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What is it about Yaoi that's so appealing? Topic 4 fangirls


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tsutsugamushi



Joined: 28 Aug 2011
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:39 am Reply with quote
I'm so glad to find this discussion, even if it dates back to 2004! I had the same experience as this poster

toaster_4hire wrote:

As soon as I became aware of yaoi and what it was, bam. Love at first sight, you know?


and have also been puzzling over why I had such a strong reaction to shonen-ai and yaoi. I agree with much of what has already been identified and want to add another thought.

Almost everyone has experienced that butterflies-in-your-gut, heart-pounding feeling of being powerfully attracted to someone. When I read a romantic story or manga, I'm sort of chasing that feeling by experiencing it through the characters. The payoff of all these stories is that moment of transition between not being attracted and realizing you have these FEELINGS. One day you realize you are imagining your nerdy coworker running his hand down your arm while he's talking to you...cue the butterflies...

So the more the writer can create a crashing disconnect between the "before" and "after" feelings, the more delicious that transition is. Girl meets boy, girl hates boy's guts, events happen, girl realizes she loves him after all.

In a traditional girl/boy story, the characters always know there's the possibility of a romance. Even if they hate each other, they are attractive members of the oposite sex....there's an inevitability about it.

But how much more powerful the realization you love someone ( or want to tear their clothes off) when you never thought of them as a possible romantic partner because they are the same gender and you have always considered yourself to be straight? Now when the reader sees the relationship developing, there's this added layer of drama because the transition from "before" and "after" is so much more powerful.

I just read 7 Days by Venio Tachibana. The story set up would not have worked with a boy/girl pairing because all the dramatic tension would be gone.
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