Is it? I’ve always heard that it’s ヤマなしオチなし意味なし, “no climax, punch, or meaning”, which I think is just based on early criticism about it mostly being flagrant homosexual sex, rather than having much plot to it?
This isn’t a hill I’m willing to die on, but here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bara_(genre):Bara is distinct from yaoi, a genre of Japanese media focusing on homoerotic relationships between male characters that historically has been created by and for women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys’_love:
The term yaoi (/ˈjaʊi/ⓘYAH-oi; Japanese: やおい [jaꜜo.i]) emerged as a name for the genre in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the context of dōjinshi (self-published works) culture as a portmanteau of yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi(“no climax, no point, no meaning”), where it was used in a self-deprecating manner to refer to amateur fan works that focused on sex to the exclusion of plot and character development, and that often parodied mainstream manga and anime by depicting male characters from popular series in sexual scenarios. “Boys’ love” was later adopted by Japanese publications in the 1990s as an umbrella term for male–male romance media marketed to women.
I should’ve quoted, I was mostly wondering about the “part of the definition” as I’ve only heard of it being, well the portmanteau. To be fair I’ve mostly ever heard if called BL in a modern context so that makes sense to me.
Is it? I’ve always heard that it’s ヤマなしオチなし意味なし, “no climax, punch, or meaning”, which I think is just based on early criticism about it mostly being flagrant homosexual sex, rather than having much plot to it?
This isn’t a hill I’m willing to die on, but here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bara_(genre): Bara is distinct from yaoi, a genre of Japanese media focusing on homoerotic relationships between male characters that historically has been created by and for women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys’_love: The term yaoi (/ˈjaʊi/ ⓘ YAH-oi; Japanese: やおい [jaꜜo.i]) emerged as a name for the genre in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the context of dōjinshi (self-published works) culture as a portmanteau of yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi(“no climax, no point, no meaning”), where it was used in a self-deprecating manner to refer to amateur fan works that focused on sex to the exclusion of plot and character development, and that often parodied mainstream manga and anime by depicting male characters from popular series in sexual scenarios. “Boys’ love” was later adopted by Japanese publications in the 1990s as an umbrella term for male–male romance media marketed to women.
So it depends on where you look.
I should’ve quoted, I was mostly wondering about the “part of the definition” as I’ve only heard of it being, well the portmanteau. To be fair I’ve mostly ever heard if called BL in a modern context so that makes sense to me.
Thank you, though! :)