Yaoi and Boys’ Love (BL) Manga Studies Reading List

Yaoi and Boys' Love (BL) Manga Studies Reading List

I don’t really write about PhD-related things here because I generally blog about my hobbies as a form of escapism from my thesis (the truth is out!), but after getting a few requests to share my bibliography, I figured I should go ahead and compile a shōnen ai/yaoi/boys’ love (BL) manga studies reading list!

This list will consist of mostly academic articles on the broad subject of BL manga studies in Japanese and English, but I’ll also include articles on related media such as BL games when available. I’ll throw in some non-academic articles, too, particularly if I reference them in my thesis and find them useful. There will also be some peripheral sources such as articles on homoeroticism in Japanese literature or general papers on dōjinshi that I feel are relevent to BL studies, so I’ve included them here as well.

I’d like to make it very clear that this is a work in progress and will be updated with new sources regularly, and I am by no means insinuating that this list contains everything available on the subject. This is just a selection of things I have personally read and find relevant. If you think there’s something I should add, please let me know in the comments!

I hope this list will be useful for personal research, college papers, or even your own thesis on BL manga! If is, please consider buying me a coffee – many hours of hard work went into compiling these references, and I would greatly appreciate caffeine to fuel future endeavors. Thanks for your support!

Update History: 
3/29/17: List published. Much of this is still in the draft stage, so there are citations that still need to be added and/or edited. Much will be added in the coming months!
3/30/17: Added a bunch of sources suggested by Khursten! Check out her blog Otaku Champloo for a lot of great information about BL manga. I highly recommend her “BL Manga Starter Kit” post if you’re new to the genre or looking for a selection of must-read titles.

English References

Angles, Jeffrey. Writing the Love of Boys: Origins of Bishōnen Culture in Modernist Japanese Literature. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.

Aoyama, Tomoko. “Male Homosexuality as Treated by Japanese Women Writers.” In The Japanese Trajectory: Modernization and Beyond. Edited by Gavan McCormack and Yoshio Sugimoto, 186-204. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

–––. “Eureka Discovers Culture Girls, Fujoshi, and BL: Essay Review of Three Issues of the Japanese Literary Magazine, Yuriika (Eureka).” Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific 20 (2009). http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue20/aoyama.htm#n32.

–––. “BL (Boys’ Love) Literacy: Subversion, Resuscitation, and Transformation of the (Father’s)Text.” U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal 43 (2012): 63-84.

–––. “Queering the Cooking Man: Food and Gender in Yoshinaga Fumi’s (BL) Manga.” In Boys’ Love Manga : Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre. Edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 233-252. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2015.

Aoyama, Tomoko and Nagaike, Kazumi. “What is Japanese ‘BL Studies?’: A Historical and Analytical Overview.” In Boys’ Love Manga : Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre. Edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, James Welker, 119-40. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015.

Baudinette, Thomas. “Japanese Gay Men’s Attitudes towards ‘Gay Manga’ and the Problem of Genre.” East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 3, no. 1 (2017): 59–72.

Bauwens-Sugimoto, Jessica. “Subverting masculinity, misogyny, and reproductive technology in SEX PISTOLS.” Image & Narrative 12, no. 1 (2011). http://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/viewFile/123/94.

———. “Manga Studies #3: On BL Manga Research in Japanese.” Comics Forum. Accessed November 26, 2015. http://comicsforum.org/2014/07/29/manga-studies-3-on-bl-manga-research-in-japanese-by-jessica-bauwens-sugimoto/

———. “Negotiating Religious and Fan identities: ‘Boys’ Love’ and Fujoshi Guilt.” In The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture, edited by Mark McLelland, 184–95. London; New York: Routledge, 2016.

Galbraith, Patrick W. “Fujoshi: Fantasy Play and Transgressive Intimacy among ‘Rotten Girls’ in Contemporary Japan.” Signs 37, no. 1 (September 1, 2011): 211–32.

———. “Moe and the Potential of Fantasy in Post-Millennial Japan.” Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies, October 31, 2009. http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Galbraith.html.

———. “Moe Talk: Affective Communication among Female Fans of Yaoi in Japan.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan, edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 153–68. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015.

Fujimoto Yukari. “Takahashi Macoto: The Origin of Shōjo Manga Style,” translated by Matt Thorn. Mechademia 7.1: 24-55, 2012.

