Slightly out of character: shōnen epics, doujinshi and japanese concepts of masculinity

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SLIGHTLY OUT OF CHARACTER: SHŌNEN EPICS, DOUJINSHI AND JAPANESE CONCEPTS OF MASCULINITY
MEGAN HARRELL
MARY BALDWIN COLLEGE

In Japan, comics and graphic novels, known as manga (漫画), far from being a niche category, command a very significant portion of the publishing market; in fact, in 1997, 38 percent of everything published was manga^¹. Manga therefore command a lot of power within Japanese culture to promulgate social ideals and uphold social norms, including social ideals about masculinity and femininity.
A surprisingly large movement grew up along side the mainstream manga industry in the early 1960s and 1970s; composed of amateurs producing their own manga. This movement came to be known as doujinshi (同人誌). This subculture of doujinshi and the people who produce them contains many parallels to the mainstream culture, but exists clearly outside of its boundaries, both legal and cultural, also being distinguished from the commercial industry in terms of demographics: both the authors and target audience of doujinshi are primarily female, while the entire commercial manga market is dominated by shōnen manga, written by and for men.
There are significant differences between the ideals of gender identity and masculinity in particular, as expressed by manga and doujinshi and the societal ideals of masculine identity in Japan. These differences are indicative of a desire for a change in the societal notion of masculinity on the part of both the men and women producing and consuming these media.
The conflicts between the concept of masculinity portrayed in shōnen epics and the concept of masculinity portrayed in the fanwork doujinshi based on these shonen manga echo the similar conflicts occurring in the macrocosm of Japanese society. Conflicts between a Japanese femininity which has expanded in recent decades to grant more freedom to Japanese women, and a Japanese masculinity which has failed to follow suit; Japanese men simultaneously chafing at the control imposed on them by this masculinity, but balking at adopting less culturally valued, ‘feminine’ attributes, from fear of losing what it means to be masculine.
Though the views on masculinity presented by the shōnen epics differs greatly from the ideals expressed by fanwork doujin, epic manga and their doujin counterparts have both agreed to disagree with the societal ideals of masculinity and, in doing so, convey the desire felt by both women and men to change Japanese society’s status quo for masculinity.
Masculinity and Femininity in Japanese Society and Media
It is necessary here to outline what constitutes the socially acceptable gender roles for contemporary Japan. From this point onward, Japan’s M% scores, taken from William and Best’s 1990 Cross-cultural study of sex stereotypes^², will be referenced periodically. William and Best’s study collected data from university students in 28 countries, utilizing a survey which contained a list of 300 adjectives. The subjects were asked to rate whether they observed that a particular adjective was more associated with men or with women. For each word on the list, the researchers tallied the frequency with which that particular word was associated with men and the frequency with which it was associated with women. M % scores were derived by dividing the male frequency by the sum of the male and female frequencies and discarding the decimals. M% scores in the top third (67% and above) represent a strong association with masculinity, and scores in the lower third (33% and below) represent a strong association with femininity.^³
Traditionally, the socially ideal role of a woman in Japan was defined as primarily that of a wife or mother and that of a man as worker and provider. Typically portrayal of women in Japanese media follows this line, with the majority of women being depicted as either housewives or some form of eye-candy, according to Arima who also noted that the women in the commercials mentioned were not portrayed as possessing authority^⁴.
In contrast, men were portrayed with more agency, and usually in the role of the salaryman, a central figure in Japanese society. The Japanese norms of masculinity have been historically very based on the role of Salaryman as the ideal man, with key values being his ability to provide financial support and stability to his family, and his presumably life-long devotion to his company/organization. The salaryman occupies a very marginal position in his own home, as he spends most of his time working and does not generally have a warm relationship with his wife or children. Minimal input is expected of him as a father.
This salaryman ideal of masculinity was already beginning to be questioned in the early nineties, sentiments which were accompanied by images of salary men as “forever cogs in someone else’s wheel.”^⁵ The salaryman has become an icon representing Japanese masculinity in contemporary times, despite the fact that the majority of Japanese men have never fit the salaryman model, instead being employed at small firms or as blue collar workers. And though this salaryman mode of masculinity is by far still the accepted norm, some departure from it can be seen in the masculinity promulgated by the popular shōnen manga, which are themselves necessarily informed to some degree by escapism.
