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You may have noticed a few changes around here at YaoiSuki. That's because we've moved to a new host, and in the process upgraded and altered a bunch of our features (most notably: embedded wiki and better forums). Unfortunately, we lost our user database in the move, so those of you who were signed up will unfortunately need to sign up again. It's a pretty painless process though!
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[Column] Serialization and Yaoi |
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Written by Jordan Marks
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Wednesday, 17 January 2007 |
How I buy yaoi at my local bookstore is very different from how it was first published in Japan. Serialization has a huge impact on these manga I love so much. Some yaoi stories run first serialized in magazines, and some are first published as original doujinshi. The way to best structure plot for a serialized work may not be the best way for a collected edition. Waiting a whole month, or more, and still not getting to the smut could be very disappointing. Also, publishing through a magazine meets meeting guidelines and reader's expectations.
{mos_sb_discuss:20}
The Finder Series is an interesting title to look at, as the mangaka talks about serialization a bit in the author's notes. Ayano Yamane mentions three different magazines in the notes for volume one and volume two. Now, I don't know for sure that the series first ran in multiple magazines, but it sounds like it.
When I read The Finder Series I was very aware of how disjointed the plot was and how it had very random side stories. Also, as opposed to building up to the longest and kinkiest sex scene of the first two volumes, it happens in the very first chapter. She writes in response to a question about the origin of Finder "I wrote the first Finder story for a special "SM" issue of Comic Anthology. That is why it contains hard expressions." (P. 185)
Another aspect of serialization that deeply affects yaoi is the expectations that different magazines have for the work published in them. Mikiyo Tsuda wrote about deciding whether Princess Princess was going to be a BL story or not. She writes "I worried about things like "Should I do Boy's Love story in Wings Comics?"" (P. 169) Wings is a magazine that publishes work by many familiar yaoi authors. Recently they have been running Fumi Yoshinaga's Flower of Life and Yuuka Nitta's Otodama. While the stories tend to appeal to BL fans, they are mostly shoujo and I have yet to see suggestive content in them. Wings was not the only reason why Princess Princess was done the way it was, but it's a good example of things that mangaka do need to take into consideration.
On the other side of the spectrum, there seems to be sex in every chapter of every story in all the copies of Be-Boy Gold and Be-Boy Luv that I have. Some of Embracing Love was published in Be-Boy Luv, which may be why there is a focus on getting the boys into bed, or on a kitchen table, every chapter. Though, after about twenty five chapters Embracing Love does start to break away from that pattern.
A third effect is the length of stories. Not all yaoi series are ideal length for collected format. A title like Man's Best Friend is an example of this. The story is way too short on it's own, so side stories are added in. Many readers pick up a title like this, expecting the title story to fill the whole volume. Instead they get of 'filler' stories involving goldfish. Based on conversations in forums, this type of problem has been a major source of aggravation for fans. Many fans buy yaoi via the internet or sealed in plastic in stores. Sometimes there is no hint as to what's really inside. But then, that is why sites like Yaoisuki are (hopefully) useful. Still, if it's a good story I would hope that length would not keep it from getting collected or licensed.
Non-yaoi stories that I've read don't tend to suffer as much from serialization. Possibly because mainstream manga is a more established market. Hiromu Arakawa (FMA) and Tsugumi Ohba (Deathnote) probably don't need to worry about being dropped next month or having the magazine they are in disappear. Now, for authors who publish chapters as dounjinshi, which both Tori Maia (Hoshi no Yakata) and Kazuma Kodaka (Kizuna) have done, there are additional problems. Months could pass between installment and poor sales on one chapter could seriously hurt their ability to continue. Kazuma Kodaka is certainly an established name now, but that was likely not the case when she started.
There is probably much more that could be written on this topic. While it's obvious that serialization fundamentally shapes yaoi, coming up with concrete examples of how this shaping occurs is hard since I am limited to sources in English. Hopefully, this gives some insight into why yaoi is the way it is and why we see certain problems and/or patterns over and over again.
Works Cited:
Yamane, Ayano. Finder Series 1: Target in the Finder. Translated by BunnyBotX. New York: Be Beautiful, 2004.
Yamane, Ayano. Finder Series 2: Cage in the Finder. Translated by Melanie Shoen. New York: Be Beautiful, 2004.
Tsuda, Mikiyo. Princess Princess Volume 1. Translation by Earl Gertwagon. Gardena, CA: Digital Manga Publishing.
(Note: This is a revised and expanded version of a blog entry I made on some time back.) |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 17 November 2007 )
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