–––. “The Evolution of BL as ‘Playing with Gender’: Viewing the Genesis and Development of BL from a Contemporary Perspective.” In Boys’ Love Manga : Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre. Edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 76-92. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2015.

Kamm, Björn-Ole. “Rotten Use Patterns: What Entertainment Theories Can Do for the Study of Boys’ Love.” Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 12 (2013). http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/427

Kan, Satoko. Everlasting Life, Everlasting Loneliness: The Genealogy of the Poe Clan.” U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal 38 (2010): 43-58.

Lee, Anne. “A Centaur in Salaryman’s Clothing: Parody and Play in est em’s Centaur Manga.” New Voices in Japanese Studies 8 (2016): 55-76. http://newvoices.org.au/volume-8/a-centaur-in-salarymans-clothing-parody-and-play-in-est-ems-centaur-manga/.

Levi, Antonia; McHarry, Mark; Pagliassotti, Dru, eds. Boys’ Love Manga : Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2010.

Lunsing, Wim. “Yaoi Ronsō: Discussing Depictions of Male Homosexuality in Japanese Girls’ Comics, Gay Comics and Gay Pornography.” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context, January 2006.

Matsui, Midori. “Little Girls Were Little Boys: Displaced Femininity in the Representation of Homosexuality in Japanese Girls’ Comics.” In Feminism and the Politics of Difference, edited by Sneja Marina Gunew and Anna Yeatman, 177-196. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993.

Meyer, Uli. “Hidden in Straight Sight: Trans*gressing Gender and Sexuality via BL.” In Boys’ Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre, edited by Antonia Levi, Mark McHarry, and Dru Pagliassotti, 232–56. McFarland, 2010.

Mizoguchi Akiko. “Male-Male Romance by and for Women in Japan: A History and the Subgenre of Yaoi Fictions.” U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal 25 (2003): 49-75.

–––. “Theorizing Comics/Manga as a Productive Forum: Yaoi and Beyond.” In Comics Worlds and the World of Comics: Towards Scholarship on a Global Scale. Edited by Jacqueline Berndt, 143-168. International Manga Research Center: Kyoto Seika University, 2010.

McLelland, Mark. “The Love Between ‘Beautiful Boys’ in Japanese Women’s Comics.” Journal of Gender Studies 9, no. 1 (2000): 13-25.

–––. “The ‘Beautiful Boy’ in Japanese Girl’s Manga.” In Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives. Edited by Toni Johnson-Woods, 77-92. New York: Continuum, 2010.

McLelland, Mark and Yoo, Seunghyun. “The International Yaoi Boys’ Love Fandom and the Regulation of Virtual Child Pornography: The Implications of Current Legislation.” Sexuality Research & Social Policy Journal of NRSC 4, no. 1 (03, 2007): 93-104, http://search.proquest.com/docview/858940052?accountid=14723 (accessed May 25, 2016).

Nagakubo, Yoko. “Yaoi Novels and Shojo Manga (Girls’ Comics).” Translated by Keiko Tokuda, Reiko Akiyama, and Masami Toku. In Shojo Manga! Girl Power! Girls’ Comics from Japan. Edited by Masami Toku, 16-19. Chico: Flume Press, 2005.

Nagaike, Kazumi. “Perverse Sexualities, Perversive Desires: Representations of Female Fantasies and Yaoi Manga as Pornography Directed at Women.” U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal 25 (2003): 76-103.

–––. “‘L’homme fatal and (Dis)empowered Women in Mori Mari’s Male Homosexual Trilogy.” Japanese Language and Literature 41 (2007): 37-59.

–––. Fantasies of Cross-Dressing: Japanese Women Write Male-Male Erotica. Leidan: Brill, 2012.

–––. “Queer Reading of BL: Are Women ‘Plunderers’ of Gay Men?” In International Perspectives on Shojo and Shojo Manga: The Influence of Girl Culture. Edited by Masami Toku, 64-73. New York: Routledge, 2015.

–––. “Do Heterosexual Men Dream of Homosexual Men? BL Fudanshi and Discourse on Male Feminization.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan, edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 189–209. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015.

Noppe, Nele. “Dōjinshi Research as a Site of Opportunity for Manga Studies.” In Comics Worlds and the World of Comics: Towards Scholarship on a Global Scale. Edited by Jacqueline Berndt, 123-142. International Manga Research Center: Kyoto Seika University, 2010.

