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Answerman - There's Bara Manga... Why Isn't There Bara Anime?


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explosionforgov



Joined: 16 Jun 2016
Posts: 80
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:10 pm Reply with quote
I'd love to see more anime with beefy male protagonists-- I admit that as a bisexual woman, I do kind of want to see beefy straight men protecting their tiny girlfriends (something in the vein of My Love Story!, but perhaps with more of a fighting aspect), but also baras who are gay and comfortable with themselves.

I think that's why I like JoJo's so much. The first three protagonists have beautiful eyes with long eyelashes, but also rippling muscles. You don't have to choose between bara and bishounen.
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Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Is much bara about underage/barely legal teenagers? Seems to be what you have to have in order to get animated - regardless of target audience.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:38 pm Reply with quote
I'm trying to figure this out from context... But I seem to be missing something. Is "Bara" equivalent to "gay", or is it a subset (fetish?) of gay media? (In the same way "BBW" is over in the straight neighborhood, I.E. defined by body type.)
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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:40 pm Reply with quote
Lemonchest wrote:
Is much bara about underage/barely legal teenagers?

From my understanding, almost none of it is.

As a straight man, I too want to see more variation of the male body. Guys like Takeo from Ore Monogatari and Klaus from BBB look awesome, in my opinion. It can't hurt to have some variety.
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Scalfin



Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 249
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:42 pm Reply with quote
DerekL1963 wrote:
I'm trying to figure this out from context... But I seem to be missing something. Is "Bara" equivalent to "gay", or is it a subset (fetish?) of gay media? (In the same way "BBW" is over in the straight neighborhood, I.E. defined by body type.)


I'm 80% sure it's a direct Japonization of "bear."
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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6171
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:45 pm Reply with quote
This was an interesting topic. Yep, definitely niche. I was thinking if there with the amount of internet porn could there be a way to market "bara" anime through a service similar to how Netflix is doing with original shows. Only difference is that you'd be bringing forth content for "said" demographic. Could it work? Are there enough that would support it?

While I'm not really into the extreme aspects of "bara", much of the visual artwork is very much in line with my artistic interests. What can I say, I'm a huge fan of the muscular athlete. For years I'd held a massive interest in the drawing of the male body. My shelf holds collections of 'Hogarth', 'Bridgman and some muscle fitness mags.

Bara holds that interest for those that hold that same admiration of the male form. You'll also see this in the furry" communities as well. And yep, there's a subgroup even for Japanese furries don't know if there is an actual term for their groups. But you'll come across the term "kemono" or "Kemono Community", referring to the term "beast". So yeah, there's a subgroup of "bara" artists and fans among them. And just like the artist that produce human "bara", well...you have what would be deemed "anthro" bara. And I'll say they can pump out some anatomy like nobody's business. So for me I enjoy the works from both of these "groups".


[/b]
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Brand



Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:57 pm Reply with quote
Scalfin wrote:
I'm 80% sure it's a direct Japonization of "bear."


Nope.

Wikipedia wrote:
The gay magazine Adonis was launched in 1952. The term bara in relation to gay material for men originated in the 1960s, possibly as a result of Bara kei (Ordeal by Roses, published in 1961), a collection of semi-nude photographs of the gay author Yukio Mishima by photographer Eikoh Hosoe,[3] and was reinforced by the early and influential gay men's magazine Barazoku (薔薇族, lit. "rose tribe"), founded in 1971 and the first gay magazine in Asia to be sold at mainstream bookshops.[4] Bara-eiga ("rose film") has been used since the 1980s to describe gay cinema.


Lemonchest wrote:
Is much bara about underage/barely legal teenagers?.


There is some with teens (who could pass for adults) in it but the vast majority of the stuff is adults.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 12:58 pm Reply with quote
Scalfin wrote:
DerekL1963 wrote:
I'm trying to figure this out from context... But I seem to be missing something. Is "Bara" equivalent to "gay", or is it a subset (fetish?) of gay media? (In the same way "BBW" is over in the straight neighborhood, I.E. defined by body type.)


I'm 80% sure it's a direct Japonization of "bear."


Derek: It's content featuring gay males that's actually targeted at gay male audiences, as opposed to the yaoi/BL/Shounen-ai stuff that targets straight female audiences.

