Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans

 If you own a blog or a website which relates to fanart or that sort of thing, how do you make your About? I mean, how do you appeal your site to unknown visitors?

 We Japanese otaku bloggers really care about this because it could cause some troubles. First thing first though, doujin(同人) literally means same person, so most people don’t seem to be aware of the true meaning of this word unless they are otakus. The true meaning, yes, is that doujin means fan-made although this word itself doesn’t mean. 同人誌(doujinshi)  is a fan-made comic as you know, but who can understand “same person” means “a fan-made comic”?

 Japanese is complicated and ambiguous. If you have learned it, you must have thought like that. We don’t tell things directly, so that is why it brings about a lot of misunderstanding and troubles. At any rate, Japanese bloggers who handle doujin stuff are most likely to tell what they are doing on the profile to make sure those who are not interested don’t come in, using a word 同人要素[doujin youso], or doujin context.

 同人要素 means something related to doujin, in other words, fanart, or fanfiction. Nah, it is not that clean, nor that sound. If you are familiar with doujin, you do know what I am implying? Yes, doujin even implys porn, hardcore rape, BL, cosplay or whatever. Indeed, such a simple word means a lot of things! Doujin seems to have lost the original meaning, and it doesn’t mean fan-made only. As I have said, who can understand this although doujin itself is hard to understand?

 Those who often use this word are women. Men prefer to telling directly, like saying, this site contains pornographic fanarts or something like that. Nonetheless, women seem to try to tell what the contexts actually are with a simple word, 同人要素. Anyone who experinces doujin understands for sure, but if not, it would be impossible to understand. 

 I understand how female doujin bloggers feel, especially those who work with BL[yaoi]. They don’t want to say homosexual love or gay’s love story, but sum it up with doujin. Well, I feel sorry but it’s hard to understand.

 I always notify when I introduce such a pornographic term, don’t I? そんなの注意してもあんまり意味ないような気もするけど。だってみんなエッチな言葉が大好きでしょ？（笑）But it seriously made me think how I made introduction about my BL cosplay a while ago. I didn’t want to say homosexual nor gay. I was sure either shounen-ai(少年愛) or yaoi(やおい) could possibly tell, but not to anyone. だって俺、少年じゃないもん。オジサンだもん。So I used Boys’ Love after all, but even that, I don’t think it perfectly worked. I am still worried if anyone who are not aware of BL would watch the entry.

 Meanwhile, cosplay is easier to understand. I am pretty sure almost no one misunderstands. Mostly, they would say like, “Please go back if you are not interested in cosplay.” Cosplay means, if nothing else, to wear the same outfit as a character from anime, manga, game, or whatever. There is no any other meanings.  

 I wonder how doujin bloggers out of Japan are doing about this. Has anyone experienced any troubles? Anyway, doujin yet to be understood by general people. So we need to draw the line to make sure there would be no troubles. So I do hope more comprehensible words would come out for the two societies.

 Speaking of an otaku idol[オタクアイドル], I can think of 中川翔子[Shouko Nakagawa] who is called Shokotan. She loves anime, manga, or cosplay so thanks to her, otaku culture has been easier to understand for general people. By the way, there is a unique type of idol, that is 歴ドル[rekidol], which is an abbreviation of 歴史好きのアイドル[rekishizuki no idol], or an idol who loves Japanese history.

 As far as I know, there are two famous 歴ドル, 小日向えり[Eri Kohinata] and 美甘子[Mikako]. Eri loves Sangokushi[三国志, Three Kingdom Saga], and Mikako adores Ryouma Sakamoto[坂本竜馬] respectively. When I was a kid, I used to watch the anime Sangokushi a bit though I almost forgot how it was. The only thing I could still remember was that I respected 諸葛亮孔明[Koumei Shokatsuryou] because he was depicted as an intelligent person.

 I am not too sure if the girls also enjoyed the anime Sangokushi or the game 信長の野望[Nobunaga's Ambition] by KOEI while we boys did so in our school days. It’s way long time ago! あの頃から女子も三国志やってたのかな…Anyway, like above mentioned rekidols, there has been a lot of female fans who love Japanese history 2007 onwards. Yes, those players who enjoy 三国志大戦[Sangokushi taisen], 戦国無双[Sengoku Musou], or 戦国BASARA[Sengoku Basara] are not only male but female. Particularly, we call those girls who love Japanese history, 歴女[rekijo] which is abbreviation of 歴史好きの女性[rekishizuki no josei]. There is even a genre of moe called 武将萌え[bushou-moe]. If you tend to love Japanese old warriors, you have a 武将萌え.

幕末機関説いろはにほへと

 It is said that female otakus are more intelligent and knowledgeable than male otakus. I didn’t know why, but now I think I figured it out; the three friends of mine are 歴女. One loves 幕末[Bakumatsu] or the nearly end of Edo Period[江戸時代, 1853-1869] so that she set up a blog for a certain Bakumastu anime only. I am not sure who she loved in the anime the most, but she investigated not only her favorite warriors, but any other trivia, or its background pretty well. I am not good at Japanese history so my score was in jeopady when I was a student. She is not Japanese, but I am sure I would be beaten if we two have a test.