———. “[META] How Much Money Do Dōjinshi Creators Actually Make? Some Statistics from Comiket.” Fanhackers. Accessed September 24, 2013. http://fanhackers.transformativeworks.org/2012/06/how-much-money-do-doujinshi-creators-actually-make-some-statistics-from-comiket/.

Ogi, Fusami. “Beyond Shoujo, Blending Gender: Subverting the Homogendered World in Shoujo Manga (Japanese Comics for Girls).” International Journal of Comic Art 3, no. 2 (2001): 151–61.

Okabe, Daisuke, and Kimi Ishida. “Making Fujoshi Identity Visible and Invisible.” In Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World, edited by Mizuko Ito, Tsuji Izumi, and Daisuke Okabe, Kindle edition., 3947–4268. Yale University Press, 2012.

Orbaugh, Sharalyn. “Girls Reading Harry Potter, Girls Writing Desire: Amateur Manga and Shōjo Reading Practices.” In Girl Reading Girl in Japan. Edited by Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley, 174-186. Abingdon: Oxon, 2010.

Otomo, Rio. “Politics of Utopia: Fantasy, Pornography, and Boys Love.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan, edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 141–52. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015.

Pagliassotti, Dru. “GloBLisation and Hybridisation: Publishers’ Strategies for Bringing Boys’ Love to the United States.” Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, no. 20 (April 2009). http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue20/pagliassotti.htm.

———. “Reading Boys’Love in the West.” Particip@tions 5, no. 2 (November 2008). http://www.participations.org/Volume%205/Issue%202/5_02_pagliassotti.htm.

Saito, Kumiko. “Desire in Subtext: Gender, Fandom, and Women’s Male-Male Homoerotic Parodies in Contemporary Japan.” Mechademia 6 (2011): 171-191.

Sato, Shio. “Profile and Interview with Shio Sato.” In International Perspectives on Shojo and Shojo Manga: The Influence of Girl Culture, edited by Masami Toku, 220–25. London: Routledge, 2015.

Shamoon, Deborah. “Chapter 5: The Revolution in 1970s Shōjo Manga.” In Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girls’ Culture in Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2012.

Sihombing, Febriani. “On the Iconic Difference between Couple Characters in Boys Love Manga.” Image & Narrative 12, no 1 (2011): 150-165.

Suganuma, Katsuhiko. “Queer Cooking and Dining: Expanding Queerness in Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday?Culture, Society, & Masculinities 7 vol. 2 (2015): 87-101.

Suzuki Kazuko, “Pornography or Therapy? Japanese Girls Creating the Yaoi Phenomenon.” In Millennium Girls: Today’s Girls Around the World, 243-67. Edited by Sherrie I. Inness. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998.

–––. “What Can We Learn from Japanese Professional BL Writers? A Sociological Analysis of Yaoi/BL Terminology and Classifications.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. Edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 93-117. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2015.

Suzuki, Midori. “The Possibilities of Research On ‘fujoshi’ in Japan.” Transformative Works and Cultures 12, no. 0 (November 21, 2012). http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/462.

Takeuchi, Kayo. “The Genealogy of Japanese Shōjo Manga (Girl’s Comics) Studies.” U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal 38 (2010): 81-112.

Takemiya, Keiko. “Profile and Interview with Keiko Takemiya.” In International Perspectives on Shojo and Shojo Manga: The Influence of Girl Culture, edited by Masami Toku, 197–204. London: Routledge, 2015.

Tamagawa, Hiroaki. “Comic Market as Space for Self-Expression in Otaku Culture.” In Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World, edited by Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Izumi Tsuji, Kindle Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.

Thorn, Matt. “Girls and Women Getting Out of Hand: The Pleasure and Politics of Japan’s Amateur Comics Community.” In Fanning the Flames: Fans and Consumer Culture in Contemporary Japan, edited by William W Kelly, 169–87. New York: State University of New York, 2004.

———. “The Moto Hagio Interview in The Comics Journal.” Matt-Thorn.com, July 2005. http://www.matt-thorn.com/shoujo_manga/hagio_interview.php.

Vincent, Keith J. “A Japanese Electra and Her Queer Progeny,” Mechademia 2 (2007): 64-79.

Welker, James. “Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: ‘Boys’ Love’ as Girls’ Love in Shōjo Manga.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 31, no. 3 (2006): 841-870.

