性別受け[seibetsu-uke]
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!
- だから女にしか見えないっつーの！
[Intermission] Decayed, but women
Whenever I shop around in Akihabara, I always stop to think about. Especially when I see a long line in front of a maid cafe. Well, if you have been to Akihabara, you must have seen a lot of maids giving out flyers on the street. That means there are a lot of maid cafes as such. However, not all of them are doing good. When a new maid cafe opens, an old one might be closing somewhere. In this way, this industry is not that easy just because maids quite embody moe. When I escort someone in Akihabara, I always go to my favorite maid cafe. But although the cafe used to be full of customers before, it is very slow now. I wonder if it is going to close soon. Meanwhile, the popular maid cafes are doing okay since I can always see a long queue. What is the difference?
There is no question―the thing is, the maids are all pretty. Yes of course. And, the maids are acting who they are supposed to be. This is important. Once I got disappointed when a maid who served me was not really like a maid. We say 萌え[moe] when we feel hot, but you can say 萎え[nae] in such a situation. 萎え is a noun form of 萎える[naeru] or wither. When you see something turns you off, please say 萎え～[naeee].
Putting aside those in-store events like playing a game or a drinking competition, here is one more point we should talk about. That is a quality of food and drink. If you go to a maid cafe, do you expect this? If the maids are all cute, don’t you feel it is okay even if food and drink are not that great. I am okay unless it’s really really horrible. If a maid like Souryu Asuka Rangley serves me, I would go again even if food and drink are mediocre. If you are a man, please think about this. Do you agree?
I figured out something. Here is a difference between male otakus and female including fujoshis. Speaking of such a themed-cafe for women, it is definitely a butler cafe[執事喫茶] where handsome butlers serve for you. Because of some trendy anime or TV-drama such as Kuroshitsuji[黒執事] or Mei-chan’s Shitsuji[メイちゃんの執事], butlers are becoming popular again. Nonetheless, there are very few butler cafes in Japan (is there any in your country?). As far as I know, there are just three, which are in Ikebukuro[Otome Road], Shibuya[渋谷], and Roppongi[六本木]. I have been none of them, so I don’t actually know how they are. But according to some customers’ review, the good one is just that cafe in Otome Road. You have to wait for a month to make a reservation, and all the tables are full from open to close. Meanwhile, the other two are very slow now. I don’t even know the one in Roppongi, but as for the one in Shibuya, it becomes slower and slower. But why? Please watch this video, all the butlers are handsome, aren’t they? How come it doesn’t work?
The answer is, the quality of food and drink they serve. Women are more particular when it comes to スイーツ（笑）food and tea, so it seems that they are not willing to go again unless such things are also good even if the butlers are all handsome. They shall call you ojou-sama[Miss] or princess, so you can feel you become such a noble lady. But that is why food and tea have to be nice. Otherwise, it would ruin your dream, in other words, you will say 萎え～. Those reviews said the same thing; all the butlers are handsome, but the tea wasn’t great; the cake was not great although it wasn’t cheap. Meanwhile, the butler cafe in Otome Road reportedly serve more than forty kinds of tea and the dishes and the tableware are very handsome. There are even professional pastry chefs and all the butlers get strictly trained for two months. By doing so, it can finally meet women’s expectations…That is why there are very few butler cafes, I suppose so.
There is a proverb, 腐っても鯛[kusattemo tai] which means it may not be what it once was, but it is still first-class. 鯛[tai] is a sea bream. It is kind of a handsome fish. Even if it is rotten now, it is a sea bream. This means the value or the quality never change even if it doesn’t have a good-looking anymore or it gets too old. 腐女子[fujoshi] is literally a decayed girl, but they are strictly girls. 腐っても女子[kusattemo joshi], that is what I coined, and I believe.
