Hello readers and followers. This post is about something more than interesting, something I've been planning for some time. This project is 'When Ai Met Yu', a short story which will be released in four parts over the coming weeks. Designed as a deconstruction of the yaoi, BL (boy's love) and bara genres of Japan, it details a gay romance within the modern world of media-influenced preconceptions and societal stigmas dating back to the Meiji Restoration.
Set in modern-day Japan, the story is told from the perspectives of Airnori Uchida and Yusuke Ishinori, two young men facing a future in the modern world of Japan. First meeting and becoming firm friends at Waseda University, they meet up again and Airnori is invited to Yusuke's home in Kansai. But each holds an unexpected secret: both are gay, although Airnori is the more uncomfortable about it, and both are in love with each other. Faced with a culture that often alternately ignores, stereotypes and fetishises gay men, can 'Ai' and 'Yu' - having realised their love - find happiness together?
Links to the story shall be posted below.
Airnori's Narrative:
Part 1 - A Country Boy
Part 2 - Kansai Reservations
Yusuke's Narrative:
Part 3 - Tokyo Resolution
Part 4 - Family Matters
If you enjoy the concepts and ultimately the stories, please support this blog by sharing this post and showing this to your friends and followers. This story aims to challenge the gay stereotypes we've come to expect and perhaps even enjoy in Japanese media, and show the freedoms and constrictions gay men face in Japan. As to lesbians... that's another story.
When it comes, share and enjoy!
Out as of May 21, my notes and acknowledgements concerning this project.
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