–––. “Lillies of the Margin: Beautiful Boys and Queer Female Identities in Japan.” In AsiaPacifiQueer: Rethinking Genders and Sexualities. Edited by Fran Martin, Peter A. Jackson, Mark McLelland, and Audrey Yue, 46-66. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008.

–––. “Flower Tribes and Female Desire: Complicating Early Female Consumption of Male Homosexuality in Shōjo Manga.” Mechademia 6 (2011): 211–228.

–––. “A Brief History of Shōnen’ai, Yaoi, and Boys Love.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. Edited by Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganuma, James Welker, 42-75. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015.

Wood, Andrea. “’Straight’ Women, Queer Texts: Boys-Love Manga and the Rise of a Global Counterpublic.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, 34 (2006): 394-414.

–––. “Choose Your Own Queer Erotic Adventure: Young Adults, Boys Love Computer Games, and the Sexual Politics of Visual Play”. In Over the Rainbow: Queer Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Edited by Kenneth B. Kidd, Michelle Ann Abate, 354–379. University of Michigan Press, 2011.

Xu, Yanrui, and Ling Yang. “Forbidden Love: Incest, Generational Conflict, and the Erotics of Power in Chinese BL Fiction.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 4, no. 1 (June 1, 2013): 30–43.

Yang, Ling, and Yanrui Xu. “‘The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name’: The Fate of Chinese Danmei Communities in the 2014 Anti-Porn Campaign.” In The End of Cool Japan: Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Challenges to Japanese Popular Culture, edited by Mark McLelland, 163–83. London; New York: Routledge, 2016.

Yi, Erika Junhui. “Reflection on Chinese Boys’ Love Fans: An Insider’s View.” Edited by Kazumi Nagaike and Katsuhiko Suganuma. Transformative Works and Cultures 12 (2013). http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/424/390.

Japanese References

Azuma, Sonoko. “Mōsō No Kyōdōtai [Community of Delusions].” In Shisō Chizu: Tokushū Shakai No Hihyō [Idea Map – Social Criticism Special Issue], edited by Hiroki Azuma and Akihiro Kitada, 5:249–74. Tokyo: Nipponhōsōshuppankyōkai, 2010.

———. Takarazuka/Yaoi, Ai No Yomikae [Takarazuka/Yaoi, A Rereading of Love]. Tokyo: Shinyōsha, 2015.

est em [えすとえむ]. “Anata no shiranai esu to emu” [あなたの知らない えすとえむ]. On BLUE [オンブルー] 2 (Tokyo: Kabushiki gaisha shōdensha [株式会社祥伝社], 2011), 3-37.

Fujimoto Yukari. Watashi no ibasho wa doko ni aru no?: Shōjo manga ga utsusu kokoro no katachi. Tokyo: Gakuyō Shobō, 1998.

–––. “Shōjo manga ni okeru ‘shōnen ai’ no imi. Nyu feminizumu rebyu 2 (1991): 280-284.

–––. “Shonen ai/yaoi-BL: 2007 nen genzai no shiten karaYuriika 39, no. 16 (2007): 36-47.

“Fujoshitachi no Baiburu 50 [Fujoshi’s Bible 50].” In Yurīka. Fujoshi Manga Taikei [Eureka. Fujoshi Manga Compendium], 39:148–205. 7. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2007.

Hagio, Moto. Aisuru Anata, Koisuru Watashi: 2000s Talk Collection [The Loving You, The Loving Me: 2000s Talk Collection]. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō, 2014.

———. “Profile and Interview with Moto Hagio.” In International Perspectives on Shojo and Shojo Manga: The Influence of Girl Culture, edited by Masami Toku, 205–12. London: Routledge, 2015.

Hata, Mikako. “BL Manga Kenkyū No Tayōka Ni Mukete: Sakuhin Kenkyū No Gaikan to Tenbō [Towards a Diversification of BL Manga Research: An Overview of the Current Situation and Prospects of Textual Analysis].” Joshigaku Kenkyū, [Girls’ Culture Research] 4 (March 2014): 50–58.

Ishida, Miki. Hisoyaka na kyōiku – <yaoi · bōizu rabu> zenshi. Tokyo: Rakuhoku shuppan, 2008.

Kaneda Junko. “Yaoi ron, asu no tame ni sono 2.” Yuriika 39 no. 16, supplementary issue BL sutadīzu (2007): 48-54.