Japan’s conception of gender roles has certainly evolved in a more egalitarian direction since the Ryosai Kenbo^⁶ ideology of the early 20^th century but it is significant that concepts of gender have progressed far more quickly for women than for men. Thus, much of the inequality and divergence over gender roles stems from the simple fact that men’s attitudes and, more importantly, the Japanese concept of masculinity has not kept up with the reality of Japanese women’s expanded concept of femininity. Similarly, while women have been enabled by progress to take a larger foothold in traditionally masculine spheres, men face social stigma and disapproval for attempts to enter feminine spheres or adopt feminine behaviors.
In other words, the Japanese concept of femininity has expanded, to at least accommodate if perhaps not encourage the adoption of activities and traits that were once exclusively masculine. Because the Japanese concept of masculinity did not expand alongside that of femininity, this occurrence has threatened Japanese masculinity by appropriating some of its features, features which then became less valuable as they became less exclusively masculine. Thus, the concept of masculinity which heavily depends on simply being ‘not feminine’ could not help but be threatened by a broadened interpretation of ‘feminine’. Societal tension has resulted from this seeming inability of the Japanese model of masculinity to adapt.
The challenge posed by the need of the Japanese Masculinity to expand along with Japanese feminity is therefore severely complicated by the fact that Japanese culture retains a relatively strong concept of a fundamental gender hierarchy. This is supported by the M% scores for Japans adjectives, wherein a clear majority of the masculine-associated traits were positively connotated traits and a clear majority of the feminine-associated traits were negatively connotated. It thus becomes difficult for Japanese masculinity to expand by assimilating features of femininity, because the relatively low value and negative connotations which are assigned to those features carry a stigma that threatens to compromise the value and legitimacy of masculinity, and thus detract from ‘what it means to be a man.’
A 1999 advertisement sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare which tries to sell Japanese men on the need to become involved in their child’s upbringing is instructive^⁷. The very need for such an advertisement testifies to the difficulties encountered by efforts to expand the definition of masculinity in Japan. In this case, the feature of Japanese femininity which the government is attempting to graft on to masculinity is ‘nurturing,’ specifically of one’s own children. The year before the advertisements were published, only 0.2% of men entitled to parental leave had availed themselves of that right, as opposed to 86.2% of women so entitled. Due to the long hours of work they are expected to put in daily, Japanese men are not expected to participate in the personal life of the family, beyond occasional ‘family service;’ and there is a stigma attached to putting the family first for a man, with the implication being that there are more important(valuable) things he should be doing^⁸.
A Brief History of Manga
Though manga tends to be likened to early forms of Japanese art such as ukiyoe prints, manga as we know it today emerged only after World War II. Rental Book shops appeared quite commonly postwar, peddling a form of inexpensive entertainment to a people who were in great need of it. The rental shops, which boomed in the mid-fifties, rented reading material at 10¥ for a two day rental. At this time, the young men who flocked to the cities and found meager work creating these books began to cultivate a new style known as gekiga, which tended towards a more mature and realistic style.
Concurrent with the rental-book trend, vendors also hawked small volumes of manga stories which gained their name, akabon, from the red ink they were printed with. Tezuka Osamu, who is regarded by many to be the father of Manga, became popular during this time by publishing in 1947 a book New Treasure Island (Shin Takarajima), which ignited a craze for both the akabon format it was released in and more works by Tezuka himself. Tezuka employed a far more stylized and cartoonish form than that used in gekiga work, which at the time came to be represented by the word manga, as something wholly separate from the more realistic and politically oriented gekiga.^⁹
Today, looking at the contemporary demographics of the Commercial manga industry we can see a very clearly gendered dichotomy in the target audience for manga, clear due to various genres of manga in Japan being openly categorized as “Girl’s Manga” (shōjo) and “Boy’s Manga” (shōnen). It must be noted that the use of shōjo (少女) and shōnen (少年) to inclusively refer to all girl’s manga and all boy’s manga is exclusive to the west, where the fan community has adopted the terms, and in Japan there are different terms for more specific genres and subcategories of those genres. Of course, the gender of the actual readership is not always completely composed of the genre’s target audience; for example, one popular shōnen manga magazine, Weekly Jump, was noted to have a female readership of 30%^¹⁰. In general, manga for boys and men dominates the Japanese comic market, collectively holding over 70% of current circulation.^¹¹
Doujinshi Subculture is Born
