BY J.D. HO

Manga. The word might feel foreign on most Americans’ tongues, but these Japanese comics — collected in small paperback editions and meant to be read from back to front and right to left — are becoming increasingly popular. With manga now accounting for two-thirds of all graphic-novel sales in U.S. bookstores, publishers can barely keep up with demand. Like the English word comics, the term manga encompasses everything from action-adventure to romance to supernatural fantasy, but unlike Western comic publishers, manga publishers have for a long time printed a broad spectrum of titles that appeal to girls.

A genre called “boys’ love” has its own particular following among female readers. Boys’ love is exactly what it sounds like: manga that focuses on romantic relationships between two boys. Boys’ love is a blanket term that includes yaoi (boy/boy stories for adults) and its tamer cousin, shonen-ai. The distinction is important since, according to the manga ratings system, yaoi is usually stamped M for mature and is not sold to anyone under eighteen. There is, however, plenty of shonen-ai for the lower age brackets. Though sometimes sensational in their plots, these stories raise thought-provoking questions of what it means to be a boy or girl, how each gender is supposed to feel or act, and how exactly sexual attraction operates. A good deal of manga also incorporates forms of gender-bending, such as cross-dressing, which delve into some of the same territory. All of this begs the question: why is boys’ love so popular with girls? (more. . .)

Thanks, Buckaroo.