Scalfin: I always thought it was that bara = "rose." (Confirmed by [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bara_(genre)]Wiki.[/url]) "Bear" pronounced in Japanese fashion would be beaa.
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Animechic420



Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 1724
Location: A Cave Filled With Riches
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:12 pm Reply with quote
explosionforgov wrote:
I'd love to see more anime with beefy male protagonists-- I admit that as a bisexual woman, I do kind of want to see beefy straight men protecting their tiny girlfriends (something in the vein of My Love Story!, but perhaps with more of a fighting aspect), but also baras who are gay and comfortable with themselves.

I think that's why I like JoJo's so much. The first three protagonists have beautiful eyes with long eyelashes, but also rippling muscles. You don't have to choose between bara and bishounen.

Me, too. But I think the reason we don't see too much of those overly large, muscular characters is because the average Japan man doesn't resemble that body type on a daily bases.
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
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Location: Puget Sound
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:53 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:

Derek: It's content featuring gay males that's actually targeted at gay male audiences, as opposed to the yaoi/BL/Shounen-ai stuff that targets straight female audiences.


Thanks!
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Punch Drunk Marc



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1741
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:59 pm Reply with quote
DmonHiro wrote:
Lemonchest wrote:
Is much bara about underage/barely legal teenagers?

From my understanding, almost none of it is.

As a straight man, I too want to see more variation of the male body. Guys like Takeo from Ore Monogatari and Klaus from BBB look awesome, in my opinion. It can't hurt to have some variety.


Don't forget Alexander Louis Armstrong and Sig Curtis



Beefy legends.
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xchampion



Joined: 21 Jan 2009
Posts: 370
Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:05 pm Reply with quote
As a straight male I am definitely not the target audience, but hopefully it can be more assessable in the future. In the United States you find many shows with gay characters but very few where the MC is gay. With Japan still mostly being behind even more then the US I'm not surprised Bara isn't mainstream enough to get an anime. Maybe in the future tho.
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Izu0



Joined: 19 Mar 2014
Posts: 195
Location: California
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:46 pm Reply with quote
I’m interested to check out bara anime.
I tends to read BL manga but I have checked out some good bara manga. More realistic, more muscles and uke/seme dynamics don’t apply. Art style looks like seinen.
It would be great if bara gets an anime, good way to expand the anime genre. We need more participations and less criticism/hate toward gay.
The anime industry is a competition job trying to get money, many anime have gotten fanservice. I think they’ll make a bara anime if it’ll brings them more money, but most animation directors are straight males. Since gay men in japan are too afraid to buy bara manga in public then that depends on how Japan gay communities is going.
I have no info how far Japan is for the LGBT community.
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Heishi



Joined: 06 Mar 2016
Posts: 1311
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:47 pm Reply with quote
explosionforgov wrote:
I'd love to see more anime with beefy male protagonists-- I admit that as a bisexual woman, I do kind of want to see beefy straight men protecting their tiny girlfriends (something in the vein of My Love Story!, but perhaps with more of a fighting aspect), but also baras who are gay and comfortable with themselves.

I think that's why I like JoJo's so much. The first three protagonists have beautiful eyes with long eyelashes, but also rippling muscles. You don't have to choose between bara and bishounen.


As a straight guy, I would love some anime with some beefy female protagonists. I, for one, would love to see beefy women protecting their tiny boyfriends. I'm so tired of seeing the same ol story of the strong man having to protect and rescue the smaller woman.
I wanna see a complete 180 of that!
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Lord Oink



Joined: 06 Jul 2016
Posts: 876
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 4:01 pm Reply with quote
xchampion wrote:
As a straight male I am definitely not the target audience, but hopefully it can be more assessable in the future. In the United States you find many shows with gay characters but very few where the MC is gay. With Japan still mostly being behind even more then the US I'm not surprised Bara isn't mainstream enough to get an anime. Maybe in the future tho.


There's lot of gayness in anime, just not the kind you want. Like people said, it's aimed at men and women into cute yuri and yaoi, because that kind of stuff will sell way more than butch lesbians or bara gays. There's just no profitable interest or market for it. Same reason why most josei titles are adapted into live-action instead of anime, josei anime sells horribly compared to shounen, shoujo, and seinen, but live-action adaptions have a chance at profit. Stuff like bara would sell even worse, since we're talking like 1% of the population.
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