兄貴[aniki]
Ask anyone about this term, or you will see what kind of person he/she is depending upon the answer. If you ask me, I will answer like below.
To be more simple, 兄貴[aniki] means a big brother, and sounds a bit cooler than お兄ちゃん[oni-chan]. However if you say 兄貴, it wouldn’t work that way depending upon a context or a situation.
I am an anime fan, so speaking of 兄貴, I would definitely think of 水木一郎[Ichiro Mizuki] who is best known for his work on theme songs for anime or tokusatsu. Although he is still active even now, he used to sing a lot of anime songs 1970 onwards such as Mazinger Z or Babel Ⅱ. He is really a passionate vocalist, and the way he sings beats your heart for sure. So most anime fans worship him as 兄貴 or アニソンの帝王[anison no teiou or Emperor of anime songs]. Some of the anime songs I used to love are sung by him like Pro Golfer Saru年は聞くなよ, so I do adore him as 兄貴. Come to think of it, there is one more 兄貴, he is 影山ヒロノブ[Hironobu Kageyama]. His most famous song is absolutely CHA-LA-HE-CHA-LA which is the OP theme song of Dragon Ball Z. His singing voice is very soulful and it sounds like flying in the sky. If I have to mention more, I would say きただにひろし[Hiroshi Kitadani] or 遠藤正明[Masaaki Endou]. They sang the theme song of One Piece and Aba-ranger(アバレンジャー) respectively. Anyway, if a person mentions above singers upon hearing 兄貴, he/she is an anime or tokusatsu fan.
Have you ever watched any yakuza(Japanese Mafia) films? In the yakuza’s society, 兄貴 is used to address a senior you work with (replacement of 先輩[sempai]). Usually, they work as a pair; one is younger, and the other is experienced. The younger calls the other 兄貴. It could be written in katakana, アニキ. Nah, it doesn’t mean he/she is that kind of person if the person answers like this. Rather, I guess this answer would come out the most because this connotation has been generalized.
One more. If a person answers like below, he(not she) would be possibly…
There is a shooting game named 超兄貴(メサイヤ)[chou-aniki-Messiah-]. See these two muscular guys? I don’t know why 超[chou] comes ahead of 兄貴, but well, maybe it might mean a more muscular guy since 超 means super- or hyper-. Yes, 兄貴 means such a muscular and manly man in the gay society. At the same time, 兄貴 could be an elder and experienced(yes, that way) like Abe-san. Also, there is another way to say such an 兄貴, that is ガチムチ[gachimuchi]. You can combine the two as ガチムチ兄貴[gachimuchi aniki]. Gachimuchi is more preferable to say among fujoshis although most BL fangirls do not like such a genre. I am pretty sure there are few fangirls who follow ガチムチ.
Why ガチムチ? I guess it could be divided into two parts, ガチ and ムチ. ガチ seems to come from ガッチリ[gacchiri] or hard, and ムチ[muchi] from ムッチリ[mucchiri] or muscular. We also say ムキムキ[mukimuki] to mean a beautiful muscle.
It seems like ガチムチ is preferable among gay people whereas it is less popular among fujoshis. In other words, there is a separate looking that is acceptable by each society. Look at below.
He is a Japanese pop singer, Ken Hirai[平井堅]. Which society do you think he is more preferable? The answer is, yes, gay society. Short hair, mustache, and a strong face. These things are must-have items(笑). A looking like him is so-called イカニモ系[ikanimo-kei]. I don’t know why it is written in katakana, but いかにも[ikanimo] is a kind of adverb and the meaning is…うーん、難しいな。It seems to be sth or it looks like sth if nothing else. Or, a person who has all the appearances of gay even if he is straight. 系[kei] is a type of person. So the full context is like いかにもゲイみたいな人[ikanimo gay mitaina hito] or a person who really looks like gay.
