Japanese Visual Language and Retained Japanese Style
“As comics, manga are texts that use two codes, words and art, combined in sequential panels that
tell a story. There are at least three elements a Western fan must face when approaching a manga: language, manga visual convention, and Japanese cultural conventions. The degree to which a fan is accustomed to these may vary, influencing the reading procedure or interpretation of a manga.
Reader-oriented theorists state that every reading of a text is somewhat a recreation of it, that the meaning of a text depends at least partially on what the readers put into it. In this case, the active and creative element of reading must be stronger as the knowledge of Japanese language, manga, and cultural conventions is weaker” (Sabucco, 75).
The paradox at the heart of yaoi for Western readers is that it is often marketed (by Western publishers) as authentically Japanese and Japaneseness is used to sell it, yet the settings and characters are rarely identifiably Japanese -- they are culturally odorless. The Japanese home market already “others” the gayness and sees the story as outside their ‘real world’ -- most stories are set in a homosocial environment, or outside in Japan, in a historical setting, or in a fantasy world. The yaoi world is already “elsewhere” for its native reader, but the Western reader may still see – or demand – a layer of Japaneseness. Regardless of attempts to be culturally odorless, the fragrance of Japan is redolent for the Western reader.
The author’s intent and the western marketing intent are often at odds. Japaneseness may not be intended as a foregrounded choice by authors -- often the reverse. The product is Japanese, but often set in a non-Japanese / neutral setting. The characters in most manga, yaoi, and anime famously do not
look Japanese. While they may be intended to be neutral, or European, the bishōnen are still exotic.
While the physical setting and social trappings may be neutral, the characters often have Japanese names,
and there are deliberate choices made by translators and marketers to retained aspects of the native text. Sound effects are traditionally still written in hiragana/katakana, the panels flow right to left, and the book starts at the “back.” These features are promoted as aspects of Japan-cool. Marketers have responded to this tension between localization (translating into US terms) and authenticity in reaction to fan communities and scanlators/pirates who prized the authentic versions. Readers of yaoi tend to be sophisticated
manga readers. While milder forms of yaoi do show up in stores and US retailers, it’s often only available through online manga retailers. You have to know what you are buying to find it. Given the difficulty of acquiring yaoi in the USA, there is often an online community surrounding its acquisition. Those involved in sharing or scanlation sites are likely to know a fair amount about the genre. These readers resent localization and prefer ‘authentic’ manga.
Further, they appreciate the retained use of different honorific suffixes (-kun, -chan, -san, and so on) to show hierarchical / affectionate relationships and are especially invested in the terms seme and uke to reflect the gendered / power relationships between the male characters. Marketing is directed at this as well. Readers are increasingly versed in decoding Japanese visual language systems. Most readers are used to understanding chibi style (characters suddenly appear child-like to represent an emotional state) or super-deformed (character’s physical attributes are exaggerated to show a reaction). Yaoi is famously “flowery” with roses or other symbolic flowers suddenly filling the background of a page.
Manga and yaoi readers find part of the textual pleasure is in learning the visual language. Even if hiragana, katakana, and kanji elude them, readers can still learn to decode the comic style where a nose bleed indicates sexual arousal! These visual aspects are less able to be removed in the translation process and features such as chibi, nose bleeds, spontaneous floral backgrounds, and the famous bishonen “glint” have come to be seen as quintessentially yaoi.
Likewise there are visual tropes in the sex scenes. They’ve become sufficiently clichéd that they form jokes in non-yaoi manga (and this is also indicative of how mainstream yaoi is in Japan) such as in this Black Butler scene which leads a reader to think a standard yaoi sex scene is occurring.
