 Not every
anime convention panel has its own theme song, but the yaoi genre is unique.
"I'm living in a yaoi world - and I'm a yaoi girl," sang the impromptu
quartet that introduced the discussion of anime and fan fiction that concentrates
on romance and sex between beautiful young men. A few men are interested
in the genre, but it appeals mostly to females - both in Japan and in North
America. So many are interested that a Yaoi-Con is planned for the first
weekend of September in San Francisco. |
 Most of the
women on the yaoi panel came to the genre through fan fiction they discovered
by online research of their favorite anime series. It's not a matter of
homosexuality as much as romance and beauty, they said. "It is a fantasy,"
said Larissa (left). "It is not reality, which is one of the nice things
about it. What I like is the idea of beautifully drawn guys and no distracting
females." Tansie (right) said "I like romance and yaoi is another aspect
of the romantic fan fiction I've been reading." |
 Thea (left)
said that she also enjoys yaoi fan fiction that breaks the bonds of the
original series. "I didn't think there was anything unusual with male-male
couplings. Most of the interesting relationships that are non canonical
are between two males," she said. Rachel (right) said she liked yaoi because
"I get to see two guys at once instead of one." Among the panelsts, the
"straight" anime series that had the most appeal were Fushigi Yuugi and
Yu Yu Hakusho; the panelists would like to see pairings of the most handsome
men from those series. One fan said she'd like to see a pairing of Ranma
and Ryoga from Ranma 1/2, by the way. |