The expansion of the manga industry in the 1960s created ideal conditions for the creation of the world of doujinshi. The mainstream industry, which was focused on producing stories for mass consumption by target demographics necessarily alienated those who wanted to produce more innovative stories. In addition, the commercialized production of manga placed many constraints on manga artists; pressure to produce quickly and regularly in order to fill weekly publishing demands, for instance, and restrictions on the number of pages they were allotted for each installment. Yuki Kaori, the author of the shōjo work Angel Sanctuary, routinely complains in her author’s notes about the difficulties the page requirements place on her story. Rapid growth of the doujinshi movement occurred in the seventies as relatively inexpensive and portable printing technology became commonly available on the market and made publishing manga non-commercially much easier and accessible than it had previously been. In 1975, Comic Market, a convention colloquially known as Comiket, was founded as a forum for the exchange of doujinshi between the circles that produced them and the fans.^¹² The doujinshi movement developed, and participation in it exploded, as evinced by the attendance at Comiket, its central organization, which grew from 600 individuals at its inaugural convention, to 250,000 by 1990; with the most rapid growth occurring after 1988^¹³.
It is worth mentioning the composition of the people involved in the doujinshi movement, the artists and authors who produce doujinshi, and also the composition of the doujin themselves, in terms of genre. In the early days of the movement, a significant share of doujinshi authors moved on to attain professional status; many, such as Takahashi Rumiko, author of Ranma ½ and Inuyasha, becoming household names. Perhaps this was because, while in its nascence, the doujin movement drew mostly talented authors and artists who felt estranged from the established commercial manga companies and magazines; professional talent looking for a freer outlet.
The composition of the subculture changed as growth accelerated in the eighties, as the doujin movement began to be comprised more heavily of amateurs and casual authors just starting out in doujin rather than high-talent artists taking up doujin as an alternative to commercial manga, with the result that far fewer doujin artists were crossing into professional status. This coincided with the rise to prominence of the genre of fan-works, or doujin based on a pre-existing published storyline of some sort.
The prominence of these fan-work doujin can be seen easily in Japan today, as stores carrying shelves of doujin organized under the names of the works they are based on are common. Fan-work doujinshi also do not rely solely on Japanese works for their inspiration, as stories drawn from western titles such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, also became wildly popular. It was this shift in the content of the doujinshi themselves which began to draw a different demographic of author to the culture. Fans of popular series of all kinds began to feel empowered to create their own narrative around the characters. This shift has not gone without criticism, as many view the abundance of fan works as an indication of a dearth of genuine creative ability. Nagashima Shinji criticized the genre along those lines^¹⁴:
“My friends and I don’t go to Comic Market. The only reason why everyone produces [fan-works] is because they aren’t talented enough to write original. The only characters they can understand are those that they have been reading for years.”
This criticism is one which is routinely leveled at fan-works, but despite this, attitudes among the movement itself are generally positive, and hold that while fanworks are an appropriation of another author’s characters, they are a legitimate expression of the doujin author’s own creativity. The industry also views what are undeniably violations of copyright law with leniency, as fanwork doujin do not directly compete with the series they are based upon, and actually represent a surprisingly effective form of free advertising for those franchises^¹⁵. To find evidence of this benevolent or at the very least ambivalent disregard towards doujin by the commercial industry, one has only to look at the sale of doujin themselves, which takes place openly in retail establishments and at Comiket without fear of legal reprisal.
Masculinity in Manga vs. Masculinity in Doujinshi
The worlds of narrative created by the commercial manga industry and the independent authors and artists of the doujin movement provide rich opportunity to explore the implications of alternative gender concepts as the risk of being stigmatized is dramatically lower than the risk entailed in testing such alternatives in real life. Echoing the atmosphere in Japanese society, both the two shōnen epics and the source manga for the doujin being analyzed here strongly project traditional gendered behavior and roles for their male characters (protector, provider, authoritative, pillar) and for their female characters (vulnerable, tentative/unsure, submissive…), while at the same time subverting the societal concept of masculinity in several ways.
It is inaccurate to say that female characters in these (shōnen) manga are generally portrayed in accordance to a blatantly negative female stereotype. In fact, many (if not most) of the female characters in the manga examined possessed uncharacteristic strengths and capability, such as masterful fighting ability, super-powers, and genius-level skill in their fields; however, with the exception of a very few overtly masculine typed women, the presence of these traits is strongly mitigated by the feminine personality traits of the character, and the situations and scenarios into which she is placed, in order to effect a traditionally feminine character.

