BL needs more mainstream normalization

[cashew]

On the one hand, I'm glad to see mainstream sites start to recommend BL anime as part of their "best of 20XX-year" lists. And don't get me wrong, Sk8 Infinity is really good. Absolutely adorable, well paced, and genuinely sweet with an interesting skating-as-metaphor-for-queer thing going on.

On the other hand, come on your wusses, make BL anime about adult men. It's all fine and well to explore the confusing times as an adolescent and the discovery of sexuality and romance and the teenage angst of trying to figure out if like means like or like-like.

But where's the BL with salary men who already know what they want and have established themselves in society? Where are my sexy CEOs who are sweeping unsuspecting secretaries off their feet? Or high profile politicians going to VIP clubs for expensive male escorts? How about horny gay teachers banging in the school infirmary because 35-year-olds still have plenty of libido?

C'mon, Japan, gimme the adult BL romances! (All the titles I know about were made waaaaaay back when. It seems the recent stuff is almost exclusively about first loves.)

Comments

[sailorstarsun]

I concur with everything here.

[cashew]

Maybe in another decade, we'll finally get more mature romances in BL.

(;_;)

[tanithryudo]

Is it because they don't make as much money as bishounen teen romance? I figure that economics is probably a bigger factor in these kinds of things.

[cashew]

I mean, it's not like I have my finger on the pulse of the differing success in the sub-genres of the BL market, and many mangaka put out material for both groups (i.e. FAKE's Matou Sanami). Also, there's plenty of mature BL visual novels coming through the pipeline, so the market is clearly there. (On the other hand, Nitro+Chiral seems to be single-handedly keeping the BL VN market alive, so maybe I'm wrong.)

I suspect it has more to do with the lack of cultural acceptance of homosexuality outside of adolescent experimentation. Like, it's fine for young men to be "confused" and sleep around, but once they reach marrying age, it's expected they'll settle down with wife and kids, and that's probably what's keeping the mature BL (as in stuff featuring >30yo men instead of boys/early-20s young men) out of the mainstream. (And gay marriage is still illegal in Japan, so there's...that.)