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Yaoi, about since the last decade, has been widely spread among Otakus and undeniably, fangirls. Most commonly known as ‘Boys Love’, Yaoi includes many sous-genres and categories. However while I, myself, appreciate Yaoi, I also visualize it as one of the baddest thing that could happen to fandoms and whatnot. Before you jump on your high goons and claim that I am not open minded, let me explain myself.

First of all, I shall make you remember: I am a Yaoi lover. Yuri as well, but that’s another story. The reason why I dislike the BL fandom at the same time is exactly because fans tend to go overboard with this ‘forbidden love’ mania, which is to my opinion ri-di-cu-lous at times. Since when Izaya has been sooooo madly in love with Shizuo that he begins to blush, cry and beg for his pee pee? He’s a sadist and the worst kind of human being goddamn ti! Since when Sasuke’s been sooooo infatuated with Naruto that he would do ANYTHING (even cosplaying with neko ears) for him? He seeks to kill him! Since when Ichigo has felt something else than friendship toward Renji? They are nothing more for God’s sake! And so on. Indeed, I hate when fans tend to go overboard and distort the characters’ personality so much that they become unrecognizable. This is not Yaoi anymore. It is mere “I do whatever that I want with the characters to see them having sex with each other.” 

Reason number two of why a part of me dislikes the Yaoi fandom: it is for the unreality it projects about gay men. Don’t get me wrong there: I am not saying that everything related to BL is offensive for homosexuals, but I’ve seen NUMEROUS comment about Yaoi that made me go ‘Uh… Da Fuq? But that’s not how real life is!’. Yes, I am certainly aware: mangas and reality are way too different to be compared, but what about when the mangas in question treat of a subject that actually does exist in reality? Here, I am talking about homosexuality.

‘Yes, Yaoi is only reserved to bishonen/hot guys!’

‘When it comes to love, gender doesn’t matter.’ (So says a Yaoi fangirl who also claims to be disgusted by Yuri.)

‘LOL, Yaoi ALWAYS involve two hot men.’

^^^ Those are comments I’ve ALREADY SEEN. Seriously, I am not kidding. 

Some fangirls are brought to believes all homosexual men on earth are hot men who sparkle when under the shower. Yes, some are undeniably handsome, yes some DO care about their appearance, but let’s remember a thing: Yaoi is exactly created to make fantasm, about a hot steamy relationship about two handsome guys. And why such a created phantasm has so much popularity? A friend once made this statement: “The reason why girls like Yaoi? Because they can finally read a romantic story involving TWO hot guys - instead of one - without having an ‘annoying’ girl who’s hindering their identification with the characters.”

Is this true? Totally for some.  

But again (let’s return to my point), homosexuals are not all handsome, or rather handsome-enough-to-please-a-fangirl. They are still men. MEN. Type this on Google and now, imagine all the pictures as homosexuals. You’ll understand what I mean. Homosexuality is not a right to handsome people. Sorry to shatter your illusions, but that’s how it is truly is.

(By the way, if you happen to watch gay porn at some moment in your life and come retaliate to me with a “WRONG! See, they’re all hot?”, well let me reply you: “Yes, it is PORN. Almost the same as Yaoi: create phantasm.)

Reason number three why I dislike the BL fandom: chick with a d!ck. Some fangirls overuse so much the “Romance between a guy and a girl has became so bland” that it has lost its credibility. If you take some works - best example would be Minami Haruka (again and forever, no offense to the fans) - her Uke totally ARE girls. They cry, they blush, they’re being cute just to receive it, brief. Their body definitely are male, but their psychology are so based on a PwP (Porn without Plot) model that undeniably, they have became girl themselves. Once again, I am not putting all in real life homosexuals in the same bag - some exceptions always apply, however no. Men aren’t girls. Most of them are more or less interested in romance, the same romance presented in mangas I mean, which is something that would exactly be put in a Shoujo as well.

Reason number four of why I don’t like Yaoi fandom: it creates a HUGE a distortion of reality. For example, rape. If we take it, make it between a girl and a boy (hetero), then ‘popularize’ it, it’s wrong. Same for Lolicon or Incest! And yet, ALL of these subjects seems ‘right’ for the fangirls when it involves Yaoi. Some fangirls refuse to acknowledge a rape in a mangas. For example, Junjou Romantica. The first 18+ rated scene in the paper version is DEFINITELY a rape. The protagonist refuses, struggles, doesn’t want. Yet, the Seme enforces himself into him. Not matter how much guilty pleasure there is, it is still a rape. And yet, fangirls will refuse to acknowledge it as one.

Still, if Misaki was a girl, it would be the whole contrary.

Reason number five why I dislike Yaoi fandom: some fangirls consider homosexuality as PURE ENTERTAINMENT. Some says things such as “Oh, I would like so much for Yaoi to happen at my school!”

My only comment: Da fuq?! No, you wouldn’t. Rather, no, homosexuals certainly wouldn’t like to be appreciated as a show. Because see, real life isn’t like in Yaoi, I am sorry. Most of homosexuals are still fully assumed male who, trust me, won’t put any drama like presented in mangas. Also, some of them still aren’t out of their shell, they still won’t assume. After all, homosexuality, especially among men themselves, is still a taboo. Yes, our society has grew more comprehensive and open minded about it, but think of Arabic societies where you might get killed for being an homosexual or, just when people in general still persecute homosexuals, or even shower time after a match of basketball or soccer.

It is not a pink, sparkles-filled universe like many would think.

Yet, do not think it is also a huge pain and a burden.

It is what it is.

Just stop thinking Yaoi and in real life homosexuality is the same. Yaoi is only a wushier, more romantic version of the real thing. 

Because no, friendship is friendship.