僕も執事のコスプレってやってみたいな（笑）「お帰りなさいませ、お嬢様♪」なんちゃって＾＾
[Cosplay] Endless Sorrow -Mirage of Blaze-
There is no doubt―I am doing 腐教 to you guys with Mirage of Blaze[炎の蜃気楼] even though I don’t mean to do. If you have followed my blog since last year, you have seen how much I love this series. That is why I can’t stop cosplaying someone from this series, and this is going to be the third character I cosplay.
He is the lead character, Naoe Nobutsuna[直江信綱]. He and another lead, Takaya are actually the reincarnated though Takaya remembers nothing about his past. Naoe tries to make him remember who he actually is, and realise they are wrapped up in an ancient war of darkness and tragedy which began during Japan’s chaotic Warring States period. In case you don’t know this anime, I shall upload the OP here.
I think I tend to like a sad character like Suefumi in Maihitoyo who I cosplayed as well. Here is my favorite adjective in Japanese, 切ない[setsunai]. If you hear sad, you would translate it 悲しい[kanashii]. My dictionary also translates 切ない sad. But if you ask me, 切ない is a bit more complicated than 悲しい. It is like a feeling that is a mixture of not only sadness, but loneliness, pain, nostalgy, and love. See what I mean? So I dare to say Naoe is a very 切ない character because he is hopelessly in love with his master, Takaya. While he protects Takaya, he is suffered with his own feeling for him. Although he knows there is no point in this love, he can’t stop himself…Even he truly wants to end this never-changing-relationship as a master and a servant, but he can’t…He knows his beloved master never comes to him, but he even gets rid of his girlfriend. He even tries to die together with Takaya and end everything at the bottom of the lake…Ah, 切ない！ちょっとヤンデレ入ってるけど切ない！I really like Naoe. I cosplayed Takaya first, but I like him the most. He is almost the same age as me, oops, this is perhaps the first time that I cosplay someone who is the same age as me.
Mirage of Blaze is in general categorized as BL(yaoi). Maybe. But please know this is not such a meaningless story. If you have a chance, I recommend you give it a try. Read the rest of this entry »
棒読み[bouyomi]
There is the most insulting word that most actors or actresses are afraid of. At the same time, it could be the worst label…that is 棒読み[bouyomi]. 棒[bou] means a bar, and 読み[yomi] is a noun form of 読む[yomu] or read. 棒読み[bouyomi] is an emotionless speech. There is no acting, no emotion…such a boring speech. Once an actor gets labelled as 棒読み, it would take much time to improve his reputation.
Still, actors or actresses could get through if they have a good-looking. However for seiyus(voice actors or actresses), there is only one thing they can use. It’s voice. Lately this is also changing, I will explain later.
I am sure you have your favorite seiyus even if you don’t understand Japanese. And I am also sure you can even evaluate the quality. So if you hear a character whose voice doesn’t go well (or merely poor acting), you would like to label the seiyu as 棒読み.
I have two friends who want to be a seiyu, and both of them belong to a certain agency(already finished training school) although they haven’t made a debut. They told me that it basically takes a lot of time for male seiyus until they make a debut. So it is not unusual that they make a debut after 30. Meanwhile, it is much faster for female seiyus to make a debut because they are mostly recruited as an idol. Because of this, it doesn’t also take that much to fade out…True, because they have less experience as a seiyu. Please read my previous post as well.
Come to think of it, what has happened to this occupation, seiyu[声優]? Lately it is not unusual that young idols voice a character(especially in a brand-new anime film). Not only young idols, but comedians(お笑い芸人) or other celebrities(タレント). Has this occupation declined to such a quick job?
Having said that, there are even fans who dare to love such a 棒読みseiyu. Such an emotionless speech could turn them on, that is 棒萌え[bou-moe]. Also, they might see how such a 棒読みseiyu becomes more professional. Even though a seiyu is such a 棒読み, he/she could be a 成長系声優[seichou-kei seiyu] or a developed seiyu after having some experience.
There is no accounting for tastes, so I hate to say some examples. Please be patient for what I am going to say. These examples strictly depend on those fans, so…no complaints, please.
