"Girls that despise yaoi don't even exist, okay?"
What Is Fujoshi, And How Do They Have Sex?:
Hehe. Very necessary. Now, you're probably wondering what about the story is so praise-worthy? We get a blatantly stupid and very "anime" (in the sense of a contrived excuse to satisfy the premise) start followed by a checklist of all the scenarios a reverse harem show would include, and admittedly this isn't too interesting. But, where other than story can I talk about how Watashi Ga Motete Dousunda, or as I like to call it, WataMote 2.0 is reshaping the perception of "fujoshi".
This term I will be using distinguished from female otaku (as in WataMote, the original) and female NEET (as in Kuragehime). A fujoshi in proper refers to a female fan of yaoi, BL, and shounen-ai. Because of the array of fan couplings of bishounen works with homoerotic undertones such as Free!, many consider any work with a plethora of beautiful male characters to be "fujoshi-bait" and the female fans thereof fujoshi, regardless of the actual intent of reading or watching the work (to ship or to appreciate "normally"). However, I should make it clear that a fan of otome games and reverse harem shows but not BL is not a definitive fujoshi, as WataMote 2.0 makes clear; [SPOILER ALERT FOR EVERYTHING AHEAD: I'm giving you extra words in brackets to avert your eyes] Serinuma doesn't want to be living an otome game, she wants to see gay romance happen in real life.
I'm giving a long list of long-form reading materials as homework while you're waiting for the next chapter to come out, but since I'm not planning to write a 410-page dissertation reviewing WataMote 2.0, here's the rundown: A fully-integrated individual in fujoshi culture lives immersed in yaoi. You don't need a dissertation for that, just read Genshiken Nidaime. As part of this immersion and as communicative creatures fujoshi bicker over who is top and bottom; 7x5 or 5x7; and create dialogue of their fantasies, externalizing and sharing what is effectively their sexual desires as personified through male/male couplings. This is basically super gay, but in the other way. Since the majority of fujoshi are female, this imparting of sexual desire and more importantly sharing of sexual desire culminates with the full-fledged scenario-building of how "it" (sex) "goes down" (happens). Satisfying one another's sexual desires is typically called sex (also known as coitus, banging, fucking, etc.), however in the case of fujoshi there isn't actually anything happening, they're just talking about their sexual desires. What Akiko Mizoguchi (see below) argues, though, is that this shared pleasure is a kind of "virtual sex." Furthermore, since "it's all girls here" (see Hearts of Furious Fantasies) that basically makes it virtual lesbian sex. Bwoosh. Now, go read up.
This theory intertwines with WataMote 2.0 in several ways. Let's start our way small and work up.
Akiko Mizoguchi Is Serinuma's Savior:
First, as I said before, Serinuma doesn't want an otome game, she wants male/male romance. The apex of her lust and desires is to see men in love with one another. So when they all fall in love with her, she is uncertain what to do, and only a quarter because she's nervous. Let's cut out maybe a quarter of what remains because she is an otaku (different from fujosh) and there comes an otaku pride in being single, (I only have room in my heart for 2D girls, says Madarame Harunobu). But half remains because she is a true fujoshi, and it is the place of the fujoshi to watch. If she were to accept just one of the boys, that would still be subtracting a valuable bishounen who is somewhat at her whim from the shipping pool.
Connecting the dots yet? Here is Serinuma's savior: the handsome lesbian Nishina swoops in and immediately gets to first base where all boys have struck out thus far. (Invading women's spaces! No wonder Japan has a history of hating their BLT sandwiches! But gay is fine... at least for this series.) And why? Because she had already established that fujoshi rapport with Serinuma. They were already having virtual lesbian sex in a way the guys couldn't interfere with, so she was able to come that much closer to breaching the gap between virtual and real. And while Nishina's initial weapon was simply that she had the fujoshi leg-up, there's something far more dangerous at her disposal: she's a girl, so if Serinuma chooses her, it's not like there will be one less bishounen in the world. Sure, Nishina's Sebastian was dashing, but that was just for play.