I already explained why most gay people dislike BL before, but this is a reason, too. So for fujoshis, イカニモ系 is not acceptable. Besides, there is a certain type called デブ專[debusen] or ポチャ專[pochasen]. Both mean a person who loves only fat people. Here is a line between fujoshis(and fudanshies) and gay people. When I was chatting with two fujoshi friends of mine…
a(me): Do you like 兄貴？
b(fujoshi 1): Absoultely not.
c(fujoshi 2): Me neither. Looks too sweaty, you know.
b: But a friend of mine follows ガチムチ. She has a minor taste, and she loves to see dark, handsome, muscular guys.
c: I don’t dislike such a muscular guy. Just seeing is okay, but I can’t use my yaoi filter with those guys. My eyes!
a: Then do you like イカニモ系?
b: Well…I don’t think so.
c: Like Ken Hirai? Oh his face is very strong! 濃い！
b: bangin, BL is BL, not gay, don’t you know that?
a: Y-Yes, I do know that. I learned from you girls.
c: You are not a type of person who gay people like.
a: Oh yeah?
b: Yeah, because you are too skinny.
c: And no mustache.
b: You are kind of ヤオイ体型[yaoi taikei].
a: What is it?
b: I made it. I mean, a person who seems to show in BL. Since there is アキバ体型[akiba taikei], I think it has to be a word like this.
c: Oh that’s well put. Any guys in BL have to be skinny, mustn’t be that muscular, but more feminine.
b: And nipples shouldn’t be large.
c: Shouldn’t be dark. So you meet these items!
a: Hey, come off it.
b: Someone like you are going to be an uke[bottom] after all. Whoever you pair up with.
a: This is sexual harassment! (((;゜д゜)))
ヤオイ体型って何だよ（苦笑）
Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans 
Taiyaki said,
August 8, 2009 at 9:10 pm
An ‘uke’? I think a ‘seme’ like in your 俺の下であがけ cosplay fits you better!
Hmm, I don’t really see the appeal behind ガチムチ to be honest. It sounds a bit too silly to me and, well, I guess I’ve already gotten used to the kind of looks they use in BL series.
bangin said,
August 9, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Oh no, did you already see that cosplay!?
Yes, gachimuchi is used in such a silly way, most BL use only such an androgynous looking.
Nanashi said,
August 8, 2009 at 11:55 pm
“Someone like you are going to be an uke[bottom] after all. Whoever you pair up with.”
XD…セクハラ?…. I think they’re right. I’m okay with BL, but if I see the more er, bara? type it grosses me out. I still don’t understand the lines of BL and Gay. I guess BL is fantasy which means the guys must be びじん/beautiful right?
bangin said,
August 9, 2009 at 2:17 pm
You got it right. BL is fantasy, and gay is real. Bishounen(美少年) is fantasy, too!
jaredinnakano said,
August 9, 2009 at 1:23 pm
excellent post and discussion. i am curious what Bangin and his readers think about Nakata Hidestoshi. for me, he blurs the line between macho/x-soccer player ガチムチ and ultra-pretty/”men’s beauty” BL うけ。he makes me swoon.
in a kind of different yet similar blur, there’s skinny yet bearded Asano Tadanoubu. he’s an ojisan gay icon, me thinks. probably too old for the fujoshis?
i am curious where Bangin and his readers think these J-icons fit in this gay/BL typology.
bangin said,
August 9, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Nakata is a famous soccer player, umm, when I think of him, his big reputation comes first so that I nearly forget his looking is イカニモ系. If he wasn’t a soccer player, I would have counted him. As for Asano…I have never thought he is gay.
BTW, Narimiya Hiroki is gay. Though he has a yaoi taikei, and such a bishounen.
jaredinnakano said,
August 9, 2009 at 2:46 pm
You mean this Okinawan actor? OMG. Maybe he’s the perfect intersection of gay and BL.
Actually, in the image below, he looks like Bangin’s cosplay.
bangin said,
August 9, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Yep, it’s him. He even acted gay in a certain drama, I forgot the title, though.
goodyfun said,
August 9, 2009 at 7:34 pm
You mention that fujoshi won’t like what gay men like. A very large amount of male bisexuals are like this, too. They will like very beautiful women, but will only like a beautiful boy character like Akizuki Ryo from the new Idolmaster game: Dearly Stars. I feel the exact same way… Aniki are not moe!
bangin said,
August 10, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Aniki is too realistic, there is no moe at all.
0ne said,
August 10, 2009 at 1:32 am
Aniki is coming to Singapore to perform again in Novemeber at the Anime Festival Asia!
bangin said,
August 10, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I heard Mizuki Ichiro has been to Singapore before. Is he famous out there? Do you know his songs?
kesenaitsumi89 said,
August 10, 2009 at 1:10 pm
LOL. Your conversation with those BL girl is interesting. ^^
bangin said,
August 10, 2009 at 3:16 pm
They always humiliate me!
mochie said,
August 11, 2009 at 10:33 am
Haha I actually like Hirai Ken. I think the way he dresses is metrosexual. I agree with your fujoshi friends though, in yaoi guys need to be skinny and pale, where areas in real life I like my guys to be muscly.
bangin said,
August 11, 2009 at 4:06 pm
His singing voice is beautiful, I like. He hasn’t come out of the closet, but most people think he is gay. And rumor has it he has dated other male cerebrities.
