the Kirk/Spock fans, saw the “close friendship” theme common in shounen manga as “CLOSE FRIENDSHIP.”


Prince of Tennis

The joy derived from not approaching a work as intended makes sense when you realize that many fans are familiar with the notion of liking things to an extent others may not. Fans, after all, are not the majority. As such, they are experienced with liking things which are not intended for them, to the point that the act of pursuing series not intended for them may become the focus of their activity as fans. Creators understand this desire, and so have responded in kind by making series which are designed to be used in that manner, like a small man-made pond where pre-caught fish are thrown in to make things easier. The relationship between creator and fan/otaku is thus predicated on this willful suspension of disbelief. The otaku are willing to pretend that this series made for otaku is not made for otaku. The creator, in turn, continues to intentionally hide bits of “sustenance” in the fans’ cage, a cage which the fans have willfully constructed themselves and can leave at any time should they choose to do so.

Machinations of the Lyrical Fujoshi

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A while ago when I was at Duet 35 Karaoke with cool dudes OGT and Hisui, I was perusing the catalog of anime songs, when the Lucky Star section caught my eye. Aside from the songs in Lucky Star that are not from Lucky Star, i.e. those initial ending themes, I noticed that there were only about three or four songs. And out of those handful of songs, one of them was “Mo, Mousou Machine,” one of the character songs of Lucky Star’s resident fujoshi, Tamura Hiyori.

Now I know that this is just one karaoke place, and so is not necessarily indicative of any greater trends, but isn’t it odd that of all the songs to be available, one of them would be a song that’s from 1) a minor character (which means her song is available over an image song from a main character) and 2) a fujoshi?

The first thing to understand about Duet Karaoke is that people can make requests to get songs into the system. It could be that Hiyori’s voice actor, Shimizu Kaori, is popular enough among whoever frequents Duet 35, but rarely do I see that happen, and when it does it’s usually because their voice actor is also known as a singer, which Shimizu is not. Then there’s the idea that this is anime karaoke and obscure songs get in all the time, but that’s not necessarily true either. A lot of obscure openings and endings are available, but not so much character or image songs, and in the case of “Mo, Mousou Machine,” the lack of other characters’ songs is suspicious. And in order for people to request such a song, they’d have to know about it, and the only way they’d know about it is if they’re aware of the Lucky Star Character Albums. In other words, they would have to be hardcore otaku. Another possibility is that it’s just a holdover from Japan and when the system was updated that was one of the songs included, but then I ask again, what about the other Lucky Star songs?

While I can’t say that this is some sort of fujoshi conspiracy (as a real fujoshi conspiracy would probably involve a greater increase in the number of songs from yaoi anime), I posit that whether it’s in NYC or in Japan, Hiyori enjoys a degree of popularity over most of the minor characters, and that it has to do with Hiyori’s status as a fujoshi. This is especially evident when the theme of her song “Mo, Mousou Machine” is taken into account, as the title of the song and the lyrics all point to the idea of a female anime fan who can’t help fantasizing. Of course that would require fans to know what the song is saying, but lyric translations are freely available on the internet anyway. The real culprit might even be male fans of Hiyori.

So if you’re a Hiyori fan, speak up! I want to know just how popular she is among the Lucky Star and greater anime fanbase.

While I can’t say that this is some sort of fujoshi conspiracy (as a real fujoshi conspiracy would probably involve a greater increase in the number of songs from yaoi anime),

The Fujoshi Files 13: Kinon Bachika

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Name: Bachika, Kinon (キノン・バチカ)
Alias: N/A
Relationship Status: Ambiguous
Origin: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: Guren Gakuen-hen

Information:
Kinon Bachika is the third-eldest sibling of the Bachika family. She, along with her brother Kittan and her sisters Kiyoh and Kiyal, attend the highly unusual Daigurren Academy. As the assistant to the head of the School Disciplinary Committee Rossiu Adai, Kinon can frequently be seen at his side helping him to administer the rules properly, a necessary task given the high number of delinquents at Daigurren Academy, though the unique rules of the school mean that fighting is not only allowed but encouraged.