Because no, there is no such terms as ‘Uke’ or ‘Seme’ in the homosexual world (preferences do not apply, I am talking about the appearance/personality stereotypes.) 

Because no, straight people usually don’t suddenly fall in love with the person of the same sex.

This conclude my rant.

—-

… Actually not! And to end up in beauty… A Top 5 of the MOST RIDICULOUS THINGS EVER SAID ABOUT YAOI AND IRL HOMOSEXUALITY! Yaaaay! (Disclaimer: Those are REAL things I’ve seen in various forums and whatnot. I corrected and adapted these to not be found easily.)

5 - If it could be, I would like Yaoi to happen at my school O///O

4- I don’t like homosexuality, but I support Yaoi ^^

3- I’m fine with homosexuality, but it’s cooler in anime.

2- Hmm, well… If the two guys in questions looked exactly the same as anime guys I like, then yes. I would be ok with this.

1- That can’t be true DD: Yaoi is reserved for hot men only >.>

Update plz!— SHUT UP.

Or the frustration towards the fans asking more and more updates.

Dear manga fans, we ALL experienced this already. All. We all once loved a certain series, we all desired more updates as it was on-going and we all wished dearly for more updates, in order to know the end or simply advance our reading. It is, for manga amateurs, something natural that result from mere excitation and infatuation toward a manga. Yes, I am aware of this. 

HOWEVER, I have a big ‘SHUT UP’ to these fans as well. 

Why exactly? As forums, chapters comments and other ways of annotation came in sites such as Batoto, Mangareader, Mangafox, etc., fans now consider these places as a ranting/requesting boxes for more updates. It is, on one hand, a great way to actually know about the series’ status if it has been a while since updated, but, on the other, a great annoyance for scanlators when a chapter has just been put online (This part is greatly important, as this rant concerns ONLY this case.)

Let me explain. A chapter takes more or less one week PER PHASE to upload, which means around 3 weeks. In these three weeks, no, sadly, scanlators don’t work 24/7 as the job is not payed (never in hell!) and purely done out of will. Also, they have real life to deal with and do not have a single series to work on, since one scan group may have a dozen all at the same time. It, in briefer words, takes time to scanlate a manga and YES, scanlators are happy to know that fans are excited to get updates, but merely reclaiming to work faster, to update faster, to whateverthehell faster is simply rude.

(There is a difference between a

- waahhh this is interesting… please update :)

And a

-I know that the dude like her..but why is he acting like that? update it faster!

That’s my point. At times, the only comments are ‘Updates Plz!’, which is the rudest of the rudest; my rant’s title.) 

**

But wait. Maybe these terms - scanlators and scan groups- are foreign to you. So here: first of all, what is a SCANLATOR? A scanlator is a person who works (or not, but rarely) for a scanlation group. They are people like you and me who decided to get involved in the production of their favorite (or not) series in order to help the Online Manga world. They work for free (for fans made by fans), are generally students (or have a steady job), thus have not always free time in their hands.

Second, WHAT THE SCANLATOR DO? They either translate mangas, proofread the translations, clean the pages, typeset the text or quality check. I won’t go through details about these various jobs, as their definition can be easily found on Internet however let me do a ROUGH table of how much time it takes per job for a single chapter of around 30 pages:

Translation: 2 hours— May be less, may be more. Shoujo mangas usually take much more time, as they contain more text and narration.

Cleaning: 5 hours— May be less, may be more. It depends if the RAWS are High quality of Low quality. I recommend to watch this video in order to properly understand how it is done and read here to know how cleaning Low Quality scan is done. It is usually the part that takes the most time.

Typesetting: 5 hours— May be less, may be more. It depends if the SFX, the bubble size and etc. give troubles. 

Proofreading & Quality Check: Can easily be done in a single evening— May be less, may be more. It depends of the previous three’s quality of work.

Grand total: Around 8 and 15 hours.

**

To conclude, I am simply asking you to think before requesting more updates, never in hell to stop or to suppress. As my example of some lines earlier showed, some comments simply show fans excited to read more, while some are simply written by impatient, almost rude fans who, trust me, probably don’t even intend to be rude. Thus, my request to actually think before requesting an update. Don’t even worry about it, by the time it is, the next upcoming chapter is probably already worked on ;)

“You’re the one that doesn’t understand. You don’t understand at all. You just said death was just a big piece of nothing, right? But, that’s not true at all. I guess you wanted to say, that you wouldn’t have any worries any more. But death is actually just disappearing. Your troubles won’t disappear, just your existence.” 

- Orihara Izaya, Durarara!!, Chapter 5

Today’s generation rejects…

What is ordinary and hackneyed,

Cheap sympathy from warmhearted places,

Absurdity that begs for justice,

Fragile girls with a slender neck,

The wrinkles of the old and weak.

—

Today’s generation despises…

Grown-ups who criticize youth when they are obsess with superstars,

Assembly lines, factory-like schools where they produce ingredients for canned food called ‘college entrance’,

Irresponsible mass medias that sell a product called ‘fashion’,

Cities that are losing their faith in the dignity of life.

—

Today’s generation disdains…

Wandering youth,

Teens changing their idols like disposable badges,

Brand names overflowing in shops,

Cowardly young people who willfully ignore their social obligation and call it ‘rebellion’,

It reviles all that hypocrisy, indolence, exaggeration and mindless satisfaction. 

—

Today’s generation thirsts…

For forests in the cities,

A hearty dinner ad peaceful streets,

For a pollution-free rainfall in the summer,

The calloused hands of a smiling grandmother.

—

Today’s generation wants love without fear and the city despair that soars over the gray clouds

██████████████████████████ ♛ ЯESET to z e r o ! ███████

- Sooyeon Won, Let Dai, Volume One

- Translated by Unknown. Adapted by Faelin.

- Picture from shel-yang