In other words, the manga and doujin analyzed all strongly maintained traditionally feminine personalities for their female characters; what was altered was the gendered behavior of the male characters, altered to be less traditionally masculine. In other words it is the feminization of the masculine, rather than the masculinization of the feminine which is on display. The former is far more socially taboo than the latter.
Doujinshi generally contain much more radical revisions of socially acceptable masculinity than the liberties taken by shōnen epics. While a portrayal of such gender roles, specifically the dramatic subversion of socially acceptable masculinity, is certainly seen within the commercial manga industry, it is relegated to peripheral positions, occupying the industry’s niche genres such as the Boy’s Love^¹⁶ genre (which makes up less than 10% of the commercial publications, and more than 80% of the Doujinshi publications^¹⁷); or being seen as a device to create humor.

This occurrence is especially indicative of the extent to which the subversion of the masculine is a representation which is truly counter to what is perceived as normal and real by society; The effectiveness of its use in comedy stems from the fact that it is in such obvious conflict with the reader’s preconceived notions of acceptable gendered behavior that it becomes absurd.
Good examples of uses of a compromise of the masculine to effect comedy in popular series include Kuwabara of YuYuHakusho’s exaggerated affection for his pet kitten and the constant cross-dressing on the part of Pokemon’s Koujirou (James in the English version). In Ranma ½, the main character Ranma distinctly vocalizes his distress at the female identity he is constantly forced to assume due to a magical curse, and Ranma’s subjection to this feminine identity is a source of much humor in the series.
The Shōnen Epic
Here shōnen manga in particular is examined, first of all, because of its presumably male authors and male target demographic. The focus is specifically on the ‘Epic Adventure’ subgenre of shōnen, as it is the genre from which most of Japan’s best selling and most popular and widely circulated manga originate. It is also more suitable than other shōnen subgenres such as ‘harem,’ for example, as the stories are less focused on ribaldry and humor in general and present their characters, therefore, with a greater air of legitimacy and a more apparent expectation that these characters and the story they occupy should be taken seriously.
The two series of primary interest here are both very well known titles. One Piece is an adventure-themed manga by author Eiichiro Oda, which has reached nearly 450 chapters and is still being released weekly. It follows the adventures of 17 year old Monkey D. Luffy after he sets out on a journey to gather a crew and become the Pirate King in a steampunk^¹⁸ world of sailing ships. YuYu Hakusho is another shōnen manga, written by Yoshihiro Togashi, spanning 19 volumes and 175 chapters and concluding in 1994. YuYu Hakusho is the story of 14 year old Yuuske Urameshi after he is killed in a car accident and his second shot at life draws him into a role protecting the human world from threats of the demon world. Both series are heavily centered around battles and fighting, and each has an anime based on it.
Masculinity in the Shōnen Epic
The masculinity on display by the central male characters in these two manga shares some features with Japanese ideal masculinity, including the salaryman mode of masculinity, but is distinctly different.
Loyalty^¹⁹, for example, is a trait which is strongly associated with masculinity in Japanese society. Luffy’s strong ‘nakama’^²⁰ ethic, and Yuuske’s similar devotion to his friends can be compared to the company loyalty of the salaryman. Traits like determined, persistent, and persevering, also strongly regarded as masculine in Japanese society, which are represented in the famed ‘stick-to-it-iveness’ of the salaryman are echoed in the almost fanatical tenacity the shōnen heroes display in trying to reach their goals.
Other values of shōnen masculinity which aren’t obvious in the salaryman motif include great physical strength: both Yuuske and Luffy possess super-human levels of physical strength, and also differing fantastical powers. This valuing of strength is universal in the shōnen manga, though it must be noted that it is not accompanied by valuing of aggression, a fact which is corroborated by the rating of the adjective aggressive, which is less strongly associated with masculinity than words like strong and tough. Though Yuuske is a school delinquent with a bit of a temper, Luffy has a very easygoing personality, and neither of them is shown to use his great strength indiscriminately; Luffy at one point in the storyline allowed himself to be beaten bloody rather than participate in a spurious brawl with someone who was deliberately provoking him.