In her free time, Kinon finds the opportunity to draw racy images of her male classmates and teachers in romantic congress with one another. These include well-known figures such as Kamina and her own brother Kittan, but also her boss Rossiu, for whom she has feelings.

Fujoshi Level:
Kinon Bachika can be seen carrying around her sketchbook constantly, always eager to think up new pairings to whet her fujoshi appetite. However, Kinon is also somewhat embarrassed by her obsession, and tends to keep her sketchbook close by.

The Fujoshi Files 12: Susanna Hopkins

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Name: Hopkins, Susanna (スザンナ・ホプキンズ）
Aliases: Susie　（スジー）, Sue （スー）
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture

Information:
Susanna Hopkins, typically known as Sue, is an anime fan from Boston, Massachusetts who was influenced at a very young age by Japanese friend Ohno Kanako. Since then, she has become a consummate fangirl whose blunt personality and striking physical features, namely her long blond hair and piercing gaze, are capable of throwing off even the most hardcore of otaku. After her first visit to Japan along with her friend Angela Burton, Sue formed a close bond with Ohno’s fellow clubmate at the Society of Modern Visual Culture at Shiiou University, Ogiue Chika, though that relationship can occasionally be an antagonistic one.

Sue is well-versed in anime and manga both popular and obscure from nearly every decade, and her tendency to use anime phrases in everyday speech is backed by an incredible memory that facilitates her language-learning capabilities. Sue’s actual age is an enigma, but the fact that she eventually starts studying abroad at Shiiou University implies that she is either over 18 or a genius, with neither choice being out of the question.

Fujoshi Level:
Susanna Hopkins is not unlike many other female American anime fans, but Sue takes it to another level entirely, something that extends to her fujocity as well. Her knowledge of anime and manga is equivalent to that of an old-time otaku veteran, and her apparent lack of shame allows her to confront anyone and everyone while loudly expressing her interest in boy-on-boy action. Sue is a fujoshi dynamo, and woe to those who stand in her way.

My Academic Personal Interest in the Portrayal of Otaku and Fujoshi

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You may have noticed that I avidly pursue manga and anime about otaku, and enjoy writing about the topic. Ever since Genshiken and the Densha Otoko boom (and arguably before that with Comic Party), I have been trying to expose myself to as many similarly themed works as possible. You might ask, “Do you think that stories about otaku are a superior genre compared to others?” or even, “Do you have a fetish for fujoshi?” I will tell you that I do not, and that furthermore, these questions are irrelevant.

There are those who will watch a show and desire more of the same. They will become fans of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and be disappointed when every anime they see does not turn out to be like SAC. I have no such illusions. I may love Genshiken, and may even compare other works to Genshiken, but I will never expect another work to be just like Genshiken because I know how unrealistic an expectation that is.

Instead, what I am fascinated by is the very portrayal of otaku in anime and manga itself. I want to see the optimistic and the pessimistic, the highs and the lows, the strong and honest works and the exploitative cash grabs, and everything else in between, to get a better sense of how they are seen and how creators want otaku to be seen. The Fujoshi Files are a result of this desire, and also to track the extent to which the “fujoshi character” and “fujoshi personality traits” have become prevalent in anime and manga. I like Ogiue very much, yes, but it is not due to her fujoshi attributes, but rather the way in which they are indicative of her deeper personality and thoughts. It is an academic pursuit, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get personal.

That is why I dedicate myself to finding these works. I want to know more, and if I so happen upon a particularly powerful and moving story then I am all the better for it. If not, at least I learned something.

