When I first began the Fujoshi Files, my intent was to put the spotlight on what I saw as a rising trend at the time: the appearance of the yaoi-loving female fan as a character archetype, particularly in the manga and anime targeted towards that otaku market, as well as the presence of “fujoshi-like” traits in characters who might not qualify otherwise. From what I knew, there were enough to get a decent-sized list, and as it was a burgeoning character trait, I figured if I did one every couple of months or so that I’d be able to keep up fairly easily.

That was not the case, and now I currently find myself with a backlog bigger than the amount of Fujoshi Files currently available on the site. Aware that I had been neglecting it somewhat over the past year or so, I’ve decided to start posting them more frequently. Most likely, you’ll be seeing them every other Sunday, but this is subject to change, particularly if I feel like I don’t have anything ready by then.

One problem that has faced the Fujoshi Files since very early on has been access to the works themselves, because I try to write a profile after reading as much as is available at the time. This can result in entries that are outdated, but it also makes it so that I don’t always feel I can write an accurate description of the characters themselves. Sometimes, a character’s name will be mentioned in passing in a single panel and then never again, and then when I look online and see that there are no records of a character by that name, I have to ask myself if I just imagined it. Still, the way I’m planning on posting these, I believe I will do a pretty good job of reading the source material while still posting entries regularly.

Another issue has been the sheer amount of characters that could potentially qualify. While it seems like the small “boom” of fujoshi main character may have died down recently, there are still plenty of minor fujoshi characters appearing in series, and it’s even gotten to the point where someone will make mention of a fujoshi, or there will be nameless fujoshi in the background and I can’t decided whether or not I should count such things. For example, in Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts, Himeji mentions in one episode that she has a friend who is a fujoshi. What would I even do about an image? If I counted such a “character,” would I be taking it too far? I get the feeling the answer is “yes,” but I’d like for the Files to be comprehensive.

And that’s not even mentioning Genshiken II, which has a whole new batch of characters who need profiling, or the spinoffs and alternate universes that have spawned out of Tonari no 801-chan. Those will come in due time.

What do you think? If you’ve been enjoying my little side project over these past few years, then how comprehensive should I make it? Should I include even background characters? Would you prefer I post somewhat incomplete entries and then fill them back in later?