Another facet of shōnen masculinity is a certain amount of recklessness and a willingness to ‘take on the world,’ as it were. Monkey D. Luffy and Urameshi Yuusuke each at one point in their story have essentially dared the world or a similarly awesome force to stop them in their goals. In One Piece, this is demonstrated in a very literal manner, as Luffy, in the process of rescuing a crewmate who is being led to her execution by agents of the World Government, orders one of his crewmen to shoot down the Government’s flag, thus declaring war between his eight person crew and the combined military power of the entire world^²¹.
The recklessness of the shōnen male is typically employed in the pursuit or defense of the iron-clad convictions or quasi-chivalrous personal code which is universally possessed by the heroes of the genre, and always contains an aspect of the shōnen hero as protector. This notion of the hero (a man) being a protector (of the world, of his nakama, of his woman) has always been important to the Japanese notion of masculinity, a fact which is reflected in the frequency with which the theme appears in shōnen manga.
Shōnen masculinity diverges from the societal ideal of masculinity again on the issue of emotional expression.. Looking at the gendered association of such traits in Japanese society, traits such as emotional and sentimental were both highly associated with femininity, and conversely, traits such as self-controlled and unexcitable were associated with masculinity. Shōnen heroes are frequently shown displaying a wide range of emotions; happiness, anger, rage, determination, and excitement are perhaps the most often shown and readily acceptable. Displaying sadness is also allowed in the framework of shōnen masculinity, though it is portrayed less often. One Piece in particular is notable for the fact that each of the six male main characters has cried as an adult as a reaction to a serious development in the plot rather than simply for use as a visual gag.
Shōnen males are also allowed to show a nurturing nature, which most commonly manifests itself in a ‘big brother’ sort of context, with overtones of the position of protector in general. There are instances of this in Ueki no Housoku’s Hideyoshi and his mentor relationship with the children at Sun House, and in the abundant examples of other brother/mentor-like relationship many of the shōnen males maintain with younger characters, including Naruto and Konohamaru from Kishimoto Masashi’s Naruto, and literal examples of older brother relationships such as BLEACH‘s Kurosaki Ichigo and his two younger sisters. However overtly nurturing behavior, which is associated with femininity, and behavior which strays out of the brother/mentor mold is rare in shōnen and as such is usually milked for laughs, such as the earlier example of Kuwabara’s affection for his pet kitten.
Displaying fear and its associated vulnerability is far less forgivable for the shōnen male than either tears or nurturing behavior and is rarely displayed by a central male character in shōnen material, to the point that it can be considered a real taboo of the genre. Edward Elric, the main character of FullMetal Alchemist, another very popular shōnen series, is a rare exception to this standard, as he is portrayed as being genuinely afraid and vulnerable during a few key plot developments.
As can easily be seen in analyzing the content of Shōnen manga, they typically present an ideal of masculinity which exalts values such as physical strength, recklessness and tenacious adherence to one’s goals, a strong desire to protect one’s nakama and the community in which one lives, while criticizing traits such as aggression for aggression’s sake, and allowing displaying vulnerability, fear, and nurturing traits that are more frequently represented by the female counterparts of the shōnen males.
The shōnen model of masculinity is built on the foundation of the Japan’s societal ideal of masculinity, the salaryman model, but is significantly different. Like doujin masculinity, shōnen masculinity is affected by attempts to rewrite what it means to be masculine, while at the same time striving to be seen as masculine in order to avoid the stigma and devaluation associated with feminine traits. Unquestionably masculine, the shōnen male embodies a much freer and more appealing masculinity than the salaryman, who is doomed to a life as a cog moving another’s machine. Unlike the Japanese male, who provides less resistance to workplace control than his office-lady counterpart^²², the shōnen male vehemently resists other’s attempts to control his destiny. Unlike the salaryman, who above all values stability and immutability for his life path, the shōnen male doesn’t mind burning a few bridges if it means following his own path. In large part, shōnen masculinity emphasizes an individuality which is, in real life, more attainable for Japanese women.