 One loves 源義経[Minamoto no Yoshitsune], actually she had a crush on him when she played the otome game, Harukanaru toki no naka de 3. After she finished the game, she started to collect whatever comes up with his name. She couldn’t help but open her wallet everytime she saw Yoshitsune-related merchandise goods. She even loved the TV drama, 義経 who was portrayed by Hideaki Takizawa, and bought its official guidebook. Of course, she seemed to know about him well. When I was investigating ヲタ芸[otagei], I came across a word 義経. That is, to describe a person who leaps from seat to seat during the performance. I didn’t understand why it had something to do with Yoshitsune, so I asked her about this. She clearly explained the legend of 八艘跳び[hassou tobi]. She was not an otageishi, but she knew about it. One loves 三国志, and a big fan of 趙雲[Chou un]. Yes, she of course read the novels, the manga, watched the anime or played the games. She mustn’t have missed Red Cliff, I assume. She becomes eloquent when it comes to Chou un and answers whatever I ask.

 There is a unique bookstore named 時代屋[jidaiya] in Tokyo, which handles Japanese history-related books or miscellaneous goods. There is even a tea house so you can enjoy such a mood. The funny thing is that around 40% of the customers at this bookshop are women although almost all of them were elderly people at first.

Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi

 I assume female otakus tend to learn more about what they love. Even if it has directly nothing to do with a character they love, the fangirls try to investigate whatever invloves him. That explains why those fangirls come to such a bookstore. Same goes to a certain weapon shop in Akihabara. Here, more than 40% of the customers are women too. They sell the same models of swords those were possessed by 沖田総司[Souji Okita] or 土方歳三[Toshizou Hijikata]. Needless to say, they are very expensive!

 Come to think of it, there has been a lot of otome games which involves Japanese history as granting fujoshiotomes’ wish. Of course, this kind of game is really popular among cosplayers. Now the most popular one is 薄桜鬼[Hakuouki]. And there is a similar word to 歴女, that is 戦国乙女[sengoku otome] or feudal otome.

Wait, I am not familiar with Bakumastu, but a big fan of Mirage of Blaze[炎の蜃気楼] which focuses on 戦国時代[Warring State period, 1467-1573]. So I am a bit familiar with that kind of thing. OMG, can I say I am a 戦国乙男[sengoku otomen]? I got promoted from a normal otomen! わっはっはっは＾＾

 There is a unique type of uke. I think I should make a separate post on this although I always sum up any other types.

 I am starting to doubt if the makers do this as a サービスシーン[service scene] since I seem to come across this a lot lately. But well, come to think of it, I have seen this kind of thing for ages. Anyway, if you see a male character who really looks like a girl, or occasionallycrossdresses, he is going to be a 性別受け[seibetsu-uke]. 性別[seibetsu] means gender.

 Upon hearing this, you might be thinking of 性転換[gender-bending]. But no. 性転換[seitenkan] is to change a character’s gender like Kyonko(boy→girl) or Haruhiko(girl→boy) in the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. However, 性別受け doesn’t do this. They are strictly boys no matter how much they look like a girl.

 Then why is this necessary? Because if you change a character’s gender, he won’t be uke anymore. Here is another way to change a gender, 女体化[jotaika]. 女体化 is to womanize his body, I mean, to make him physically function as a woman. やおい穴[yaoi ana] is a good example. Either, やおい穴 might be necessary no matter what, though…However, those fans who love 性別受け do not want to change his gender, but want him to be a boy no matter how much he looks like a girl. Crossdressing is preferable because it makes him look like a girl much more (but he is still a boy). Usually, when a character crossdresses in the series, he would be embarrassed. Yes, that is what turns fans on. Hard to believe it? I don’t think I am explaining this well, so feel free to ask me if you don’t understand.

 Then let’s see some example. If you have played Code Geass LOST COLORS, you must have seen Lelouch of trying a wedding dress. In this case, Lelouch is just wearing a wedding dress, not gender-bending. He is not acting like a girl, Luluko. Next is Fuchoin Kazuki in Get Backers. He is definitely a 性別受け because he really looks like a girl. The way he is also seems to be girly. But he is strictly a boy. Is Jubei really sure about this? Come to think of it, he cosplays a nurse in the series, and wraps his chest with a towel when he takes a hot spa with Jubei. なんで胸を隠す必要があるんだ? There is Tieria in Gundam oo. He also crossdresses in episode 8, doesn’t he? If nothing else, he looks like a girl!

Jubei x Kazuki

 Caught on, haven’t you? I already explained 女装少年[josou shounen], yes 性別受け has something to do with 女装少年. When such a shota-looking character crossdresses, he is going to be a 性別受け for sure. Ciel in Kuroshitsuji is a perfect example. His crossdressing killed some of my fujoshi friends actually. But remember, if a character crossdresses on purpose in the first place, he wound not count such as Watarase Jun in Happiness. Meanwhile, not only his looking, but the way he is seems to be girly shall make him 乙女受け[otome-uke]. Wolfram in Kyou kara maou?

 If you want to bully your favorite uke-character, use 性別受け and humiliate him!