I like Hitomi wo tojite from his songs.
Cloudberry said,
September 9, 2009 at 1:31 am
Hi! greetings from Chile. I love your blog! I’m studying translation at the university and the main languages are English and Japanese, sorry if i write something wrong XD
I wanted to ask something kinda weird, ごめん. It happens that by October Hiroshi Kitadani, Masaaki Endou and Ricardo Cruz are coming to my country for an anime event! (≧▽≦) And I’d like to do something like a poster with something written in Japanese at the time of the concert (very groupie orz). I didn’t know what to write but after reading this entry I thought that maybe I can write “兄貴” and more things, obviously. But… is it too rude? or maybe they won’t understand? :S with Ricardo there’s no prob cause I can write something in Portuguese too lol. Is イケメン fine too? ( ･_･)
Thank you for your lessons, I have doubts with this silly thing, but I hope you can guide me or give me some advices ヾ(〃^∇^)ﾉ you can ask me things of the spanish language if you want 😀
bangin said,
September 9, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Hola, welcome to my blog!
And I read your livejournal, and did you write those Japanese posts? If so, you are almost native, すごいですね！
If you write something in a poster or a flag, I recommend ようこそ兄貴！or 兄貴LOVE. イケメン could be fine, but If you ask me, イケメン is appropriate for much younger people. But well, I am sure he would be happy if he is called イケメン.
Cloudberry said,
September 9, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Awww! you’re so nice >//< but at Japanese… まだまだです…
Those texts in my journal, sadly, are only translation homeworks ;___; my Japanese is at a very low level right now (and learning Kanji is so difficult!) , but i expect to talk almost like a native speaker in a few years. Hope I didn't disappoint you ^____^U
Thanks again for your advices, your ideas are pretty cool! I'll make sure to take some photos of my posters so you can see them \(≧▽≦)/
Hasta luego y muchas gracias!!
Cloudberry said,
September 9, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Ah, forgot something…
Happy Cirno ⑨ day : D
bangin said,
September 10, 2009 at 11:32 pm
You used some difficult kanji, and the topics are social matters. How long are you studying Japanese? Anyway, it doesn’t take so long untill you become a native speaker. I think you are already.
Gracio!
Cloudberry said,
September 10, 2009 at 11:50 pm
At the Japanese translation class we got to work with japanese texts ToT (those in my journal are given by the teacher) and translate them into spanish. In my class we’ve been studying japanese since March of 2008 with portuguese too, so we’re not very advanced in both languages. So sad u___u i’m very noob XD
Tanko said,
November 27, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Would you mind if I translated some yaoi-related articles fom this incredible blog to portuguese with proper credit at http://yaoikoi.wordpress.com ?
bangin said,
November 27, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Sure, then please make sure you leave a link or trackback to each entry of my blog everytime you translate.
Tanko said,
November 27, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Thanks a lot, I’ll make sure to link directly. And won’t use the cosplay photos (even knowing they’re great).
rzncu said,
May 17, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Muscular bodies in 2d are ok since they do exist in bl works, in fact I’d prefer a slightly more muscular guy than a really androgynous guy in bl works (I hate it when the guy is drawn way too girly, even though I love some androgynous characters)…
However, aniki is a bit too much for most of the fujoshi population…. the only time i am ok with aniki… is probably for older series like Dragonball Z, but even then, it’s only for certain characters where I like them without thinking so much about the way they look. And for gag genre, I am ok with aniki manga if it can make me laugh XD
sexual harassment again http://www...
your skin is so pale in this picture~
bangin said,
May 20, 2010 at 11:04 am
Oh yes, there are lots of muscular guys in Dragonball Z, and fangirls as well. There is at least one section where you can find aniki manga at the bookstore. There is even a real gay porn magazine or DVD there.
rzncu said,
May 17, 2010 at 11:57 pm
… when i tried to type w w w … a website came out oops… (￣へ￣;;;)
Julia said,
October 14, 2010 at 9:13 pm
When I hear “Aniki” I always think of Kamina…
bangin said,
October 17, 2010 at 2:20 am
Kamina is aniki for Shimon. Like aniki.
Yuka Abe said,
February 8, 2012 at 3:45 am
they are like the same!