Doujin in brief.
The narratives in fanwork doujin are, like the narratives of the manga they are based on, colored by a certain degree of escapism, in this case from a female perspective. These fanworks, themselves based on shōnen manga, offer us a second view at ideals of an evolving Japanese masculinity from the perspective of the women who primarily author them.
The doujin described here were chosen from an initial sample of slightly more than thirty doujinshi. Doujinshi were eliminated from consideration if they were text-only, partially because this represented a large departure from the manga medium and partially because of the difficulty presented by the task of reading them. Others were eliminated because they focused too heavily on humor or were too pornographic in nature to be of value to this study.
Each of the doujinshi analyzed contained a brief narrative which focused, like most doujinshi do, on a relationship between two characters from the series’ canon^²³. It is thus particularly easy to observe what Doujinshi have to tell us not just about gendered behavior, but about dynamics between gendered participants in relationships, because the majority of Doujinshi focus on a relationship between two of the characters. This relationship does not have to exist in the canon of the series the doujin is based on.

Doujin are frequently sorted by series with the sections organized either according to specific relationships, or specific orientations. Of the five doujin examined, one (Forbidden Colors) uses a video game, Suikoden, as the source material, and the other four are based off of the popular shōnen manga I examined: three One Piece (Scarlet, Toki no Namae, and Mother like Darling), and one YuYu Hakusho (Jin x Touya Special). Only one of the doujin analyzed featured a heterosexually oriented central relationship, most instead featuring gay(male) relationships, and the ratings varied from PG to M.
Masculinity in Doujinshi
Each of the stories analyzed presented, to differing degrees, some form of an alternate masculinity. Interestingly, regardless of the degree of altered masculinity in the characters, stories presenting an egalitarian view on relationship dynamics appear to be very rare, with the norm being to maintain the stereotypical relationship dynamics as traditionally constructed, with respect to gender, regardless of the biological sex of the participants.
Of the five douijin looked at in depth, only one, Toki no Namae, had intersections with canon events that were integral to the plot of the doujin. Generally tending not to borrow too heavily from events in canon, doujinshi stories are largely set in either domestic settings, or in situations of highly casual and mundane interactions between the characters. In every case it is clear that the story is first and foremost about the relationship, and not really about any canon events that may be occurring at the same time.
This shift of focus from interaction with ‘the world’ and the forces within it to interaction within ‘the relationship,’ represents a shift from the very shōnen perspective of the manga canon to a far more shōjo perspective in the doujinshi, and is the chief device by which doujin compose their ideal of masculinity. The shift in perspective is analogous to the separate spheres in the societal concept of gender: the (masculine) public or outer sphere, and the (feminine) private or inner sphere. In other words, the first thing we notice about the way in which masculinity as represented in doujinshi deviates from the masculinity presented in the shonen epic and the societally accepted concept of masculinity is that the very gender of the environment has changed. The predominantly female authors of doujinshi have relocated the characters from their male-authored shonen epics to the private sphere, a traditionally female setting.
This relocation has a strong effect on how the masculinity of the characters is portrayed. The Japanese societal concept of masculinity, as represented by the salaryman has already been subverted by this point. The accepted notion of a masculinity in which men’s lives are confined to and defined by existence in the public arena; a notion wherein a man is neither expected nor encouraged to participate in the home, is completely rejected by moving the (male) characters and their interactions from outer sphere to inner sphere. A similar rejection of accepted norms of masculinity occurs when the (male) doujin characters are viewed in their own homosocial context, while maintaining the other feminine aspects of the doujin narrative, resulting in a colonization by femininity of the male-only space rather than relocating the men to a feminine-oriented space.
Examples of this appropriation by doujinshi of masculine homosocial environments are easy to find, appearing in Scarlet and Toki no Namae. In both examples, and especially in Scarlet, both the homosocial environment and the Japanese concept of masculinity are undermined by the femininity which is imposed on the characters through the markedly sentimental dialogue and visuals. In Scarlet, the entire narrative is devoted to a late night conversation shared by Shanks and Ben^²⁴ in the crow’s nest. Both characters are recognizably both male and masculine, but true to doujin style, their masculinity is far less focused narrow than either Japanese masculinity or shonen masculinity. The conversation is dominated by Shank’s abstract speculations on the stars in the sky; idle musings which combined with the dreamy and moonstruck expressions on Shank’s face create a very clear illustration a masculinity which is free from the stoicism of the salaryman..