–––. “Manga dōjinshi: Kaishaku kyōdōtai no poritikkusu” In Bunka no shakaigaku. Edited by Kenji Satō and Shunya Yoshimi, 163–90. Tokyo: Yuhikaku Publishing, 2007.

Kaneda, Junko, and Shion Miura. “‘Seme X uke’ no mekuru meku sekai: Dansei shintai no miryoku o motomete [The world surrounding ‘seme X uke’: searching for the attractiveness of male bodies].” In Yurīka. Fujoshi Manga Taikei [Eureka. Fujoshi Manga Compendium], 39:8–29. 7. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2007.

Kanemaki, Tomoko. “Joshiota 30nen Sensō [The Female Otaku’s 30-year War].” In Yurīka. Bunkakeijoshi katarogu [Eureka. Culture girls catalogue], 37:144–53. 11. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2005.

Katsukura Editorial Department. Fujoshi aruaru [That is so Fujoshi]. Tokyo: Shinkigensha, 2013.

———. Fujoshigo Jiten [A Glossary of Terms for Fujoshi]. Tokyo: Shinkigensha, 2013

Kiriaki, Hiroshi, and Genko Katsuyama, eds. Hajimete No Hito No Tame No BL Gaido [BL Guide for Beginners]. Genkōsha, 2015.

“Kono BL ga Sugoi [This BL is Amazing].” In Yurīka. BL Sutadīsu. [Eureka. BL Studies], 39:205–69. 16. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2007.

“Kono Manga ga Sugoi” Editors, ed. “Keiko Takemiya Interview.” In Bishōnen No Sekai [The World of Bishōnen], 24–29. Otona No Shōjo Manga Techō [A Guidebook on Adult Shōjo Manga]. Tokyo: Takarajimasha, 2016.

Matsuoka, N. and Miura, S. “BL-nō de yomu meisaku bungaku an’nai.” [BL脳で読む名作文学案内]. Da Vinchi [ダ・ヴィンチ] 178 (2009): 26-30.

Misaki Naoto. “Nisen nana nen no shōjo kei parodi dōjinshi no dōkō.” Yuriika 39, no. 16 (2007). 176-179.

Mizoguchi Akiko. “Homofobikku na homo, ai yue no reipu, soshite kuia na rezubian.” Queer Japan, 2 (2000): 193-211.

–––. “Sore wa, dare no, donna ‘riaru’? – Yaoi no gensetsu kuukan wo seiri suru kokoromi.” IMAGE&GENDER, 4 (2003): 27-55.

–––. BL shinka’ron: bōizurabu ga shakai o ugokasu. Tokyo: Ōta shuppan. 2015.

Morikawa, Kaichirō. “Sūji de Miru Fujoshi [Fujoshi in Numbers].” Eureka 39–16 (December 2007): 124–35.

Murakami, Tomohiko, Mamoru Masaki, Takanaka Shimotsuki, Akiko Hatsu, and Kimihiko Nakamura. “Shinpojiumu ‘Manga to Dōjinshi’: Dai Ichi Bu – Manga Dōjinshi No Rekishi to Yakuwari [’Manga and Dōjinshi’ Symposium: Part One – History and Role of Manga Dōjinshi].” Manga Kenkyū [Manga Studies] 19 (2013): 122–69.

Nagakubo Yōko. Yaoi shōsetsuron – josei no tame no erosu hyōgen. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 2005.

Nakajima Azusa. Bishōnengaku nyūmon. Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1987.

———. Komyunikēshon Fuzen Shōkōgun [Communication Deficiency Syndrome]. Tokyo: Chikuma shobō, 1991.

———. Tanatosu No Kodomotachi: Kajō Tekiō No Seitaigaku [The Children of Thanatos: The Ecology of Excessive Adaptation]. Tokyo: Chikuma shobō, 1998.

Nakamura, Keiko. Shōwa Bishōnen Techō [Journal of Beautiful Boys from the Shōwa Period]. Reprint. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō, 2012.

Nekota, Yonezō, Isaku Natsume, Ai Tengawa, Shihan Ichinomiya, and Ryōji Hidō. “Sākuru zadankai: jōsei sākuru hen – Part 2: 20nendai wo chūshin to shite [Circle roundtable discussion: women’s circles – Part 2: A focus on the 2000s].” In 40th Comic Market Chronicle, edited by Comic Market Preparation Committee, 100–111. Tokyo: Comiket, 2015.