This video is from Code Geass R2, and it focuses on how bouyomi V.V. is. He says, 教えてあげようか？はじめまして、枢木スザク。ぼくの名前はV.V.[Shall I tell you? Nice to meet you, Kururugi Suzaku. My name is V.V.] I don’t know if the seiyu is acting like this on purpose, but it sounds boring to me.
This video shows the two scenes from Supernatural, and comapres the original and the dubbed. It is not really important that which scenes they are, but how horrible the dubbing is. Before Supernatural DVD was released, the news that the actor and the comedian featured the two brothers spread out. Neither had any experience of seiyu, so the result was a nightmare. In the first scene, the brothers are interrupting the ritual, shouting 火事だー、逃げろー、燃えてるぞー、火事だー早く逃げろー！[It’s fire, get out, it’s burning, get out now!]. And in the second one, the brothers are trying to get attention of a monster, shouting 「出て来い人喰い鬼ー、腹減ってんだろー早く来いー俺うまいぜー。おーいここだーつかまえてみろ[Come on, aren’t you hungry? I am tasty. I am here. You catch me.]」 「よし行くぞ、急げ[Good, let’s go. Quickly.]」「よう、俺の肉は食いたくないってかー上等だー[Yo, don’t you wanna eat me? Great.]」
こ れ は ひ ど い。よくこんなのでDVD出せたね。I am not that picky, but I can’t stop wondering why it had to be them. I am not gonna demand Koyama Rikiya or Horiuchi Ken’yu, but there MUST HAVE BEEN much better and appropriate seiyus even if they are not that famous.
I know things change as fans change their needs, but I feel something is missing as the industry doesn’t seem to value the sheer quality of seiyu.
腐男子 [fudanshi]
Not I forgot to mention this in the previous entry, but I wanted to make a separate post. I was actually wondering if I should talk about this, but maybe I should. Now is the time.
When I join a cosplay event, I sometimes see several male cosplayers who do characters from BL anime or games here and there like Lamento or Togainu no Chi. It is not very unusual. That they do such a character means they sure play or watch the original. Furthermore, they like BL. In other words, yes, they are 腐男子[fudanshi] or BL fanboys. You can also say 腐兄[fukei] or 腐士[bushi].
When I browse other cosplayers’ sites, I sometimes see that some of them even claim thay are 腐男子. Like 腐男子でーす、よろしく！[Hi, I am a fudanshi]. I was a bit surprised, but I got to used to it…I wonder how they decided to come out of the closet?
But wait. Here is a question which anybody has in mind. Don’t say anything, I know what you must be thinking.
Are 腐男子 gay?
No. Not necessarily. Even though there are fudanshis who are really gay, most of them are straight. Those who do not about BL often say like, “They are truly gay because they like a homosexual love.” This is wrong.
First, Boys’ Love(yaoi) is a fantasy of girls, by girls, for girls(笑). Although a story always follows two boys, it goes like a typical shoujo manga. Because the authors are women. How could they understand a real gay love? So, it boils down that fudanshis just enjoys BL like fujoshis do. In other words, their hearts are decayed(腐っている) as a fujoshi. It has nothing to do with gay.
Meanwhile, how do real gay people feel about BL? Some(most?) are against it because it is too far from the reality. Yes, that is a fantasy(笑). It’s no wonder they feel impatient about やおい穴[yaoi ana]. あれは完全にファンタジーだから（苦笑） As I have said, there are some fudanshis who are really gay. As for them, they are gay in the first place. And then they see BL, and accept it. That’s it. Gay comes first, not fudanshi.
By the way, what do fudanshis find in BL? They just follow a good story, I mean, not literally yaoi(yamanashi, ochinashi, iminashi, or no climax, no conclusion, no meaning), but a heartful story. Is there something like this in ero-doujin for men? So that is why they come down to the decayed world to seek such a heartful story. Even if it is homosexual, it is not a big deal so long as a story is worth reading. I think I agree with this.