Toki no Namae begins with a drunken conversation between Norland and Calgara^²⁵, which leads to sex between them; the brief story then follows the two and their feelings for each other after canon events in which Norland departs to return to his own country where he is exececuted on spurious charges. The first half of the book is dominated by Norland and Calgara’s exchange by the campfire. As with Scarlet, the very ‘boy’s club’ environment/situation of two men sharing drinks is subverted in the doujin. In this case, this is accomplished, also in the same manner as Scarlet, through the sincere and sentimental communication that takes place between the two men. The reminiscing that follows in the latter part of the book is similarly sentimental.
Jin x Touya Special, Mother like Darling, and Forbidden Colors each illustrate the transplant of the male characters into the private sphere, rather than showing us a view of an altered public sphere, as was the case in both Toki no Namae and Scarlet. Of these, Jin x Touya Special contains the most prominent domestic-typed setting. In the doujin, Jin and Touya are living alone together in an apartment. The majority of the book is comprised of interactions which take place in this home-sphere. It is significant that both men are shown participating in the home-sphere, though Touya is shown performing most household duties.
Similarly, in Forbidden Colors, Ted and Tir are living in the same household, and almost the entirety of the story takes place within this private setting, with both men shown as participants in the inner sphere. While Tir is shown as bit of a caretaker for Ted, there are no other indicators regarding stereotypically domestic activities in the story. The entire story of Forbidden Colors is occurring in front of a backdrop of Ted’s musings, which tend to be far darker than Shanks’ musings from Scarlet. Ted is shown as very emotionally vulnerable and sentimental, and at the same time as being very volatile and aggressive, physically and sexually assaulting Tir at different points in the book.
Mother like Darling is the only doujin out of the five I’ve looked at more closely which centers around a heterosexual relationship. It also contains the most intimate setting (and highest rating), as the entire story is covering a conversation which occurs between Sanji and Nami^²⁶ during sex. Like other doujinshi which focus on heterosexual relationships, it is notable for having one of the least egalitarian relationship dynamics, second only the quasi-abusive nature of Ted and Tir’s relationship in Forbidden Colors. Nami is predictably portrayed as most emotionally vulnerable, and Sanji as a rescuer/protector.
Masculinity in Flux
Japanese masculinity has become more and more narrow. Japanese women have begun to enter into social venues that were once exclusively masculine, while still retaining their feminity, and have also begun to expect more from their lives and, by extension, the men in them. Japanese men have been slower to begin to challenge the restraints placed on them by Japanese masculinity. The masculinities on display in shōnen epics reflect this desire to expand Japanese masculinity with a heavy focus on achieving greater autonomy in life. These stories also provide a means for expanding masculinity in ways that would be socially difficult or risky due to the lesser value of qualities considered to be feminine, and the associated stigma. This is perhaps most evident in noting that the masculinity of the shonen epics does not require it’s men to adopt the stoicism of the salaryman, but allows them to display a variety of emotions.
Japanese women have also experienced dilemmas due to a Japanese concept of masculinity that has not expanded. Thought they are entering and participating in the public sphere to ever greater extents, they have found that Japanese men have not met them halfway. Thus they also have a desire to rewrite Japanese masculinity, and this is on display in doujinshi. Within doujinshi, a state of affairs is created wherein it becomes acceptable and natural for a man to actually be a participating member of the private sphere, rather than a perpetual guest and uncomfortable guest in it, and wherein it is natural and acceptable for a man to have and communicate emotions.
The characterization of masculinity within these stories can give us insight into what exactly is inadequate about the current societal concept of masculinity, and though the ideals of masculinity created by doujinshi and shōnen epics different from each other in several ways, they are each a rejection of the Japanese concept of masculinity, and a substitution, for the duration of the narrative, at least, of a more desirable mode of masculinity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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---. “Yaoi Manga: What Girls Like?” Publisher’s Weekly. 7 March 2005. FEATURES; pg 44