And here's where things get interesting. Junko is a yaoi author, not a yuri author, right? Why are we getting lesbian romance? To keep it simple, to change up the pace. There's been a pretty decent amount of fujoshi representation in manga (and to a lesser extent in anime; Genshiken Nidaime is the only one with a heavy emphasis). But the overwhelming number of these reads have been male-oriented, often about how a guy meets a girl, finds out she's a fujoshi, and struggles with her fujoshiness. Because they are male-oriented, the ultimate goal is to have the relatable male character interact with the seemingly-wacky female character. But if they're both fujoshi, does this still appeal to men as yuri? I mean, maybe... but Nishina's ready for you! Pork cutlets attack (wait... wrong Yuri)! Sure you can watch the hawt lesbo sexies, but with Serinuma in the heavyweight division. Nishina sure doesn't mind; she just likes cute things. And thus the barrier is closed; The "fu" circle remains consisting of "joshi" (Hato...?).
Yet I should make it clear, even Nishina has her downfall: the inevitable truth that Serinuma's not so sure she swings that way... for now ("We girls form deep relationships through friendships, which some say are the basis of love.")
More importantly, the shoujo demographic of the manga is maintained (unlike CERTAIN magical girl shows), which brings me back to my point: this is one of the first manga (which has been adapted into anime) to be by fujoshi, about fujoshi, for fujoshi; a self-orientation which has been little explored before. By not being a male-oriented manga, Junko is able to commentate on fujoshi culture consciously and actively from an insider's perspective. Fujoshi won't care that some guys are talking about them, but they will care about another fujoshi talking about them. It makes sense, too, that not many fujoshi would have made works about fujoshi; the medium is BL after all. WataMote 2.0 is enticing enough with it's BL-bait to keep fujoshi interested (I suspect I'm not the only one fangirling at the same time Serinuma is) while making a point that it itself is not BL. And honestly, what a relief too.
No BL Is... Good?:
Many gay advocates argue the famous line, "I don't love men, I love you" is homophobic. I don't see it that way. If all fujoshi wanted to see were just gay men having gay sex, that's what they'd have made from the start. But there is something far more admirable about taking the straight, and turning it gay (take notes for 2020 Vermin Supreme). That's why you get doujinshi for Haikyuu, Kuroko No Basuke, Free!, etc. But something bugs me about Free!: it's basically gay but doesn't outright say it. What I want is clearly straight, turned gay. Then it has something forbidden and exciting that the romance couldn't have achieved otherwise. By taking advantage of the self-aware nature of the premise, Junko is able to create the perfect BL scenes while keeping it entirely straight, letting the minds of the audience run wild. To say that line is homophobic is to ignore the reason. This isn't some kind of way of saying "no homo," it's a way to give everything a forbidden and extra-special feeling: they *would* be straight, but their love is so great that it overcomes gender barriers. And Junko manages to make it as gay as possible while assuring the audience the gay stuff is reserved for doujinshi.
Phew... starting to run out of steam here.
WAIT! I take it back! There's one more section!
Serinuma Is My Hero:
So aside from the fact that I've kind of been maintaining a semi-harem over the internet, I can relate to Serinuma's not-coming-out-of-her-room-because-Shion-died syndrome. I have experienced it too. My heart was once pure and whole and longed for One True Pairing: Madarame Harunobu x Hato Kenjiro. But then, with the swift strike of Shimoku's hammer, that pairing was taken from me forever... And as I was crying over the broken pieces of my heart, Shimoku dealt a killing blow: pairing Madarame with Sue at the last moment. In the months since, perhaps because of stressful school or intense loneliness, or perhaps because of Genshiken, I have become a wilting corpse of who I once was. So when I saw Serinuma return, not only alive but better than ever, from her bedroom, the fire was lit under my ass: I couldn't weep over the loss of a canon OTP forever. Even if Madarame x Hato lives not in the main series (and is sadly lacking in fanworks... I ought to start really considering going full-fledged at fanfic writing), they live on in my heart. One day! One day I'll catch up to you Serinuma-senpai!!! (Actually, wait a second... she's younger than me? I need to step up my game!!!)
tl;dr 10/10 would yuri again
Resources:
Akiko Mizoguchi | Reading and Living Yaoi (Google it) *Chants* Read it! Read it! Read it!
Hearts of Furious Fantasies | Mainly the article "Why Hato: Build Up Logically"
Jessica Cruel | Women Become Bisexual (Google it) Somehow I got to this article when writing a research paper about Edward Snowden and the quote stood out in my mind???
Genshiken & Genshiken Nidaime | Oh come on, don't you even care about Fujoshi at all? Go read it.