The Fujoshi Files 11: Angela Burton

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Name: Burton, Angela (アンジェラ・バートン）
Alias: N/A
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture

Information:
Angela Burton is an anime and manga fan hailing from Boston, Massachusetts who befriended a Japanese student named Ohno Kanako while the latter was living in the United States. Though Ohno eventually had to return to Japan, Angela would come to visit Japan on more than one occasion, along with their good friend Susanna Hopkins. While they were partly interested in reuniting with Ohno, their main task was attending the largest doujin event of the year, Comic Festival. Initially, the flaxen-haired Angela startled the members of Ohno’s club with her strong, outgoing personality and her attractive and athletic figure, but would soon become a valued friend and an otaku comrade-in-arms.

Angela has a talent for sports, allowing her to physically endure the wear and exhaustion of an all-day doujin event far better than most. Her favorite shows include General Frog and Gungal Bleed, and she also possesses a strong fetish for glasses-wearing characters, though she does not actually wear glasses herself.

Fujoshi Level:
Angela Burton is unusually athletically fit for a fujoshi, which allows her to accomplish more, but what really sets her apart is her personality, specifically her openness as a fan. Perhaps due to her American upbringing (combined with the corrupting influence of anime), Angela can easily declare her fetishes in public and describe them in explicit detail. Angela’s tastes are also more diverse than most fujoshi, as she describes herself as being interested in both “male-oriented” and “female-oriented” doujinshi.

Ogiue: Definitive Fujoshi Icon

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Mousou Shoujo Otakukei Volume 3 has been out in America for a number of months now (under the name Fujoshi Rumi), and in the back of the book the author Konjoh Natsumi describes her experience meeting the guys who played her manga’s characters in the live-action Mousou Shoujo adaptation. In one of the panels, she talks about the fact that her “Yaoi Antenna” went off as a result of seeing these guys together, and I think it’s quite telling just how she decided to portray this Yaoi Antenna.

Interesting, no? Konjoh could have chosen plenty of other icons to portray the tingling of her Yaoi Sense. Ohno’s mole, a pair of glasses, a wheeled suitcase, a furry ball of a creature emerging from the back of her skull are all valid choices, but it is the Ogiue fude which immediately brings to mind the image of the “fujoshi.”

Now, Konjoh is not against making obscure references because she does so pretty regularly, but I wouldn’t count this as among the “obscure.” This is a clear sign that in terms of fujoshi characters, Ogiue is pretty much #1 no matter how you slice it, even if a million pretenders to the throne should appear.

The Fujoshi Files 10: Asai Rumi

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Name: Asai, Rumi (浅井留美)
Alias: Asa Matsu (アサマツ）
Relationship Status: Complicated
Origin: Mousou Shoujo Otakukei

Information:
The students of North Haneda High are baffled by how the unassuming Asai Rumi can attract some of the most interesting friends, not least of which are the hottest girl in school, a ladykiller heart-throb and his best friend, as well as the hulking captain of the Judo club. However, what few know is that Asai has made her friends through the power of being a fujoshi. While not quick to admit to the fact, Asai does not deny herself as a fujoshi, and that honesty attracts friends and breaks down the mental barriers, including those of her tormentor-turned-best-friend and fellow fujoshi, Matsui Youko.

Bedridden as a child, Asai Rumi discovered manga thanks to a kind neighbor, a discovery which eventually led to her world being impacted by an un-shrink-wrapped BL title in a bookstore. Since then, she’s worked hard as a fujoshi, attending the major event known as Comic Banquet and even co-creating doujinshi of her favorite series, Fullmetal Prince, with the help of Matsui. Her favorite character is the titular Prince, but only when he is the “uke” in the pairing.

Fujoshi Level:
Asai Rumi’s presence as a fujoshi is so strong that she is able to make fujoshi who are in denial confront their own feelings about the stories they love. However, this comes at somewhat of a price, as Asai is so steeped in the world of BL and yaoi that she has trouble understanding normal romantic relationships. It is to the point that while she finds herself mutually attracted to her good friend Abe Takahiro, she manifests her interest by pretending to be an aggressive guy putting the moves on her yaoi lover.