DanMadoka/ Tcell. “Mother Like Darling” Harigane Scene. 11 August 2000.^

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Appendix A: Glossary of Terms

Boy’s Love – Genre focusing on homoerotic themes and relationships between two men. The term is not used frequently in the western fandom.

Canon – Includes events, characters, settings and situations which have actually existed or occurred within a particular work of fiction.

Doujinshi – Graphic novels produced informally by fans, and primarily composed of fan-works.

Fan-Work – An original story based on a pre-existing published work, usually utilizing the characters or environment from that work.

Manga - Japanese Graphic Novels

Nakama – A Japanese word meaning colleague, compatriot, or comrade, the usage of which in shonen manga tends to imply very strong bonds, loyalty and duty.

Ship – a ‘relationship,’ weather perceived or blatantly displayed, between two characters in a work of fiction, which is supported and usually written about and artistically portrayed by the fans of that work. Can be used as a verb as in ‘I ship Harry/Ginny, but shipping Harry/Hermione doesn’t make sense to me’

Shōjo – Girl’s Comics.

Shōnen – Boy’s Comics

Yaoi – A Japanese acronym, it is no longer frequently used in Japan, but rather is generally used by the western fandom to refer to works which fall in the Boy’s Love category.

Appendix B: Figures and Diagrams

Figure 1; From One Piece by Eichiro Oda, chapter 398.

Table 1;
M% Scores of various adjectives for Japan.
Scores above 67% and Below 33% indicate focused stereotypes.
Adjectives with high M% scores were associated with men.
Adjectives with low M% scores were associated with women.

Figure 2

1 Kinsella, Sharon. Adult Manga Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 2000. , Pg 40

2 The particular adjectives referenced in this paper and their scores may be found in Appendix B, Table 1.

3 Williams, John E., and Deborah L. Best. Measuring Sex Stereotypes, a Multinational Study. Newbury Park, Sage Publications. 1990. Appendix A, pg. 323

4 Arima, Akie N. “Gender Stereotypes in Japanese Television Advertisements.” Sex Roles 49. July 2003. 81-90

5 Taga, Futoshi. “East Asian Masculinities” Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities. Ed. Michael S. Kimmel, Jeff Hearn, R.W. Connel. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, 2005. 129-140 (Pg 134)

6 Good Wife, Wise Mother

7 Taga, Futoshi. Pg 134

8 Jolivet, Muriel. Japan: The Childless Society?. London: Routlege. 1997

9 Kinsella, 29

10 Totilo, Stephen. “Japanese Gay themes Attracting Young Female Readers.” March 20, 2007 “http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1525830/20060310/index.jhtml

11 Hendrix, Grady. “U.S. Teenage Girls Prefer Japanese Heroes.” Wiretap. 24 August 2005. http://www.wiretapmag.org/stories/24174/. (April 3, 2007)

12 Kinsella, 106

13 See Appendix B, Figure 2.

14 Kinsella, 117

15 Kanemitsu, Dan. “Doujinworld: The Subculture of the Japanese Non-Commercial Comic Book Publishing Company.” 02 January 2007.

16 Boy’s Love is a genre focusing on homoerotic themes and relationships between two men. The term is not used frequently in the western fandom, which typically refers to the genre as either “Yaoi” or “Slash” depending on the narrative in question.

17 McHarry, Mark. “Yaoi: Redrawing Male Love.” The Guide. November 2003. March 21, 2007 http://www.guidemag.com/temp/yaoi/a/mcharry_yaoi.html.

18 Steampunk is a genre of fiction which is defined by a setting in a pre-electric era, but containing examples of anachronistic technology and occasionally fantasy elements as well.

19 Words so underlined represent adjectives which were used in Williams and Best’s 1990 Study and exact M% scores for them can be found in Appendix B, Table 1.

20 A Japanese word meaning colleague, compatriot, or comrade, the usage of which in shonen manga tends to imply very strong bonds, loyalty and duty.

21 See Figure 1, Appendix B ; Oda, Eiichiro. One Piece 41: Declaration of War. Tokyo: Jump Comics. 2006.

22 Taga, 134

23 Events, characters, settings and situations which have actually and definitively existed or occurred within a particular work of fiction.

24 captain and first mate respectively of One Piece’s Red-Haired Pirate Crew

25 Living 400 years prior to the beginning of One Piece’s main story, Norland is a explorer who discovered an island inhabited by a tribe of xenophobic natives, and befriended their chief warrior Calgara after saving his village from an epidemic.

26 Luffy’s ship cook (♂) and navigator(♀), respectively. Main characters from One Piece.