Ninomiya, Kazuko. Otaku Shōjo no Keisaigaku – Komikku maket ni muragaru shojotachi [Otaku Girl’s Economics – the girls who swarm Comic Market]. Tokyo: Kosaido Shuppan, 1995.

Nishimura, Mari. Aniparo to yaoi. Tokyo: Ōta shuppan, 2002.

———. BL karuchāron: boizu rabu ga kawaru hon [BL Culture Theory: A Book on Changes in Boys Love]. Tokyo: Seikyūsha, 2015.

Nobi, Nobita. Otona wa wakatte kurenai ― Nobi Nobita Hihyō Shūsei [Adults won’t understand us: Nobi Nobita’s essay collection]. Tokyo: Nihon hyōron sha, 2003.

Ownsha. Raito BL E Yōkoso [Welcome to Light BL]. Tokyo: Aspect, 2012.

Satō Masaki. “Shōjo manga to homofobia.” Queer Studies ’96 (1996). Tokyo: Nanatsumori shokan. 161-69.

Shiino, Yoichi. “Changes of the Coupling Notation in Comic Market Catalog of the 1980s (Boys Love/Yaoi).” Manga Kenkyū [Manga Studies] 20 (2014): 74–95.

Shooto, Aya, Kazuka Minami, Mayuri Narushi, Fumi Yoshinaga, and Tomoe Hinata. “Sākuru zadankai: jōsei sākuru hen – Part 1: 90nendai wo chūshin to shite [Circle roundtable discussion: women’s circles – Part 1: A focus on the 1990s].” In 40th Comic Market Chronicle, edited by Comic Market Preparation Committee, 100–111. Tokyo: Comiket, 2015.

Sugiura, Yumiko. Fujoshikasuru Sekai: Higashi Ikebukuro Otaku Joshi Tachi [A Fujoshi Transformed World: The Female Otaku of East Ikebukuro]. Japan: Chuokuron Shinsha, 2006.

———. Otaku Joshi Kenkyuu [Study of Female Otaku]. Tokyo: Hara Shobou, 2006.

Takemiya, Keiko. Shōnen No Na Wa Jirubēru [The Boy’s Name Is Gilbert]. Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 2016.

Tsukui, Kazuhito. “Otaku Shijōchōsa Ga Happyō…Dōjinshi Ichiba Wa 757okuen, ‘Sabagē’ Būmu Tōrai No Kizashi, ‘genzai Mo Kako Mo Koibitomu’ wa 31.2% Nado (Yano Keizai Kenkyūsho Shirabe) [Otaku Market Research Announced: Dōjinshi Market Is 75.7 Billion Yen, ‘Survival Game’ Boom Is Trending, ‘Without a Lover Then and Now’ is at 31.2% (as Investigated by Yano Economics Research Centre)].” Inside, January 18, 2016. http://www.inside-games.jp/article/2016/01/18/95036.html.

Ueno Chizuko. “Jendāresu wārudo no ‘ai’ no jikken: shōnen’ai manga o megutte.” Toshi 2, November (1989): 134-43.

–––. “Fujoshi to ha dare ka? Sabukaruchā no jendā bunseki no tame no oboegaki.” In Fujoshi manga taikei special issue, Eureka 39, no. 7 (2007): 30–36.

Watanabe Yumiko. “Seishōnen manga kara miru ‘yaoi’.” Yuriika 39, no. 16 (2007). 68-76.

Yoshinaga, Fumi. Ano Hito to Koko Dake no Oshaberi: Yoshinaga Fumi Taidanshu [Conversations with people right now: Collection of Interviews by Yoshinaga Fumi]. Tokyo: Hakusensha, 2007.

Yurīka. BL “boizu rabu” on za ran [Eureka. BL “boys love” on the Run]. Vol. 44. 15. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2012.

Yurīka. BL Sutadīsu. [Eureka. BL Studies]. Vol. 39. 16. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2007.

Yurīka. Bunkakei Joshi Katarogu [Eureka. Culture Girls Catalogue]. Vol. 37. 11. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2005.

Yurīka. Fujoshi Manga Taikei [Eureka. Fujoshi Manga Compendium]. Vol. 39. 7. Tokyo: Seidosha, 2007.

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About Anne Lee

Also known as apricotsushi. Anne can be written with the kanji for apricot (杏), and sushi was the most quintessentially Japanese thing I could think of when I was 13, resulting in my goofy, albeit memorable, nickname.