I strictly claim I am an otomen, but I have no prejudice towards BL. Because I give it a try if a story is good. Nothing comes out unless you do. そうでしょ？
Anyway, anyone has something to love. I am sure you do. If you really love it, there would be no reason why you love it. Just because you love it, you do it. 好きなものは好きだからしょうがない！Isn’t there a game like this? So please stop asking a fujoshi or a fudanshi why they like BL. Because such a question actually irritates them.
[Cosplay] Last Servant-最後のシ者-
This entry contains some nudity. Viewers’ understanding is required. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to the decayed world![腐の世界へようこそ！]
Like things change, words shall evolve out of what they used to be. While I am not aware of, this classification has evolved out again…So I’ve got to update it, haven’t I? This world is getting decayed…not only enviromentally but in “another” way. When you come across a kanji, 腐[fu] or rotten in the otaku society, the meaning must be only one. I don’t need to say, do I? This time I am going to take you to the world which is full of 腐. Don’t get yourself decayed unless you are a fujoshi.
a. 主腐[shufu]: As I have mentioned here, the classification changes depending upon how old you are. 主腐[shufu] could indicate 30-something or merely married BL fangirls. In fact, a correct kanji is 主婦[shufu] or housewife, madam. By replace fu with 腐, it makes a funny pun. Another saying is 腐レディ[fu-lady], not Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
b. 腐ェニックス[fenikkusu]: The highest class used to be 汚超腐人[ochoufujin] or 麻婆豆腐[mapo doufu] which are for over 40. But here comes an ultimate end, that is 腐ェニックス[phoenix] or 腐死鳥[fushichou]. A correct writing is フェニックス and 不死鳥 respectively. Yes, it is a rotten bird which, accroding to ancient stories, lives for 500 years, burns itself in a fire, and is then born again from the ashes…They never die, and will be born again and again. Well, this generally indicates fujoshis around 50 or 60, however, I don’t think real 腐ェニックス claim who they are on the web. Maybe young fangirls ironically use it as a joke. Like,”Ah, I wonder how longer I will go on being a fujoshi? I will be a 腐ェニックス someday!”
c. 腐レンド[furendo]: Forever Friend. Nothing is important than friends. Yes, it is wherever you are. Even in this decayed world. Anyway, a correct writing is フレンド[furendo]. Replace フ[fu] with 腐[fu], or you can call your fujoshi buddy 腐レンド. An irrelevant note, otaku buddy is オタ友[otatomo], and cosplaying buddy is コス友[kosutomo].
d. 腐通[futsuu]: No matter how weird it seems to be, it is usual, perfectly normal for fujoshis. Such is 腐通[futsuu]. A correct writing is 普通[futsuu] or normal. Then やおい穴[yaoi ana] is also 腐通?
e. 腐ィルター[filter]: If there are two things here, fujoshis always filter them out and make a pairing whatever it is. You can say BL filter, otome filter, yaoi filter, 腐視線[fushisen] or decay gaze. I am not a fujoshi, but I think I can understand why they do this. You know…having a dellusion is not a crime.
f. 腐純[fujun]: A correct writing is 不純[fujun] or impure. What if it is decayed? Yes, you are totally decayed. Whatever you see, you end up using 腐ィルター. You can’t stop it. Because you are 腐純.
g. 腐臭[fusyu]: If here is a corpse, it smells like that. Same thing. If you smell a scent of BL, it is 腐臭[fusyu]. If you get near Otome Road, you will smell the odor.
h. 腐教[fukyou]: To mission something related BL. In other words, to brainwash others’ mind with BL. A correct writing is 布教[fukyou] or mission. Get your friend decayed, and turn him/her into a 腐レンド! I don’t mean to do it even though I sometimes recommend Mirage of Blaze.(苦笑)
i. お腐会[ofukai]: オフ会[offkai] means to meet up with your internet friend. But what if the friend is a 腐レンド? The meeting would be decayed!
That’s all I could update now. But sooner or later, I will have to again. Because all the fujoshis’ lives are everlasting like a phoenix.
Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans 