#kaze novel things

[nieves-de-sugui]

A Quick History of BL

As someone who wrote a thesis on this very subject a few years ago, here is the short version of how BL has evolved throughout the years. For the new comers ❤ 

a minute of silence for the original form of this post that tumblr decied to not save right after I saved it

I am going to go with a chronological approach. Unfortunately, I cannot put everything in one post so if there’s any questions about this or that aspect of the history of BL that you want to know and it’s not talked about here, you are welcome to ask me directly :)

Context and influences - Japan in the 60′s

Before the US forced Japan to open its borders to the outside world in the 1800s, homosexual practices were common place between budist monks, samurais and kabuki actors. During the Edo period (1600s to 1800s) there was a very rich amount of poetry, art, books (such as Nanshoku Okagami (The Great Mirror of Male Love) by Ihara Saikaku) and codes of conduct about how to have a good master/aprentice relationship, kinda like the greeks if you know what I mean. However, with the arrival of western influences, in order to become a more “civilized” country, it was all put in the closet. 

Yet, in the 60′s Japan started to pick it up again through literature about young androginous beautiful boys (aka bishounen). On one hand, in 1961, the novel Koibitotachi no Mori (A Lover’s Forest) by Mari Mori was published. It tells the story of a young and beautiful 19 year old worker and a half french half japanese aristocrat, and their tragic romance. On the other hand, Taruho Inagaki wrote Shounen ai no Bigaku (The esthetics of boy-love), an essay on aesthetic eroticism (of which he wrote a lot of). All this was know as Tanbi (lit. aesthetic) literature. It generally refered to literature with implied homosexuality and homoeroticism such as works by Oscar Wilde, Jean Cocteau, etc. And of course, Mori and Inagaki. 

In chinese tanbi is read as danmei (term used to refer to BL novels in china today, ie: The Untamed it’s all connected friends).

From the birth of Shonen Ai  to Yaoi - 70′s to the late 80′s

Around the beginning of the 70′s, shoujo was being revolutionized by the Year 24 Group, a generation of women manga authors (mangaka) who started to explore new themes. Among them, their interest in tanbi gave birth to a new subgenre: Shounen ai. 

Their most known manga were:

Kaze to Ki no Uta (The Ballad of the Wind and Trees) by Keiko Takemiya, and Toma no Shinzo (The Heart of Thomas) by Moto Hagio

Their stories are characterized by having suffering eurpoean bishounen in boarding schools, living an idealized perfect love (meaning passionate) that, despite the tragic end of one of them, lives forever in the other. 

As this genre starts getting popular, more and more fans of these stories start making their own self published manga, aka doujinshi, of the genre. It is around this time that the term Yaoi is coined. Meaning “YAma nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi” (no climax, no fall, no meaning). Basically PWP fanfiction, for the most part. Doujinshis could be considered an equivalent of fanfiction in manga form.  It is also here that the term Fujoshi (aka Rotten Girl, for liking rotten things) starts being used to refer to women readers of yaoi. 

With this rise in popularity come the start of the commercialization of the genre. Which meant the publication of magazines dedicated solely to yaoi/shonen ai/BL. The most popular yaoi manga magazine at the time was June. The common trait of their stories being the therapeutic power of the love between the mains. The traumatized character would heal throught this newfound love.

Most of the stories at this time happened in the West (Europe or the States) as the exploration of these dark themes intertwined with homosexual romance and homoeroticism still feel safer to explore as a foreign concept. One example would be Banana Fish (1985).

Commercialization and Yaoi Ronso -  90′s 

As more publishing houses pick the genre up, the term Boys Love is used to include every type of manga about homosexuality made for women. 

The increasing amount of BL series sees a changes in its themes: 

the start of the “gay for you” trope where one mantains their heterosexuality despite being in a homsexual relationship, 

the uke/seme dynamic (mirroring hetero realtionships) also relating to physical appearence (one being more feminine, the other being more masculine), 

the use of rape as an act love (sexual violence has always been present but here it becomes a staple),

anal sex as the only type of sex, 

older and more masculine men start to appear 

they now happen in Japan

Good examples of the presence of these themes in manga are Gravitation (1996) or Yatteranneeze (1995).

However in 1992, Masaki Sato (a gay activist/drag queen) wrote a letter in a small scale feminist magazine attacking yaoi and pointing out how it “represented a kind of misappropriation or distortion of gay life that impacted negatively upon Japanese gay men”. The female readers of yaoi responded, defending the genre as a means to escape gender roles and explore sexual themes that was never meant to represent the realities of gay men. This is know as the Yaoi Ronso (Yaoi Debates).

The debate ended with both sides understanding more of each other, with mangakas starting to include queer views in their works. It also started the academic reasearch of BL. 

Yet, it is a debate that has been restarted more than once, as it is still relevant despite the evolution of the genre.

more on this on another post

Globalization and coining of BL - 2000′s 

By the beginning of the 2000s BL is being sold all over the world (like all manga), and has become a stable industry. We could say it has finally become it’s own genre. 

Some of the most well known manga series, to us (in the west), of the time are:

Junjou Romantica 2002 Koi Suru Boukun 2004 Love Pistols 2004 Haru wo Daiteita 1999

all of these have anime adaptations for the curious ones

We also start seeing short anime adaptations or special episodes of the most popular series, with questionable themes, such as: adoptive father x adoptive son  (Papa to Kiss in the Dark 2005), father x son’s friend (Kirepapa 2008), etc... 

However the themes remain more or less the same. Junjou Romantica’s love story starts with a non-con sex scene by the older one (masc, seme) to the younger one (more feminine, uke) addressed years later in the manga btw. Koi Suru Boukun’s love story is triggered by aphrodisiacs and rape. They’re still very present in the stories but slowly going away. A mangaka that represents this era could be Natsume Isaku (Candy Color Paradox 2010).

Change is slow in Japan. Even though the voices of LGBT+ people started to be taken into account in the genre it is not until later that we see it reflect in the mangas themselves. However, we can already see the start of this in Doukyusei (Classmates) (2006) by Asumiko Nakamura. Also Kinou Nani Tabeta? (2007) which is actually part of a more mature genre: Seinen.

It is my personal (subjective) theory that the BL of this era was the one that got popular outside of Japan, which is why we see lots of references to the themes, tropes and dynamics of this time in today’s BL series. 

The LGBTzation of BL and the rise of webtoons - 2010′s to 2020′s

Slowly but surely LGBT characters and themes enter the scene of BL. Existing simultaneously with the previous tropes and themes, we start seeing a shift in these stories. We now see:

characters that identify as gay or some type of queer

discussions about homophobia

more mature themes about life and romance

At the same time as we get the usual love stories with the usual themes, a new trend starts to take over. And we get simultaneously, cute, sometimes questionable but light love stories:

Love Stage 2010 Ashita wa Docchi da! 2011 Kieta Hatsukoi 2019

More profound stories and darker or more complex themes:

Blue Sky Complex 2013  Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai 2011 (mafias) Given 2013 (suicide) Hidamari ga Kikoeru 2013 (deafness)

And others that adress the queer experience in a more mature way (which might actually fall into the Seinen genre)

Itoshi no Nekokke 2010 (slice of life, queer characters) Smells like Green Spirit 2011 (two ways to deal with a homphobic society) Strange 2014 (relationships between men) Shimanami Tasogare 2015 (an LGBT group helps a closeted gay) Old Fashioned Cupcake 2019 (you know this one 😉) Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu 2020 (the end of the world)

As queer stories are explored, BL mangakas and mangakas from other genres start to consider more stories about queer people such as the Josei Genderless Danshi ni Aisaretemasu (My Androgynous Boyfriend) (2018) by Tamekou, or the Shoujo Goukon ni Itarra Onna ga Inakatta Hanashi (The story of when I went to a mixer and there were no women) (2021) by Nana Aokawa. 

Still, we can see two realities live side by side. Doukyuusei gets adapted into an impactful animated movie in 2016, meanwhile Banana Fish gets an anime adaptation that keeps the homoeroticism but not the homosexuality.  

For those who might be interested. Here are some of the authors that represent the first half of this era, where they start to include newer points of view:

Scarlet Beriko, HAYAKAWA Nojiko, KURAHASHI Tomo, OGERETSU Tanaka, Harada, KII Kanna (Stranger by the Sea), etc...

And authors that while keeping classical themes break the stereotypes in a subtle manner:

CTK, ZAKK, Jyanome, Cocomi, Hidebu Takahashi, SUZUMARU Minta, etc...

Mangakas also no longer stick to one genre only. They explore whichever of them they want, from BL to Seinen to others. 

ie: Tamekou, 

or Asumiko Nakamura

The curious case of Webtoons

With the digitalization of mangas, throught Renta and Lehzin, it has become easier (and more expensive) to access these stories. Korea makes and appearence with their webtoons. Through the lack of piracy protections and the majority of them being digital, manhwa (korean webtoons) sees a rise in popularity. Through the digital medium the influencee can be the influencer.

However, like many other East Asian countries they have consumed BL, without hearing about the conversations about BL. So they end up mantaining the older themes and stereotypes that newer BL is trying to leave behind. Therefore, we end up with a mix of old and new, ie:

Killing Stalking 2016 Cherry Blossoms After Winter 2017 Painter of The Night 2019

Additionally, it is also thanks to the easy access to internet that Omegaverse, with its higher dramatic stakes (that parallel hetero dynamics), enters the mangasphere in 2016. It has grown in popularity ever since.

With the Thai BL Boom of 2020, Japan rediscovers its own BL market and starts investing in it more. Which is why we get live action adaptations of BL manga that was popular years ago (Candy Color Paradox was a manga from 2010), the more recent ones (The End of the World With You) or new anime adaptations (Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai in 2020). 

more on this in my japanese live action BL post

What has it become now? is it BL? ML? or Seinen? Or is it all just gay manga?

It is clear that Shoujo manga (with BL, Josei and Seinen) is exploring queer themes such as gender and sexuality more and more. Japan is interested in this conversation, not only in manga (Genderless fashion). Which brings up the current question in BL studies: Does it make sense to keep these categories?

As a response to BL, ML (Male Love), which is made by gay men for gay men, started happening (around the 70s too). And Bara (gay manga porn) in response to Yaoi. However both gay men and women read BL and ML. We also see other themes being explored through BL, such as friendship (in BL Metamorphose), food (in Kinou Nani Tabeta), male relationships of all kinds (in Strange), and different queer views on life and its challenges (in Shimanami Tasogare). More and more what is LGBT and what is BL is merging, the line is blurred. 

Conclusion

BL has been in my life for longer than it hasn't. It is through shoujo and BL that I have come to understand people and romance.

It is flawed, like everything else this life, but it's flourishing in many ways.

The genre feels old and new at the same time. 

We can still find shounen ai/tanbi elements in more modern manga (All About J). Or the gay for you in a new light (Itoshi no Nekkoke). Or more educational manga on queer issues (My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame). BL has around 50 years of existence but it is also being born anew in Thailand and Korea. 

BL manga will continue to evolve in acordance to Japanese tastes, as it is still a local market. Hopefully the korean webtoons that get popular will be the more daring ones in their themes. Who knows where it will go from here? The only thing we know for sure is that it will continue to change. Isn't it exciting?

A post on the evolution of live action BL in Japan is coming, to complement this post.  As well as a more detailed explanation of the Yaoi Debates and gay manga.

[hwaightme]

BUBBIE !! have you seen this picture of seonghwa??? he looks so sweet dreamy and kind 🥹 kinda getting sweet librarian, kindergarten teacher, or barista vibes from this picture. ik he loves his hair long so i hope he can keep growing it out more

how was your day? how have you been!

hello lovely <333 AAAA THANK YOU FOR SENDING THISSSS oh my goodness i am and always will be enamoured with this look ;~; he gives 70's nostalgia, a sweet daydream or memory, a paradise in a sepia filter...

omg all these scenarios sound so so adorable! maybe this is me being affected by the season, but spring feel is *there*. windows open to let a fresh breeze in, warm glances, and a light heart.

(don't mind me putting songs that gave me this energy here:)

Sunflower by DOHU

너를 사랑하고 있어 (my love) by Baekhyun

Matsuri by Fujii Kaze

a miniature vision: seonghwa quietly passes you a book with a soft smile on his face, and when you flick through it, you find a pressed flower between the pages - one of your favourites. "this was the work you were looking for, wasn't it?" it is, but while searching, you have found so, so much more than just the novel. you grin back in silent understanding. lost and found, and here to stay.

my time has been alright~ hopefully will be getting better as i take things easy and enjoy the waking of the world (i have a mild - read as any antonym to that - fondness for cherry blossoms). how are your march days going? how have you been? <3

[lovesongbracket]

Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.

Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)

A Thousand Years

Written By: Christina Perri & David Hodges

Artist: Christina Perri

Released: 2011

Alternate version included: A Thousand Years Pt. II feat. Steve Kazee, 2012

“A Thousand Years” is about an eternal love. It was written by Christina Perri, specifically for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack. Christina Perri explained her inspiration for writing the song in a 2012 interview. She said “The producers came to me in 2011 and said, ‘can you write a song for Breaking Dawn – Part 1?’ So I went and saw the film six months before it came out, and wrote ‘A Thousand Years’ for Edward and Bella. I’m not a vampire, even though I wish I was, but I tried to step into their love story.”

[Verse 1] Heart beats fast Colors and promises How to be brave? How can I love when I'm Afraid to fall? But watching you stand alone All of my doubt Suddenly goes away somehow [Pre-Chorus] One step closer [Chorus] I have died every day waiting for you Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you For a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more [Verse 2] Time stands still Beauty in all she is I will be brave I will not let anything Take away What's standing in front of me Every breath Every hour has come to this [Pre-Chorus] One step closer [Chorus] I have died every day waiting for you Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more And all along I believed I would find you Time has brought your heart to me I have loved you for a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more [Bridge] One step closer One step closer [Chorus] I have died every day waiting for you Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more And all along I believed I would find you Time has brought your heart to me I have loved you for a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more

Tainted Love

Written By: Ed Cobb

Artist: Soft Cell

Released: 1981

Originally recorded by: Gloria Jones, 1965

Soft Cell’s 1981 synth-pop hit “Tainted Love” is a remake of a 1964 Gloria Jones song. Jones’ song was a B-side to “My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home,” a Motown single that flopped. Jones’ “Tainted Love” blew up in the UK’s Northern soul scene in the ’70s after British club DJ Richard Searling bought a used copy on a trip to the US. After “Tainted Love” got a boost from the Northern soul scene, Gloria Jones recorded a new version in 1974, but it failed to chart. When Soft Cell decided to give the song a go in 1981, they changed the key and slowed the tempo. They worked with producer Mike Thorne to create the electronic arrangement for the song. Thorne told Sound on Sound: “You could smell the coke on that second, Northern soul version, it was really so over-ramped and so frantic. It was good for the dance floor, but I didn’t like the record…when Soft Cell performed the song I heard a very novel sound and a very nice voice, so off we went.”

[Intro] [Verse 1] Sometimes I feel I've got to Run away I've got to Get away From the pain you drive into the heart of me The love we share Seems to go nowhere And I've lost my light For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night [Chorus] Once I ran to you (I ran) Now, I'll run from you This tainted love you've given I give you all a boy could give you Take my tears and that's not nearly all Oh, tainted love Tainted love [Verse 2] Now, I know I've got to Run away, I've got to Get away You don't really want any more from me To make things right You need someone to hold you tight And you think love is to pray But I'm sorry, I don't pray that way [Chorus] Once I ran to you (I ran) Now, I'll run from you This tainted love you've given I give you all a boy could give you Take my tears and that's not nearly all Oh, tainted love Tainted love [Bridge] Don't touch me please I cannot stand the way you tease I love you, though you hurt me so Now, I'm gonna pack my things and go [Chorus] Tainted love, oh, tainted love, oh Tainted love, oh, tainted love, oh [Outro] Touch me, baby, tainted love Touch me, baby, tainted love Tainted love, oh Tainted love, oh Tainted love

[peerlessscowl]

TOA Anniversary; Mun Day!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

tagging: you! come closer

---

Name: tches

Pronouns: she/they

Birthday (no year): Dec 22

Where are you from? What is your time zone? I'm currently in Colorado, but I'm not American djfkld and I live in Mountain timezone (MST/MDT)

Roleplay experience: About five or six years? All LJ.

Got any pets? My beloved one-eared baby Coriander, whom you have all seen me posting. I also live with two GSDs, Ursa and Solo.

Favorite time of year: Winter!

Some interests and things you like: I have so many interests, so many hobbies. I like languages and history and writing most. Cooking also. I hope sometime in the next year to write my first novel finally. I try to be active and used to really enjoy it before The Bad Period - I used to rock climb and hike every day, and during the pandemic I was buff. Nowadays I'm a lot more sedate.

Some funfacts & trivia about you: Here's two truths and a lie: my spine is made of titanium, I'm directly related to Erik the Red, and I'm a licensed yoga instructor. Have fun!

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Octopath, Triangle Strategy, Pokemon. Some indie games.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Fire, Gyarados (close tie with Delibird)

How did you get into Fire Emblem? :thinking: I was looking through the GBA games in the video game aisle of the PX, and saw Blazing was on sale. That was it. Not much fanfare.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? All except Archanea, Thracia, and Tellius.

First Fire Emblem game: Blazing Blade

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Blazing Blade

Any Fire Emblem crushes? Listen Jeralt can get it.

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? - Awakening: Lon'Qu - Fates: Kaze - Three Houses: Claude (but I like Hubert best) - Engage: Pandreo

Favorite Fire Emblem class: Mercenary-Hero

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? :thinking: Not to be biased, but probably Mercenary-Hero

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Blue Lions

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Probably Sigurd. Dat Momentum.

How did you find TOA? I knew of it in the periphery because I thought I'd check the Raven tag to see who else creates Raven content on Tumblr. I saw the post where mirae dropped him. Then in February, Elf popped into a mutual server and posted, I checked the Wanted List and saw my boy. And here we are.

Current TOA muses: Raven, Igrene and Beowolf

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Raven. My son with every disease, always and forever.

Have you had any other TOA muses? I've also written Sigurd and Saber. Fly high kings, legends in my heart always.

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? Sad Family TM. Joking aside, I like to think I have a pretty good range, and I still have more musetypes, simply waiting to be released from their enclosures.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I love writing rage, and horror. On the flip side, I also genuinely love writing cheesy, healthy romantic fluff. Duality of man. And of course I froth at the mouth for Family. Reaches -

Favorite TOA-related memory: When I flipped from writing Sigurd re-proposing to Deirdre immediately to responding to a Hector interaction with Raven. Also, when Sigurd got accepted - my heart rate skyrocketed, I was so excited.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? We'll see what the future (Halloween) holds.

How do you pronounce TOA? The acronym! T-O-A, but blended together. Teaoea

[lhenn]

Karina

This is Karina’s story, a story of how she grew up in the cellars of a theatre, surrounded by music and dreaming of sharing it with the world, of how she made two friends (a sad ballerina and a rat), of how she has learnt from her teacher everything she’s ever known, asking half the questions she yearns to learn and receiving half the answers she expects, suspecting this mysterious and distant man, yet so familiar to her, keeps a lot of secrets within. But he’s always been honest with her, always taken care of her, given her everything she’s ever wished for, has he not? There were only a few rules she had to adhere to, so as to keep everything the way it had always been: she should take care of herself and not get hurt, never leave their place, never talk with people and never mention their names nor where they live. But the days are long and lonely for her, especially as she grows up, head full of dreams and nothing new left to try: little adventures to the theatre should be fine as long as no one finds out… right? Or so she thought during the eight years she spent sneaking into the theatre when Erik wasn’t watching her (or was he?). Until one day, Karina’s reality is shattered after her professor suddenly disappeared, forcing her to leave the lair and venture into the outside world, and it won’t take her long to discover that half the things Erik had taught her were a lie…

A bit of context

I’ll be posting bits of Karina’s backstory (my OC). She’s the D&D character I’m currently playing; developing her backstory and finding a fitting campaign has taken me almost two years! Sometimes it feels like an awful lot, thinking my first D&D OC Kaze’s backstory took me around 7 months to complete, but then I think about Lhena, my first ever OC, whose story is still under development after 8 years, and it feels so short (I like writing, so I craft PDFs -like, kinda long PDFs? More than 100 pages- to practice).

I’ve had three main inspirations (although they have kinda turned out to be 4 in the end, I won’t name the last one until it’s shown in the story): Phantom of the opera (mainly musical, both 2004 film and stage versions, there might be some nods to Leroux’s original novel though), Disney’s Tangled and the 1986 film Labyrinth.

The main reference is poto, it’s present everywhere, and yet it isn’t. I didn’t want to know what was going to happen next following Karina’s backstory, I never intended to do a retelling, so even though there are many similarities this is not Phantom of the opera, it will not be canon compliant nor follow the story.

Having said that, Karina is 18 yo as of now. She’s a genius when it comes to arts, her abilities will be shown along the story, I don't wish to spoil anything, although you can deduce that she, at least, possesses an unearthly, angelic voice. Almost all her knowledge she owes to her mysterious teacher… You might have already guessed, or maybe not, but Karina is the result of mixing Christine and Erik’s characters. In my opinion, this adds a fantastic turn of events and a very interesting divergence from poto (Erik’s character is still present -kind of).

Speaking about the campaign, we’re playing in a post-apocalyptic setting! A world where people live either behind walls or in small communities -tribes- fighting machines… (you can picture Horizon and The 100 to get an idea). But that’s a tale ought to tell in a different moment, taking place far away from where we are, a tale little Karina does not even dream about, shielded by music in the deep underground.

Most of my drawings are sketches, and I'm not fooling myself, I'm a disorganized student and I don't know when or if I'll finish them (although I want to and I plan to). The one above is Karina during last session. Her hair's a bit messed up because there was a combat (Such a thrilling third day outside!) and, as the party has claimed: «she technically is still alive» (and I don't know how to draw hair). I also don't know how to draw consistent faces, I'm trying :')

[brickme]

Question: when did shounen ai and yoai as a trend really start? Did it all start as inspiration from Devilman or was there an earlier example of the trend?

I'm not an expert on the history of fujoshi fandoms, but it's not my impression the original Devilman manga (or anime) was a big fujoshi fandom. I assume (by you mentioning Devilman) that you're talking about "shipping two dudes from a canon source" type of shonen-ai/yaoi, and I think people usually say God Mars was an early example of this, followed by the major fandoms of Captain Tsubasa, Saint Seiya, and Samurai Troopers through the 80s. I know CLAMP published a Devilman dojinshi (and X is heavily inspired by it), but that was in 1991, so way after the Devilman's original run in the early 70s.

Kaze to ki no uta is from 1976, and artists like Takemiya, Hagio, and Yamagishi had been exploring the topic of shonen-ai before this, and in retrospect I think it's fair to say this was a kind of... the zeitgeist, I guess? I think historians are divided on whether the shonen-ai works of professional shojo manga directly inspired the early BL fandoms in dojinshi, or if they were separate developments that happened to overlap, but either way that was around the time people started to become interested in exploring the topic, and the genre grew both in shojo manga and in the dojinshi scene through the 80s.

By the late 80s, professional magazines started to recruit people from the dojinshi scene like Kouga Yun (Earthian) and Ozaki Minami (Zetsuai, which is heavily based on her Captain Tsubasa dojin), and the two movements kind of converged. After this, the genre developed through the 90s to become more commercialized, for the lack of a better term. Biblos was established in the late 80s, and rode on the wave of BL commercialization and popularization through the 90s, when BL manga and novels as well as BLCDs truly became a big market. The 90s is also when you start to see "BL" pop up, as a more consumer friendly term for what used to be called "yaoi" in the dojinshi side of things and "shonen-ai" and "tanbi" and what not in the professional publishing side of things.

So to answer, mid-70s to early 80s-ish!

[blazedrawsstuff]

Peggy One-Leg, daughter of the dreaded Captain Long Ben One-Leg

Peggy One-Leg  Daughter of Captain Ben One-Leg

Parent

Captain Long Ben One-Leg

Age

16

Killer Style

Corsair Style. White blouses, corsets, sashes ‘round the waist, hats or bandanas, the works really.

Freaky Flaw

I do not give quarter to those that feel me wrath.

Pet

Me beloved Santiana, she’s a beautiful eel with a voice of sirens I tell ye.

Favorite Activity

When I’m not sailing or reading action-packed adventure novels; I also practice swordsmanship in me down time, gotta keep me skills (and me blade) sharp.

Pet Peeve

Me father and I do not see eye-to-eye. While I am a buccaneer at heart, I despise that bilge rat’s treatment of me hearties and greed of precious booty. Even if we’re plunderers, would it kill him to have at least a little honor among thieves?

Favorite Subject

Let me see, Oceanography, Archeology, Ge-Orge-phy, Literature, and Singing...I can’t just choose one.

Least Favorite Subject

Dance, easy to see why.

Favorite Colors

Red, Gold, Brown, and Purple

Favorite Food

Salmagundi. ‘Tis a favorite dish among pirates.

Friends

Vandala Doubloons Kaze Tatsumaki (OC) Gill Webber Finnegan Wake Qi Yewan (OC)

Abilities

Immortality

As a zombie, she is immortal. 

Skillset

Swordsmanship

Peggy was taught the ways of a sword at a young age, as any pirate must know how to defend themselves.

Navigation Peggy is excellent at reading maps, and has a great sense of direction.

Singing

She can belt out a good tune, due to her experience singing sea shanties. Ability to Speak Human English Unlike most zombies, Peggy speaks the English language rather than “zombie”. This is likely because her father is able to do the same.

Personality

Peggy is a hardworking and adventurous pirate, and while she may be a plunderer of the seas as with any pirate, she adheres to honor and does not tolerate disloyalty, greed, and disrespect. She’s an honest ghoul too, well as honest as a pirate can be that is. This leads to her to be at odds with her father, who treats the crew of the Scarlet Skull like garbage, is a notorious liar, and is overall immensely selfish. If there’s one thing she shares with her father; it’s ruthlessness towards those who incur her wrath, as well as those that have committed the above mentioned sins. She is also rather superstitious, as most pirates and sailors are.

Trivia/Additional Information

Peggy’s first name is based on peg legs.

Her headcanon voice actress is Kimlinh Tran, who voiced Ms. Fortune from Skullgirls. With a more "piratey" accent of course.

Her birthday is April 1st, which is when “Creep from The Deep” was released. This makes her an Aries. Coincidentally this also makes her birthday April Fools Day.

Peggy’s pet is named after the sea shanty Santianna. Santianna is also an eel based on the cover of Creep from The Deep. Peggy despises Caspian because his avaricious personality reminds her of her father. To complicate matters, Caspian has an unreciprocated crush on her.

[urtubiaartist-67]

⛩️ Do you know the yōkai : YUKI-ONNA? ❄️

Yuki-onna (雪女, "snow woman") is a spirit or yōkai in Japanese folklore that is often depicted in Japanese literature, films, or animation.

Yuki-onna originates from folklores of olden times; in the Muromachi period Sōgi Shokoku Monogatari by the renga poet Sōgi, there is a statement on how he saw a yuki-onna when he was staying in Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture), indicating that the legends already existed in the Muromachi period.

Yuki-onna appears on snowy nights as a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and blue lips. Her inhumanly pale or even transparent skin makes her blend into the snowy landscape (as famously described in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things). She often wears a white kimono, but other legends describe her as nude, with only her face and hair standing out against the snow. Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a feature of many Japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if threatened.

Yuki-onna often appear while taking along children. This is in common with another yōkai that takes along children, the ubume. In the Mogami District, Yamagata Prefecture, ubume are said to be yuki-onna.

They often appear in stories about inter-species marriage, and stories similar to Lafcadio Hearn's Yuki-onna where a mountain hunter gets together with a woman who stays the night as a guest and eventually births a child. One day the man carelessly talks about the taboo of getting together with a yuki-onna, resulting in the woman revealing herself to be a yuki-onna, but not killing the man due to having a child between them and warning, "If anything happens to the child, you won't get away with it" before going away. These stories can be found in Niigata Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, and the Nagano Prefecture, which came about as a result of many stories about mountain people where those who break the mountain taboos would be killed by mountain spirits. There is also the hypothesis that the yuki-onna legend was born from a mixture of paranormal stories of mountain people and the paranormal yuki-onna stories.

Old tales about yuki-onna are mostly stories of sorrow, and it is said that these tales started from when people who have lived gloomy lives, such as childless old couples or single men in mountain villages, would hear the sound of a blizzard knocking on their shutter door and fantasize that the thing that they longed for has come. It is said that after that, they would live in happiness with what they longed for in a fantasy as fleeting as snow. There is also a feeling of fear, and like as in the Tōno Monogatari, the sound of a blizzard knocking on an outer shōji is called the "shōji sasuri" (rubbing a shōji), and there is a custom of making children who stayed up late go to sleep quickly when a yuki-onna rubs a shōji. From real sayings such as the shōji sasuri, it is said that things that one longs for sit back-to-back with fear. Also, winter is the season when gods would come to visit, and if one does not pay respects, terrible things will happen, so even if it is said to be things that one longs for, one cannot put too much trust in that. In any case, it can be said to be related to the coming and going of seasons. Nobuyoshi Furuhashi, scholar of Japanese literature, stated that the novel Kaze no Matasaburō is also probably somehow related.

Some legends say the Yuki-onna, being associated with winter and snowstorms, is the spirit of someone who perished in the snow. She is at the same time beautiful and serene, yet ruthless in killing unsuspecting mortals. Until the 18th century, she was almost uniformly portrayed as evil. Today, however, stories often color her as mere human, emphasizing her ghost-like nature and ephemeral beauty.

In many stories, Yuki-onna appears to travelers trapped in snowstorms and uses her icy breath to leave them as frost-coated corpses. Other legends say she leads them astray so they simply die of exposure. Other times, she manifests holding a child. When a well-intentioned soul takes the "child" from her, they are frozen in place. Parents searching for lost children are particularly susceptible to this tactic. Other legends make Yuki-onna much more aggressive. In these stories, she often invades homes, blowing in the door with a gust of wind to kill residents in their sleep (some legends require her to be invited inside first).

Like the snow and winter weather she represents, Yuki-onna has a softer side. She sometimes lets would-be victims go for various reasons. In one popular Yuki-onna legend, for example, she sets a young boy free because of his beauty and age. She makes him promise never to speak of her, but later in life, he tells the story to his wife who reveals herself to be the snow woman. She reviles him for breaking his promise but spares him again, this time out of concern for their children (but if he dares mistreat their children, she will return with no mercy. Luckily for him, he is a loving father). In some versions, she chose not to kill him because he told her, which she did not treat as a broken promise (technically, Yuki-Onna herself is not a human and thus did not count). In a similar legend, Yuki-onna melts away once her husband discovers her true nature. However, she departs to the afterlife afterward the same way.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki-onna

[authoralexharvey]

Hello I'd LOVE to haer your answers on 8, 13, 20, 24, 32, 39, 43, and 49!

Hey Eva <3 Let's go!

8. Oldest WIP

This honor technically goes to TWEfA, which originally started as a "steampunk" novel when I was like 15 called Clinker Girl. This was originally an OLDER project called Project Imitation, which was 100000% inspired by the Vocaloid song "A Fake, Fake Psychotripic", and then split into two projects: God-Slaying Machine and Clinker Girl. Also, I found the old summary I had for PI on Wattpad and what the fuck this idea was really cool. The premise for CG was essentially, in a world of element-based magic, our main character could use Wind Magic but couldn't use Fire Magic for Trauma Reasons (pretty sure I was watching Kaze No Stigma around this time. IYKYK). That was Dakota, who has MOSTLY stayed the same in transition. Her plotline involving her growing love for Maka was supposed to intersect with the leader of an adventuring guild called Clink (her name was Vanille. Yes like from Final Fantasy XIII), who were desperate to do anything to get their name known again. In the ORIGINAL draft of Clink, the world was a lot like RWBY in which people used like. Magical tech and got neat powers from it, but I ended up scrapping that idea later on. Then at one point I got inspired by Madoka Magica and Maka was a goddess/Celestine, a race of people from the stars that are...basically gods so. Yeah. Anyway there was a Tournament Arc and EVERYTHING and I ended up scrapping it and cannibalizing the plot to use in TWEfA.

Also this had me going on a stint through all my old WP projects and man I had some cool ideas.

13. Describe your writing process from idea to polished

Hard to describe when it is... chaos. Generally, I get an idea and it gets sifted in the mass... bingo ball roller in my brain and every so often, a ball rolls out and I entertain it before chucking it back into the roller. Sometimes, I really like the idea and will hold onto it for longer, at which point I will actually start developing the plot and the characters and the setting and whatnot. After that I just kinda... go until I Flame out or have something completed. And if I do get something completed, then I get to rewrite it until my brain hurts, then have someone else look at it, then rewrite it again. Then hopefully it's something decent I can do something with.

20. How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

Too many. Too fucking many. Which in some ways is good.

24. Favourite genre to write and read

Fantasy! Contemporary can be fun to read too, and I sometimes have more "contemporary" ideas, but.... most of the things I write are fantasy.

32. Most difficult character to write

Probably Charlie Holtz. I've talked about why before. The short of it is Charlie is way too close to me lmao trauma and all that. It's why I've barely gone anywhere with the project, despite how cool and excited it makes me.

39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

Hard to say. Uhhh there was Fenrick from The Last Nephilim who was a six-inch faery who literally dripped sparkles. Not my best moment.

Uhhh Siobhan is kinda weird, given they're a Dullahan and eat via osmosis and lob their decapitated head around to creep people out.

Fel isn't WEIRD to me but will definitely be weird to a lot of people who read her. I love her a lot tho.

43. What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?

Go along with it and try to route them back to the plan I had. Sometimes this works. Sometimes I just gotta go along with it cause the new idea was better.

49. Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?

Simone. Definitely Simone. The Simone before they kinda went off the rails, because they're really kind and nerdy and they would definitely help me study.

[minasummersch]

papyrus & jasmine (but I kinda wanna change the latter part of the Q to "and would recommend to anyone" if that's alright!)

papyrus ⇢ if you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with?

I've talked about this when I last answered this question here, but I don't have an 'on repeat' playlist. I'll link a song from my 'liked videos' playlist on youtube for you instead!

I am not sure I could even begin to explain this video tbh. I really like Gilmore Girls and something about the combination of Rory with Taylor Swift songs is fucking immaculate.

And here I'll also link a song I've had on repeat over the last week for you!

This is the first full song Nino sings in the Anonymous Noise anime/manga. Something about how messy it sounds really stuck with me and I am just living for these vibes. I know rock music totally plays against the aesthetic I have going but I want so badly to one day sing this song.

jasmine ⇢ do you have a movie or book you loved but will never watch/read again? and would recommend to anyone?

Oh boy! I have a long, long list of books, movies, tv shows, anime, manga, and light novels that I toss around as recommendations to friends. I usually like to tailor my reccs based on what I know people like but since I'm not entirely sure about your tastes I'll give a few of the ones I know most poeple enjoy.

Oscar (1991): a movie with Sylvester Stalone and it's a comedy so you really can't go wrong with this

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: either the manga or anime, both are amazing imo and the comedy is unparalleled

Summertime Rendering: honestly the best mystery manga I've ever read and it got a boppin anime adaptation just this year, go in with as few spoilers as possible

Pandora Hearts: please read this manga, if not for the plot then just for the art because Mochizuki Jun improves so much over the course of this series and it's absolutely stunning

86 eighty-six: watch the anime and if you're feeling it read the light novel or just wait it out for a second season because this will definitely get one

2.43 Seiin Koukou Danshi Volleyball: okay so I know this is the less popular volleyball anime but I like this one more

IDOLiSH7: i love these idol boys and this is the best idol game turned anime adaptation out there I think

IDOLY PRIDE: the other really awesome idol anime, I love this more than words can say and it's just a good time all around

Ao no Exorcist: read the manga and just avoid the anime please, the manga is much better

Fruits Basket: I watched the 2019 series and I didn't know what I was getting into at all but damn it was worth it, this anime is perfect

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru: I clearly like a lot of sports anime lol, but nah this one is good and has like warm and fuzzy friendship vibes but an older cast so it's a bit more serious

Kono Oto Tomare: music anime about a traditional Japanese instrument with great friendship and romance, I loved this so much that I bought the CD and I will one day play it for my wedding

Ya Boy Kongming: it's got great music and is hilarious, you could not ask for more imo

The Raven Boys: this was a fun time to read, like it had friendship and romance and all that teenage angst but also treasure hunting and supernatural powers

Percy Jackson: someone has probably already recced this tbh

All Our Yesterdays: the only valid time travel novel imo

Here Lies Daniel Tate: there's murder, there's mystery, what more could you want lol

The Devil is A Part-timer: watch season 1 of the anime and if you want to continue past that hit me up because things get messy and your enjoyment will depend on which character was your fave

The Last Fallen Star: a korean mythology middle grade novel

Into The Spiderverse: do I need to say more lol

The Good Place: again a comedy tv show, I do love comedy

Gilmore Girls: this is honestly a fascinating study in character development and writing

Ms Marvel: as a pakistani muslim this tv show was a mood in many ways

And there you have it! A very extensive list of media for you to check out! If you want to talk more about any of these and/or want more reccs join my discord server and feel free to scream in there! I am always ready to talk about fandoms and series I love but there's not enough people around lol

Thank you for the question! Feel free to check out my other answers under the tag mina answers! on my blog!

[shiroi---kumo]

Canon Questionnaire || Accepting  

@litoredeem​ asked:

3 + 4 for the canon questionnaire thing!

3. whats the best thing about the series

Answered here 

4. What’s the worst thing about the show/series/books/comics/etc.?

|| We got canceled folks. We were supposed to have 50 episodes and we only got 25. We got half the story animated and I will never not feel robbed about this. So I mean this is the obvious answer. While FF:U has multiple extensions of the series in After, After Spiral, and After 2  + FF:U Before and the side story novel - we might have got the story of what was supposed to be animated but knowing what was supposed to get animated only makes that suck even more. 

So I’m bringing up the obvious answer so I can get to it’s other issues and have them make more sense. 

While I adore FFU for what it is, it does have some issues. Most people who walk away from the series say it feels rushed or incomplete and well that’s cause as I’ve explained it is. The animated section of the series is meant to be the “first core”  of it. So as such, the writers did not change their pacing and suddenly decide to cram everything they weren’t going to be able to animate into the 25 episodes we got. 

That leaves us problems with the concept of what an Unlimited truly is never really being explained until what would have been the “Second core” of the series - of in this case After. The animated section of the series never once proceeds to explain to the viewers that Kumo and Kaze are immortal and then in the very last episode of the animated series proceeds to give them both a very dramatic scene after they destroy Chaos (seal it) that makes it look like they both very much died. 

See here: 

It is a very edgy scene of the both of them doing this after their dragon forms attack each other.  Kumo in a soft final breath kinda voice breaths out “Black Wind.... Kaze” as you see him fall backwards and close his eyes. Then Kaze is there with that look, looking down in a softer than Kaze’s normal voice saying “White Cloud.... Makenshi” as Kumo does so.  (Like it’s almost whispers)

That’s the VERY LAST scene you see of the boys in the animated series after they gave up their physical forms to fight Chaos. Kumo rendered himself down to mist and pure energy and Kaze sacrificed his physical form to become the final soil bullet needed to summon against Chaos. 

And then we get THAT but the animated series NEVER directly tells you they’re fucking immortal.  This only really comes up when they are BOTH present in sequels - After, After Spiral, and After 2.  It only has the first scene of the series between these two click now. 

The series tells you Unlimited means “He who has the power to rival that of God’s.”  like twice and then there’s creepy moments of Oscha looking at Kaze in the distance going “Unnnnnnlimited.”  But THAT’S IT. That’s what we get. They constantly elude to Kaze being Unlimited and they say that he might be but the concept of Kumo being Unlimited never even gets fucking approached.  All you know is he is The Earl’s strongest henchman. That’s it. You don’t start figuring this shit out until the “sequels” (second core) when Kumo is part of the party now and no longer “working” for Chaos. 

Because he only spends about 2 episode’s worth of footage helping the main party without concern for consequence. 

FF:U has it’s own fair share of issues. Quen and I have a game called “FF:U go home, you’re drunk.” when it does stupid shit like forget details on the Magun, randomly not draw in some of Kumo’s horns, flips the colors on Kumo’s choker,  or other misc details. It’s not perfect by any means but still I love it. 

[yue-muffin]

I just remembered the clusterfuck that is Vatican Kiseki Chousakan exists and must seriously consider if I would like to read the light novels in Japanese.

Vatican Kiseki Chousakan is...like a B-movie, so bad it’s good. A tale of two Catholic priests from the Vatican who investigate ‘miracles’ around the world to verify if they really are miracles, and it is the most insane thing I’ve ever watched (the anime adaptation is a thing, and I love the voice acting and honestly it’s got good atmosphere). we are talking about conspiracies, nazi cults, secret societies, very weird dubious science/pseudoscience, and a lot of gay subtext. lots and lots of gay subtext. at the very least, the two main characters are soulmates and honestly even if you don’t view their relationship as romantic, it’s a super great example of a healthy, supportive, and mutual platonic relationship. there will be no bickering comedy duo here (though they do have their differences of opinion!)!

Like I said, it’s so bad it’s good. also has got some surprisingly touching moments in between all of the...crazy leaps of logic flying around. and don’t forget about those conspiracies. The light novels would be hell to read. Not only are there of course religious terms (of which my vocab is quite limited), but there’s a lot of talk about science and other topics which are all bound together by flimsy logic. But the good moments are so good.

I will likely put it on the backburner and more seriously consider reading Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru (+ rewatch it, I need to experience that show again!), but it is certainly an option.

Also: why is it that I tend to like these short anime that have like no fandom and hardly anyone remembers it exists? Same with things like Joker Game, and Mawaru Penguindrum off the top of my head. Don’t even get me started on Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun lol...

[mobiusrp]

About:

I go by M!

28

he/they pronouns (nonbinary guy)

bi

main tumblr -> greywerewolf

Roleplay Info:

I will only rp with adults (21+)

multiparagraph

alright with heavy topics And fluff

limits: non-con (given some of the characters I play this may be mentioned with backstory but not described in detail or roleplayed out), incest, others we can discuss based on what we're writing

I can/will write other characters incidentally if they come up in the story. We can either share side characters and both write them or we can divvy them up and each have some that we write exclusively. That's something we can discuss.

I will rp opposite OCs, but I prefer canon characters.

I enjoy plotting and prefer plot-centric rps. (NSFW is 100% fine, but it needs to be built up to unless it happens quickly for Plot Reasons [looking at Astarion].)

I won't reply every day usually. I have a job, and sometimes I get home and just crash. We're adults, I don't expect replies to always be fast.

AUs and canon-based rps are both fun! I am... always weak to vampire AUs. I also enjoy messing around with romance novel cliches like arranged marriage, etc.

Who I Write:

DC:

Bruce Wayne

Jason Todd

John Constantine (Vertigo-based)

I've also written Selina Kyle and Harvey Dent. (Plus, The Batman Who Laughs, and various other people.)

Ships: batjokes, bruceharvey, batcat, superbat, jayrose, jayroy, jaykyle (+ others if you win me over on them)

Baldur's Gate 3:

Astarion

Gortash

I think Durge would be fun to write too, but I haven't written them yet.

Ships: wyllstarion, bloodweave, durgestarion, durgetash

I will not write halstarion. Do not try to write halstarion with me. Thank you.

Fire Emblem:

Grima/M!Robin

Niles

Kaze

Ships: chrobin, niles/silas, niles/subaki, kaze/xander (+ others)

Vampire Chronicles:

Lestat de Lioncourt

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Ships: loustat, loumand, louis/daniel/armand, nickistat (+ combinations of those)

I like other things too, so this list may expand if I want to try my hand at other fandoms, but feel free to dm me if any of this sounds up your alley!

[the-old-book-town]

On motivation to keep up active learning...

I’m terrible at it. I tend to concentrate and fixate hard in short bursts, which tend to burn me out or life otherwise interferes, and I drop my active learning for months before thinking I should start again.

I’m at the point where I can certainly learn from passive learning, but I don’t gain as much new vocabulary and knowledge as I did when I first started. To really make advances, I have to hunker down with a text and the concentration struggle is real. But I also need multiple projects to work on at once - jumping between several helps manage my poor concentration.

I think that is why I tend to search and search for content that’s interesting but only available in Japanese. That way, there is no crutch. If I want to know what happens, I need to kick myself into gear and get reading.

For now, Tsuki ni Hoerannee scratches that itch. It’s never getting an English translation, likely, but it’s also super difficult due to the poetry. So I get burnt out easily. My progress on volume one is currently 29 pages.

It’s very hard for me to find a novel I want to commit my time to, I’m still pretty sure I’ll get Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (probably more towards December to get into the Ekiden mood - yes I did watch the entire thing, I’m pretty sure the broadcast is 10 hours spread across two days). 

I’m also sorely tempted by The Heroic Legend of Arslan. The English translation was beautiful but never continued, and I’m finally at a reading level where it’s manageable.

As for any others...I’m not sure. I’m open to recommendations! However, I absolutely cannot do sci-fi. I haven’t watched enough sci-fi to be able to handle it in written form.

[syncopatedid]

So most recently, I’ve been enamored by this new illustrated cover of the Kazetsuyo novel (which obviously I’ve already read, just not in Hangul not that it’s ever stopped me from collecting pretty cover art of the same books).  Yes, yes, it’s obvious someone has been copying someone else’s homework, but aside from wondering if this “heavily inspired” artwork ever got clearance from the anime production house (or if it’s too grey an area that they could bypass that step), I can only see it as a good thing far as appealing to fans who have watched the anime goes. All the same, it amuses me because it suggests that whoever was commissioned to do this might not have read the novel, as they would have known that novel version Nira was not a Shiba inu but a mixed mutt breed. Then again, surely the editor of this book would have known, so maybe they figured they’d just run with anime Nira, otherwise the anime fans would notice, haha!  

[korolevskiy-sekret]

I’m so frustrated with this one specific plot of mine. It’s changed forms three times, and I’m still unhappy with it. I don’t want to get rid of it because I like the characters, but I don’t... have any investment in the plot anymore, nor the location/history it draws from. That latter mostly because I had to cut down on how much history I was even doing in the first place. But I don’t feel like I can move it, especially because of how heavily interlinked the characters and the names are for me. And every time I bring it up to my friends, they just kind of go “idk” - in part because this kind of is a problem I have to solve on my own.

But I just. Don’t know how.